Fall 2021 Part 2

  

 

 

Presidents Part 1

 

 

I decided to create a new series about the American Presidents, because Donald Trump lost the election in 2020 plainly speaking. 40 Years of the Reagan Revolution is now over. Frankly, if we want to move forward in America, we have to confront racism, police brutality, sexism, environmental pollution, and other evils still existing in the world (not just in America). This is a new era. Because of that, I knew that I wanted to analyze every President from George Washington to Joseph Biden. After more than two centuries, America is still here. We live in a more diverse national atmosphere culturally, socially, and politically than during the late 18th century. Yet, we exist now to advocate for the sacrosanct principle that justice is meant for all people without any exceptions. Presidents reflect the imperfections of America and the massive changes during the evolution of American society too. America has always existed in controversy. The first President George Washington was a notorious slave owner, Freemason, and signed a Fugitive Slave Act to allow vigilantes to kidnap black people who desire liberation. 

 

This fact ought to be known in history books, but some reactionaries in Texas including in other states enjoy historical revisionism (even some in the Texas Senate desire to omit calling KKK an evil group in textbooks. The KKK is a terrorist, racist group period) instead of truth. That is why I created this series, so people globally can witness the reality that good people and wicked people lived in America. In that sense, real progressive change can earnestly come about. People have every right to resist a capitalist system that promote poverty wages, billionaires having trillions of dollars of benefits (without some of them paying federal taxes), and police terrorism. The evolution of American Presidents dealt with the debates on the role of government, massive historical events, political revolutions, various wars, social movements, and various laws. So, we will win in the end after this journey for our rightful liberation. 

 

 

George Washington

  

To start with the history of the Presidency, you have to start in the beginning. Regardless of what far right conservatives or class reductionists say, America had a foundation made up of the evils of slavery and the genocide of the Native Americans. Many people back then fought for justice, and some didn't. That fact of history must always be emphasized. In order to make a better, you have to evaluate the past and the present. In the near future, I'm going to continue to describe more information that documents a summary of every President in American history. The first President of the United States was George Washington (1732-1799). He was born in my birth state of Virginia. He was not only a slave owner and President. He was a Freemason, a political leader, a statesman, and a military general. He fought in the French and Indian War, and he was the general of Patriot forces in the Americans Revolutionary War. During the beginning of the Revolutionary War, the Patriot forces suffered heavily until later on via better training and assistance from France including Spain. George Washington was also the person who presided at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. The Convention helped to form the Constitution of the United States. The growth of the federal government existed. Me personally, I believe in a strong federal government as a means to advance the general welfare of all people in society. He was President from April 30, 1789 to March 4, 1797. George Washington was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and the 14th Chancellor of the College of William and Mary (at Williamsburg, Virginia). From 1749 to 1750, he was an official Surveyor of Culpepper County, Virginia. Washington worked to adopt and ratify the Constitution, and he was elected twice as President by the Electoral College. He desired a strong, well financed national government. He also was impartial when there was a fierce rivalry between cabinet members Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. The reason for this tension caused the Federalist vs. Anti-Federalist debate. Jefferson was more sympathetic with the Anti-Federalists who wanted a strong state government and a weaker national government. Alexander Hamilton supported Federalists who wanted a strong federal government to build roads, to set up banking, and the develop more infrastructure to grow American society. Washington sanctioned the Jay Treaty. George Washington gave his Farewell Address to condemn entangling alliances and political polarization. 

 

George Washington is probably the most famous Freemason in American history. He joined Masonry in the Lodge at Fredericksburg, Virginia. I'm from Virginia, so Fredericksburg is in Northern Virginia near the mountains. He was 20 years old when he received the first degree (or the Entered Apprentice) on November 4, 1752. To join, he paid the lodge 2 pounds and three shillings. He was in the 2nd degree of the Fellowcraft on March 3, 1753 when he was 21 years old. On June 24, 1779, Washington attended American Union Lodge's celebration of the Feast of St. John the Baptist. The lodge was made up of officers and enlisted men in the Connecticut regiments. He visited King Solomon's Lodge in Poughkeepsie, New York on December 27, 1783. He was the presiding Masonic member on the ceremonial laying of the Masonic cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol building on September 18, 1793 (in a corn, wine, and oil ceremony). 

