ANDREW JACKSON, 7TH PRESIDENT
(Dem. from S.C.- Inaug. 1829, age 61- served 2 terms)
The campaign of 1827-28 was the last of the Presidential
campaigns which were free of scandal and libelous remarks.
Reference to airing dirty linen had been left to the back rooms
of the riffraff. No gentleman made such remarks in public.
However, there were deep differences of opinions, and they did
not hesitate in making their feelings known. One historian
answered to this gentlemanly conduct by saying, "Among gentlemen
a slanderous remark might mean a duel to death and no one wished
to take the chance."
The campaign of 1827-28 began with Andrew Jackson strong in the
South and West, but the large block of votes was in the North and
Northeast. Here Jackson needed help.
A carefully timed return of Mr. Van Buren to his home state of
New York as a party hero, and role of public servant was enough
to tell the wise and rough Jackson, here was his running mate:
Van Buren,the sophisticate.
Van Buren came through for Jackson. Between Van Buren and Jackson
they split the opposition. At the Baltimore Convention, Van Buren
attained the distinction of a magician in the manner in which he
balanced Jackson. They were a shoo-in.
John C. Calhoun and Daniel Webster were out of the running,but
neither Van Buren nor Jackson was able to bring into their camp
a curious and powerful group known as the Anti-Masons.
This group had its beginning in 1826 when William Morgan, a
wandering stone cutter, was supposed to have been kidnapped and
killed by the Masonic Brothers for exposing masonic secrets.
Fortunately,they had not become as strong in 1829 as they became
a few years later. The Anti-Masonic group could not support
either Jackson or Henry Clay, as Clay was also a Mason, having
served as Grand Master of Kentucky in 1820.
The Anti-Masonic group placed their support behind William Wirt,
the Attorney General under John Quincy Adams. As it turned out,
William Wirt was soundly beaten, and Jackson and Van Buren were
elected. (Oddly, in 1842, William Wirt secretively became a
member of the Masonic Fraternity. This was at the lowest ebb of
Masonry in the country and it was not too healthy to be known as
a Mason.)
Jackson inherited the same problem which John Quincy Adams had
not been able to solve - The Nicholas Biddle Bank Question. Adams
had sidestepped the question and it fell into the hands of
Jackson.
Jackson had appointed or rather nominated five new government
directors to help him expose the corruptness of the banks. But
Mr.Clay led the Senate to reject the nominations as they would be
a thorn in the flesh of Mr.Biddle. Even the House of
Representatives rejected Jackson's views on the Biddle Bank
Question.
Just what was this Biddle Bank Scandal? There have been many
stories on both sides, but basically it must be remembered the
Federal Government was not the printer nor the controller of the
United States Currency. The banks printed the money and held
the power over the people. The money printed was not covered by
anything so sound as silver or gold. It was backed by stocks or
bonds invested in commodities, such as land, produce, and live
stock. Furs, cotton, and tobacco was the money crop. They
established the value of all these as they saw fit. The power
they held over Congress was devastating. Every Member of
Congress was tied to the financial power of the banks and they
had unified into a cartel.
Jackson wanted to take this power away from the banks.
Fortunately, neither he nor Van Buren was under the thumb of
these tyrants. Jackson spoke out bitterly against those who were.
It was a bitter struggle. Jackson desired the money to be backed
by gold or silver.
Use coinage, hard money he called it; stop the banks from
printing money. But those in Congress were in debt to the Biddle
Enterprise, and were forced by blackmail to support Biddle and
his banks. Biddle had them in his pocket.
Jackson's only hope was to take his views to the people. The
little man had the vote, and it was their support which might
move Congress.
Jackson had managed to form his cabinet with men who felt as he
did, and, with these few voices, Jackson began his campaign
against paper money. They were referred to as "Jackson and his
Kitchen Cabinet." This was the beginning of the end of bank
control. Although it was not to be completed during Jackson's
two administrations, it was a start.
The end finally came in 1861 when the Government built the Bureau
of Engraving and Printing, and took over the control of the
monetary system. Paper was backed with gold and silver.
In August of 1831, Jackson went to Tennessee, making part of his
journey on horseback. Along the way he paid all his bills and
expenses with gold coin. "No more paper my friends; demand gold
or silver, and we can put down Nicholas Biddle and his monster
banks."
During Jackson's second administration he was heard to say in
private, "Oh, if I live to get these robes of office off me."
October 13, 1834 --in the midst of all his troubles, Jackson was
to have a blow second only to the death of his wife Rachel. The
roof of his beloved Hermitage caught fire from a spark from the
dining room flue. The Hermitage was swept by fire. Andrew Jr. and
his wife Sarah, living there at the time, were able to save
nearly all of the downstairs furniture and valuables and most of
the upstairs valuables. Fortunately, all of the General's papers
and Rachel Jackson's wardrobe were saved. The Hermitage was
rebuilt at great expense to Jackson as he had no support from the
banks, nor did he ask any.
But let us retrace our story.
Returning to December 1831. Nicholas Biddle was looking adversity
in the face, but not with the composure of Andrew Jackson. Biddle
had found out he had not only an opponent but a superior being in
Jackson. This he was heard to say.
