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List of violent incidents involving Andrew Jackson

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Andrew Jackson, 1819 portrait in oil paint by Samuel Lovett Waldo

Andrew Jackson, later seventh president of the United States, was involved in a series of altercations in his personal and professional life. According to historian J. M. Opal, "[Jackson's] willingness to kill, assault, or threaten people was a constant theme in his adult life and a central component of the reputation he cultivated."[1]: 70  One writer who investigated Jackson's brief residence circa 1788–89 in what is now East Tennessee reported, "He was recognized from the first as a man who 'would fight at the drop of a hat, and drop the hat himself.'"[2] Per biographer Robert V. Remini, Jackson had a "vicious temper that frequently exploded into ugly language and acts,"[3]: 7  and such a temper tantrum, "so furious and startlingly sudden, intimidated his victims by its abruptness and its noisiness. Unfortunately, Jackson could not resist playing the bully when it suited his purpose."[3]: 162 

It has been hyperbolically claimed that Jackson "participated in more than 100 duels over his lifetime" but that is not correct.[4] That said, in 1828 a man named Dr. James L. Armstrong, who had been a surgeon in Jackson's militia in the War of 1812,[5] claimed that he had started making a list of altercations involving Jackson and the final list "accumulated to nearly ONE HUNDRED FIGHTS or violent and abusive quarrels," although Armstrong's index, published under the title General Jackson's "juvenile indiscretions" between the ages of 23 and 60, listed but 14 instances.[6] Shortly after the publication of this document, a Kentucky newspaper claimed that four men, including Archibald Yell, stopped by to "assassinate" Dr. Armstrong in Bedford County for writing anti-Jackson columns, chasing him down and clubbing him. A comment from another correspondent was appended to the report which stated, "This is Jacksonism in its true colors such as the Hero in early times has often acted himself!"[7] Jackson's apparent propensity for physical violence was very much an issue for the anti-Jacksonians in the 1828 presidential election. One Delaware voter wrote his local newspaper to this effect:[8]

It would be an endless task to notice with proper comment the many disqualifying traits in the character and conduct of General Jackson. I shall, therefore, for the present, only notice some of those breaches of law, both human and divine, contempt of order and good government, and violations of the principles of humanity of which he has been guilty and which are not denied by his partizans but which they attempt to excuse or justify—and then simply ask whether such excuses and justifications will satisfy your minds that such a man ought to be president of this Union...They do not deny, that Andrew Jackson has often been engaged in the most disgraceful broils and riots in the streets and taverns of Nashville, shooting with pistols and stabbing with dirks on all hands of him. But they tell you that we have no right to investigate his private character, and that his quarrels, duels, adulteries and murders, furnish no arguments against his fitness for an office, where patience, ability and virtuous principles are indispensable requisites to the continuance of the good Government and liberties of our country.[8]

Despite Jackson's leadership of militia in the War of 1812, the Creek War, and the Seminole War, historians have found that "there is no explicit account of his actually firing at an enemy in standard battle."[9]

Fights, duels, and attempts at same

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  • Duel with Waightstill Avery, 1788, both men fired into the air;[10] the cause seems to have been Avery ridiculing a legal argument made by Jackson in court, with one variation being "that Jackson had ridiculed Avery's pet authority—Bacon's Abridgment—and Avery, in his retort, had grown, as he afterwards admitted, too sarcastic, intimating that Jackson had much to learn before he would be competent to criticize any law book whatever." Avery reportedly gave Jackson a fatherly lecture after the duel was over and kept the written challenge filed amongst his myriad papers as "Challenge from Andrew Jackson." John Adair was Avery's second.[11]
  • Duel with unidentified opponent near Jonesboro, Tennessee, probably 1789, but sometime before November 1790, "'in the long meadow,' as it was then called (formerly the 'hollow'), on the north side of town, and they all asserted that the duel with Avery was fought on the hill on the south side...He said that Jackson hit his man, but he was not seriously wounded, and soon recovered and left the community; that Jackson was not touched."[2]
  • Roadside standoff in 1803 between Jackson and John Sevier, pistols and a sword were drawn;[9] Remini speculated that "with all this dallying it is possible that neither man really wanted to risk his life and career on a duel but that both wished to stigmatize the other with a refusal to fight. Perhaps it should be pointed out that Sevier had eighteen children."[12]
  • Jackson beat Virginia attorney Thomas Swann with a cane at a tavern, late 1805 or early 1806, part of the long lead-up to the fatal-for-Dickinson Jackson–Dickinson duel[13]
  • Duel with Charles Dickinson, May 30, 1806, Jackson killed Dickinson[14]
  • In 1807, Jackson was tried and acquitted on charges of assault with intent to kill against Samuel Jackson (no relation, as far as historians can tell), during which A. Jackson brought a hidden knife to a rock fight. S. Jackson was not seriously injured, if at all, and the pair later did business with one another.[15][9]
  • According to various reliable sources, threatened a federal agent in 1812. One description has it that "when he approached the Agency, he armed his negroes with axes, hired some half breed Indians with their arms—marched by the agency in military order, himself at their head with the cap of his holsters thrown back, and his rifle cocked",[16] and later successfully campaigned to have the agent's boss, Silas Dismoor, fired from his job.[17]
  • In 1813 Jackson participated in an organized-in-advance (as opposed to spontaneous) brawl at Nashville tavern with Thomas Hart Benton (great-great-uncle of the painter), Jesse Benton, John Coffee, Stockley Hays, and Alexander Donelson. The men deployed knives, and whips, and shot each other with pistols; one of Jackson's arms was significantly injured by an opponent's bullet.[18]
  • During an assassination attempt while he was president, at age 68, Jackson "armed only with a cane, he had valiantly charged forth to do battle with an assassin carrying two pistols."[19]: 211 

