Pos posterity gives jackson an honor bestowed upon no other american it has marked out an epoch and called if by the namo of ono man says the author of a now new biography of old hickory in which ho he Is portrayed as ono of tho the greatest presidents who has ever occupied the white house in washington 0 western newspaper New paper union NOTE January 8 Is I 1 widely celebrated a jackson day in honor of andrew jacksone Jack joni soni victory over the la in the battle of now new Orlo orlan Orl Mn ians which contributed materially to hi his lection election to the preil residency denry later this article appropriate appropriate to the observance obier vance of that day li Is based upon the now morphy biography andrew jacksonl por tr giralt 9 ol of a 1 resident writ written by acquis james and published recent 1 IY by the dobbs merrill company of indiana through wh whole so courtesy of the illustration Wust rations from the wk look are herewith reproduced y ELMO SCOTT WATSON I 1 farch ARCH 4 1837 unlike many another inauguration da day y i the city of washington hiis tiis Is one was bright and almy 1 down the steps of the ex autive mansion washing onland mians had only recently bean cn calling ailing it the white ausel ouse came two men one 0 f E them was slight in stature 11 om ething of a dandy in ress and appearance marn 0 in van buren of kinderhook Y the little magician lie ie red fox who was bout to become president of he 10 united states the other was a more com manding landing figure somewhat I 1 bent int with age and recent ill I 1 nes ss iss H he e leaned heavily on a i cane me but there ther estill still flashed from om his eyes that table ible look which had caused men ien to hall hail him as old hickory they entered a carriage and rode de up pennsylvania avenue toward ward the capitol A thunder of leering cheering rose from the thousands who 10 lined that famous thorough fare re then tile died d down quickly and men en removed their hats in rev erent estial erenthal ial silence as the silver haired ailred old man in the carriage passed issod the same silence spread over ove r the e multitude that filled the east lawn wn of the capitol as the two men en appeared on the portico it held id while chief justice tane taney y administered the oath of office while lile martin van buren was doering deering delivering livering his inaugural address and d even as andrew jackson started arted slowly down the broad steps aps then suddenly as though un loosed used by a signal a mighty shout out was raised thomas hart 6 il a R 4 1 V PRE ANDUL aw JACKSON F row A portrait made at the white house in 1835 by ashel D durand now owned by the new york historical society its preparation the author of the pulitzer prize winning the raven A biography of sam houston and of andrew jackson the border captain has put years of research during which he examined no less than documents riot not to mention hundreds of p printed hinted sources ot of information nin tion and as one critic has observed the result an accurate and properly proportioned portrait of andrew jackson the president presidents dentis is a striking illustration of the truth of the observation of carlyle that a well written life is almost as rare as a well spent one why was it that the people loved him so asks biographer james after describing the scene when old hickory stepped down from the presidency in thronged thron ged washington where men 1 il 7 S as is 4 2 af yv t y i s SS v S aw V w y w y i vi tt 4 i ifta if afta TA S T t i 1 3 7 f y i s 11 vl ia 4 q 1 THE FOURTH HERMITAGE ln in 1833 after Us its predecessor had bad been destroyed by fire bre cave sa ve for por pop eions of we a exterior wall which were used tn in rebuilding la in the background aud right Is tulip grove the residence ot of andrew jackson donelson prom from an engraving made in 1856 1956 and owned by the IAd ladles lesl association benton of missouri who was there that day afterwards said it was a cry such as power never commanded nor man in power received it was aff affection action gratitude and admiration the acclaim of posterity breaking from the bosoms of contemporaries I 1 felt an emotion will which ch had never passed through me before it lasted for only a moment then midway down the stone stairs general jackson uncovered uni I 1 1 and bowed A gentle wind stirred his hia silvery locks the tumult died and thus old hickory took leave of the presidency of the united states and after eight years laid down his burden unsuspecting that on his times was an impress so characteristic and so deep that posterity would accord to andrew jackson an honor as yet vouchsafed no other american that of marking out an epoch in a our ur national history and calling it by the name nf one man so writes marquis james in his andrew jackson portrait of a president the second and concluding volume of a blogg biography achy which critics are virtually virtu aUy anani