0:00:08.209,0:00:12.376
- [Martin] He learned to fight[br]in the Revolutionary War.

0:00:13.651,0:00:15.108
He used what he'd learned

0:00:15.108,0:00:18.025
to kill a man over a gambling debt.

0:00:20.793,0:00:22.202
He led the American Army

0:00:22.202,0:00:26.035
to the most surprising[br]victory in its history,

0:00:27.060,0:00:31.227
but he also launched an[br]unauthorized invasion of Florida.

0:00:32.698,0:00:37.628
He added vast regions of the[br]South to the United States,

0:00:37.628,0:00:41.795
but it was land he brutally[br]wrested from Native Americans.

0:00:44.140,0:00:47.879
He was the champion of[br]the common white man,

0:00:47.879,0:00:51.046
but he owned over 100 black Americans.

0:00:54.168,0:00:58.431
He was the founder of[br]the Democratic Party,

0:00:58.431,0:01:02.598
but his enemies accused him[br]of being an American Napoleon.

0:01:04.876,0:01:07.209
His name was Andrew Jackson.

0:01:42.772,0:01:45.891
- [Announcer] Andrew[br]Jackson is made possible by

0:01:45.891,0:01:47.098
a major grant

0:01:47.098,0:01:50.266
from The National Endowment[br]for the Humanities,

0:01:50.266,0:01:52.349
democracy demands wisdom,

0:01:53.819,0:01:55.940
by The Ahmanson Foundation,

0:01:55.940,0:01:57.903
committed to the creative pursuit

0:01:57.903,0:02:01.437
of quality education in the arts,

0:02:01.437,0:02:04.773
by The Corporation for[br]Public Broadcasting,

0:02:04.773,0:02:08.219
and by contributions to your PBS station

0:02:08.219,0:02:10.051
from viewers like you.

0:02:12.698,0:02:13.531
Thank you.

0:02:16.672,0:02:19.172
(piano music)

0:02:24.200,0:02:26.114
- [Martin] In 1859,

0:02:26.114,0:02:29.273
as America was rushing towards civil war,

0:02:29.273,0:02:30.825
James Parton,

0:02:30.825,0:02:32.070
the first historian

0:02:32.070,0:02:35.057
to attempt a biography of Andrew Jackson,

0:02:35.057,0:02:39.140
arrived at the Hermitage,[br]Jackson's beloved home.

0:02:44.365,0:02:47.681
He was escorted through the[br]mansion by Hannah Jackson,

0:02:47.681,0:02:50.168
who had been Andrew Jackson's slave

0:02:50.168,0:02:53.835
from the time she was[br]10 until Jackson died.

0:02:58.681,0:03:02.613
Parton knew that many Americans[br]considered Andrew Jackson

0:03:02.613,0:03:07.400
the country's greatest leader[br]since the Founding Fathers.

0:03:07.400,0:03:08.650
Parton wrote...

0:03:09.794,0:03:12.294
- [Parton] During the[br]last 30 years of his life,

0:03:12.294,0:03:16.366
he was the idle of the American people.

0:03:16.366,0:03:19.849
Columbus had sailed, Washington fought,

0:03:19.849,0:03:21.349
Jefferson written.

0:03:22.217,0:03:26.089
50 years of Democratic[br]government had passed,

0:03:26.089,0:03:27.671
and the result of it all

0:03:27.671,0:03:29.421
was that the people of the United States

0:03:29.421,0:03:33.588
honored Andrew Jackson[br]before all over living men.

0:03:36.047,0:03:38.121
- Andrew Jackson, in my mind,

0:03:38.121,0:03:40.651
is one of the great presidents.

0:03:40.651,0:03:44.401
And it's not surprising[br]that he was so loved.

0:03:45.763,0:03:48.184
In fact, it is said,

0:03:48.184,0:03:51.684
that when the Civil War broke out in 1861,

0:03:54.587,0:03:57.373
people wanted to vote for Andrew Jackson,

0:03:57.373,0:04:01.462
hoping he would come[br]back and save the Union.

