History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 38

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1013

USA > Tennessee > Davidson County > History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 38

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

movement in favor of bringing out Gen. Jackson for the Presidency. Col. Burr, I am well assured, had no agency in this, for it occurred some three months before the date of his letter to Governor Alston ; nor was it put in motion by any combination of militant Federalists and anti-Jeffersonians.

" As long as Gen. Jackson remained in the military ser- vice of the country, little was said about bringing him out for the Presidency. Having been appointed Governor of Florida by the President of the United States, lie resigned his commission in the army about the 1st of June, 1821, and repaired forthwith to Pensacola, to receive the Territory from the Spanish authorities. After organizing a Territorial government and putting it in operation, he withdrew from all public employment and returned to Tennessee, where he expected to spend the rest of his life as a private citizen. Nor, indeed, was it believed by his friends that they would be blest with his society very long, as his health was at that time, and had been for six or seven years pre- vious, very feeble, and his constitution apparently exhausted and broken down. No sooner, however, had he become a private citizen, and had set himself down once more upon his own beautiful estate, the Hermitage, than the eyes of his fellow-citizens were turned towards him, as having emi- nently entitled himself, by his brilliant and patriotic zervices, to the highest honors within the gift of a free and enlight- ened people.

" In Tennessee, and particularly at Nashville, his friends began now to speak of him as a candidate, and in good earnest to take the necessary steps to place his name promi- nently before the country. It is true that some four or five candidates were already in the field ; but so confident were they of Gen. Jackson's strength and popularity with the people, on account of his great public services, that they had no fear for the result. They not only, therefore, began to speak out upon the subject, but to make their wishes and intentions known through the public journals. The first demonstration of this latter method of supporting him was made in January, 1822, in one of the Nashville papers. Soon afterwards the editor of the Nashville Gazette, Col. Wilson, took the field openly and boldly for the general as his candidate for the Presidency. The proposition was cordially responded to by the people of Tennessee, and was also well received in other States, particularly so in the Democratic and patriotic State of Pennsylvania. The in- quiry now was, In what way shall his name be presented to the nation ? The most imposing manner of bringing him forward and presenting him to the other States of the Union, it was finally agreed, would be by the Legislature of his own State. This would not only give weight to the nomination, it was believed, but would show to the whole country that we were in earnest. It was determined, there- fore, that the necessary steps should be taken to bring him forward at the next session of the Legislature.

" In these preliminary movements, it appears to me, you will be scarcely able to perceive any agency cither on the part of Col. Burr or the 'militant Federalists,' of whom so much is said. Nor had the officers of the army, whom he also represents as taking an active and leading part, any- thing to do with them. The truth is, they were the vol- untary and spontaneous acts of his Tennessee friends,

Digitized by Google

152

HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE.

without the suggestions or promptings of any person or persons outside of the State.

" About this time, spring of 1822, I left home on a visit to North Carolina to see the family of my father-in- law, Governor Montfort Stokes, who was then a senator of Congress. The Governor had always belonged to the Democratic party, and was one of its prominent and most influential leaders. His friendship and political support were, therefore, considered a matter of importance by those who were seeking favors at the hands of the people. What were his predilections at that time in relation to the Presi- dential aspirants I know not ; but, as you may well sup- pose, I felt anxious to enlist him on the side of Gen. Jackson. He had not returned from Washington at the time I reached his residence, but arrived soon afterwards. During my continuance at his house I had frequent con- versations with him upon political subjects, and found him a warm personal friend and admirer of Gen. Jackson; but he gave not the slightest intimation that he preferred him for the Presidency. This occasioned me some uncasiness, for I thought it a matter of very great importance, as it regarded the general's success in North Carolina, that he should have the support of the Governor. I determined, therefore, to have a full and frank conversation with him before I left upon the subject, and it was not long before I had an opportunity of doing so, and learning his opinion and views without reserve. He frankly remarked to me that so little had as yet been said about Gen. Jackson as a candidate, he had not supposed it was seriously intended to run him, and asked me if such was really the intention of his friends.

"' Undoubtedly,' I replied, and added that the Legisla- ture of Tennessee would certainly nominate him at the next session.

