In , she and Jackson began living as man and wife. They married formally in after Robards procured a divorce in Kentucky. These circumstances came back to haunt Jackson in his presidential campaigns, when opponents charged him with bigamy and wife-stealing. Jackson's defenders then claimed that he and Rachel had believed she was already divorced and free to remarry in , but this seems unlikely.
Whatever the technicalities, frontier Nashville saw nothing wrong in their liaison at the time. Rachel's marriage to Robards was already irretrievably broken, and Jackson was a man of prospects. From the beginning, Andrew and Rachel's marriage was a perfect love match. The couple were deeply devoted to each other and remained so throughout their lives.
Jackson's rise in Tennessee politics was meteoric, attesting to his strength of character. In quick succession, he was a delegate to the state constitutional convention in , then Tennessee's first congressman, then a senator. He resigned his Senate post after one year to take a job closer to home, as judge of Tennessee's superior court. In he challenged Governor John Sevier for election as major general in command of the state militia. Jackson's senior by more than twenty years, Sevier was a veteran of the Revolution and of many Indian campaigns, and the state's leading politician.
Jackson beat him for the generalship, but the aftermath brought the two men to a showdown in the streets of Knoxville, followed by preparations for a duel. The Sevier feud was only one of many explosive quarrels involving Jackson. Jackson's hot temper, prickly sense of honor, and sensitivity to insult embroiled him in a series of fights and brawls. The most notorious of these affairs, in , began with a minor misunderstanding over a horse race and ended in a duel with pistols between Jackson and Charles Dickinson.
Dickinson, a crack shot, fired first and hit Jackson in the chest. Jackson gave no sign of being hurt but coolly stood his ground, aimed carefully, and killed his foe. Jackson carried Dickinson's bullet for the rest of his life. Later, in , during a hiatus in his military service during the War of , Jackson fought in a Nashville street brawl against the Benton brothers, Jesse and Thomas Hart. There he took a bullet that nearly cost him an arm. Jackson was brave in a fight and steadfast to his friends.
Still, these affrays marked him as a violent and dangerous man, and helped block his further political advance. Jackson resigned his judgeship in and devoted his efforts thereafter to his militia command and his business ventures.
He speculated in land, acquired slaves, bred and raced horses, and engaged in merchandising. Please submit a comment. UNC Press. Howard, Jeffrey Allen. Origin - location:. Union County. I liek potatoes. Your name. More information about text formats. Submit comment. After a difficult childhood, he graduated from the U.
He then John Quincy Adams began his diplomatic career as the U. After serving in the Massachusetts State Senate and the U. But back in the s, there was no such thing as an anti-establishment, populist candidate—until Andrew Jackson invented it.
At the time, the 50th Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Recommended for you. How the Troubles Began in Northern Ireland. Andrew Jackson. President Andrew Jackson. Andrew Jackson's Kitchen Cabinet. Andrew Johnson. Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson , the 17th U. Rachel Jackson Rachel Jackson was the wife of U. The Senate rejected the initial nomination in , but when Chief Justice John Marshall died, Jackson re-nominated Taney, who was subsequently approved the following year.
Justice Taney went on to be best known for the infamous Dred Scott decision , which declared African Americans were not citizens of the United States and as such lacked legal standing to file a suit.
He also stated that the federal government could not forbid slavery in U. The Whig party failed to win the presidential election, which was captured by Martin Van Buren. Jackson, however, left his successor with an economy ready to crater. Having taken a financial loss from devalued paper notes himself, Jackson issued the Specie Circular in July , which required payment in gold or silver for public lands.
Banks, however, could not meet the demand. When Jackson arrived in Nashville in , he met Rachel Donelson Robards, who, at the time, was unhappily married to but separated from Captain Lewis Robards.
Rachel and Andrew married before her divorce was officially complete — a fact that was later brought to light during Jackson's presidential campaign.
Although the couple had legally remarried in , the press accused Rachel Jackson of bigamy. Jackson's willingness to engage his and his wife's many attackers earned him a reputation as a quarrelsome man. During one incident in , Jackson even challenged one accuser, Charles Dickinson, to a duel. The couple also adopted Andrew Jackson Jr. On December 22, , two months before Jackson's presidential inauguration, Rachel died of a heart attack, which the president-elect blamed on the stress caused by the nasty campaign.
She was buried two days later, on Christmas Eve. After completing his second term in the White House, Jackson returned to Tennessee, where he died on June 8, , at the age of The cause of death was lead poisoning caused by the two bullets that had remained in his chest for several years. Jackson continues to be widely regarded as one of the most influential U. His ardent support of individual liberty fostered political and governmental change, including many prominent and lasting national policies.
In , Jackson acquired an expansive plantation in Davidson County, Tennessee near Nashville , called the Hermitage. At the outset, nine African American slaves worked on the cotton plantation. Jackson was among the favored predecessors of the 45th U.
Ironically, that portrait earned a prominent position behind Trump during a November event to honor the Navajo Code Talkers — Native Americans who assisted the U. Marines during World War II by transmitting encrypted messages through their native language. We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives.
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