Andrew Jackson once said about himself “I was born for a storm, and calm does not suit me”. And I think he nailed it. Andrew Jackson could be described as our most temperamental President, fighting in over 100 duels and never backing down from a challenge. Although, he would go on to become one of the most decorated President’s this nation has ever seen. No other President has served in the House of Representatives, the Senate, a governor of a Territory, a state attorney general, justice on a state Supreme Court, a general in the Army, and President of the United States. Wow that is quite the list! But Jackson wasn’t always this decorated. He also had one of the most troubled and humble beginnings of any President. This article today will take a look at those humble beginnings.

Jackson was born in 1767, but his father was killed in a logging accident just weeks before he was born. Leaving his young mother to raise him and his two older brothers. When the Revolutionary War broke out, all three brothers joined the Continental Army. Young Andrew was only 12 at the time, and he and his middle brother served as couriers between the militias. Jackson’s oldest brother would die from heat exhaustion in the war. The next year Jackson and his brother would be captured and taken as prisoners of war. Therefore Jackson is our only President to have been a Prisoner of War.

They were put into the household service of a British officer. Jackson once refused the orders of the officer, and was slashed with a sword leaving scars on his hand and head that he would carry with him forever. The brothers then contracted smallpox, and nearly starved to death while serving as prisoners. Finally, their mother secured their release, and started the long journey home. Traveling through huge downpours on the trip back, and still suffering from smallpox, Andrew’s brother Robert would not survive the trip back.

Jackson’s mother then started treating U.S. Soldiers who were also sick and suffering from diseases. She quickly also contracted a disease and passed away. Leaving Andrew Jackson as an orphan at age 14. Jackson received sporadic education the rest of his teenage years. He would then go on to assist several lawyers, and gained enough education to qualify for the North Carolina Bar. He would set out west to practice law, and this is where he experienced his first duel. It ended with both men firing their pistols into the air, as 90% of duels did in that day.

He would end up settling in a small frontier town called Nashville (and now it’s like super cute and trendy and you can like take cute Kelsey Montague wing pictures and eat hot chicken). Here Jackson would meet his future wife, and also some very prominent and powerful frontiersmen whom he would befriend. These friendships would help him secure the position of Attorney General of the Tennessee Territory and then elected as Tennessee’s first U.S. Representative when they became a state. The next year he was elected as Senator for Tennessee. He would serve during the administration of John Adams, which he soon became “disgusted” with, and resigned. Once again showing his quick temperamental nature.

He would return home and be elected as a Justice to the Tennessee Supreme Court. Jackson would also be elected major general of the Tennessee Militia, a position that was voted upon by officers at the time. In 1806 he would settle down with his wife Rachel on their farm, the Hermitage, outside Nashville. This is when the most famous of his reported 100 duels would take place. Jackson had quite the controversy in his life, as he had married his wife before she was fully divorced from her first husband (unbeknownst to him). A fellow attorney, Charles Dickinson published an article in the local newspaper attacking Jackson. He and Jackson were bitter rival horse breeders and betters. Defending his wife and his reputation, Jackson challenged Dickinson to duel.

They met for the duel, and Jackson let Dickinson fire first. Dickinson was an expert shot, and had already killed 26 men in duels. He fired and hit Jackson square in the chest just inches from his heart. Since Dickinson fired first, he had to remain still as Jackson fired. Jackson shot, but his gun misfired. Not considered a legitimate shot, Jackson aimed again and hit him chest and killing him. Doctors were amazed that Jackson remained on his feet and was not killed. The bullet was so close to his heart it couldn’t be operated on. And he would live the rest of his life with the bullet still lodged in his chest.

Just when you thought we’ve described a pretty packed and adventure filled life, it was really far from over and his military career was just beginning. He was sent to lead the Tennessee Volunteers to defend New Orleans during the War of 1812. This trek where he would encounter street fighting brawls and more duels (one of which he got shot in the shoulder) would lead to his troops giving him the nickname “Old Hickory” for his toughness. He would lead troops in battles against the Creek and Shawnee in the Creek Wars. During this fighting he was commissioned as a major general of the United States Army. He then fought the British and Spanish in Florida, and then the British in the huge Battle of New Orleans. He would win the battle and receive the Congressional Gold Medal. The U.S. had bought this land from the French. But had the British won this battle they may have kept the land or given it back to Spain who originally owned it. So this was a hugely important victory, and vaulted Andrew Jackson to national fame.