0:04:01.462,0:04:03.357
He was that beloved.

0:04:03.357,0:04:04.686
- For all of his flaws,

0:04:04.686,0:04:06.296
for all of his contradictions,

0:04:06.296,0:04:07.297
Andrew Jackson did more

0:04:07.297,0:04:09.907
than any other American of his generation

0:04:09.907,0:04:13.310
to enlarge the possibilities[br]of American democracy.

0:04:13.310,0:04:15.965
In doing that, and seeing[br]himself as president,

0:04:15.965,0:04:18.081
as the tribune of the people,

0:04:18.081,0:04:19.637
he did more than anyone to change,

0:04:19.637,0:04:23.330
to enlarge the possibilities[br]of the American presidency.

0:04:23.330,0:04:24.826
- [Martin] But Jackson was also

0:04:24.826,0:04:27.077
one of the most controversial presidents

0:04:27.077,0:04:28.744
in American history.

0:04:29.619,0:04:33.736
His policies on issues like[br]Indian removal and slavery

0:04:33.736,0:04:35.752
provoked fierce opposition,

0:04:35.752,0:04:38.835
not only in his lifetime, but beyond.

0:04:40.120,0:04:42.409
- Andrew Jackson, for African Americans,

0:04:42.409,0:04:47.153
is not the sort of figure[br]as one holds very dear.

0:04:47.153,0:04:49.750
He wouldn't form part of the,

0:04:49.750,0:04:53.173
the ranks of the great[br]men of American society,

0:04:53.173,0:04:56.889
because, never in his reign as president,

0:04:56.889,0:04:58.255
in his terms as president,

0:04:58.255,0:05:02.172
did he ever attempt to[br]expand rights of people.

0:05:03.355,0:05:07.307
On the contrary, he did everything[br]he could, it seems to me,

0:05:07.307,0:05:10.007
to constrict those rights,[br]to limit those rights.

0:05:10.007,0:05:12.947
- People talk about Andrew[br]Jackson's black moods,

0:05:12.947,0:05:16.047
people talk about Andrew[br]Jackson's red hot temper,

0:05:16.047,0:05:18.301
but the color of this story is green,

0:05:18.301,0:05:20.242
and it's the green of envy,

0:05:20.242,0:05:23.909
and it's the green of[br]coveting Indian lands.

0:05:25.919,0:05:27.148
- [Martin] At the Hermitage,

0:05:27.148,0:05:29.797
Parton discovered a portrait of Jackson

0:05:29.797,0:05:32.214
finished just before he died.

0:05:33.208,0:05:35.084
It was completely unlike

0:05:35.084,0:05:38.491
the many heroic portraits[br]of the great man,

0:05:38.491,0:05:41.740
and the vulnerability it[br]captured brought to life

0:05:41.740,0:05:45.740
Parton's most insightful[br]description of Jackson.

0:05:46.976,0:05:50.430
- [Parton] He was a democratic autocrat,

0:05:50.430,0:05:51.847
an urbane savage,

0:05:53.483,0:05:55.066
an atrocious saint.

0:05:59.076,0:06:01.382
- Americans have always[br]looked at Andrew Jackson

0:06:01.382,0:06:03.474
and seen themselves.

0:06:03.474,0:06:05.797
But, over the years, they've[br]looked at Andrew Jackson

0:06:05.797,0:06:08.669
and seen different versions of themselves.

0:06:08.669,0:06:11.397
At one time they saw the frontiersman,

0:06:11.397,0:06:13.634
the poor boy made good,

0:06:13.634,0:06:15.801
the classic self-made man.

0:06:17.293,0:06:19.445
Today, some Americans look back at Jackson

0:06:19.445,0:06:21.483
and they see the slaveholder,

0:06:21.483,0:06:25.446
the Indian oppressor,[br]even the Indian hater.

0:06:25.446,0:06:26.787
So, the debate about Andrew Jackson

0:06:26.787,0:06:29.385
is a very contemporary one.

0:06:29.385,0:06:33.320
He's an inescapable,[br]quintessential American,

0:06:33.320,0:06:35.134
but of what kind?

