CELTIC
CORNER
Some more stories about the Irish Immigrants
By the time
he was fourteen, Andrew Jackson, the man whose face adorns the U.S. twenty
dollar bill, was an orphan.
During the
Revolutionary War, Jackson’s two brothers, who lived with Jackson and his
mother at the Waxshaw settlement in South Carolina, were killed by British
soldiers (Jackson himself was seriously wounded for defying a soldier and was
taken prisoner). A short while later his mother an immigrant from County Antrim
in Ireland, contracted cholera and died. His father had died a year after he
had arrived in America in 1765.
Jackson could be described in one word: tough. As an
adult, he engaged in a number of wars, and he was so tough that his troops
dubbed him “Old Hickory” after the hardwood.
In 1784 he
went to Salisbury, South Carolina, and, with a legal career in mind,
apprenticed himself to a law firm. In 1787 he passed the bar; then he headed
west to Nashville. He was able to buy a planation and raise horses, but
marauding Indians were very much a problem in the area. Jackson fought them effectively,
garnering a well-deserved reputation. In 1802 he married Rachel Donelson
Robards.
Jackson was
six feet one inch tall, a thin man, with reddish brown hair and a quick temper,
which led him to a number of duels. His most famous, a duel over horses,
occurred with a man named Charles Dickinson. Dickinson fired first, thinking
with horror that he had missed because Jackson just stood there and fired back
and Dickinson was mortally wounded. However, Dickinson had hit Jackson. But
Jackson had worn a large, heavy coat that had caused Dickinson to misaim: The
coat was so oversized that the bullet hit Jackson below the heart. He recovered
from the wound after a few weeks.
During the
War of 1812 Jackson became famous for his military prowess. In 1818 President
James Monroe appointed him to deal with Indians in Florida, which he did by
torching Pensacola and summarily hanging two Englishmen he thought were
conspiring with the Indians, and that caused an international incident.
Gradually,
he emerged as a presidential candidate. He ran in 1824 against John Quincy
Adams and lost because of what he characterized as a “corrupt bargain” among
various people. But in 1828 he won.
During his
two terms, Jackson increased the power of the presidency. He used the “spoils
system” appointing his own political cronies to office and organizing counties
into branches of the Democratic Party so they could deliver the vote more
effectively. He also made good use of the presidential veto. He used it a dozen
times, more than all other previous presidents combined.
He also put
the “pocket veto” to good use: If a bill came to his desk fewer than ten days
before Congress adjourned, the law permitted him to put the bill “into his pocket”
and turn it down without giving Congress a reason why. For example, Jackson was
opposed to restructuring of the Bank of the United Sates and used the pocket
veto to defeat relevant legislation. Jacksonian scholar Robert Remini wrote
that Jackson created a gain in Presidential power that did not abate until the
resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974.
In foreign
affairs, Jackson also achieved much. He revived trade with England, exempting
English goods from the harsh tariff of 1828 (the so called Tariff of
Abominations. He also used his influence to help reopen trade with the British
held West Indies. He also succeeded in getting payments for France for the
“spoliation” attacks on American ships during the Napoleonic Wars earlier in
the century.
One great
domestic triumph was the annexation of Texas. Though Jackson wanted to annex
it, he did nothing while in office because he feared that the unresolved
slavery question could cause problems for the election chances of his
handpicked successor, Martin Van Buren. After Van Buren was elected, Jackson
supported annexation, which took place in 1845, the year he died.
Jackson
liked to give parties, and he was a man of the people- everyone was welcome. At
his last party as president, he had a fourteen hundred pound cheese brought in
the White House and it was eaten in two hours. The White House smelled of the
cheese for weeks.
Nollaig shona duit
Merry
Christmas
Frank
Darcy
