by Jon Meacham
1 a contemporary observer noted J. Cunningham to Reuben Lewis, April 9, 1837, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond. Jackson, Cunningham wrote, was greeted “with flags flying … amid the roar of artillery.” The former president arrived in Louisville at seven-thirty in the morning on March 20, about two and a half hours ahead of schedule. “Such however was the extreme anxiety to see him that the bridges, wharves, roofs of the houses and the boats at the landing were crowded with spectators,” Cunningham wrote. Led to a “splendid open barouch drawn by four beautiful grey horses,” Jackson made a hero’s progress through the city, accompanied by forty carriages and a thousand people. As evening came, Jackson departed. The crowds, Cunningham said, “cheered the general as long as he was in sight.”
Jackson seemed exhausted, but as on his northern tour four years before, he refused to disappoint the public. “The General is very much debilitated, indeed he was so feeble in appearance that his friends urged him strongly not to expose himself to the fatigue of shaking hands with the crowds that pressed to see him,” Cunningham wrote, “but he withstood every solicitude utterly regardless of his own comfort and [was] only anxious to afford others gratification. And this has ever been one of the leading traits of his character. He has always been ready to do and suffer everything for his country regardless of self.
“As I gazed upon his toilworn face and shrunken cheek,” Cunningham continued, “I thought of the language of Cardinal Wolsey: ‘An old man, broken with the storms of life has come to lay his bones among you.’ ” [sic]
2 “I thought it was one of the most sublime” Ibid. Cunningham closed: “Did it not almost seem during the raging of the panic that money alone could move the pulse of this nation! Were you not then almost afraid that the virtuous days of the republic had departed!—that gold had eaten into and corrupted the vitals of the people and that they were ready to sell their liberties for a mess of pottage! It is not so. The Americans delight in great and gracious actions, they know how to appreciate and reward public virtue—and as long as they know that, liberty is safe!”
3 “The Major is so much engaged” EDT, II, 139.
4 a cold autumn Friday in 1838 AAK, 367–68.
5 advising Donelson in 1840 to “seek out” Correspondence, VI, 53.
6 Donelson married Elizabeth Martin Randolph Cheathem, Old Hickory’s Nephew, 144.
7 (About this time the name) Robbie D. Jones, Landmarks of American History Teacher Workshop, “Architecture in Jacksonian America,” The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson and America, 1801–1861, 7.
8 Tyler appointed him chargé d’affaires Cheathem, Old Hickory’s Nephew, 170.
9 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association Thomas Jefferson, Writings (New York, 1984), 510.
10 sitting in his pew in the Hermitage church Parton, Life, III, 644.
11 “the interposition of Providence” Ibid.
12 Jackson listening intently Ibid., 645.
13 speak of “the career of a man” Ibid.
14 Jackson insisted Ibid.
15 appears to have had a kind of conversion Ibid., 645–46.
16 “As the day was breaking” Ibid., 646.
17 Jackson stood, leaning on a cane Ibid., 647–48. For a more detailed account of the backstory of Jackson’s joining the Church—one that involves Sarah Yorke Jackson and her attempts to have one of her children baptized—see Remini, Jackson, III, 444–47.
18 A financial panic, followed by depression Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 501–8; Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 456–65; Temin, Jacksonian Economy, 113–77; and Feller, Public Lands in Jacksonian Politics, 182–88.
19 This Deposit Bill Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 443–46. See also Remini, Jackson, III, 320–29.
20 an order called the Specie Circular Remini, Jackson, III, 328–29. Wilentz, Andrew Jackson, 114–20, is a strong summary of the economic and political factors at work late in Jackson’s administration.
21 the circular was aimed at speculators Feller, Public Lands in Jacksonian Politics, 184. Wilentz wrote: “The federal land office turned into a gigantic government-sponsored confidence scheme, whereby speculators borrowed large amounts of paper money, used it to buy federal land, then used the land as collateral on further lands—all of which ensnared the federal government, as Benton observed, in ‘the ups and downs of the whole paper system’ ” (Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 444).