Threats

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  • Allegedly threatened to hang attorney Jonathan Thompson "to the first tree, or highest tree" for pursuing legal action regarding Aaron Burr and/or Harman Blennerhassett's debts.[20]
  • Allegedly "swore by god he would shoot all his prisoners" if served a writ of habeas corpus for people detained under his declaration of martial law in New Orleans in 1814–15.[8]
  • Allegedly "threatened personal violence to several of our senators" who were investigating or criticizing his conduct in the First Seminole War.[8]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Opal, J. M. (October 2013). "General Jackson's Passports: Natural Rights and Sovereign Citizens in the Political Thought of Andrew Jackson, 1780s–1820s". Studies in American Political Development. 27 (2): 69–85. doi:10.1017/S0898588X13000060. ISSN 0898-588X.
  2. ^ a b Allison, John (1897). "Dropped stitches in Tennessee history". HathiTrust. pp. 14, 117–118. Retrieved 2024-12-19.
  3. ^ a b Remini, Robert V. (1977). Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Empire, 1767–1821. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0-8018-5912-0. LCCN 77003766. OCLC 1145801830.
  4. ^ "Andrew Jackson was in more than 100 duels! And he killed a man..." washingtonpost.com.
  5. ^ "Tennessee militia". The Nashville Whig. 1812-12-16. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-12-18.
  6. ^ Armstrong, James L. Reminiscences, or, An extract from the catalogue of General Jackson's "juvenile indiscretions" between the ages of 23 and 60 / [James L. Armstrong]. State Library of Pennsylvania. s.n. p. 8.
  7. ^ "Assassination Attempted". Lexington Weekly Press. 1828-07-30. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-12-18.
  8. ^ a b c d "To the Voters of Delaware & Reasons I will not support Andrew Jackson for President". Delaware State Journal, Advertiser and Star. 1827-09-21. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-12-28.
  9. ^ a b c Burstein, Andrew (2003). The Passions of Andrew Jackson. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-375-41428-2. LCCN 2002016258. OCLC 49385944.
  10. ^ "Duels". Andrew Jackson's Hermitage. Retrieved 2024-09-04.
  11. ^ Arthur, John Preston. Western North Carolina: A History from 1730–1913. pp. 357–359. Retrieved 2024-12-24 – via HathiTrust.
  12. ^ Remini (1977), p. 422 n. 32.
  13. ^ Cheathem, Mark R. (2014). Andrew Jackson, Southerner. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-8071-5099-3. LCCN 2012049695. OCLC 858995561. Project MUSE book 26506.
  14. ^ Brammer, Robert (2015-04-15). "Frontier Racing and Injured Pride: The Duel Between Andrew Jackson and Charles Dickinson | In Custodia Legis". The Library of Congress. Retrieved 2024-09-04.
  15. ^ Onion, Rebecca (2014-03-05). "The "Coffin Handbill" Andrew Jackson's Enemies Used to Circulate Word of His "Bloody Deeds"". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  16. ^ "Gen. Jackson and Silas Dinsmore". The Weekly Natchez Courier. 1828-08-23. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-11-28.
  17. ^ Kennedy, Roger G. (2000). Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson: A Study in Character. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 317–325. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195140552.001.0001. ISBN 9780199848775. LCCN 99022453. OCLC 181840559.
  18. ^ ""Now Defend Yourself, You Damned Rascal!"". AMERICAN HERITAGE. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
  19. ^ Somit, Albert (1948). "Andrew Jackson: Legend and Reality". Tennessee Historical Quarterly. 7 (4): 291–313. ISSN 0040-3261. JSTOR 42620991.
  20. ^ "A brief and impartial history of the life and actions of Andrew Jackson / By a free man". HathiTrust. p. 20. Retrieved 2024-12-11.

Further reading

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