One of the most terrible things that George Washington did was to own slaves and make policies to protect slavery. He only freed his slaves in a 1799 will. Also, he wanted to assimilate Native Americans into Anglo-American culture which is not right as Native Americans have the right to maintain their culturally diverse identities. George Washington was part of the Anglican Church as a large percentage of Presidents are. To this day, he has been praised in locations, stamps, monuments, and other themes. He was one of the most prominent Presidents in American history. His family were made up of Virginia planters. His great grandfather, John Washington, came into Virginia in 1656 from Sulgrave, Northamptonshire, England. Washington, during his youth, was a map maker as he studied mathematics like trigonometry including land surveying. Also, George Washington is related to the Frankish King Charlemagne I. On January 6, 1759, he married Martha Dandrige Custis. Washington opposed the British Parliament over the Stamp Act of 1765, over taxation without representation, and the Proclamation Act of 1763 (which forbid American settlements west of the Allegheny Mountains and protected the British flur trade). Washington opposed black people to join the Continental Army until the Dunmore Proclamation (that promised freedom to black slaves if they joined the British). It was only on January 16, 1776 when Congress allowed free black people to be in the American militia. By the end of the war, one-tenth of Washington's army were black human beings. 

As President, George Washington talked to people in his cabinet for advice. He rejected political divisiveness, but he believed in a strong central government. He had to deal with a military, budget, and other issues. Congress made many executive departments in 1789 like the State Department, the Treasury Department, and the Department of War. Washington did terrible things on the issue of slavery. He denied citizenship to black immigrants, slaves were barred from serving in state militias, and he admitted more slavery states. He signed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 to allow agents to kidnap slaves and bring them back into slavery. George Washington wanted Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton to have a true in their disagreements. He failed. Washington rejected Jefferson after his support of Freneau's National Gazette. By his 2nd term, he was neutral involving the French Revolution. Many of Washington's slaves escaped like Ona Judge to Portsmouth, Virginia and Hercules to Philadelphia. Washington knew slavery was evil, but he felt that radical change to eliminate slavery would end the Republic. That argument is of course wrong as freedom should be for all people regardless. Washington's will freed all of his slaves after the death of his wife Martha. Martha signed and order freeing slaves in 1801. George Washington wanted to leave office in 2 terms. He died by having a cold and it escalated massively. He lost much blood and passed away. He was 67 years old. Some believed that he died from epiglottis. He was buried at Mount Vernon, Virginia. 

 

 

John Adams

 

John Adams was the second American President. He lived from 1735 to 1826. As a statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and leader of the American Revolution, he was involved in very historic events. His wife was Abigail Adams, and his adviser was Thomas Jefferson. John Adams have had a long career in government. He was the 1st Vice President and the 1st United States Minister to the United Kingdom. He was the Chairman of the Maine Committee and the Delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress. He was born in Braintree, Massachusetts. Harvard was where he was educated. He ironically defended British soldiers against the charge of murder from the Boston Massacre. He worked to draft the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Adams was the main author of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780 that influenced the American Constitution. His essay of Thoughts on Government influenced political thought to this very day in 2021. As part of the Federalist Party, he was in opposition to the Jeffersonian republicans. John Adams was wrong to sign the Alien and Sedition Acts that violated human civil liberties. He helped to build up the Army and the Navy in the Quasi War with France. He was the first President to live in the White House. He was a friend to Thomas Jefferson. Of the first 12 U.S. Presidents, John Adams and his son were the only Presidents who never owned slaves. Adams's great great grandfather Henry Adams immigrated to Massachusetts from Baintree, Essex, England in ca. 1638. Adams was in a family of Puritans. His father was a deacon. He knew of the classics like Thucydides, Plato, Cicero, and Tacitus. John Adams was a lawyer before he was President. He supported the Boston Tea Party protest and he was a member of the Continental Congress. 