22 plenty of blame Temin, The Jacksonian Economy, offers a detailed defense of Jackson. “Despite its universal acceptance, this story [of Jackson’s being responsible for the ensuing economic distress] will not stand close scrutiny; it is negated by extant data of the 1830s,” Temin wrote. “Jackson’s economic policies were not the most enlightened the country has ever seen, but they were by no means disastrous. The inflation and crises of the 1830’s had their origin in events largely beyond Jackson’s control and probably would have taken place whether or not he had acted as he did. The economy was not the victim of Jacksonian politics; Jackson’s politics were the victims of economic fluctuations” (ibid., 16–17). Wilentz wrote: “Jackson’s Specie Circular, by slamming the brakes on the western land mania and halting the shift of specie from eastern banks to the West, has traditionally received the blame for causing economic disaster. That interpretation now appears simplistic at best” (Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 444).
23 “It was reported that” Mrs. C. M. Stephens to Phila Ann Donelson, January 8, 1840, Mrs. John Lawrence Merritt Collection.
24 “I was in Nashville the other day” Leonidas Polk to his mother, June 4, 1840. Leonidas Polk Collection, The University of the South, University Archives and Special Collections, Sewanee.
25 George P. A. Healy James, TLOAJ, 782.
26 “I see that you” Ibid.
27 “our poor old grey headed” Letter to Stockley Donelson, July 25, 1841, Mrs. John Lawrence Merritt Collection.
28 “He is swollen all over” Sarah Yorke Jackson to Emma Donelson, April 30, 1845, Gilder Lehrman Collection, RGJ 496.36, The Hermitage.
29 a postscript dictated by Jackson Ibid.
30 Jackson “still continues about the same” Sarah Yorke Jackson to Emma Donelson, May 17, 1845, Gilder Lehrman Collection, RGJ 496.34, The Hermitage. 343 “that it was not far distant” Andrew Jackson, Jr., to A.O.P. Nicholson, June 17, 1845, The Hermitage. 343 “When I have suffered” Ibid. 343 “I cannot be long with you all” Ibid. 343 “I wish to be buried” Ibid.
31 Texas remained a question Ibid. Jackson explicitly mentioned Andrew Donelson, “our minister there.” 343 tensions between London and Washington Ibid.
32 “He conversed generally” Andrew Jackson, Jr., to A.O.P. Nicholson, June 17, 1845, The Hermitage.
33 “let war come” Ibid. “He spoke of our Oregon difficulty and … expressed a hope and prayer that it would be amicably arranged by the two governments and if not let war come said he.”
34 “My dear Andrew” Correspondence, VI, 408–9. The letter was dated May 24, 1845.
35 “This may be the last” Ibid., 397–98.
36 “On the subject of my papers” Ibid., 406–7.
37 On Friday, June 6, he wrote President Polk Ibid., 413–14.
38 a note to Thomas F. Marshall Thomas F. Marshall to Andrew Jackson, Jr., June 20, 1845, Scott Ward Collection. The letter was written from Versailles, Kentucky.
39 “cold, clammy perspiration” Andrew Jackson, Jr., to A.O.P. Nicholson, June 17, 1845, The Hermitage.
40 the attending doctor thought Jackson was gone Here is Andrew Jackson, Jr., on the incident: “On … Saturday [June 7, 1845] he felt tolerably comfortable the first part of the day. He was then seized with a cold clammy perspiration, an evidence of death approaching. He talked but little that day.… Late in the evening Doctor Esselman came and he tried to check his bowels but to no purpose. The General rested pretty well that night. The next morning early I called the Doctor in. Soon after the Doctor coming in, nature seemed to give away and the gene
ral fainted. When the Doctor remarked he is gone, we laid him in bed, where he immediately recovered” (Andrew Jackson, Jr., to A.O.P. Nicholson, June 17, 1845, The Hermitage).
41 after ten minutes Elizabeth Martin Donelson to Andrew Jackson Donelson, June 9, 1845, Stanley Horn Collection, The Hermitage. In describing Jackson’s last moments, I have relied on the recollections and reports of Elizabeth Martin Donelson, Andrew Jackson, Jr., and Hannah, each of whom was in the room, and on the reconstruction found in Parton, Life, III, 678–79.
42 Lewis arrived Parton, Life, III, 678.
43 “Major, I am glad to see you” Ibid.
44 to defy expectations Hannah recalled: “About an hour before he died he [came] to—we had all thought he was dead before that” (Correspondence, VI, 415). These remarks are recorded in what is called “ ‘Old Hannah’s’ Narrative of Jackson’s Last Days.” It is worth noting that Hannah’s reminiscences were recorded when she was eighty-nine, in 1880—during an era in which there was much mythologizing about the relationship between slaveholders and slaves. See David W. Blight, Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (Cambridge, Mass., 2001). Still, Hannah’s memories have much in common with letters written close to the date of Jackson’s death.
