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List of violent incidents involving Andrew Jackson

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Head and shoulders portrait of a man in a blue military uniform with gold braid
Andrew Jackson, 1819 portrait in oil paint by Samuel Lovett Waldo (Metropolitan Museum of Art object 06.197)

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] Similarly, during the 1824 presidential election, Jesse Benton, brother of U.S. Senator Thomas Hart Benton (and very much an interested party in questions of Jacksonian violence, as he was involved in a knock-down-drag-out tavern brawl with Jackson in 1813; see below), published a pamphlet that stated, "The first conspicuous acts of his life in Tennessee, may be found at the race-ground and cock-fight. At such places he was for many years, even up to the period of his joining the army, a leader and conspicuous actor. And it is a notorious fact, that he was scarce ever known to leave a race-round without having participated in an affray or riot, or at least a quarrel."[8]

Jackson's apparent propensity for physical violence was very much an issue for the anti-Jacksonians in the 1824 and 1828 presidential election. One Delaware voter wrote his local newspaper to this effect:[9]

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.[9]

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."[10]

Fights, duels, beatdowns, and attempts at same

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  • Duel with Waightstill Avery, 1788, both men fired into the air;[11] 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.[12]
  • 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]
  • Allegedly, according to an Adams-aligned paper in 1826, while Jackson was a judge (between 1798 and 1804), "it so happened that a man, with whom he had previously been at variance, and who had insulted him, made his appearance in the Court Room. The Judge, on recognising him, threw off his coat, assailed him with a cow-hide, and whipped him to his heart's satisfaction!"[13]
  • Roadside standoff in 1803 between Jackson and John Sevier, pistols and a sword were drawn;[10] 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."[14]
  • 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[15]
  • Duel with Charles Dickinson, May 30, 1806, Jackson killed Dickinson[16]
  • 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.[17][10]
  • 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",[18] and later successfully campaigned to have the agent's boss, Silas Dismoor, fired from his job.[19]
  • 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; Jesse Benton shot Jackson in the shoulder or arm and Jackson was seriously injured.[20] At age 46, this was Jackson's last gunfight. According to Remini in 1977, "Like the others, there was something petty about it. None of Jackson's quarrels did him credit; all diminished him."[3]: 186  As of 1826, there were still two bullets from this fight embedded in the wall of the tavern and "and to which some of the hot headed Tennesseans daily offer repeated and hearty libations."[21]
Bell Tavern photograph, taken sometime before the building was condemned in 1913, as published in Paddy Meagher's Ordinary and the Bell Tavern (Memphis and Shelby County Room 976.819 A955p)
  • Date unclear (1810s?), Jackson allegedly caned a man who suggested that he was the father of a girl called Sally Meagher who lived near the Third Chickasaw Bluff (now Memphis) and what is now called President's Island; "the account published of this caning by his enemies, some fifteen years later, was very prejudicial to Jackson. It was even stated that several of his friends stood by with cocked pistols, threatening to kill the follow if he moved. The General gave some grounds for this charge by his excessive fondness for Sally, and the common opinion was that he would either adopt her or do something handsome for her."[22] Paddy Meagher was some kind of vassal to Jackson, although no one entirely understood the arrangement. As for Sally, "Jackson once thrashed a fellow for talking about Sally. Sally was short and thick, and had red hair and a ready wit, all of which she inherited from Paddy. She had talented legs as well as a talented tongue, and could outdance the rest of the young women of the neighborhood. She drew custom to Paddy's bar, where a free and easy manner reigned."[23] In 1822, either the first or second property deed ever registered in Memphis (a town that began as a land speculation of Jackson, John Overton, and James Winchester) was lot 43, recorded in the name of Sally Meagher.[24] Both Paddy Meagher and Sally Meagher both eventually died of illnesses related to alcohol dependence.[24]
  • In 1828, Jackson and Jesse Benton had a sequel to their 1813 Nashville tavern brawl, only this time the venue was the Bell Tavern in Memphis. The second time around Jesse Benton was beaten.[22]
  • 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."[25]: 211 