 

John Adams wanted American independence. He was part of the Second Continental Congress too. John Adams worked in diplomacy as a commissioner to France. Adams disagreed with Benjamin Franklin on how to deal with French relations. He didn't want a Franco-American alliance while Franklin did. He was a President later on. He suffered the XYZ Affair. John Adams wanted to be neutral involving France and England. Jefferson supported France, and Hamilton supported the UK. Thomas Jefferson was his vice President, and ironically Jefferson would defeat him in a Presidential race.  John Adams retired after 1801. John Adams believed in republicanism, bicameral Congress, and the separation of powers among executive, judicial, and legislative branches. John Adams became a follower of  Unitarianism. He publicly didn't like slavery, but he refused to support legal policies to abolish slavery. His wife publicly opposed slavery. John Adams was a Federalist, but he had his own thinking on many issues. 

 

 

Thomas Jefferson

 

As the third President of America, Thomas Jefferson's life and legacy has been debated. Thomas Jefferson was a very controversial man. He was a diplomat, a lawyer, a slaveholder, an architect, a musician, a philosopher, and he was vice President under President John Adams from 1797 to 1801. He believed in republicanism, individual rights (except for certain people, and you know what I mean. People who look like me), and promoted independence against Great Britain. He was a more conservative person on economic issues. He was a delegate from Virginia to the Continental Congress, the 2nd Governor of Virginia, and the delegate from Virginia to the Congress of the Confederation. He was the United States of Secretary of State and the 2nd United States Minister to France. Thomas Jefferson is an open book. He was a Virginia legislator who drafted a state law for religious freedom. Back then, many Baptists and other religious minorities were oppressed by the Church of England in Virginia. Numerous Baptists were thrown into prison in Virginia centuries because of opposition to baptizing infants. Therefore, the religious liberty law in Virginia rightfully states that a human being has the right to believe as he or she desires without oppression. Jefferson and James Madison formed the Democratic Republican Party to oppose the Federalist Party. Madison and Jefferson believed in the states' rights doctrine. He promoted the nullifying the federal Alien and Sedition Acts. 

He fought against the Barbary pirates, and he supported the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 that doubled the nation's size by theft without any consideration of the Native Americans tribes in the North American continent. Jefferson was a planter in his life. He surveyed many lands. Jefferson was part of the American Philosophical Society. He rejected organized religion denying the miracles of Jesus Christ by viewing him as only a great moral teacher. In the Christian faith, Jesus Christ was more than a moral teacher. He was the Son of the living God who saved the sins of the whole world. Thomas Jefferson believed in the views and teachings of the Enlightenment. He owned over 60 slaves, and he was a racist viewing black people as genetically and intellectually inferior (as found in his book about Virginia). Thomas Jefferson knew Sally Hemings, who was a multiracial slave. DNA evidence proved that Jefferson probably fathered at least six children with Hemings, including 4 that survived to adulthood. Evidence finds that Jefferson started his activities with Hemings when she was only 14 while he was 44 at Paris, France. Hemings was pregnant when she was 16 years old. Sally Hemings was born in Virginia.

 

By the time he was 16 years old, Thomas Jefferson studied at the College and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. He studied mathematics, metaphysics, and philosophy under Professor William Small. Small promoted empiricists like John Locke, Francis Bacon, and Sir Isaac Newton. Empiricists believe that what can be seen and researched directly relates to real evidence. Jefferson read literature on law, philosophy, history, religion, science, and agriculture. His library was made up of hundreds of books at first and he had over 1,200 titles by 1773 and grew to almost 6,500 volumes by 1814. On January 1, 1772, Thomas Jefferson married his 3rd cousin Martha Wayles Skelton. He had 6 children with Martha. He helped to finished Monticello. He was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence despite having the contradiction of being a slaveholder. Thomas Jefferson was President by March 4, 1801 when he was sworn in by Chief Justice John Marshall at the new Capitol in Washington, D.C. Jefferson ended the whiskey tax. He grew the military by investing in the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He promoted the Lewis and Clark Expedition of the western side of North America. He wanted Native Americans to be assimilated into Western society. 