Knowing this, the power hungry Biddle made a decision which would
ultimately destroy his bank monopoly. Only his anger of Jackson
made him turn to Henry Clay in December 1831 instead of Jackson.
History has proved, had Biddle bowed to Jackson and joined his
party, allowing the Federal Government to take complete control
of the monetary sustem, establishing its foundation on gold and
silver, that this would have eliminated the banks in each state
printing their own money. Also, it would have placed complete
power in the hands of the Federal Government, where it belonged.
This would also have been the first step in eliminating the
States' Rights Question, and there might never have been a Civil
War.
However, Biddle, stubborn to the last, backed Henry Clay, whom he
was able to control, and although they would lose the fall
election, Biddle was able to save his banks a little longer.
Biddle and Clay dropped the name "Whigs Party" in favor of the
"National Republicans," while the Jacksonians called themselves
"Democrats."
The Administration forces kept the initiative. The coinage of
gold had been resumed that summer and the now popular coins were
nicknamed "Jackson's Yellow Boys."
Jackson and Van Buren took the second term with ease. Mr. Biddle
now understood defeat, and confessing among friends, admitted he
had backed the wrong man.
Although many of the wrongs had been righted, it was only the
beginning. The power of the banks continued, but the cartel was
broken, and Mr. Biddle set to the task of selling the branches of
the "Bank of the United States." As I said before, this "Bank of
the United States" was merely a name to give it prestige. Biddle
was able to sell out and close the charter he held on March 3,
1836.
The banks, now as individuals, were still in operation and
continued in power within their state. Thus, States' Rights was
still being fought in both houses of Congress.
Neither Jackson nor Van Buren was able to solve this question.
Had Biddle joined Jackson and bowed to his gold and silver
security over all the money, the banks could have worked inter-
state under the Federal Government control. Had this been done,
the States could have need unified with inter-state traffic, and
there would not have been the split between the North and South
in 1861.
Andrew Jackson's years as President were also filled with other
problems, which would make interesting dialogue.
One item of business was the Falkland Islands incident, which
even in present day seems to have been forgotten. Even historians
did not think it important enough to include it in the Jackson
memoirs. Because of this lack of interest, very few realize how
close it came that the Falklands might have been in the
possession of the United States instead of England.
for those who do not know, the Falkland Islands were a harbor and
last jumping off place for shipping around the Horn to the
Pacific Ocean. They were also the first port of safety on the
return trip. There was no Panana Canal, and it was vital that the
shipping lane be kept open and free. Around 1820, the pirate
ships found it advantageous to strike these ships before they
reached the Falklands. Storm-beaten ships often had to limp into
the Islands. and had no chance of protecting themselves. The
pirate ships had to be dealt with. Both England and the United
States had to keep the horn free and open to shipping. This was
imperative.
England said it was too far for them to furnish escorts. Andrew
Jackson, not one to hesitate, nor to be bothered with escort
ships, ordered war ships to the Falklands and they cleaned out
the pirates. This action appears in the Naval Records. Orders
were, "Any ship not heaving to nor complying with the proper
code of navigation, to be sunk with all hands." This order was
carried out to the letter.
Shipping was again safe, and the pirates never returned. Andrew
Jackson, up to his neck in the Bank Problem, did not wish to
maintain nor police the Islands. England agreed to take over the
Falkland Islands and colonize them, and set up a safety patrol
for shipping.
This may have been the first of many times the United States
pulled England's chestnuts out of the fire.
Had it not been for the Biddle Bank problem, history may have
been changed and the Falkland Islands would have been in the
possession of the United States, and would have, in all
probability, been turned over to Argentina after the construction
of the Panama Canal.
I would love to go more deeply into the monetary trials and
tribulations of Jackson but not at this time. It is enough to say,
the financial world was in a vast transition period. Inflation as
it was then, is and was as drastic as what we are going through
today. History has repeated itself. In that day the banking
houses drove us into inflation, and it was the same banking
houses which brought us out of the recession. They stabilized
interest rates and invested in business monopolies connected with
foreign trade.
Unfortunately, the end did not come during Jackson's
Administration, but it was Jackson who stopped Biddle and pointed
the way back, although he was never given the credit due him.
Andrew Jackson's last official day in office as President, March
3rd, 1837, was spent in his bedroom on the top floor of the White
House. Jackson had been sick-of-bed for several months, and was
just finding strength to move around. All work had been
accomplished from his bedroom with the aid of a secretary,
members of his cabinet, and Van Buren who had already been
elected his successor.
March 4th, 1837, Jackson left his bedroom for the first time
since his attack in November, and seated beside Van Buren, they
rode to the Capitol (the iron fist in the velvet glove). This was
one of the very few transitions in our history when the outgoing
and incoming were the best of friends. I doubt if there was or
ever will be a Vice President who worked more harmoniously with
his President than Van Buren, two different personalities who
thought as one. A rare combination and the papers rarely missed a
chance to refer to the Administration as "The Iron Fist in the
Velvet Glove."
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