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Show Posterity Gives Jackson an Honor Bestowed Upon No Other American It Hjs "Marked Out an Epoch and Called It by tho Ndmo of Ona Man," Says the Author of a New Biography of "Old Hickory" in Which Ho Is Portrayed as Ono of the Greatest Fresidents Who Has Ever Occupied the Whito House in Washington. f Western Newsivttpvr Union. NOTK January 8 W wiilrlv tte-brtd tte-brtd as "Jikoo ia fcnor of 4mHw Jickson vi.tory over lh Hriuxh In (he bj.Hl ol New OrlMns. tbich rontrlbuir-a materially to hi eltsHUta to Ue proMnuy lalr. Trtla arlii-le, appropriate- to the obseryanc of that d.i( I basrd upn the n-w biosraptw," "Andrew J ekon lir trait o( a lreu1ent," wrtttea by Mihjun JiraM and published recent-ly recent-ly bv the tlotb Merrill company of hull Ana poll, tftrouh whoi courtesy aeverat ol the tllu-ir Uou from Ibo book ar herewith rr pi otitic rd. By ELMO SCOTT WATSON MARCH 4, 1S37. Unlike many another anoth-er Inauguration day in the city of Washington, this one was "bright and balmy." Down the steps of the Executive Ex-ecutive Mansion Washing-tonians Washing-tonians had only recently began be-gan calling it the "White Ilouse" came two men. One of them was slight in stature, . -something of a "dandy" in dress :i?dlsppe,nrance Martin Mar-tin Van Buren of Kinderhook, N. Y., the "Little Magician," the "Red Fox," who was about to become President of the United States. 1 1 The other was a more commanding com-manding figure, somewhat bent with age and recent illness. ill-ness. He leaned heavily on a cane, but there still flashed from his fves that indomitable indomi-table look which had caused men to hail him as "Old Hickory." They entered a carriage and iaae up Pennsylvania avenue reward the Capitol. A thunder of cheering rose from the thousands vto lined that famous thoroughfare, thorough-fare, then died down quickly and men removed their hats in reverential rev-erential silence as the silver-haired silver-haired old man in he carriage passed. The same silence spread over t-.z r..uiii;ace that filled the east lawn of the Capitol as the two men appeared on the portico. It held while Chief Justice Taney administered the oath of office, while Martin Van Buren was delivering de-livering his inaugural address and even as Andrew Jackson started slowly down the broad steps. Then suddenly, as though unloosed un-loosed by a signal, a mighty shout was raised. Thomas Hart I i t i f 1 1 PRESIDENT ANDREW JACKSON From ft portrait made ftt the While Home la lXli by Ashel B. Duraod, Dow wncd by the New York Historical Society. its preparation the author of the Pulitzer prize-winning "The Raven Ra-ven A Biography of Sam Houston" Hous-ton" and of "Andrew Jackson The Border Captain," has put years of research during which he examined no less than 40,000 documents, not to mention hundreds hun-dreds of printed sources of information. infor-mation. And, as one critic has observed, "the result an accurate accu-rate and properly proportioned portrait of Andrew Jackson, the President is a striking illustration illustra-tion of the truth of the observation observa-tion of Carlyle that a well-written life is almost as rare as a well-spent well-spent one." e "Why was it that the people loved him so?" asks Biographer James, after describing the scene when "Old Hickory" stepped down from the Presidency. "In thronged Washington, where men t v. ... a. - ' -' . ' ..- i . Its i r r v l :a rv :M ' jr-..-i.s.. '.- -k fiM 4 & 1 f , - --rw r i-Lc- i. nmm,-fm?i. . t , . .. . n r..niiiiir i THE FOURTH HERMITAGE Finished in 1835 after its predecessor had been destroyed by fire, save lor portions por-tions oi the exterior wails which were nsed in rebuildins. In the background, right, is-T slin Grove, the residence of Andrew Jackson Donelson. From an engraving I made in 1&56 and owned by the Ladies' Hermitage Association. I I 3enton of Missouri, who was twre that day, afterwards said: r "it was a cry such as power never commanded. Dor man in power received. It was affection, gratitude and admiration . . . the acclaim of posterity breaking from the bosoms of contemporaries contemporar-ies ... I felt an emotion which had never passed through me before." be-fore." It lasted for only a moment. Tnen . . . "Midway down the stone stairs General Jackson uncovered un-covered and bowed. A gentle wind stirred his silvery locks. The tumult died." And thus "Old Hickory" took leave of the Presidency of the United States and "after eight years laid down his burden, unsuspecting un-suspecting that on his times was an impress so characteristic and so deep that posterity would accord ac-cord to Andrew Jackson an honor as yet vouchsafed no other American Amer-ican that of marking out an epoch in our national history and calling it by the name of one man." So writes Marquis James in his "Andrew Jackson Portrait of a President," the second and concluding con-cluding volume of a biography which critics are virtually unanimous unani-mous in hailing as "by all odds