45 looked up at her and asked how everyone was at home Elizabeth Martin Donelson to Andrew Jackson Donelson, June 9, 1845, Stanley Horn Collection, The Hermitage.
46 “Johnny went and kissed him” Ibid.
47 Jackson asked for his spectacles Correspondence, VI, 415.
48 licked the lenses, dried them on his sheet Ibid.
49 “God will take care” Andrew Jackson, Jr., to A.O.P. Nicholson, June 17, 1845, The Hermitage.
50 “Do not cry” Elizabeth Martin Donelson to Andrew Jackson Donelson, June 9, 1845, Stanley Horn Collection, The Hermitage.
51 “My conversation is for you all” Correspondence, VI, 415.
52 “Christ has no respect to color” Ibid.
53 “What is the matter” Andrew Jackson, Jr., to A.O.P. Nicholson, June 17, 1845, The Hermitage.
54 asked one of the slaves Correspondence, VI, 415.
55 “Just then” Ibid.
56 It was six o’clock Andrew Jackson, Jr., to A.O.P. Nicholson, June 17, 1845, The Hermitage.
57 what Elizabeth Donelson called “spasms” Elizabeth Martin Donelson to Andrew Jackson Donelson, June 9, 1845, Stanley Horn Collection, The Hermitage.
58 fainted … bathed in camphor Correspondence, VI, 415.
59 Andrew junior “seemed bewildered” Elizabeth Martin Donelson to Andrew Jackson Donelson, June 9, 1845, Stanley Horn Collection, The Hermitage. 345 Hannah, in grief, would not leave Correspondence, VI, 415.
60 “Although it was looked for” Elizabeth Martin Donelson to Andrew Donelson, June 9, 1845, Stanley Horn Collection, The Hermitage.
61 “Yours to the Genl I will keep” Ibid. The day after Jackson died, she wrote, “I have just received your letter.”
62 Sam Houston, who had just left Donelson, arrived James, TLOAJ, 786.
63 a reported three thousand people Parton, Life, III, 679.
64 conducted the service from the front portico Ibid.
65 “These are they which came” In Parton, Life, III, 679, the verse appears as “These are they which came out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.”
66 The Ninetieth psalm was read Andrew Jackson, Jr., to A.O.P. Nicholson, June 17, 1845, The Hermitage.
67 “How Firm a Foundation” Ibid.
68 Fear not, I am “How Firm a Foundation, Ye Saints of the Lord,” in The Hymnal, by the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., ed. Louis F. Benson, rev. ed. (Philadelphia, 1911), 505.
69 Thomas Marshall returned home Thomas F. Marshall to Andrew Jackson, Jr., June 20, 1845, Scott Ward Collection.
70 to see “the last characters” Ibid.
71 promised to visit the grave Ibid.
72 “He knew” Ibid.
73 “Before the nation, before the world” B. M. Dusenbery, Monument to the Memory of General Andrew Jackson (Philadelphia, 1848), 50.
74 “Sleep sweetly, aged soldier” Ibid., 69. In Pennsylvania, the governor, Francis R. Shunk, acknowledged the late hero’s divisiveness, but spoke of the same feelings that had been evident in Louisville when Jackson was coming home from Washington eight years before. “Whatever differences may exist among his countrymen in regard to some measures of his administration, it must be admitted by all that the same courageous assumption of responsibility—the same patriotism—the same energy and decision—the same honesty of purpose—and the same devotion to the constitution and the Union which distinguished him as a general, he displayed as a statesman. During his administration, questions arose which agitated the whole community. Even the Union itself was threatened, and gave occasion for an exhibition of devotion to its preservation which commanded universal applause” (ibid., 149). Shunk had also heard of the closing hours of Jackson’s life on the first floor of the Hermitage, and from afar the governor sensed the nature and strength of the bonds between Jackson and his broad family: “Childless, the pains of his last illness were assuaged, and its tedious hours beguiled by affection more than filial, and bursts of grief from hearts in which not a drop of his blood was mingled, paid the holiest tribute to his memory when he died,” Shunk said. “With paternal admonitions, tender adieus to those to whom not blood, but affection, made him father, in the confident hope of a blissful immortality, his spirit, released from its frail and decaying tenement, has gone to receive its reward” (ibid., 153–54).