in hailing as by all odds the best and most absorbing account of the life of old hickory that has yet been written into slept in barbers chairs tile the ques tion was debated that night as it was destined to be debated a hundred years to come from au all that discussion mr james synthesizes this answer jackson was born and reared in a frontier aristocracy unpretentious it Is true but all that an aristocracy could attain attain to in rall the of that day and time hacking his way upward in the tennessee wilderness he rose to the height of spokesman for one front frontier ler class aga against 3 t another nabobs nabors versus climbing higher jackson became a spokesman for the whole almost autonomous west in the contests arising from the opposed interests of the settled commercial seaboard the things ot 0 the west even the nabob west ad vacated then seemed alluring to the landless and the of the tJ tidewater cities this fermentation shaped into a political movement during the hard times mes of 1818 22 found the underprivileged ti anc the backaus lac kalls of the east one with the established currents of western thought andrew jackson jackion brought to the presidency fewer personal ambitions than 1 any man excepting washington washing torf the gr gradual a nl altera alteration Uon from a border conse conservative to a national liberal Is noteworthy but other eminent men have panned spanned a jre rater scale ecale of change john ad adams a ma and patrick henry storm into history not as liberals but as revolutionists shouting for bayonets bayonet and barricades ri they rattle out not as con merely but as cantankerous us reactionaries emerging as an a peoples people si man jackson proffered no ordinary claims to that muen much courted distinction no mere arbiter between factions of followers he strode forth to inspire to lead to govern ire he not only reig reigned niti but rund he saw for the people what they could not see for themselves the rhe bank issue was as good food a as 1 dead after the passing of the jackson revived it lashed up an apathetic public lashed up spa apathetic lieu aeu tenants tenant silenced the unwilling and drove on to victory AU all this rested on the philosophy of majority rule when a majority was not at hand he endeavored to create it when this could not be done in time he went ahead anyhow lie he was the major majority ity pro tern tem unfailingly at the next election the people would return a vote 0 of con fi dence making hla measures their own this confidence was not misplaced it if not every day in the year providing a government of 0 and by the people andrew jackson did provide one lor for them iio lived by valor the ne people like 1 that hat because it Is exciting and because because it cl clothes 0 thes them in the tha mantle 0 I 1 fortuna with enormous ous power over the destiny of a public ser servant vant andrew jackson carried his political life in the hollow ot of his hand ready to risk it for the cause of the hour whether that cause were great or small good or bad time and again heedlessly and needlessly he exposed himself to destruction by the popular will that the people did not destroy him bewildered the opposition jacksons luck became a whig b by Y word jacksons jackson 8 I 1 luck uc k w was as t the he kind that gains respect for the proverb that fortune f favors the he brave fortune also favors the competent the opposition to jackson was not composed ot of stra straw W men no other president e nt has confronted a L coalition oali tion of adversaries so ablo able or so well furnished with the ordinary resources of political welfare henry clay daniel danel webster john C calhoun nicholas 13 iddle old hickory met those great captains and their legions separately and in alliance ile he beat them to their knees nor were the tha peculiar gifts jackson brought to the presidency successful alone in the management of the domestic concerns of a democracy ins his t for or eign policy raised the prestige pre of I 1 the young american nation to a height not toung before fo r e attained among the powe powers re of the world genuine respect abroad for american rights dates from froat jackson through it all he had walked hur humbly Ably departing for home one summer he directed mail to be forwarded to him re addressed as follows hermitage near the fountain of health davidson Dav ldson county tennessee the fountain of health was a he allner spring of popular resort and in the generals estimation the most widely known place in the locality if proof of the accuracy of that estimate of andrew jackson Is needed if additional evidence is desired to show why he was beloved by the people of his time and why his name is honored by americans of today almost as much as are the names of washington and lincoln perhaps both can be found in the statements of some of his contemporaries A german nobleman visiting in this country during the reign of jackson quoted