the best and most absorbing account ac-count of the life of Old Hickory that has yet been written." Into slept in barbers' chairs, the question ques-tion was debated that night as it was destined to be debated a hundred hun-dred years to come." From all that discussion Mr. James synthesizes this answer: Jackson was born and reared in a frontier aristocracy unpretentious, it is true, but all that an aristocracy could attain to in the Waxhaws of that day and time. Hacking his way upward in the Tennessee wilderness, he rose to the height of spokesman for one frontier class against another nabobs versus leathershirts. Climbing higher. Jackson became a spokesman for the whole almost- autonomous West in the contests arising from the opposed Interests of the settled, commercial seaboard. The things of the West, even the nabob West, advocated ad-vocated then seemed alluring to the iand-less iand-less and the propertyless of the tidewater tidewa-ter cities. This fermentaUon shaped into a political movement during the hard times of 1818-22, found the underprivileged underpriv-ileged and the lackalls of the East one with the established currents of western thought. Andrew Jackson brought to the Presidency Presi-dency fewer personal ambitions than any man excepting Washington. The gradual grad-ual alteration from a border conservative conserva-tive to a national liberal is noteworthy, but other eminent men have spanned a gerater scale of change. John Adams and Patrick Henry storm into history not as liberals, but as revolutionists revolu-tionists shouting for bayonets and barricades. bar-ricades. They rattle out, not as conservatives con-servatives merely, but as cantankerous cantanker-ous reactionaries . . . Emerging as ft people's man, Jackson proffered no ordinary claims to that much-courted disUnction. No mere arbiter between factions of followers, he strode forth to Inspire, to lead, to govern. He not only reigned but ruled. He saw for the people what they could not see for themselves. them-selves. The bank Issue was as good as dead after the passing of the twenties. Jackson revived it. lashed up an apathetic apathet-ic public, lashed up apathetic lieu- tenints. silenced the unwUllnc and drove on to victory. All this rcated on the philosophy of majority rule. When a majority was not at hand be endeavored to create it. When thu couid not be done In time, he went ahead anyhow. He was the majority pro tern. UnlallinKly at the next election, the people wouid return ft vote of confidence, con-fidence, making his measures their on This confidence wai not misplaced. If not every day In the year provlduif ft government of and by the people. Andrew An-drew Jackson did provide one lor them. He lived by valor. The peoo!e like that because it is exciting and because It clothes them in the mantle of Fortuna. with enormous power over the destiny of a public servant. Andrew Jacon carried his political life In the hollow of his hand, ready to risk It for the cause of the hour whether that cause were great or small, good or bad . . . Time and again, heedlessly ar.d needlessly, he exposed himself to destruction by the popular will. That the people did not destroy him bewildered the opposition. "Jackson's Luck" became a Whig byword. by-word. Jackson's luck was the ktr.d that gams respect for the proverb that fortune for-tune favors the brave. Fortune also favors the competent. The opposition to Jackson ... was not composed of straw men. No other President has confronted a coalition of adversaries so able or so well furnished with the ordinary resources of t..ii:cal welfare. Henry Clay. Daniel Webster. John C. Calhoun. Nicholas Hidd'.e: Old Hickory met those great captains and their legiohs separately and in alliance. He beat them to their knees. Nor were the peculiar gilts Jackson brought to the Presidency successful alor.e in the management of the H tmes-tic tmes-tic concerns of democracy. H.s foreign for-eign policy raised the prestice of the young American nation to a height not before attained among the powers of the world. Genuine respect abroad for American rights dates from Jackson. Through It all he had walked humbly. Departing for home one summer he directed di-rected mail to be forwarded to him. re-addressed re-addressed as follows: "Hermitage, near the Fountain of Health. Davidson County. Tennessee." Tne Fountain of Health was a healing spring of popular resort and. in the General's estimation, the most widely known place in the locality. If proof of the accuracy of that estimate of Andrew Jackson is needed, if additional evidence is desired to show why he was beloved be-loved by the people of his time and why his name is honored by Americans of today almost as much as are the names of Washington Wash-ington and Lincoln, perhaps both can be found in the statements of some of his contemporaries. A German nobleman, visiting in this country during the "reign of Jackson," quoted an unnamed senator, "who assumed to speak without partisanship" as follows: "General