First, his birth name was Andrew Jackson of Washington, D.C. and Hermitage, TN.
His diminutive names were “Old Hickory” and “King Andrew.”
Jackson was known as the 7th U.S. president from 1829 -1837, but was also known as a U.S. senator, a major general in the U.S. army, a frontier lawyer, a member of the U.S. house of representatives (twice), a farmer and a planter who owned over 100 African-American slaves, plus a Tennessee statesman (as above). According to attorney Dr. Jim Judkins of Smithville, “Jackson was not a supreme court judge, but a superior court judge, who occasionally set on the supreme court.” Basically, Judkins continued, “Jackson was essentially a circuit court judge.”
Secondly, his assailant was Richard Lawrence of England, born there around 1801.
He is known “for attempting to assassinate Andrew Jackson with the intent to murder” on January 30, 1835 in Washington, D.C. Later, he was tried and convicted and was sent to a mental hospital to serve a life-sentence.
Strangely, this historical event was not currently well-known to historians or secondary-educational students, majoring in history. I found the summation recently by continued and unlimited research and I’m thankful I did. Previously, I, nor many others, knew nothing of this very important historical dissertation. The mastery event follows, thanks to www.history.com. with emphasis on January 30, 1835. On another remembrance, “Two years earlier, in 1833, the senate clashed with Jackson in a fight of the survival of the of the Bank of the United States.”
The reiterated summation continues, “On January 30, 1835, Andrew Jackson became the first American president to experience an assassination attempt.”
Furthermore, “Richard Lawrence, an unemployed house painter, approached Jackson as he left a congressional funeral held in the house chamber of the capitol building and shot at him, but his gun misfired. A furious 67-year-old Jackson confronted his attacker, clubbing Lawrence several times with his (walking) cane. During the scuffle, Lawrence managed to pull out a second loaded pistol and pulled the trigger, but it also misfired. Jackson’s aides then wrestled Lawrence away from the president, leaving Jackson unharmed but angry and, as it turned out, paranoid.” Lawrence’s guns misfired twice when he was trying to murder Jackson.
“Lawrence was a mentally unstable individual with no connections to Jackson’s political rivals, but Jackson was convinced that Lawrence had been hired by his Whig party opponents to assassinate him. At the time, Jackson’s Democrats and the Whigs were locked in battle over Jackson’s attempt to dismantle the Bank of the United States. His vice-president, Martin Van Buren, was also wary and therefore carried two loaded pistols with him when visiting the senate.”
Furthermore, “Jackson’s suspicions were never proven and Lawrence spent the rest of his life (locked) in a mental institution.” This was the jury’s verdict in the first-degree murder case, (ibid). The Smithsonian Institute researchers conducted a study of Lawrence’s derringers (guns), during which both guns (derringers) discharged properly on the test’s first try. It was later determined that the odds of both guns misfiring during the assassination attempt were one in 125,000!”
As restated earlier, “Jackson was the 7th president of the United States, and he lived in his home, the Hermitage, located in Davidson County, Tennessee. Jackson was born on March 15, 1767 in the Waxhaw’s (town in North Carolina). A former war hero and an active military member, the president died of congestive heart failure on June 8, 1845 at age 78 at his home, the Hermitage (see below) near Nashville, Tennessee. He was the first U.S. president to come from the area west of the Appalachians, and the first to gain office by the direct appeal to the mass of voters. Jackson’s political movement has since been known as “Jacksonian Democracy.” The eight-year president also served in the United States senate from Tennessee. His political affiliation was Democratic,” wrote Wikipedia. Educationally, Jackson was admitted to the Bar of South Carolina in 1787, at which time he became a practicing attorney. When he arrived in Nashville, it was still a frontier town.”
Of utmost importance, “Jackson boarded in the home of Col. John Donaldson, where he met and married the colonel’s daughter, Rachel Donaldson Robards, who was already married for seven years to Lewis Robards. Believing she and Robards’s were divorced, Rachel found out later that she was not, and she had already married Jackson by eloping in 1794. Therefore, Robards’s had NOT (had the divorce annulled), meaning that her marriage to Jackson was “inadvertently bigamous.” They were forced to remarry in 1794 after the divorce had been finalized,” said www.wikipedia.history.com.
“I remember Jackson’s duel to defend himself and Rachel. I also think about the Battle of New Orleans and the music therein. And, of course, the connection between Jackson and John Overton,” said Yolanda Moore Barry, a retired elementary school teacher in Brentwood, TN and my lifelong friend.
Another instance concerning the Jacksons was just two weeks following his presidential election victory, Rachel, aged 61, died after suffering a heart attack at the Hermitage on December 22, 1828. This also occurred two months before Jackson’s presidential inauguration in Washington, DC. Regarding Rachel’s medical symptoms, Jackson described them as “excruciating pain in the left shoulder, arm, and breast.” After struggling for three days, Rachel finally died; a distraught Jackson had to be pulled away from her so the undertaker could prepare the body. She had been under extreme stress during the election, and she never did well when Jackson was away at war or work. He died on June 8, 1845 at age 78 years of congestive heart failure. Rachel did not live long enough to become the first lady, so her niece, Emily Donaldson, upheld the White House’s deceased first lady and the president’s daily timelines of activities.
Prefacing, Rachel and Andrew never had any birth children, but adopted Andrew Jackson, Jr., who was the son of Rachel’s deceased brother. Jackson also had three Creek children living with them: Lyncoya (their favorite child), was a Creek orphan Jackson had adopted after the Battle of Tallushatchee, along with two boys the Jacksons named Theodore and Charley. The Hermitage always was filled with family children – some adopted and some young family descendants. In 1838, Andrew and the children joined Rachel and became members of the First Presbyterian Church in Nashville, TN, revealed www.history.com. For brevity, Andrew was age 78 years at death, while Rachel was age 61 years. “Their birthdays are in the same year (1767) but with different birth dates,” said Kim Eddins Foutch. Both Jacksons died from heart-related medical problems (ibid).
In retirement, the notorious dual-fighting Jackson “Stayed active in politics, and supported the annexation of Texas, which was done shortly before his death. Jackson’s legacy remains controversial, and opinions of him are frequently polarized. He has been seen as a defender of democracy and the constitution and also had been called a demagogue who ignored the law when it suited him. Jackson generally ranks high on ratings of U.S. presidents, although the ratings have declined in the 21st century.”
Andrew and Rachel are buried together in the lawn of their Hermitage home where Jackson visited his wife’s grave daily. Their residence was built in 1835 and is located at 4580 Rachel’s Lane, Hermitage, TN. 37076. Hours of operation are Thursday through Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the phone number is 615-889-2941. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. The Hermitage spans more than1,000 acres and contains two mansions, reconstructed slave quarters, a museum, a café, a wine-tasting room, and a dense, sprawling exhibit of historical artifacts.
In continuation, my youngest sister, Lucy Foutch, has lived in Hermitage, TN (in close proximity to the estate) for the majority of her adult years. Of utmost importance to us through our growing years was the television movie, “The First Lady” (circa: 1953), a biographical video of Rachel Jackson overcoming her single and married life’s obstacles, intermingled with sadness and happiness. And yes, the president taught her the correct way to smoke a pipe. Over time, she mastered the pipe, and they would smoke together nightly after dinner.
In conclusion, Andrew Jackson said, “Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes is right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error.”
Rachel Jackson was the true love of his life. After her young and untimely death. Andrew Jackson remained a widowed bachelor until his death.
