about what do with Jackson. Secretary of State John
Quincy Adams argued that he was fighting on behalf
of the United States, saving him from probable censure.
Despite Spanish protestations, Florida was made a part
of the United States, and Jackson was named as the mili-
tary governor of the new territory in 1821. He served in
this position for a year.
By 1822, with a new presidential election just
two years away, many politicians felt that military hero
Jackson should be nominated for president. Jackson, a
Democrat, accepted first a “nomination” by the Tennes-
see legislature to have him nominated as president, then
election to a U.S. Senate seat, from 4 March 1823 to 14
October 1825. In 1824, he ran for president against John
Quincy Adams, former Speaker of the House Henry
Clay, and William H. Crawford. Jackson received more
votes, but because there was no candidate with a major-
ity, the election was decided by the House of Represen-
tatives. There, Clay gave his votes to Adams, who was
declared president; Clay was named as secretary of state.
Jackson’s supporters called this the “corrupt bargain” and
denounced the administration throughout its four-year
term. Jackson was convinced that the machinations of
Clay and Adams had denied him the presidency.
In 1828, Jackson ran for a second time, this time
against the incumbent Adams, who had presided over a
poor economy. The campaign that year was one of the
worst in American history in terms of the insults and
slander thrown around, with unsubstantiated charges
being made by both sides. However, Jackson scored an
easy victory over Adams, in an election in which rural
voters, many of whom had not voted before, came out
in large numbers for this son of the South. Elected the
seventh president of the United States, Jackson’s triumph
was marred when his beloved wife died, a tragedy that
many historians believe was caused by the accusations of
bigamy when she had married Jackson.
On 4 March 1829, Jackson took office as a wid-
ower. In short order, he became one of the most domi-
nant leaders to serve as president up until that time—so
much so that his opponents called him “King Andrew I.”
He formed his administration by rewarding friends with
high positions and punishing those who opposed him.
One senator accurately described this form of patronage
when he said that “to the victor belongs the spoils.” Thus
the practice became known as the “spoils system,” and it
took nearly 50 years to ban it. Opponents also charged
that Jackson did not consult or work with Congress suf-
ficiently. When South Carolina refused to acknowledge
the government’s high protective tariff on textiles made
in the state, it precipitated a crisis with Jackson, who
warned the movement’s leaders that he would hang them
if they defied him. Through the intervention of Henry
Clay, a compromise was worked out and a potential
government and constitutional showdown was avoided.
Jackson also opposed the recharter of the Second Bank
of the United States as a government-sponsored corpo-
ration. Henry Clay and noted orator Daniel Webster
joined a chorus of national leaders who voiced outrage
that Jackson refused to work with Congress on the mat-
ter. Jackson told Martin van Buren, “The bank is trying
to kill me, but I will kill it.” Jackson vetoed the bank’s
recharter, and Congress could not muster enough votes
to override the veto. Despite his antagonism toward
Congress, Jackson remained popular with the American
people, and in 1832 he ran for reelection and received
56 percent of the vote.
In his second term, Jackson again faced down op-
ponents over the Bank of the United States, precipitat-
ing the “Bank War” that lasted for much of his second
term. He also forcefully moved Indian tribes from their
ancestral lands in the eastern United States to unpopu-
lated areas in the Midwest. He groomed his vice presi-
dent, Martin Van Buren, to succeed him, and Van Buren
won the election of 1836, following which Jackson re-
tired to the Hermitage. Although an invalid for the last
eight years of his life, Jackson remained close to political
associates and continued to write on national and local
political matters. He died at the Hermitage on 8 June
1845, age 78, and was buried in the garden on the estate
next to his beloved wife Rachel.
In a eulogy to Jackson, famed historian George
Bancroft said: “In life, his career had been like the blaze
of the sun in the fierceness of its noon-day glory; his
death was lonely as the mildest sunset of a summer’s eve-
ning, when the sun goes down in tranquil beauty with-
out a cloud.”References: Jenkins, John Stilwell, ed., Life and Public
Services of Gen. Andrew Jackson, Seventh President of the
United States, Including the Most Important of His State Pa-
pers.... (Buffalo, N.Y.: G. H. Derby & Company, 1850);
Parton, James, Life of Andrew Jackson, 3 vols. (New York:
Mason Brothers, 1860); Walker, Alexander, The Life of
Andrew Jackson: To which is Added an Authentic Narra-
tive of the Memorable Achievements of the American ArmyJA ckSon, AnDRew