He had his 2nd term in 1804. John Randolph was once Jefferson's ally who accused Jefferson of moving too much into the Federalist direction. Jefferson wanted national roads and canals in 1808. Jefferson opposed the international slave trade in the 1800's. Jefferson accused Burr of treason for attempting to make a military response in America. Burr was found not guilty by Jefferson's political foe John Marshall. Thomas Jefferson, after he was President, sold his books to the Library of Congress. He founded the built the University of Virginia. He communicated with many country leaders. Thomas Jefferson wrote letters in Monticello visited by tourists constantly. He reconciled with John Adams before his death. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams exchanged letters to discuss issues, debate topics, and focus on other things. Thomas Jefferson met the Marquis de Lafayette before Jefferson's death at 1824. Jefferson and Madison gave Lafayette a tour of the University of Virginia. He died on July 4, 1826 on the 50th year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. He freed Sally Heming's children in his instructions. Jefferson admitted that slavery was a moral evil that the nation will have to account to God for, but he issued contradictory responses to slavery (which was his error. He even opposed the Haitian Revolution). Jefferson was a farmer and inventor. Thomas Jefferson was a man who made numerous accomplishments, but he also was wrong in his promotion of racism and his refusal to be courageous on the issue of slavery. 

  

 

James Madison

 

James Madison, as the 4th President, was born at Belle Grove in Virginia. He was a diplomat, an  expansionist, a philosopher, a statesman, and one of the Founders. He was President from 1809 to 1817. He played a large role in drafting and promoting the Constitution of the United States and the United States Bill of Rights. The Federalist Papers have James Madison being one of its authors, and he co-founded the Democratic-Republican Party. He was the United States Secretary of States from 1801 to 1809. James Madison was part of the U.S. House of Representatives form Virginia, he was a Delegate from Virginia to the Congress of the Confederation, and he was married to Dolley Todd. His family was part of a Virginia planter family. His parents were James Madison Sr. and Nelly Conway Madison. His father owned over 100 slaves, and he was a tobacco farmer. James Madison, as a child, studied mathematics, geography, and modern including classical languages. Latin is the language that he was proficient in. In 1769, he attended Princeton at New Jersey. He debated people at college and learned theology, the works of the Enlightenment, Latin, and Greek. James Madison was heavily influenced by the Enlightenment teachings. He had extensive experience of politics like being in the Virginia House of Delegates and being part of the Continental Congress. He didn't want a weak national government as found in the Articles of Confederation. He helped to organize the Constitutional Convention that supplant the Articles of Confederation. When the Revolutionary War existed, he joined the Patriot cause. The Loyalists were allies of King George III. He wanted a close alliance between America and France. He worked with Thomas Jefferson to form the Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom. This disestablished the Church of England by 1786. 

The Federalist Papers was made up by him, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay. The Federalist Papers helped people to understand the Constitution more with social commentaries on political topics. He was close advisor to George Washington. The Bill of Rights guarantees personal freedoms and rights that he helped to established. By the early 1790's, he disagreed with Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton's economic plans and centralization of power views. He worked with Thomas Jefferson to form the Democratic-Republican Party. Hamilton was part of the Federalist Party. Under President Jefferson, Secretary of State James Madison supervised the 1803 Louisiana Purchase that doubled America's size. Madison was President in 1809. After diplomatic protests and a trade embargo failed to end British seizures of American shipping, President Madison led America into the War of 1812. Many Federalists and some Democratic-Republicans from the Northeast opposed the war. America tried to invade Canada, but they failed by General William Hull surrendering to British including Native American forces at Detroit (on August 16). The war ended in an inconclusive fashion. Some Americans saw it as a 2nd war of independence against Britain. General Jackson defeated the British at the Battle of New Orleans on January of 1815. This comes during the time when the Treaty of Ghent was signed ending the War of 1812. Madison was later convinced that a stronger federal government must be established. That is why he formed the Second Bank of the United States. He promoted the protective tariff of 1816. By treaty of war, Madison's Presidency added 23 million acres of Native American land to America. He retired form public office in 1817, and he died in 1836 at Virginia. James Madison never privately reconciled his Republican beliefs with his slave ownership. James Madison believed in the silly notion that Native Americans must assimilate into farmers and embrace American/British civilization in order to be "whole." In private, Madison was racist to assume that Native Americans aren't civilized people. James Madison retired by politics by 1817 being 65 years old. Madison advised Presidents, and he privately disagreed with the North's opposition to the expansion of slavery as found in the debate of Missouri Compromise. Madison didn't agree with the nullification movement, and he said that no state had the right to secede. He helped Jefferson to create the University of Virginia. James Madison, by the time of his passing, was concerned about how future generations of people would think of him. So, he edited letters, inked out original passage, etc. He died of congestive heart failure by June 28, 1836 at the age of 85.  