"' What support do his friends expect him to get,' he inquired, 'if nominated ?'

" I answered, ' They expect him to be supported by the whole country.'

"'Then,' he facetiously replied, 'he will certainly be elected.'

" Assuming then a graver air and tone, he said to me that he had known Gen. Jackson from boyhood, he having read law with his brother when quite a youth, and that there was no living man he so much admired; but being already committed to the support of Mr. Calhoun, he could not advocate his election. This was very unwelcome news to me, but I cannot say that it was altogether unexpected, for I was led to anticipate something of the sort from his silence as regarded his preference in my previous conversa- tion with him.

" I then remarked, ' But suppose Mr. Calhoun should not be a candidate, cannot you support the general as your next choice ?'

"' Y'es,' he promptly replied, 'with great pleasure,' but added that, at the same time, he had no reason to believe that anything could or would occur to prevent his being a candidate.

" Under such circumstances this was all I had a right to expect or ask, and I parted with the Governor, when about to leave for Tennessee, fully satisfied that, in case Mr. Cal-

houn should not be a candidate, he would go for Gen. Jackson. In this I was not mistaken. The moment Mr. Calhoun was withdrawn by his Pennsylvania friends the Governor rallied upon the general, and supported him with great energy and zeal. Having now the support of both Gen. Polk and Governor Stokes, the two leaders, I may say, of the Federal and Democratic parties in North Carolina, his friends became confident of being able to carry the State for him. They were not mistaken ; its vote was given to him by a large majority.

" I returned to Nashville about the 1st of June, and found the friends of the general in high spirits and san- guine of success. Indeed, this feeling was not confined to Nashville; it pervaded the whole State. Under this state of things the Legislature met, and in a few days thereafter, the 20th of July, 1822, adopted a preamble and resolutions which placed the general before the country as a legitimate candidate for the Presidency. Being now formally nomi- nated, his friends in every part of the Union entered into the contest with increased vigor and energy. But few of the Federalists, however, took part in it till after the pub- lication in May, 1824, of the general's celebrated letters to Mr. Monroe. Indeed, but few of them, or any, knew of their existence until then, although they, it has been alleged, had won their hearts as early as 1815. I should, however, except Gen. William Polk, to whom I showed the letter of the 12th of November, 1816, in the autumn of 1823, and perhaps John Quincy Adams also, to whom Mr. Monroe, I have no doubt, showed both letters, which accounts, to my mind at least, for his having sustained the general in his Seminole campaign with so much ability and zeal in his dispatch to our minister at Madrid.

" The general being now fairly out as a candidate, it was considered indispensable, in order to make his success the more certain, that the Congressional caucus should be broken down. This was an engine of great political power, and had been used by the politicians of the country for twenty years in manufacturing Presidents, and unless it could be destroyed it would be difficult to overcome its influence upon those who had long looked upon its nominees as the only legitimate party candidates. With a view to accom- plish this object, Judges Overton and Haywood, both able and distinguished lawyers, opened a heavy and effective fire upon it in a series of well-written numbers which were published in the Nashville papers. These, with the attacks made upon it in other quarters, added to Gen. Jackson's great personal popularity, contributed greatly, doubtless, to the overthrow of that renowned personage 'King Caucus,' as it was then derisively called. It is true he mounted his throne again in the winter of 1823-24, and nominated as Mr. Monroe's successor William Il. Crawford; but His Majesty had become powerless, and his nominee, for the first time, was badly beaten. This was the last time he ascended the throne, having died soon after of the wounds he received in the campaign of 1824, and has never been heard of since. Not even his ghost made its appearance in the campaign of 1828. It strikes me that you will be equally at a loss to perceive in all this any agency either of Col. Burr, his militant Federalists, or anti-Jeffersonians.

