Andrew Jackson, Part 1

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2004-4-7

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VOICE ONE:

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.

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General Andrew Jackson was elected president in
eighteen-twenty-eight. He defeated president John Quincy Adams,
after a campaign in which both sides made bitter and vicious
charges. One of those charges was about Jackson's wife. The
General's opponents accused him of taking her from another man. They
said Andrew and Rachel were married before her divorce from her
first husband. This was true. But it happened because Misses
Jackson's first husband said he had divorced her when he really had
not done so. Andrew and Rachel completed a second marriage -- a
legal one -- when they learned of the mistake.

The campaign charge deeply hurt Rachel Jackson. She was a kind
and simple woman. She was proud that Andrew was elected president.
But she was not happy about the life she would have to lead as wife
of the president. At first, it was thought she might remain in
Tennessee, instead of going to Washington. But Rachel Jackson knew
her place was with her husband. She would go with him.

VOICE TWO:

Preparations had to be made for
the move to Washington. And for weeks, the Jackson home was busy.
There was little time for Misses Jackson to rest. Her health seemed
to suffer. Then on December seventeenth, just a few days before the
Jacksons were to leave for Washington, two doctors were rushed to
the Jackson home outside Nashville. They found Rachel in great pain.
She seemed to be suffering a heart attack. The doctors treated her,
and for a time, she seemed to get better.

After a day or so, Rachel was able to sit up and talk with
friends. She seemed cheerful. Jackson was at her side much of the
time. On Sunday, Rachel sat up too long and began feeling worse. But
the doctors said it was not serious, and they urged General Jackson
to get some rest. He was to go to Nashville the next day. After her
husband went to sleep in the next room, Rachel had her servant help
her to sit up again. Rachel's mind was troubled about the years
ahead in Washington. "I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of
God," she said, "than live in that palace in Washington."

VOICE ONE:

A few minutes after ten that night, Rachel cried out and fell
from her chair. The servants' screams awakened everyone. Jackson was
the first to get to Rachel. He lifted her to the bed. He watched as
the doctors bent over her. Jackson read in their eyes that life had
left Rachel. Jackson could not believe it. He sat next to her, his
head in his hands, his fingers through his gray hair.

To his friend, John Coffee, Jackson said: "John, can you realize
she is dead. I certainly cannot." Rachel was buried two days later.
Ten-thousand people went to the Jackson home for the funeral. The
Reverend William Hume spoke simply of Rachel Jackson's life. He
talked of her kindness and humility. And he told how she had been
hurt by the terrible charges made during the election campaign.

VOICE TWO:

Jackson fought to hold back his tears. When the churchman
finished speaking, those near Jackson heard him say: "In the
presence of this dear saint, I can and do forgive all my enemies.
But those vile wretches who have lied about her, must look to God
for mercy."

Jackson felt that Rachel's death was caused by the vicious
charges made during the election campaign. He told a friend a few
days later: "May God almighty forgive her murderers as I know she
would forgive them. I never can." Jackson left his home January
eighteenth to begin the long trip to Washington. "My Heart is nearly
broken," he said. "I try to lift my spirits, but cannot."

VOICE ONE:

In Washington, no one knew what to expect. Senator Daniel Webster
wrote a friend at Boston: "General Jackson will be here about the
fifteenth of February. Nobody knows what he will do when he does
come. My opinion is that when he comes, he will bring a breeze with
him. Which way it will blow, I cannot tell. My fear is stronger than
my hope."

Crowds of Jackson's supporters began arriving in the capital.
Some wanted to see their man sworn-in as president. Many wanted --
and expected -- a government job. General Jackson arrived in
Alexandria, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, on
February twelfth.

Jackson was sixty-one years old. He was a tall, thin man. His
face was wrinkled. And his white hair was pushed back from his high
forehead. His eyes -- usually sharp and commanding -- were filled
with grief. Jackson's health had never been really good. He carried
in his body two bullets from duels fought years before. But he was a
tough man with a spirit strong enough to keep moving, even when
seriously sick. For three weeks, the general met with his advisers
and friends. He decided on the men who would form his cabinet.

VOICE TWO:

For the job of Secretary of State, Jackson chose Martin Van Buren
of New York, a man of great political ability. He named a
Pennsylvania businessman, Samuel Ingham, to be Secretary of the
Treasury. John Berrien of Georgia was chosen to be Attorney General.
His Navy Secretary would be John Branch, a former senator and
governor of North Carolina. For War Secretary Jackson chose an old
friend, Senator John Eaton of Tennessee.

Three members of this cabinet -- Berrien, Branch, and Ingham --
were friends of John C. Calhoun, Jackson's Vice President. Calhoun
expected to be president himself when Jackson stepped down in four
or eight years. Martin Van Buren also wanted the presidency. He
would do all he could to block Calhoun's ambition.

VOICE ONE:

Andrew Jackson was sworn-in as
president on March fourth, eighteen-twenty-nine. President John
Quincy Adams did not go to the ceremony at the Capitol building.
Jackson had said publicly he would not go near Adams. And he did not
make the traditional visit to the White House while Adams was there.
Jackson was still filled with bitterness over the charges made
against his wife in the election campaign. He felt Adams was at
least partly responsible for the charges.

The sky over Washington was cloudy on the fourth of March. But
the clouds parted, and the sun shone through, as Jackson began the
ride to the Capitol building. His cheering supporters saw this as a
good sign. So many people crowded around the Capitol that Jackson
had to climb a wall and enter from the back. He walked through the
building and into the open area at the front where the ceremony
would be held.

VOICE TWO:

The ceremony itself was simple. Jackson made a speech that few in
the crowd were able to hear. Then Chief Justice John Marshall
swore-in the new president. In the crowd was a newspaperman from
Kentucky, Amos Kendall. "It is a proud day for the people," wrote
Kendall. "General Jackson is their own president."

From the Capitol, Jackson rode down Pennsylvania Avenue to the
White House. Behind him followed all those who had watched him
become the nation's seventh president. The crowds followed him all
the way into the White House, where food and drink had been put out
for a party. Everyone tried to get in at once. Clothing was torn.
Glasses and dishes were broken. Chairs and tables were damaged.
Never had there been a party like this at the White House. Jackson
stayed for a while. But the crush of people tired him, and he was
able to leave. He spent the rest of the day in his hotel room in
Alexandria. The guests at the White House finally left after drinks
were put on the table outside the building. Many of the people left
through windows, because the doors were so crowded.

VOICE ONE:

Jackson was now the president of the people. And it seemed that
everybody was in Washington looking for a government job. Everywhere
Jackson turned, he met people who asked him for a job. They urged
him to throw out those government workers who supported Adams in the
election. They demanded that these jobs be given to Jackson
supporters. What Jackson did about this problem will be our story in
the next program of THE MAKING OF A NATION.

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VOICE TWO:

You have been listening to the Special English program, THE
MAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were Stuart Spencer and Jack
Weitzel. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. THE MAKING OF A
NATION can be heard Thursdays.