Friday, September 14, 2007

Seventh President: Andrew Jackson - 3 comments



They didn't call him Old Hickory for nothing. Jackson was known for being tough, and there are really too many good stories to mention them all. My favorites:

- Jackson was the first President to incur an assassination attempt. One Richard Lawrence walked up to Jackson inside the Capitol Rotunda, and pulled out two pistols. Both pistols misfired when Lawrence pulled the trigger, and Jackson promptly attacked Lawrence with his walking stick. Presidential aides had to restrain the President, and Davy Crockett(!) held Lawrence down.

- Jackson was responsible for a huge program of Indian Removal, which is certainly infamous enough that we don't need to discuss it. But he also adopted a young Creek Indian boy named Lyncoya, and raised him as a son. Lyncoya died of TB when he was sixteen.

3 Comments:

Blogger blewis said...

Also, Jackson (or as I like to refer to him in shorthand: AJax) used every ounce of his agrarian idealism and popular swagger to dismantle the Second Bank of the United States. His epic battles over the SBUS with nemesis Nicholas Biddle ended Philadelphia's reign as the financial capital of the US, and also helped AJax become an icon of the early political cartoon.

September 25, 2007 at 8:49 AM  
Blogger matt kirkland said...

I love the drawing of "King Andrew the first." It's great!

September 25, 2007 at 9:37 AM  
Blogger Laura said...

He definitely has the best hair...so far.



*(PS: Blew, that's a great picture! Very lawyerly.)*

September 26, 2007 at 12:31 PM  

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