" As Tennessee was almost unanimous for Gen. Jackson,

Digitized by Google

153

PUBLIC LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JACKSON.

it might have been supposed that his friends would have had little or no trouble in that State after his nomination. Such, however, was not the fact. Col. John Williams had been a senator from our State in Congress for eight years, and as his term of service would expire on the 3d of March, 1823, the Legislature, which met in October of that year, had to elect a new senator. Col. Williams was a candidate for re-election, but being a personal and political enemy of Gen. Jackson, it was determined, if possible, to defeat him unless he would pledge himself to the support of the general for the Presidency. This he refused to do, having already engaged to support Mr. Crawford. The general's friends bad no alternative left them but to beat him, and this was no easy task. East Tennessee claimed the senator, and the colonel was a great favorite with the people of that end of the State. Besides, with the view of strengthening him- self in other sections, soon after the elections in August were over, he mounted his horse and rode through the whole State, calling on the members-elect to the Legisla- ture, and obtaining promises from most of them to vote for him. They should not have thus committed themselves, but having done so the greater part of them were disposed to redeem their pledge, though admitting they had done wrong. The most devoted and zealous of the general's friends were determined, however, to leave no stone un- turned to defeat his election. Several persons were spoken of as opposing candidates, but none of them could obtain, it was ascertained, the requisite number of votes. The general's old friend, Johnny Rhea, could come the nearest, but he lacked three votes. This was a very unpleasant state of things. To elect a bitter personal enemy of Gen. Jackson, and who was known to be in favor of Mr. Craw- ford for the Presidency, would have a most injurious effect, it was believed, upon his prospects. Notwithstanding he had been nominated by the Legislature some fifteen months before, it was apprehended, if an enemy of his should be sent to the Senate, it would be difficult to make the other States believe that Tennessee was in earnest in her support of him. It would certainly have the appearance of great inconsistency, and well calculated to nullify the effect of his nomination.

" This could not be permitted, and it was resolved at all hazards to defeat the election of Col. Williams. It became necessary now to play a bold and decisive game. As no- body else could be found to beat the colonel, it was proposed to beat him with the general himself. This having been made known produced great uneasiness and aların among the more timid members, from an apprehension that even he could not be elected, but Mr. Eaton and myself, who were on the ground, took upon ourselves the responsibility of the step, and insisted on his being nominated to the Legislature as a candidate for the Senate. We came to the conclusion that if the general must be politically sac- rificed it mattered little in what way it was done, whether in being defeated himself in the election of a United States senator, or by the election of his bitter enemy. But I had no fear of his being defeated. I did not believe it possible that a majority of the members would be willing to take upon themselves the responsibility of voting against him. He was accordingly nominated to the Legislature by Maj.

Maney, a highly respectable member from Williamson County, and he was elected, as I had anticipated, by quite a large majority. Had he been beaten it might possibly have destroyed, or at least injured, his prospects for the Presidency, but it was believed that his defeat would not be more blasting in its effects than the election of Col. Wil- liams under all the circumstances of the case.

" These are the reasons which induced the friends of Gen. Jackson to send him to the United States Senate in the winter of 1823-24, which was thought by many of his friends at the time to have been rash and impolitic. The general himself was far from desiring it, but there was no help for it, and he submitted with a good grace. He was a soldier, and knew how to obey as well as to command."

And so Gen. Jackson was at once a senator and a candi- date for the Presidency. Only twenty-five members of the Legislature ventured to vote against him for the senator- ship ; and such was the power of his name in Tennessee that of the twenty-five but three were re-elected to the next Legislature. It is worthy of note that while Gen. Jack- son was in the Senate this time he voted for the abolition of imprisonment for debt.

In the Presidential campaign of 1824 there were four candidates in the field, viz. : Gen. Jackson, William H. Crawford, of South Carolina, Henry Clay, of Kentucky, and John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts. Gen. Jack- son was the gaining candidate, and no doubt would have secured a clear majority had the canvass been prolonged a few weeks. He had the largest popular vote, the greatest number of electoral votes, and the vote of the greatest number of States. But there was no choice of President by the people. The election was carried into the House of Representatives, and through the influence of Mr. Clay was given to John Quincy Adams, Mr. Clay being made Secretary of State.