0:06:35.134,0:06:38.584
Is he a man whom we should admire,

0:06:38.584,0:06:41.896
or is he a man whom we should despise?

0:06:41.896,0:06:44.636
Is he a man whom we should celebrate,

0:06:44.636,0:06:48.303
or is he a man for whom[br]we should apologize?

0:06:49.926,0:06:52.384
- [Jefferson] Thomas Jefferson.

0:06:52.384,0:06:53.741
He could never speak

0:06:53.741,0:06:56.926
on account of the[br]rashness of his feelings.

0:06:56.926,0:06:59.308
I have seen him attempt it repeatedly,

0:06:59.308,0:07:01.725
and as often choke with rage.

0:07:11.116,0:07:13.533
(folk music)

0:07:16.432,0:07:18.017
- [Martin] In the 1760s,

0:07:18.017,0:07:22.430
Andrew Jackson's parents traded[br]desperate poverty in Ireland

0:07:22.430,0:07:26.597
for an equally hard life[br]on the Carolina Frontier.

0:07:28.300,0:07:30.723
Andrew never met his father,

0:07:30.723,0:07:33.936
for he died when his wife[br]was pregnant with Andrew,

0:07:33.936,0:07:37.101
leaving the boy and his two older brothers

0:07:37.101,0:07:39.018
to fend for themselves.

0:07:41.479,0:07:45.678
When the Revolutionary War began in 1775,

0:07:45.678,0:07:49.280
the Carolina Frontier[br]became a dangerous place,

0:07:49.280,0:07:51.902
with one farmer siding with the patriots

0:07:51.902,0:07:55.569
and his next door[br]neighbor with the British.

0:07:56.579,0:08:00.821
- It was a brawling,[br]violent way to grow up.

0:08:00.821,0:08:04.260
You made a living with your[br]hands and with your spirit,

0:08:04.260,0:08:06.503
your military spirit to defend yourself,

0:08:06.503,0:08:09.776
and your hands to pull[br]something out of the soil.

0:08:09.776,0:08:12.155
So, you had a constant wariness

0:08:12.155,0:08:14.019
and a constant threat of violence,

0:08:14.019,0:08:15.737
and I think that's one of the many reasons

0:08:15.737,0:08:20.490
Jackson became a man who[br]was so prone to violence,

0:08:20.490,0:08:22.720
he grew up with it, he[br]didn't know anything else.

0:08:22.720,0:08:26.887
(tense music)[br](heavy breathing)

0:08:28.221,0:08:29.453
- [Martin] During the Revolution,

0:08:29.453,0:08:30.925
the fighting in the Carolinas

0:08:30.925,0:08:33.986
was the most vicious of the entire war.

0:08:33.986,0:08:35.696
(guns fire)

0:08:35.696,0:08:38.585
Both sides executed men they captured,

0:08:38.585,0:08:42.168
and committed atrocities[br]against civilians.

0:08:43.248,0:08:44.900
Outnumbered and desperate,

0:08:44.900,0:08:47.178
the patriots relied on young boys

0:08:47.178,0:08:50.082
who knew every twist and turn in the woods

0:08:50.082,0:08:53.082
to carry orders to the battle lines.

0:08:54.016,0:08:56.599
One of them was Andrew Jackson.

0:08:58.383,0:09:02.539
- There's a famous story about[br]young Andrew, 13 years old,

0:09:02.539,0:09:07.342
being commanded by the British[br]officer who captured him

0:09:07.342,0:09:08.296
to clean his boots,

0:09:08.296,0:09:12.476
and Jackson refused to[br]take such a servile job,

0:09:12.476,0:09:16.217
and the officer slashed him[br]across the face with a sword,

0:09:16.217,0:09:19.031
and Jackson put his arm[br]up to defend himself,

0:09:19.031,0:09:22.198
and he carried the scars all his life.

0:09:23.285,0:09:25.111
- [Martin] The war inflicted other,

0:09:25.111,0:09:28.436
even more horrible scars on Jackson.