 

 

James Monroe

 

James Monroe was the 5th President of the United States of America. He was a lawyer, a statesman, a diplomat, and a Founder. He was President from 1817 to 1825. He was part of the Democratic Republican Party. He was the last President of the early Virginia dynasty. He lived in the Era of Good Feelings. People know him for his Monroe Doctrine that opposed European colonialism in the Americas, but Monroe endorsed colonialism in the USA against black plus Native Americans. James Monroe was born on April 28, 1758 at Westmoreland County, Virginia. His parents are Spence Monroe and Elizabeth Jones. Spence Monroe was a slave owner. His paternal great great grandfather Patrick Andrew Monroe emigrated to America from Scotland in the mid 1600's. He was part of the ancient Scottish clan called Clan Munro. He is related to French Huguenot immigrants who came to Virginia in 1700. Monroe was a lieutenant in the 3rd Virginia Regiment of the Continental Army (during the American Revolutionary war). James Monroe was part of the surprise attack on the Hessian encampment at the Battle of Trenton on December 1776. He, George Washington, and others crossed across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania.  He was a governor of Virginia, a member of the United States Senate, and an U.S. ambassador to France and Britain. He was the 7th Secretary of State and the 8th Secretary of War. James Monroe was part of the military in the Continental Army and the Virginia Militia. He studied law under Thomas Jefferson from 1780 to 1783.  Monroe opposed the ratification of the United States Constitution. He followed the Jefferson's candidacy in the 1800 presidential election. Monroe helped to negotiate the Louisiana Purchase. He defeated the Federalist Party candidate Rufus King in the 1816 Presidential election. The Federalist Party collapsed as a national political force during the Era of Good Feelings. Monroe signed the racist Missouri Compromise. This admitted Missouri as a slave state and banned slavery from the territories north of the parallel 36'20 north. James Monroe had 3 children with his wife. He owned many slaves. Monroe knew that slavery was wrong and supported private manumission. Yet, he didn't want immediate emancipation. He claimed to want domestic tranquility while being wishy washy on slavery. He was a Governor of Virginia for many years from 1799 to 1802. 

 

Monroe and the Secretary of State John Quincy Adams favored a policy of reconciliation with Britain and a policy of expansionism against the Spanish Empire. In the 1819 Adams-Onis Treaty with Spain, the United States secured Florida and established its western border with New Spain. The Monroe Doctrine was formed in 1823, Monroe opposed against European intervention in the recently independent countries of the Americas with the Monroe Doctrine. Monroe was a member of the American Colonization Society. This wanted the colonization of Africa by freed slaves, and Liberia's capital of Monrovia is named after him. After his retirement in 1825, Monroe had financial difficulties. He died on July 4, 1831 in New York City. He was the last adult Revolutionary War veteran. He was a member of the Society of Cincinnati too. 

 

 

John Quincy Adams

 

The sixth President was John Quincy Adams (1767-1848). He was an American statesman, a diplomat, a lawyer, and a diarist. He was President of the Untied of the United States from 1825 to 1829. He was the 8th United States Secretary of State from 1817 to 1825. John Quincy Adams was the oldest son of John Adams. He was a Federalist, then a Democratic-Republican Party, and finally was affiliated with the Whig Party. His Vice President was John C. Calhoun. He was the U.S. House of Representatives member from Massachusetts, United States Senator from Massachusetts, a member of the Massachusetts Senate, the 7th United States Minister to the United Kingdom, the 1st United States Minister to Prussia, and the 3rd United States Minister to the Netherlands. Braintree, Massachusetts was the time of his birth. He was named after his mother's maternal grandfather Colonel John Quincy. Quincy, Massachusetts is named after John Quincy too. He was great in learning literary skills, and he formed his diary. He kept it until just before he died in 1848. John Quincy Adams read the works of Thucydides and Hugo Grotius. He also translated classical authors like Virgil, Horace, Plutarch, and Aristotle. John Quincy Adams graduated 2nd in his class from Harvard University in 1787. He spent time with his father, John Adams, in Europe as a child. He also formed a successful legal practice in Boston. President George Washington, in 1794, appointed him the U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands. He left the Federalist Party over foreign policy. John Quincy Adams was part of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia by 1818. He worked on the Adams-Onis Treaty and promoted the American acquisition of Florida. John Quincy Adams worked as an ambassador to promote neutrality. He loved his children too. John Quincy Adams opposed Jefferson on many issues, but he agreed with him on the expansionist Louisiana Purchase. John Quincy Adams wanted to confront British aggressive actions on American shipping. This caused him to distance himself from the Federalist Party. He supported the Embargo Act of 1807. 