This result, however, did not dampen the ardor of the friends of Gen. Jackson ; on the contrary, they saw in the splendid race which he had made the precursor of certain victory the next term. He resigned his place in the Senate and was welcomed home in the summer of 1825. In Oc- tober of the same year the Legislature renominated him, with only three dissenting voices. Louisiana, by her Legis- lature, invited him to New Orleans to attend the anniversary of his great victory of the 8th of January. His reception was the grandest ovation ever witnessed in the history of our country, and roused the enthusiasm of the entire South- west, while it awakened a new discussion of his merits and claims throughout all the other portions of the Union. The multitudes who were hurrahing for Jackson increased every day, but the tongue of slander was not silent. The partisans of Adams, and the opposition press generally, began to pour out vials of calumny, but his friends took good care that the false and base aspersions of his enemies should be promptly and fully answered. It was at this time that the celebrated committee of citizens of Davidson County, stigmatized by their opponents as the " White- washing Committee," was formed for the purpose of vindi- cating the character of Gen. Jackson, which was to be done by the publication of truth in the place of falsehood

Digitized by Google

154

HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE.

and slander. The committee was organized at the house of Maj. William B. Lewis, and consisted of John Overton, Robert C. Foster, George W. Campbell, William L. Brown, John Catron, Robert Whyte, Thomas Claiborne, Joseph Phillips, Daniel Graham, William B. Lewis, Jesse Whar- ton, Edward Ward, Alfred Balch, Felix Robertson, John Shelby, Josiah Nichol, William White, and John McNairy, -a cohort of the most intellectual and reputable men in Tennessee, pledged to fight falsehood and calumny by the publication of truth and facts, and by these weapons alone to conquer. The committee successfully and triumphantly vindicated their candidate. At the election in 1828 he re- ceived one hundred and seventy-eight electoral votes to Mr. Adams' eighty-three.

In the midst of this triumph, and while the people of Nashville were preparing for a grand celebration of the election of their favorite candidate, a shadow fell upon the Hermitage which was never lifted during Gen. Jackson's life.

DEATH OF MRS. JACKSON.

The circumstances of this sad event are related by Parton, who learned the story from " Old Hannah," the faithful servant of Mrs. Jackson, in whose arms she breathed her last :

" Wednesday morning, December 17th, all was going on as usual at the Hermitage. The general was in the fields at some distance from the house, and Mrs. Jackson, apparently in tolerable health, was occupied in her household duties. Old Hannah asked her to come into the kitchen to give her opinion upon some article of food that was in course of preparation. She performed the duty required of her and. returned to her usual sitting-room, followed by Hannah. Suddenly she uttered a horrible shriek, placed her hands upon her heart, sank into a chair struggling for breath, and fell forward into Hannah's arms. There were only servants in the house, many of whom ran frantically in, uttering the loud lamentations with which Africans are wont to give vent to their feelings. The stricken lady was placed upon her bed, and while messengers hurried away for assistance Hannah employed the only remedy she knew to relieve the anguish of her mistress. 'I rubbed her side,' said the plain-spoken Hannah, ' till it was black and blue.'

" No relief. She writhed in agony. She fought for breath. The general came in alarmed beyond description. The doctor arrived. Mrs. A. J. Donelson hurried in from her house near by. The Hermitage was soon filled with relatives, friends, and servants. With short intervals of partial relief, Mrs. Jackson continued to suffer all that a woman could suffer for the space of sixty hours, during which her husband never left her bedside for ten minutes. On Friday evening she was much better; was almost free from pain, and breathed with far less difficulty. The first use, and, indeed, the only use, she made of her recovered speech was to protest to the general that she was quite well, and to implore him to go to another room and sleep, and by no means to allow her indisposition to prevent his at- tending the banquet on the 23d. She told him that the day of the banquet would be a very fatiguing one, and he must not permit his strength to be reduced by want of sleep.

"Still, the general would not leave her; he distrusted this sudden relief. He feared it was the relief of torpor or exhaustion, and the more as the remedies prescribed by Dr. Hogg, the attending physician, had not produced their desired effect. Saturday and Sunday passed, and still she lay free from serious pain, but weak and listless; the gen- eral still her watchful, constant, almost sleepless attendant.

