Andrew Jackson 1806-1812
March 11, 2011
by William P. Meyers

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Andrew Jackson would become a President of the United States of America and the founder of the Democratic Party. Along the way he would murder many of his fellow men and live a life of depravity unmatched, so far as we know, by any other American President.

Continued from Andrew Jackson Murders Charles Dickinson

Andrew Jackson took some time to recover from the wound he received in the duel in which he murdered Charles Dickinson. Many of his friends deserted him, but in September 1806 he was again intriguing with Aaron Burr. As a major general of the Tennessee militia, it was rumored that Jackson would support Burr in a rebellion against the United States. Instead Jackson reported on Burr's conspiracy to the War Department, then traveled to Virginia to testify against him in Burr's trial for treason.

In mid 1807, after the British warship Leopard attacked the American Chesapeake, Jackson called Thomas Jefferson a coward for pursuing diplomacy instead of war. About that time Jackson owned 20 slaves, and with his wife Rachel by 1810 was raising four adopted children.

Jackson was not as successful in ordinary business as he was in law and gambling. He closed his trading posts, which had lost money. The slave-grown cotton made money, as did the horse breeding, racing and gambling.His horse Truxton alone “had won more than twenty thousand dollars in prizes." Jackson also profited from the sale of the Clover Bottom track in Nashville.

Hoping for war with the British, he kept his militia in a state of readiness. Nor could Jackson stay out of ordinary trouble, becoming involved both in a brawl at Clover Bottom and in a fight with a federal agent, Silas Dinsmore. [James, pages 131-134]

The rumors about Jackson's womanizing and about his wife's being still married when he eloped with her apparently wore on both Andrew and Rachel. In the winter of 1811 they decided to move to a new frontier, away from Jackson's numerous local enemies. They picked Washington County, Mississippi. [James, page 137]

Before they could go, Congress, and President James Madison, at last declared war on Canada and the British Empire.

next: War of 1812: Andrew Jackson Ready and Waiting

Main source: The Life of Andrew Jackson by Marquis James, Bobbs-Merrill company, 1938.

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