After his military service he was again elected to the Senate after a 24 year gap. The second longest gap in service of any Senator. As was pointed out in our last article, John Quincy Adams won our very first extremely close election for President. Jackson was in the that election, and actually won the popular vote. But in the run off election, one of the other Presidential candidates, Henry Clay, supported JQA. This tipped the scales to Adams and he won the election of 1824. Mr. Temperamental Jackson called Clay the “Judas of the West” and that he had accepted his 30 pieces of silver. Jackson once again resigned from the Senate and returned to Tennessee.

In the election of 1828 Andrew Jackson would revive his Presidential aspirations. Jackson, with the campaign help of a prominent New York Senator named Martin Van Buren, who greatly opposed Adams, won the election. Thus making John Quincy Adams and his father John Adams the only 1 term Presidents the country had seen up to that point. Rachel although did not fare so well. After struggling with sickness and stress from the long election, she died of a heart attack three days after the election.

Jackson’s Presidency, like his life, was filled with much turmoil and controversy. His cabinet was constantly having scandals, until almost all of them were removed and his famed “Kitchen Cabinet” was created. He also signed the Indian Removal Act, perhaps his biggest controversy. Even though Jackson signed around 70 treaties with Indian Tribes, and negotiated some of them himself. And some of the more well known Indian Removal Act treaties like that removing the Cherokee along the Trail of Tears were not enforced until Jackson’s successor took office. He even adopted a couple of Indian children as his own. His treatment of Indians is still one of his longest lasting legacies. He also introduced policies that would help bring about the disastrous “spoils system”. And his Congress implemented tariffs that angered southern farmers, especially those growing cotton.

He did have some successes as President surrounding foreign politics and the economy. He negotiated numerous trade deals with other countries. The also paid off the entire national debt, the time that’s ever been done in the history of our country.

As if Jackson hadn’t had enough gun incidents, he was also the first victim of a Presidential assassination attempt. A man named Richard Lawrence was an unemployed painter and believed the U.S. government owed him a large sum of money. President Jackson was leaving the Capitol Building after a funeral. Lawrence was waiting outside and in close proximity fired a pistol at Jackson. It misfired. From his coat he pulled out a second pistol and shot at Jackson. It too misfired (where does this guy get his guns?). Jackson then proceeded to chase down a fleeing Lawrence and beat him with his cane. The two men where separated by the crowd and Lawrence was subdued and disarmed by Davy Crockett, King of the Wild-frontier (you’re singing aren’t you?).

Martin Van Buren served as Jackson’s Secretary of State during his first term, and then as his Vice President during his second term. For those in my area, he is also the namesake of Van Buren, Missouri. Named after him at its establishment while he was Jackson’s Vice President. Van Buren was Jackson’s chosen successor, and did succeed him as President. He will be the subject of our 8th article next week. We are entering a stretch of “lesser known Presidents”, and part of why I wanted to do this series. So stayed tuned for those guys!

This year marks 50 years since the United States accomplished the greatest outer space feat in history, landing men on the moon. But this endeavor of space exploration may not have happened without the efforts of our 6th President, John Quincy Adams, in the 1830’s and 40’s. Man has always been fascinated with space, since the beginning of time there has always been a primal need to understand the cosmos. Before John F. Kennedy vowed to send man to the moon, John Quincy Adams introduced the fascination of space and science to our U.S. government.

Many of the Presidential articles that we have looked at thus far have described stories from their pre-presidencies, but with JQA (as he will be known throughout the rest of this article) we will be looking at some things he did after having served in the nation’s highest office. JQA did some things after he was President, that no other President has done to this day. Being a one-term President, some of his longest lasting impacts stemmed from that work in his later years.