 

He won the 1824 election against Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford, and Henry Clay. John Quincy Adams, as President, wanted a federally funded infrastructure projects, the establishment of a national university, and engagement with the countries of Latin America. As President, John Quincy Adams said that the general welfare clause provided for broad constitutional authority. He wanted internal improvements of roads, ports, and canals. His Vice President was John C. Calhoun and his Secretary of State was Henry Clay. President John Quincy Adams wanted a balanced cabinet from people from the North and the South. He wanted a national university, a national observatory, and other policies. Many of his planned failed. Many canal projects were created from the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. He believed in the "gradual assimilation" of Native Americans via consensual agreements. He wanted Westward expansion. This disregarded the concerns of Native Americans. He even suspended the Treaty of Indian Springs after learning that the Governor of Georgia, George Troup, had forced the treaty on the Muscogee. He signed the treaty with the Muscoggee, but ceded most of their lands to Georgia. Troup wanted all Native peoples out of Georgia. 

 

Congress defeated many of his plans. The Democratic-Republican Party was divided into 2 camps. One camp supported President Adams (called the National Republican Party), and the other camp was led by the racist Andrew Jackson (called the Democratic Party). The Democrats organized politically better than John Quincy Adams. That is why Andrew Jackson defeated Adams in the 1828 Presidential election. 

 

John Quincy Adams was in the House until his passing in 1848. He joined the Anti-Masonic Party in the early 1830's, because he disagreed with Freemasonry. The nullification crisis was when Southerners wanted to lower tariffs from the federal government. It was a battle of federal vs. states' rights. A compromise was made to lower tariff, but John Quincy Adams viewed the Southerners as having an undue influence on the federal government. He was the member of the Whig Party, and he disagreed with the reactionary extremist Andrew Jackson when he was President. When he was in Congress, John Quincy Adams was increasingly critical of slavery and of the Southern leaders who he believed controlled the Democratic Party. He was opposed to the annexation of Texas, and he opposed the Mexican-American War. Texas was largely settled by Americans from the South. Many of them owned slaves despite an 1829 Mexican law that abolished slavery. John Quincy Adams viewed John Tyler as an agent of pro-slavery expansion. John Quincy Adams opposed Tyler repealing the plan to re-instate a national state. 

Out of the early Presidents (from the 1700's to 1859), he was the most progressive President. He had his imperfections too. Yet, he saw the Mexican American War as a means to extend slavery and its political grip of Congress. He led the repeal of the gag rule which prevented members of the House of Representatives from debating positions to abolish slavery. He wrote that slavery was an evil. He presented citizens petition to end slavery in D.C. John Quincy Adams joined in the case of United States v. The Armistad. He was before the Supreme Court on behalf of African human beings who were kidnapped and revolted plus existed the Spanish ship Armistad. Adams appeared on February 24, 1841, and he spoke for four hours. His arguments won out. The Supreme Court ruled that the African human beings were free, and they returned to their homes. John Quincy Adams supported science.When he passed, Abraham Lincoln was with him. His last words were, "This is the last of Earth. I am content." John Quincy Adams was a very intelligent person by speaking 8 languages of English, Latin, Greek, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, and Russian.  John Quincy Adams was one of the greatest diplomats and secretaries of state in American history. 