75 according to legend, a visitor Oral tradition, The Hermitage.
76 Blair gave up the Globe FPB, 163–67.
77 Blair had loaned … the Jacksonian tome Ibid., 175–77.
78 Blair became a great Unionist Ibid., 150–77, tells the story of Blair’s important role in antebellum politics.
79 Blair helped engineer Ibid., 192–97.
80 Blair supported Lincoln Ibid., 262–64.
81 he urged the new president Ibid., 315–17.
82 On Lincoln’s authority Ibid., 283.
83 one of his sons, Montgomery Blair Ibid., 271.
84 Francis Bicknell Carpenter’s painting “First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln,” http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/artifact/Painting_33_00005.htm.
85 In the last days of 1864 FPB, 363–64.
86 “the cause of all our woes” Ibid., 364–67.
87 a Friday, February 3, 1865 Ibid., 368.
88 Blair and his daughter Lizzie Ibid., 371.
89 Blair asked to be baptized Ibid., 434.
90 Blair died four years later Ibid., 437.
91 retiring to Lindenwald Niven, Martin Van Buren, 485.
92 candidate for the Free Soil Party Ibid., 590.
93 He supported President Lincoln’s fight Ibid., 610–11.
94 died after a long illness Ibid., 611. See also New York Times, October 20, 1876.
95 “The grief of his patriotic friends” Ibid., 612.
96 leaving office in 1840 AAK,436.
97 published a biography of the general Ibid., 505.
98 Kendall went to work for Samuel F. B. Morse Ibid., 527.
99 supported President Lincoln Ibid., 621. Kendall published many articles denouncing secession, some of which are reprinted in his Autobiography, 580–619. 349 a generous donor to Calvary Baptist Church Ibid., 663–64.
100 a founder of Gallaudet University Ibid., 555. The school was originally named the Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind.
101 He died on Friday, November 12, 1869 Ibid., 690–91.
102 After losing the Senate election Remini, Jackson, II, 318.
103 president of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 544.
104 governor of the Florida territory Remini, Jackson, II, 321.
105 “Our friend John Eaton is harassed” TPA,
207.
106 Eaton was dispatched as the minister Ratner, Andrew Jackson and His Tennessee Lieutenants, 89.
107 writing that “he and she” TPA, 220.
108 campaigning for Van Buren’s 1840 opponent Ibid., 223.
109 “My friend Maj. Eaton comes home” Correspondence, VI, 59.
110 the couple lived with Margaret’s mother TPA, 223.
111 Eaton practiced law Ibid., 223–24.
112 “Never did I so much regret” Correspondence, VI, 112–13.
113 “I have thought ever since” TPA, 223.
114 In the summer of 1844 Ibid., 225.
115 Eaton died on Monday, November 17, 1856 Ibid., 227.
116 “We had been honored” Eaton, Autobiography of Peggy Eaton, 205.
117 Italian dancing master named Antonio Buchignani TPA, 229.
118 moved to New York City Ibid., 230–33.
119 “a carriage with four horses” Ibid., 224.
120 sent flowers to the funeral … unmarked grave Ibid., 235–36.
121 “She belonged to the women” Pollack, Peggy Eaton, 282.
122 secretary of state in John Tyler’s Cabinet PJCC, XXI, 395.
123 He died in Washington Coit, John C. Calhoun, 509–10.
124 Floride was en route Ibid., 512.
125 Clay saluted Calhoun’s oratorical gifts Ibid.
126 buried in the churchyard of St. Philip’s Ibid., 516.
127 served in the Senate until 1842 Remini, Henry Clay, 600.
128 seeking the presidency Ibid., 610.
129 (Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey) Ibid., 645.
130 hailed as “Young Hickory” Ibid., 654.
131 Clay asked after Jackson’s health Remini, Jackson, III, 481.
132 “The glorious result of the presidential election” Correspondence, VI, 334.
133 Compromise of 1850 Remini, Henry Clay, 730–61.
134 “Tell Clay for me” Ibid., 738.
135 Clay died on Tuesday, June 29, 1852 … lie in state Ibid., 781–86
136 “the acutest, the astutest, the archest enemy” Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 514.
137 rebellion aboard the Amistad Nagel, John Quincy Adams, 379–81.
138 collapsed on the floor of the House Ibid., 414.