tin an unnamed senator who assumed to speak without partisanship as follows general jackson called himself the peoples friend and gave proofs of his sincerity he understood the people of the united states better perhaps than any president before him and developed as much lucli energy in his administration as any american statesman whether all his measures were beneficial to the people is beside the point they were in unison with his political doctrines and carried through with an iron disregard of personal consequence notwithstanding the enormous opposition that wealth and talent could put in the way of their execution and daniel webster one 0 those whom he ha met and beat to their knees once declared id general jackson is an honest and upright man ile ho does what he thinks is right and does it with all ail his hial might 1 he does what ho he thinks is 19 right and does docs it with all his might many an american would like to think that such a statement is the essence of ills his own credo but realizing that he does not uve live up to that ideal there is some comfort for him in giving his loyal devotion to a man who does I 1 it would bo be pleasant to chronicle the fact that andrew jackson after eight turbulent years in the white house returned to his is beloved hermitage near nashville to spend his re nin ining years in pence unfortunately tuna tely the opposite was true when ho he went to washington in 1829 lie he carried with him when lie he returned to tennessee in fit 1837 there was just 90 00 in ills his wallet and that tact fact is symbolic of the career of andrew jackson ex president during his long absence in tile tho service of tile tho nation his person personal ial fortunes had suffered buttered and through tho the remaining years of his life lie he was to know little relief front from financial difficulties most of this was due to his adopted son andrew jackson jr who seems to have had little of the strength of character or ability of his foster fattier father for lie ho became involved in a bottomless bog of debts for which his father was in no way responsible but which he choso chose to assume because of a to pe personal rhonal honor and because of nn an affection for tile tho boy which nothing had been able to destroy 11 nor were these personal affairs the only ones to trouble andrew jackson although lie ho lind had retired from public life that did not mean ho he was no longer concerned ned with tho the welfare of his is c country probably no other ex president has ever had such a d direct part in shaping tho the destinies of tho the nation after leaving the white house as did andrew jackson ile he had brought about tile the election of martin van buren and lie ho helped his successor guide tile tho ship of state safely through the shoals during tho the panic year of 1837 with hearing failing right eye nearly useless I 1 and memory uncertain the white linfred haired warrior was still a chieftain guiding inspiring strengthening faint hearts from his inexhaustible store of courage even when old tippecanoe harrison defeated van buren for election reelection re in 1841 tile tho old man was undaunted by the time q I 1 vi 4 I 1 i 1 Z 1 fc akk 41 4 iz y I 1 JACKSON IN retirement from a print ot of a drawing from life iffe by william it II owned by emu emil edward lluria of new york city another campaign camf around the annexation of texas that republic which old korys lieutenant sam houston had helped fund found was the most important question of the day jackson wanted texas in the union but martin van buren again a candidate for the democratic nomination feared to risk defeat at tho the hands of anti antislavery slavery northern democrats and straddled so james K polk won the nomination and the election there was no doubt where polk stood on the texas question but disquieting rumors came to jackson sam houston was flirting with england texas might become a british province instead of coming into the union there were several weeks of painful doubt for the patriarch of the hermitage while sam houston was playing off england france mexico and the united states against each other in the cockpit of diplomacy he was trying to win for texas the best possible bargain in return for surrendering her sovereignty then in may 1845 came word that houston would accept the terms of annexation offered in a resolution passed by congress and signed by john tyler on march 1 three days before he turned over his office to his successor glorious tidings tiding st old hickory traced a note to james K polk 1 I knew british gold could not buy sam houston ll I 1 fighting for breath jackson signed his name my lamp is nearly burned out and the last glimmer has come As a matter of fact his lamp had been burning out for the lost last five years but andrew jackson simply WOULD NOT DIE until texas was safely in the union it was not until jime ie 6 1845 that the lost glimmer really came