  

 

Andrew Jackson

 

Andrew Jackson was the 7th President of the United States. He was one of the most infamous, wicked Presidents in American history. That is why Trump said that Jackson is his role model. They are very similar indeed. He was President form 1829 to 1837. He was famous for being a General of the United States Army during the War of 1812. He was in both houses of the U.S. Congress. He promoted expansionism, sought to expand the rights of solely white men, and justified his nefarious actions as being against "a corrupt aristocracy." He claimed to want to preserve the Union, but he helped to cause division and tensions in the Union. He was a Senator from Tennessee, he was the 1st Territorial Governor of Florida, and he was a Justice of the state of Tennessee in its Supreme Court. He was a member of the Tennessee U.S. House of Representatives. He was born at Waxhaw Swettlement between North Carolina and South Carolina. Jackson was a frontier lawyer and married Rachel Donelson Robards. He was a wealthy slaveowner too. During the Revolutionary War, Jackson's eldest brother, Hugh, died from heat exhaustion after the Battle of Stono Ferry on June 20, 1779.  Anti-British sentiment intensified following the Waxhaws Massacre on May 29, 1780. Jackson's mother encouraged him and his elder brother Robert to attend the local militia drills.  Soon, they began to help the militia as couriers. They served under Colonel William Richardson Davie at the Battle of Hanging Rock on August 6. Andrew and Robert were captured by the British in April 1781 while staying at the home of the Crawford family. When Andrew refused to clean the boots of a British officer, the officer slashed at the youth with a sword, leaving him with scars on his left hand and head, as well as an intense hatred for the British. Robert also refused to do as commanded and was struck with the sword.  The two brothers were held as prisoners, contracted smallpox, and nearly starved to death in captivity.

 

By 1801, he was in the Tennessee militias to lead troops. He fought in the Creek War from 1813 to 1814, He helped to defeat the British during the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. He led the First Seminole War against Native people to cause the annexation of Florida from Spain. He helped to found the modern Democratic Party. He accused Adams and Henry Clay of a political bargain. Jackson ran against John Quincy Adams in 1828 to defeat him. He ended the threat of secession of South Carolina during the tariff crisis. Andrew Jackson rejected Henry Clay's proposal to form a Second Bank of the United States. Jackson viewed any national bank as a corrupt institution benefiting the wealthy at the expense of Americans. He vetoed the renewal of its charter. In 1835, he was the only President to pay off the national debt. Jackson wanted to eliminate waste and corruption. Yet, he promoted corruption by harming Native Americans and supporting slavery. In 1830, Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which forcibly removed most members of the major tribes of the Southeast to Indian Territory; these removals were subsequently known as the Trail of Tears. The relocation process dispossessed these nations of their land and resulted in widespread death and disease. Jackson opposed the abolitionist movement, which grew stronger in his second term. In foreign affairs, Jackson's administration concluded a "most favored nation" treaty with the United Kingdom, settled claims of damages against France from the Napoleonic Wars, and recognized the Republic of Texas. In January 1835, he survived the first assassination attempt on a sitting president.  On January 30, 1835, what is believed to be the first attempt to kill a sitting president of the United States occurred just outside the United States Capitol. When Jackson was leaving through the East Portico after the funeral of South Carolina Representative Warren R. Davis, Richard Lawrence, an unemployed house painter from England, aimed a pistol at Jackson, which misfired. Lawrence then pulled out a second pistol, which also misfired. Historians believe the humid weather contributed to the double misfiring.  

Jackson, infuriated, attacked Lawrence with his cane, until others present, including Davy Crockett, fearing that the president would beat Lawrence to a pulp, intervened to restrain and disarm Lawrence. He was deemed insane and was institutionalized at the Government Hospital for the Insane in Washington, D.C. During the summer of 1835, Northern abolitionists began sending anti-slavery tracts through the postal system into the South.  Pro-slavery Southerners demanded that the postal service ban distribution of the materials, which were deemed "incendiary," and some began to riot. Jackson wanted sectional peace, and desired to placate Southerners ahead of the 1836 election.  He fiercely disliked the abolitionists, whom he believed were, by instituting sectional jealousies, attempting to destroy the Union.  That was Jackson's lie. Jackson also did not want to condone open insurrection. He supported the solution of Postmaster General Amos Kendall, which gave Southern postmasters discretionary powers to either send or detain the anti-slavery tracts. That December, Jackson called on Congress to prohibit the circulation through the South of "incendiary publications intended to instigate the slaves to insurrection."  A unified Whig Party nominated popular war hero William Henry Harrison and former Jacksonian John Tyler in the 1840 presidential election. The Whigs' campaign style in many ways mimicked that of the Democrats when Jackson ran. They depicted Van Buren as an aristocrat who did not care for the concerns of ordinary Americans, while glorifying Harrison's military record and portraying him as a man of the people. Jackson campaigned heavily for Van Buren in Tennessee. He favored the nomination of Polk for vice president at the 1840 Democratic National Convention over controversial incumbent Richard Mentor Johnson. No nominee was chosen, and the party chose to leave the decision up to individual state electors. Jackson strongly favored the annexation of Texas, a feat he had been unable to accomplish during his own presidency. While Jackson still feared that annexation would stir up anti-slavery sentiment, his belief that the British would use Texas as a base to threaten the United States overrode his other concerns. 