0:09:28.436,0:09:32.040
One of his brothers died of[br]heat stroke while in battle,

0:09:32.040,0:09:35.650
and his mother and other[br]brother died of disease.

0:09:35.650,0:09:37.927
(guns fire)

0:09:37.927,0:09:39.331
In the boy's eyes,

0:09:39.331,0:09:41.194
it was the British who were to blame

0:09:41.194,0:09:44.861
for leaving him suddenly[br]alone in the world.

0:09:46.362,0:09:47.195
- For Andrew Jackson,

0:09:47.195,0:09:49.922
the American Revolution[br]was a formative psychic,

0:09:49.922,0:09:52.041
as well as political event.

0:09:52.041,0:09:53.260
For the rest of his life,

0:09:53.260,0:09:55.247
he would despise the British Empire,

0:09:55.247,0:09:58.859
he would grow up feeling[br]as if he owed the British

0:09:58.859,0:10:00.282
a kind of repayment

0:10:00.282,0:10:04.515
for all the British had[br]done to him personally,

0:10:04.515,0:10:05.744
and to his family.

0:10:05.744,0:10:08.244
(tense music)

0:10:15.156,0:10:18.591
- Andrew Jackson, with[br]that kind of a background,

0:10:18.591,0:10:21.239
you would expect him to be a very angry

0:10:21.239,0:10:24.322
and frustrated young man, and he was.

0:10:25.454,0:10:28.352
And he made quite a reputation for himself

0:10:28.352,0:10:32.124
as a man who is getting into trouble,

0:10:32.124,0:10:34.624
causing all kinds of problems.

0:10:37.242,0:10:39.877
a fellow resident of the town of Salisbury

0:10:39.877,0:10:44.120
described the young troublemaker this way.

0:10:44.120,0:10:46.546
- [Resident] Andrew Jackson[br]was the most roaring,

0:10:46.546,0:10:49.825
rollicking, horse-racing, card-playing,

0:10:49.825,0:10:53.825
mischievous fellow that[br]ever lived in Salisbury.

0:10:55.514,0:10:56.649
- He got a small inheritance

0:10:56.649,0:10:59.056
from a grandfather back in Ireland.

0:10:59.056,0:11:01.727
And he went down to[br]Charleston to collect it

0:11:01.727,0:11:04.306
and spent the whole thing in a week,

0:11:04.306,0:11:08.139
on horses and liquor and[br]maybe some girls too,

0:11:10.460,0:11:13.444
but it was all gone pretty fast,

0:11:13.444,0:11:17.340
and he had to trudge back to[br]the upcountry of South Carolina

0:11:17.340,0:11:19.934
to somehow pull his life together again.

0:11:19.934,0:11:23.378
There are a lot of 15 year olds[br]who would not have made it,

0:11:23.378,0:11:25.386
and it wouldn't have surprised anybody

0:11:25.386,0:11:28.133
if Andrew Jackson just went down the tubes

0:11:28.133,0:11:30.800
and was forgotten at that point.

0:11:34.781,0:11:36.554
But all the people who knew him

0:11:36.554,0:11:39.051
when he was a boy and a young man,

0:11:39.051,0:11:43.218
said he had passion, fire,[br]determination, audacity,

0:11:45.217,0:11:48.727
and a refusal to be crushed[br]by the kinds of things

0:11:48.727,0:11:51.477
that might wipe out anybody else.

0:11:55.852,0:11:57.846
- [Martin] After[br]apprenticing with a lawyer,

0:11:57.846,0:12:02.432
Jackson became a lawyer[br]himself at the age of 20.

0:12:02.432,0:12:03.932
And when he was offered a job

0:12:03.932,0:12:06.198
as a prosecutor on the frontier,

0:12:06.198,0:12:07.977
he jumped at the opportunity

0:12:07.977,0:12:11.644
to join the waves of[br]Americans heading west.