" On Monday evening, the evening before the 23d, her disease appeared to take a decided turn for the better, and she then so earnestly entreated the general to prepare for the fatigues of the morrow by having a night of undis- turbed sleep that he consented, at last, to go into an ad- joining room and lie down upon a sofa. The doctor was still in the house. Hannah and George were to sit up with their mistress.

" At nine o'clock the general bade her good-night, went into the next room, and took off his coat, preparatory to lying down. He had been gone about five minutes. Mrs. Jackson was then for the first time removed from her bed, that it might be rearranged for the night. While sitting in a chair, supported in the arms of Hannah, she uttered a long, loud, inarticulate cry, which was immediately fol- lowed by a rattling noise in the throat. Her head fell for- ward upon Hannah's shoulder. She never spoke nor breathed again.

" There was a wild rush into the room of husband, doctor, relatives, friends, servants. The general assisted to lay her upon the bed. 'Bleed her,' he cried. No blood flowed from her arm. 'Try the temple, doctor.' Two drops stained her cap, but no more flowed.

" It was long before he could believe her dead. He looked eagerly into her face, as if still expecting to see signs of returning life. Her hands and feet grew cold. There could be no doubt then, and they prepared a table for laying her out. With a choking voice the general said,-

"' Spread four blankets upon it. If she comes to, she will lie so hard upon the table.'

" He sat all night long in the room by her side, with his face in his hands, ' grieving,' said Hannah, and occasionally looking into the face and feeling the heart and pulse of the form so dear to him. Maj. Lewis, who had been immedi- ately sent for, arrived just before daylight, and found him still there, nearly speechless and wholly inconsolable. He sat in the room nearly all the next day, the picture of de- spair. It was only with great difficulty that he was per- suaded to take a little coffee.

" And this was the way," concluded Hannah, " that old mistus died ; and we always say that when we lost her, we lost a mistus and a mother, too ; and more a mother than a mistus. And we say the same of old master; for he was more a father to us than a master, and many's the time we've wished him back again, to help us out of our troubles."

The news of the sad event reached Nashville on the morning of the 23d, while the committee were busily en- gaged in preparations for the general's reception. The day appointed for the banquet was turned into a day of mourn- ing. All business was suspended by proclamation of the mayor, and the church-bells were tolled from one to two

Digitized by Google

155

PUBLIC LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JACKSON.

o'clock,-the hour of her funeral. It was in the midst of such grief that the President-elect prepared for his inaugu- ration, and hastened away to Washington to enter upon an administration beset with peculiar difficulties. We shall not attempt to follow him through his career of four years in the Presidential chair. It is enough to say that his ad- ministration was entirely successful ; that he restored the gov- ernment to the principles of Jefferson ; that he stayed the cor- rupt and unconstitutional expenditure of the public money, designed for internal improvements; that he waged war upon that gigantic and overshadowing monopoly, the Bank of the United States; that on the tariff question he stood between the two dangerous extremes of free trade and pro- hibition, and counseled moderation and compromise; that, in less than two years from the beginning of his adminis- tration, the trade to the West Indies, which had been lost by former mismanagement, was again opened to the United States on terms of reciprocity ; that, within the same period, treaties of the utmost importance and difficulty were negotiated with Denmark, Turkey, and France; and that the disputed boundary on the Eastern frontier was adjusted on terms of advantage to the United States. All this pres- tige had the administration gained, and hence it was easy in 1832 to secure the popular acceptance of his nomination for a second term. The result, however, astonished every- body. Not the most enthusiastic Jackson man anticipated a victory quite so overwhelming. Two hundred and eighty- eight was the whole number of electoral votes cast. Gen. Jackson received two hundred and nineteen,-seventy-four more than a majority. Mr. Clay, his antagonist, received only forty-nine votes.

The second administration was characterized by the same energy and success which had marked the first. Some of the President's great measures, which had been inaugurated during the first four years, were carried out and consum- mated. The war on the United States Bank ended in the destruction of that infamous institution ; nullification was put down ; the nation was restored to honor and credit abroad ; harmony and peace prevailed with all foreign na- tions, and universal plenty and prosperity reigned at home.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 38

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1013

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1013