 

In spite of economic success following Jackson's vetoes and war against the Bank, reckless speculation in land and railroads eventually caused the Panic of 1837. Contributing factors included Jackson's veto of the Second National Bank renewal charter in 1832 and subsequent transfer of federal monies to state banks in 1833 that caused western banks to relax their lending standards. Two other Jacksonian acts in 1836 contributed to the Panic of 1837: the Specie Circular, which mandated western lands only be purchased by money backed by gold and silver, and the Deposit and Distribution Act, which transferred federal monies from eastern to western state banks and in turn led to a speculation frenzy by banks. Jackson's Specie Circular, albeit designed to reduce speculation and stabilize the economy, left many investors unable to afford to pay loans in gold and silver. The same year there was a downturn in Great Britain's economy that stopped investment in the United States. As a result, the U.S. economy went into a depression, banks became insolvent, the national debt (previously paid off) increased, business failures rose, cotton prices dropped, and unemployment dramatically increased. The depression that followed lasted for four years until 1841, when the economy began to rebound.

In his retirement, Jackson remained active in Democratic Party politics, supporting the presidencies of Martin Van Buren and James K. Polk. Though fearful of its effects on the slavery debate, Jackson advocated the annexation of Texas, which was accomplished shortly before his death. His parents were Scots-Irish colonists Andrew Jackson and his wife Elizabeth Hutchinson, Presbyterians who had emigrated from Ulster, Ireland, two years earlier. Jackson's father was born in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, around 1738. Jackson's parents lived in the village of Boneybefore, also in County Antrim. His paternal ancestors originated in Killingswold Grove, Yorkshire, England. Andrew Jackson's age and illness eventually overcame him. On June 8, 1845, he was surrounded by family and friends at his deathbed. He died on that day being 78 years old. 

  

 

The End of the Beginning (Conclusion)

 

The early era of Presidents was born out of controversies and contradictions. These Presidents lived many centuries ago. Yet, living in an time centuries ago is never an excuse for oppression and injustice to transpire. Back then, these Presidents knew right from wrong, and they knew that slavery and genocide against indigenous peoples are evil. Yet, many of those Presidents committed overt injustices like passing Fugitive Slave Laws and refusing to support the Haitian Revolution. The early American nation had to do deal with political polarization, debates on many issues, economic issues, and expansion of its territories. George Washington was the first President, and he didn't want a political war between the Anti-Federalists and the Federalists. Yet, that battle would continue for many decades. By the time of Andrew Jackson being President, the Anti-Federalist movement didn't exist. The origin of the modern day Democrats were formed with the Republican-Democratic Party that Jackson and Jefferson supported. Even during the time of massive atrocities, heroic Americans have stood up back then to resist imperialism, to oppose slavery (that ruined millions of black lives), to reject harm done to Native Americans, and to fight against other evils. As America changed, the increasing tensions of slavery would go into the American Civil War. Even back then, many Presidents and other people knew that it (or a possible civil war in America) was coming. The Southern aristocracy refused to end slavery, and abolitionists were uncompromising in their goal of abolishing slavery forevermore. Also, early America was diverse. Back in the 1700's and 1800's, there were women, black people, Latino people, immigrants, and other diverse folks who made monumental contributions in American society. So, the next era of Presidents from Martin Van Buren to Franklin Pierce described the fight for the abolition of slavery growing. 

 

By Timothy