0:12:17.884,0:12:19.040
- When the revolution ends,

0:12:19.040,0:12:20.908
particularly for young men like Jackson,

0:12:20.908,0:12:23.443
with very little going[br]for them in the East,

0:12:23.443,0:12:26.735
there is this huge expanse of territory,

0:12:26.735,0:12:29.036
Kentucky and Tennessee, to be precise,

0:12:29.036,0:12:33.107
that was the place you could start over.

0:12:33.107,0:12:36.886
One of the attractive features[br]of this frontier experience

0:12:36.886,0:12:39.522
was that all of these new places were

0:12:39.522,0:12:42.027
in need of founding fathers, so to speak,

0:12:42.027,0:12:44.773
and, like a job placement,

0:12:44.773,0:12:48.991
new founding father needed[br]for country in Tennessee,

0:12:48.991,0:12:51.148
and people like Jackson could apply.

0:12:51.148,0:12:52.940
And basically, you show up and say,

0:12:52.940,0:12:55.838
"I'm here to create a new community."

0:12:55.838,0:12:58.255
(folk music)

0:13:04.527,0:13:06.202
- [Martin] In 1788,

0:13:06.202,0:13:09.240
three months before George[br]Washington was elected

0:13:09.240,0:13:11.756
the first president of the United States,

0:13:11.756,0:13:14.498
Andrew Jackson arrived at a new settlement

0:13:14.498,0:13:17.531
on the edge of the American West.

0:13:17.531,0:13:20.364
Its name was Nashville, Tennessee.

0:13:24.695,0:13:26.599
Besides practicing law,

0:13:26.599,0:13:30.766
Nashville's newest citizen bred[br]horses, speculated in land,

0:13:31.614,0:13:34.697
and, most significantly, fell in love

0:13:35.706,0:13:38.031
with Rachel Donelson Robards,

0:13:38.031,0:13:42.198
daughter of one of Nashville's[br]most prominent families.

0:13:43.416,0:13:46.109
Rachel returned Andrew's feelings,

0:13:46.109,0:13:50.216
but their relationship faced[br]an insurmountable barrier.

0:13:50.216,0:13:52.521
Rachel was already married

0:13:52.521,0:13:56.104
to a man from Kentucky[br]named Lewis Robards.

0:13:58.549,0:14:02.413
- When Jackson arrives,[br]here's this wild kid,

0:14:02.413,0:14:06.717
and Rachel, you know,[br]was sort of wild herself.

0:14:06.717,0:14:10.501
She should never have[br]married Lewis Robards.

0:14:10.501,0:14:13.377
And she finds, I think, companionship

0:14:13.377,0:14:16.326
and a kind of kindred spirit in Jackson.

0:14:16.326,0:14:18.159
And they fall in love.

0:14:19.912,0:14:23.185
- [Martin] But in most of 1790s America,

0:14:23.185,0:14:26.768
Women literally belonged[br]to their husbands.

0:14:28.852,0:14:31.182
- I think it's very hard[br]for us to understand

0:14:31.182,0:14:33.547
that there was a time in[br]the history of our country,

0:14:33.547,0:14:37.714
where it was virtually[br]impossible for people to divorce.

0:14:38.876,0:14:41.301
The woman became a part of the husband,

0:14:41.301,0:14:45.100
and she had no separate[br]legal rights whatsoever

0:14:45.100,0:14:46.554
from her husband.

0:14:46.554,0:14:50.244
So in the event a woman[br]wanted to leave the household,

0:14:50.244,0:14:51.896
she had to leave her children behind,

0:14:51.896,0:14:54.112
because the children[br]did not belong to her.

0:14:54.112,0:14:58.279
She had no legal ownership[br]to children, to property.

0:14:59.600,0:15:03.412
A woman had no legal identity whatsoever,

0:15:03.412,0:15:06.079
except as a part of her husband.

0:15:08.360,0:15:11.897
- [Martin] Most unhappy couples[br]lived in loveless marriages

0:15:11.897,0:15:14.064
rather than flout the law,

0:15:15.016,0:15:17.972
but Andrew and Rachel were[br]not the kind of people

0:15:17.972,0:15:20.464
who let social convention stop them

0:15:20.464,0:15:22.797
from following their hearts.

