American Lion

626 Pages·2008·8.11 MB·English

by  Jon Meacham

ALSO BY JON MEACHAM
American Gospel:
God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation
Franklin and Winston:
An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship
Voices in Our Blood:
America’s Best on the Civil Rights Movement (editor)

Copyright © 2008 by Jon Meacham
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a
division of Random House, Inc., New York.
R H and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
ANDOM OUSE
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Meacham, Jon.
American lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House/Jon Meacham.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-1-58836-822-5
1. Jackson, Andrew, 1767–1845. 2. Presidents—United States—Biography. 3. United States—Politics
and government—1829–1837. 4. Jackson, Andrew, 1767–1845—Family. 5. Jackson, Andrew, 1767–
1845—Friends and associates. I. Title.
E382.M43 2008 973.5′6092—dc22 2008023466
[B]
www.atrandom.com
v3.1
To Mary, Maggie, and Sam
The darker the night the bolder the lion.
,
— THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Life-Histories of African Game Animals
I was born for a storm and a calm does not suit me.
— ANDREW JACKSON
CONTENTS
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
A Note on the Text
Principal Characters
Prologue: With the Feelings of a Father
The White House, Washington, Winter 1832–33
I: THE LOVE OF COUNTRY, FAME AND HONOR
Beginnings to Late 1830
1. Andy Will Fight His Way in the World
2. Follow Me and I’ll Save You Yet
3. A Marriage, a Defeat, and a Victory
4. You Know Best, My Dear
5. Ladies’ Wars Are Always Fierce and Hot
6. A Busybody Presbyterian Clergyman
7. My White and Red Children
8. Major Eaton Has Spoken of Resigning
9. An Opinion of the President Alone
10. Liberty and Union, Now and Forever
11. General Jackson Rules by His Personal Popularity
II: I WILL DIE WITH THE UNION
Late 1830 to 1834
12. I Have Been Left to Sup Alone
13. A Mean and Scurvy Piece of Business
14. Now Let Him Enforce It
15. The Fury of a Chained Panther
16. Hurra for the Hickory Tree!
17. A Dreadful Crisis of Excitement and Violence
18. The Mad Project of Disunion
19. We Are Threatened to Have Our Throats Cut
20. Great Is the Stake Placed in Our Hands
21. My Mind Is Made Up
22. He Appeared to Feel as a Father
23. The People, Sir, Are with Me
24. We Are in the Midst of a Revolution
III: THE EVENING OF HIS DAYS
1834 to the End
25. So You Want War
26. A Dark, Lawless, and Insatiable Ambition!
27. There Is a Rank Due to the United States Among Nations
28. The Wretched Victim of a Dreadful Delusion
29. How Would You Like to Be a Slave?
30. The Strife About the Next Presidency
31. Not One Would Have Ever Got Out Alive
32. I Fear Emily Will Not Recover
33. The President Will Go Out Triumphantly
34. The Shock Is Great, and Grief Universal
Epilogue: He Still Lives
Author’s Note and Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Illustration Credits
About the Author
A NOTE ON THE TEXT
In the interest of clarity, I have often taken the liberty of modernizing the
(distractingly erratic) spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure in primary
sources from Jackson’s era. On some occasions I have let the Ur-formulation
stand to give readers a sense of the texture and style of correspondence in those
years. In any event, the source for every quotation in this book is cited in the
Notes. In no case has an edit altered the writer’s intention or meaning.
PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS
John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) sixth president of the United States, he
served as a congressman from Massachusetts from 1831 until his death
Louisa Catherine Adams (1775–1852) wife of John Quincy Adams and a
shrewd observer of Washington politics
Thomas Hart Benton (1782–1858) onetime aide-de-camp to General Jackson,
he later brawled with Jackson; in 1821 he was elected senator from Missouri,
and was a Jackson ally on Capitol Hill during the White House years
Nicholas Biddle (1786–1844) president of the Second Bank of the United States
Francis Preston Blair (1791–1876) founding editor of the pro-Jackson
Washington Globe and Jackson adviser
John C. Calhoun (1782–1850) vice president of the United States under Adams
and Jackson, senator from South Carolina during Jackson’s second term
Henry Clay (1777–1852) Kentucky congressman and senator, secretary of state
under John Quincy Adams, Jackson’s 1832 National Republican opponent for
president
John Coffee (1772–1833) Tennessee planter, military officer, and Jackson
confidant
Andrew Jackson Donelson (1799–1871) nephew of Rachel and Andrew
Jackson, private secretary to President Jackson, husband of Emily Tennessee
Donelson
Emily Tennessee Donelson (1807–1836) niece of Rachel and Andrew Jackson,
official White House hostess, wife of Andrew Jackson Donelson
Mary Eastin (1810–1847) friend and cousin of Emily Donelson’s and member
of Jackson’s White House circle; married Lucius Polk in the White House in
1832
John Henry Eaton (1790–1856) Tennessee senator, Jackson adviser, secretary
of war
Margaret O’Neale Timberlake Eaton (1799–1879) widow of John Timberlake
of the U.S. Navy and wife of John Henry Eaton
Jeremiah Evarts (1781–1831) corresponding secretary of the American Board