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The Papers of Andrew Jackson, Volume II, 1804-1813
Andrew Jackson
This second volume of The Papers of Andrew Jackson traces the career of the future president as he emerged from local prominence to national fame. Between the years 1804 and 1814, Jackson found the career that satisfied him best: military leadership. He abandoned the bench and bar, admitted failure as a general merchant, and turned entirely to farming for his livelihood, breeding and racing horses as a diverting sideline. The accident of war with Great Britain furnished the opportunity to use the military skills he had been unable to test as major general of the West Tennessee militia. In the field he quickly established himself as an uncommonly bold and imaginative organizer of men and resources. By the end of 1813 his talents had earned a degree of admiration from Washington to New Orleans.
But these were troubled years for Jackson personally. He struggled to establish a sound financial base for his family and was disappointed in his efforts to secure political appointment. Once an admired leader of Nashville life, he found himself nearly ostracized as a result of killing Charles Dickinson in a duel and unwisely associating with Aaron Burr in his western adventure. Numerous quarrels with others exacerbated the situation, until a despondent Jackson several times considered selling out and starting life in the newly opened territory of the Southwest. The counsel of friends kept him in Tennessee, and the war allowed him to salvage his reputation.
Offsetting the frequent failures of his public life was the unbroken loyalty of his family and friends. The Jacksons’ new home, the Hermitage, was enlivened by the addition of an adopted son; the multitude of Rachel’s relatives furnished a society in themselves; new friends like John Coffee and William B. Lewis joined the old friends, including John and Thomas Overton, James Robertson, and James Winchester, in supplying Jackson with counsel and affectionate friendship.
At the end of 1813, Jackson was encamped deep within the Creek Nation, calling for men and supplies to follow up his initial quick victories over the Indians. He was not yet the Hero of New Orleans. Neither was he any longer the obscure Tennessee merchant whose correspondence opens this volume.
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The Papers of Andrew Jackson: Volume I, 1770-1803
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States, is an American folk hero. His strong personality and natural gift for leadership contributed to his wide influence throughout his lifetime. Jackson was known to be quarrelsome, honest, loyal, and self-willed, and the examination of his early years as documented in this volume provides insight into his career before he became a military and national hero.
During these years Jackson developed into a local and statewide leader of importance. His career as an attorney prospered and he became successively a member of the Tennessee Constitutional Convention, the first congressman from Tennessee, and a member of the United States Senate. He also served as one of the three members of the state superior court. Besides an active public life, Jackson owned and managed general stores with a succession of partners, raced horses for substantial stakes, operated a large farm with slave labor, and engaged in trade and commerce with the Natchez and New Orleans areas. The documents in Volume I chronicle Jackson’s growing influence spanning the years to 1803.
This volume contains not only letters to and from Jackson, but documents that relate to him and are important in a variety of ways to our knowledge of him. Represented are samples of slave and land sale records, land appraisals, and receipts from his farm near Nashville. Jackson’s early years in Washington are recorded in petitions, licenses and commissions, election returns, court appointments, speeches, and legislative reports. Jackson’s financial transactions are also included, as are powers of attorney.
George Washington, John Adams, William Polk, and Thomas Jefferson are among the many who wrote to Jackson and received letters from him long before his rise to national prominence. Their letters, as well as exchanges between Jackson and Tennessee statesmen William Blount and John Sevier, his wife Rachel, and the countless neighbors and friends with whom he associated, shed light on Jackson’s temperament and priorities in a variety of situations. The editors have included only brief annotations, allowing the documents to speak for themselves. An appendix includes important information previously unavailable.
During the years to 1803, Jackson demonstrated substantial entrepreneurial talent and a remarkable degree of resourcefulness, qualities that stood him in good stead throughout his career. This first volume of a landmark series clearly reveals the character, personality, and abilities that were to make Jackson a major force in American political history.
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