JQA was born in 1767 to Abigail and John Adams, our second President. JQA, following in the footsteps of this father, was involved in the political scene from a very early age. He was around all of the founding fathers as a kid and spent much of his time growing up in Paris where his father was doing diplomatic work. He went on to serve 4 ambassadorships to foreign countries, a United States Senator representing Massachusetts, and Secretary of State to James Monroe.

Long before the heated and contested election of George W. Bush and Al Gore, JQA experienced our first extremely close election. If you remember from last week, James Madison ran for office unopposed. That wasn’t so with JQA, as 4 people from the same party ran for President. No candidate won a majority of the electoral vote, as the vote was split. The House held a contingent election, which Adams won. He would also be a very strong foreign policy President with his ambassador background. He greatly expanded American trade and continued the Monroe Doctrine in Latin America and the Caribbean.

And then he lost. He was thoroughly defeated by Andrew Jackson by a margin that wouldn’t be seen until almost 80 years later in the election of Theodore Roosevelt. JQA retired from a public life, but after his son’s suicide one year later, he returned to public office. Adams was elected to the House of Representatives and is so far the only President to be elected to the House after he has already served as President. He would win 9 terms and serve in the House for 17 years, until he had a stroke on the House floor and passed away.

But these 17 years is where Adams’ impacts took hold. Adams had been fascinated with astronomy from an early age. As Secretary of State he even advocated for a national observatory to be placed at Harvard University, his alma mater. Even his very first address to Congress upon becoming President was urging them to build the first national observatory. He believed it was the government’s responsibility to and duty to promote learning. Adams called these observatories that he advocated for lighthouses of the sky”.

Adams was unsuccessful in setting up an observatory. The interests of the government and citizenship as a whole was not in astronomy or science. He never received that funding for those projects. That is until 1829, when an extremely wealthy British scientist died.

In 1829 James Smithson died, and left his entire estate to his nephew who had no heirs. He stated that if his nephew died without an heir, the money was to be used “to found in Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, and establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.” In 1835 his nephew passed away, without heirs. The U.S. government now had money in today’s value around $15,000,000 in gold coins to create a scientific foundation. JQA was a House member in Congress at this time, and Congress now finally had the funding he had been seeking for a decade.

Andrew Jackson, President at the time, quickly formed a Congressional Committee to handle how the new funds would be used, and JQA was appointed to chair the committee. It took Congress ten years of debate to figure out how to appropriate the funds (see, they’ve always moved as quickly as a herd of turtles), with John Q. Adams advocating for an institution of science and learning. In 1846 Congress finally voted to create and establish the Smithsonian Institution (or “the nation’s attic”). It would include at that time an art gallery, museum, library, and laboratory.

A few years earlier, the U.S. had also finally received their first public observatory in Cincinnati, Ohio. The seconded largest telescope in the world was purchased from Germany for the observatory. In 1843 Adams was invited to lay its corner stone. He made the two-week trip to Cincinnati by train, steamboat, a canal packet boat pulled by horses, and a stagecoach. At the ceremony he would deliver a two-hour speech which was a history of astronomy. They named the hill upon which the building was constructed, “Mount Adams”. This lecture on astronomy and science would turn out to be Adams last public address.

Through Adam’s tireless efforts, and many years when Congress wanted to spend Smithson’s donation in some other way, the Smithsonian now boasts 19 museums, 9 research centers, a zoo, and over 200 institutions in 45 states. We also have 13 observatories. One of Adams last acts as President was to sign a bill for the future creation of a national observatory. Today this is known at the United States Naval Observatory. Even though Adams came into office almost 200 years ago, his efforts in furthering science and astronomy are still felt today. We can thank John Quincy Adams for our incredible Lighthouses of the Sky.

In 1803, the size of our United States instantly doubled. For $15 million (today $600 billion), the United States bought the Louisiana Territory from France. This territory would go on to make up parts of Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Mexico, Texas, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Louisiana, and two Canadian provinces. This land was well over 500 million acres. So, as you can see, what started out as the United States attempt to just purchase the port of New Orleans turned into a much much bigger endeavor. Our 5th President, James Madison, was the chief negotiator in securing this land for the U.S.