Threats

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Russell Bean surrendering to Judge Jackson (conjectural illustration published 1844)
  • The highest and best use of Jackson's propensity for threatening people was probably in 1798, the first year of his service as a state judge. A man named Russell Bean had returned from an extended trip to the Natchez District, found his wife nursing a child he could not have fathered, and cut the baby's ears off.[26] Despite repeated attempts, the local sheriff failed to successfully execute the arrest warrant for Bean, a hulking and evidently well-armed master gunsmith. Jackson, on hearing this, armed himself with two pistols, found Bean and said something to the effect of "surrender, you infernal villain...or I'll blow you through."[3]: 115  In reply, Bean reportedly "called out, 'I'll surrender to you, Mr. Devil!' and laid down his arms."[2]
  • 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.[27]
  • 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.[9]
  • Allegedly "threatened personal violence to several of our senators" who were investigating or criticizing his illegal seizure of Florida, an invasion generally known as the First Seminole War.[9] To be specific, in January 1819 he apparently raged to his advisors that he should challenge Congressman Henry Clay to a duel for speaking out against him on the floor of the house and that he would "cut off [Abner] Lacock's ears" for heading the Senate select committee that "methodically gathered and sifted evidence" in the matter.[28]

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 c Allison, John (1897). "Dropped stitches in Tennessee history". HathiTrust. pp. 14, 117–118, 120. Retrieved 2024-12-19.
  3. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Benton, Jesse (September 1824). "Supplement to the Public Advertiser, Louisville, Kentucky". bostonathenaeum.org. Retrieved 2025-01-06.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ "Duels". Andrew Jackson's Hermitage. Retrieved 2024-09-04.
  12. ^ Arthur, John Preston. Western North Carolina: A History from 1730–1913. pp. 357–359. Retrieved 2024-12-24 – via HathiTrust.
  13. ^ "Portraits of the Opposition, Vol. VIII, Andrew Jackson, Part 1 of 3". Literary Cadet and Rhode-Island Statesman. 1826-10-07. p. 1. Retrieved 2025-01-06.
  14. ^ Remini (1977), p. 422 n. 32.
  15. ^ 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.
  16. ^ 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.
  17. ^ 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.
  18. ^ "Gen. Jackson and Silas Dinsmore". The Weekly Natchez Courier. 1828-08-23. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-11-28.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ ""Now Defend Yourself, You Damned Rascal!"". AMERICAN HERITAGE. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
  21. ^ "Portraits of the Opposition, No. VII". Literary Cadet and Rhode-Island Statesman. 1826-09-30. p. 2. Retrieved 2025-01-06.
  22. ^ a b Davis, James D. (1873). "History of Memphis : The history of the city of Memphis, being a compilation of the most important documents and historical events connected with the purchase ..." HathiTrust. pp. 125–130. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
  23. ^ "Old Bell Tavern Pays Debt to Time". The Commercial Appeal. 1914-10-11. p. 7. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
  24. ^ a b "Buying Property Here In 1820 Was No Profitable Job". The Commercial Appeal. 1932-05-02. p. 7. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
  25. ^ Somit, Albert (1948). "Andrew Jackson: Legend and Reality". Tennessee Historical Quarterly. 7 (4): 291–313. ISSN 0040-3261. JSTOR 42620991.
  26. ^ Wolfe, Margaret Ripley (2021). Daughters Of Canaan: A Saga of Southern Women. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 112–113. ISBN 978-0-8131-8983-3.
  27. ^ "A brief and impartial history of the life and actions of Andrew Jackson / By a free man". HathiTrust. p. 20. Retrieved 2024-12-11.
  28. ^ Belko, William S. (2011-01-23). America's Hundred Years' War. University Press of Florida. p. 117. doi:10.5744/florida/9780813035253.003.0005. ISBN 978-0-8130-3525-3.

Further reading

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