Jackson called himself him-self the people's friend and gave proofs of his sincerity ... He understood the people of the United Unit-ed States better, perhaps, than any President before him, and developed as much energy in his administration as any American statesman . . . Whether all his measures were beneficial to the people is beside the point; they were in unison with his political doctrines and carried through with an iron disregard of personal per-sonal consequence, notwithstanding notwithstand-ing the enormous opposition that wealth and talent could put in the way of their execution." And Daniel Webster, one of those whom he "met and beat to their knees," once declared: "General Jackson is an honest and upright man. He does what he thinks is right, and does it with all his might." "He does what he thinks is right, and does it with all his might" many an American would like to think that such a statement is the essence of his own credo. But, realizing that he does not live up to that ideal, there is some comfort for him in giving his loyal devotion to a man who does! It would lu pleasant to I'linm-li-le Hit' fuel thut Andrew Jm'k-.siin, Jm'k-.siin, uftrr einlil tiii'lnili-nt yrms in the Wliiti- llntitif, rcturnc-d to lii.s heliiveil llei'initnnr near Nashville, Trim., to upend bin re-inainiiij; re-inainiiij; years in peace. Unfortunately, Unfor-tunately, the opposite wus true. When he went to Wasliine;ttm In 1112'.), he fiirried $5,000 with liim. When he returned to Tennestiee in 1U37 there was just $'J0 in his wallet. And that fact is symbolic sym-bolic of the career of Andrew Jackson, rx President. During his long absence in the service of the nation his personal fortunes for-tunes had sullered und through the remaining years of his life he was to know little relief front linanciul didlculties. Most of this was due to his adopted son, Andrew Jackson, Jr., who seems to have hud little of the strength of character or ability of his foster father. Kor he became "involved In a bottomless bog of debts" for which his father fath-er was in no way responsible but which he chose to assume because be-cause of "a supersensitiveness to personal honor and because of an affection for the boy which nothing had been able to destroy." de-stroy." Nor were these personal uffairs the only ones to trouble Andrew Jackson. Although he hod, retired re-tired from public life, that did not mean he was no longer concerned con-cerned with the welfure of his country. Probably no other ex-President ex-President has ever had such a direct pnrt In shaping the destinies des-tinies of the nation after leaving the White House as did Andrew Jackson. He had brought about the election elec-tion of Martin Van Buren and he helped his successor guide the ship of state safely through the shoals during the panic year of 1837. "With hearing failing, right eye nearly useless, and memory uncertain, the white-haired warrior war-rior was still a chieftain guiding, guid-ing, inspiring, strengthening faint hearts from his inexhaustible store of courage." Even when "Old Tippecanoe" Harrison defeated Van Buren for re-election in 1541 the old man was undaunted. By the time yy i ' ! JACKSON IN RETIREMENT From ft print of ft drawing from life bv Uilliam II. Brown, owned by Emll Edward llurja of New York City. another campaign came around the annexation of Texas that republic re-public which Old Hickory's lieutenant, lieu-tenant, Sam Houston, had helped found was the most important question of the day. Jackson wanted Texas in the Union. But Martin Van Buren, again a candidate can-didate for the Democratic nomination, nom-ination, feared to risk defeat at the hands of anti-slavery Northern North-ern Democrats and straddled. So James K. Polk won the nomination nom-ination and the election. There was no doubt where Polk stood on the Texas question. But disquieting rumors came to Jackson. Jack-son. Sam Houston was flirting with England Texas might become be-come a British province instead of coming into the Union. There were several weeks of painful doubt for the patriarch of the Hermitage while Sam Houston was "playing off England, France, Mexico and the United States against each other in the cockpit of diplomacy." He was trying to win for Texas the best possible bargain in return for surrendering her sovereignty. Then in May, 1845, came word that Houston would accept the terms of annexation offered in a resolution passed by congress and signed by John Tyler on March 1, three days before he turned over his office to his successor. suc-cessor. "Glorious tidings! Old Hickory Hick-ory traced a note to James K. Polk: 'I knew British gold could not buy Sam Houston!' Fighting for breath Jackson signed his name. 'My lamp is nearly burned out, and the last glimmer has come.' " As a matter of fact, his lamp had been burning out for the last five years. But Andrew Jackson simply WOULD NOT DIE until Texas was safely in the Union. It was not until Ju'iie 6, 1845, that the "last glimmer" really cams. |