When we think of foreign policy, we often think about that being a relatively new topic. Events like World War II propelled the U.S. into numerous countries and solidified us as a global super power. But in fact, the ground work for many foreign policy decisions was laid under the Presidency of James Madison. He will always be known as one of the strongest President’s when it comes to international politics.

The early 1800’s were troubled and tumultuous times for France. They were suffering a terrible French Revolution, with revolts happening within France and in their abroad territories such as the Caribbean. In 1800 Napoleon Bonaparte secretly purchased the Louisiana Territory from Spain. He had plans to greatly expand into North America, and even sent several thousand troops to secure the port of New Orleans.

In 1801 Thomas Jefferson was President. He learned of the secret sale of Louisiana to France, and quickly sent the U.S. ambassador to France, Robert Livingston, to Paris to try and purchase New Orleans. If you remember at this point in our history there was no air or really even any land transport. Waterways was were your roads, and the Mississippi River was your interstate. A large portion of our U.S. goods flowed through foreign controlled New Orleans. If the United States could obtain that port, U.S. shipping would take off.

Negotiations dragged on for a couple years during France’s wars and revolts. In 1803 Jefferson, in need of negotiation assistance, requested the aid of a prominent French nobleman who had escaped the French Revolution and immigrated to the United States. This nobleman was Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (His son E.I. du Pont de Nemours would go on to found a small gun powder mill which would become a company you may have heard of, the largest chemical company in the world, DuPont).

James Monroe, who had just finished being Governor of Virginia, was a close advisor to Thomas Jefferson. He was sent to Paris with Robert Livingston to negotiate the purchase of New Orleans in January 1803. On a previous diplomatic mission to France, things had soured to the point where Monroe was formally expelled from France. So Jefferson sending Monroe back to France showed how serious he was on this matter.

To make matters even hairier, at this point in time Napoleon was preparing to invade the United Kingdom, and was running significantly low on war funds. Jefferson had authorized that Monroe and Livingston could purchase New Orleans for any amount up to $10 million. Both Monroe and Livingston were caught extremely off guard when the French Treasury Minister offered the entire Louisiana territory, including all the land of the 15 states mentioned in the first paragraph, for $15 million. So, for $5 million more, around 3 cents an acre, they could purchase all the land from the Gulf of Mexico, to southern Canada, and west to the Rocky Mountains.

However, the problem lied in the fact that they only had permission from Jefferson to purchase the port of New Orleans and some of its surrounding territory. James Monroe feared that Napoleon could withdraw this offer at any minute. And many had fears that what they were doing was unconstitutional because the Constitution didn’t explain how the United States was to acquire territory, if they even had that right at all. With no means of quick communication at the time, Monroe and Livingston agreed to the deal and signed the Louisiana Purchase on April 30th, 1803 without President Jefferson’s knowledge or approval. The signed documents didn’t even arrive back in the United States until July 14th.

Monroe’s international successes vaulting him to political fame. He would serve as ambassador to Great Britain, and then as Secretary of State and Secretary of War simultaneously during the War of 1812. In 1816 Monroe’s war time successes and foreign politics led him to becoming our 5th President, defeating Rufus King (still slightly irked we didn’t get to have a President Rufus, but it is what it is now).

Monroe would oversee the Missouri Compromise, where Missouri entered the United States. He would use his international skills to sign major treaties with Great Britain and Russia, acquire the state of Florida from Spain, and implement the “Monroe Doctrine”.

The Monroe Doctrine stated the United States would not allow foreign powers to intervene in Latin America. They would help to uphold republican institutions in these countries and allow them to remain independent. This same philosophy has been revisited centuries later in America’s interventions, democracy building, and defense of numerous countries around the world.

In the 1820 election he ran for President unopposed, the only President other than George Washington ever to do so. This is quite the honor for Monroe, as he had admired Washington for years, and was the future President who crossed the Delaware with George Washington at the age of 18 that I teased previously. Succeeding Monroe, our 6th President would be our first son of a former President to assume the office. A feat that wouldn’t be repeated for 175 years until George W. Bush was elected. Stay tuned for that article next week.