Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States, a military
hero, and the major force in the shaping of the Democratic Party. Jackson
also shaped the modern presidency by an unprecedented concentration of power
and the use of the presidential veto. It was Jackson who promulgated the
theory that only the chief executive represented the will of the American
people.
When Jackson married Rachel Robards, they both thought her divorce was
finalized, which it wasn't. The rumors about Jackson's and Rachel's
allaeged adulterous relationship provoked Jackson to many violent fights. Scores of
men were threatened, beaten, whipped, and a few even shot-for hinting of any
impropriety involving his wife. Jackson's most common threat when confronted
with these stories was to cut the ears off of the person criticizing his
wife.
This threat was based on a bizarre case that Jackson tried when he was a
circuit judge in Kentucky. A man named Russell Bean was arrested for cutting
the ears off of his wife's illegitimate child. Bean had left his wife in
Jonesboro to work in New Orleans for a year. When Bean returned, he found
his wife nursing a two-month- old baby. Bean promptly cut the infant's ears
off, explaining that he did it "so it'll not get mixed up with my chaps." The
Rachel Jackson stories were only a few of the hundreds of vicious stories
circulated about Jackson during his presidential campaign, a campaign that
was considered by many historians the dirtiest presidential campaign in
United States history. Jackson's strong moral sense prevented him from
indulging in similar attacks, Elections haven't changed that much in one
hundred and fifty years.
Jackson has been portrayed in a few films and TV specials, usually by
Charleston Heston who played him in The President's Lady (1953),
The
Buccaneer (1958), and in two episodes of TVs Playhouse 90.
If there was a single issue that propelled Jackson into the Presidency, it
was being the hero of the Battle of New Orleans. The victory was forged by
the alliance of Jackson with the Lafitte brothers who headed a band of 3000
smugglers who were the only trained
men at Jackson's disposal. The victory ironically came after the Treaty of
Ghent whim technically ended the War of 1812, although the official end came
when England and and the United States formally approved the treaty. The
battle also made Jackson one of the folk heroes of New Orleans which has
repaid his success with the famous statue in Jackson Square and numerous
dishes named after the general
We suggest Brennan's Jackson Salad as the most appropriate dish to celebrate
the birthday of the seventh President of the United States and the hero of
New Orleans .Enjoy it while watching The President's Lady.
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