0:15:23.753,0:15:27.295
- These two hapless people,[br]up until this point,

0:15:27.295,0:15:31.462
find each other, and the[br]opportunity and the desire

0:15:33.590,0:15:37.090
merge for a really extraordinary decision,

0:15:39.112,0:15:42.529
which is for the two to elope to Natchez.

0:15:44.099,0:15:46.161
- [Martin] The two young[br]lovers headed south

0:15:46.161,0:15:48.838
along the Natchez Trace Trail.

0:15:48.838,0:15:52.426
Their goal was the wild[br]and wooly town of Natchez,

0:15:52.426,0:15:56.593
on the Mississippi River,[br]which was governed by Spain.

0:15:59.440,0:16:03.322
By running off with Andrew,[br]Rachel was making it clear

0:16:03.322,0:16:06.158
that she was never going[br]back to her husband,

0:16:06.158,0:16:08.825
no matter what the consequences.

0:16:10.704,0:16:13.229
- For a woman to choose[br]to leave her husband,

0:16:13.229,0:16:16.565
especially one who came from[br]Rachel Donelson's background,

0:16:16.565,0:16:20.359
was an extraordinarily[br]courageous decision on her part,

0:16:20.359,0:16:22.653
because, in Rachel's case,

0:16:22.653,0:16:25.570
she knew that she was, essentially,

0:16:26.601,0:16:29.288
setting herself up to be condemned

0:16:29.288,0:16:32.379
by the society that she lived in.

0:16:32.379,0:16:34.687
And the shadow of this decision

0:16:34.687,0:16:38.687
would haunt them through[br]the rest of their days.

0:16:39.875,0:16:40.878
- [Martin] In the beginning,

0:16:40.878,0:16:43.814
the couple's daring[br]elopement was worth it,

0:16:43.814,0:16:46.231
for they made an ideal match.

0:16:47.634,0:16:51.384
- Where others could[br]not tame him, she could.

0:16:53.024,0:16:54.711
There's one incident that occurred

0:16:54.711,0:16:58.586
when they were floating[br]down the Mississippi River,

0:16:58.586,0:17:02.580
and there were some people[br]that annoyed Jackson,

0:17:02.580,0:17:04.608
I don't recall exactly[br]what it is they did,

0:17:04.608,0:17:09.239
and he took a rifle, and[br]he starts shooting at them.

0:17:09.239,0:17:10.306
And right away,

0:17:10.306,0:17:14.009
they ran down into the[br]cabin and told Rachel.

0:17:14.009,0:17:18.886
She said, "Please tell Mr.[br]Jackson I would like to see him."

0:17:18.886,0:17:23.053
She could handle him, she[br]was the right person for him.

0:17:24.665,0:17:27.286
- [Martin] With Nashville[br]still a frontier town,

0:17:27.286,0:17:30.249
with few churches and fewer courts,

0:17:30.249,0:17:34.576
Rachel and Andrew were able to[br]return home after six months

0:17:34.576,0:17:38.743
and be accepted by most of[br]the community as man and wife.

0:17:41.250,0:17:44.761
But Rachel's husband was not so forgiving,

0:17:44.761,0:17:48.512
and he took his case against[br]her to the state legislature,

0:17:48.512,0:17:51.664
where he won permission to sue for divorce

0:17:51.664,0:17:53.914
on the grounds of adultery.

0:17:55.055,0:17:59.937
In 1793, the courts granted[br]Lewis the first divorce

0:17:59.937,0:18:03.270
in the history of the state of Kentucky.

0:18:04.788,0:18:06.142
Not long after,

0:18:06.142,0:18:10.309
Rachel and Andrew were[br]quietly married in Nashville.

0:18:11.331,0:18:12.384
Rachel hoped

0:18:12.384,0:18:15.993
that if she and Andrew[br]were loving and faithful,

0:18:15.993,0:18:19.465
the fact that she had been[br]branded a scarlet woman

0:18:19.465,0:18:21.465
would soon be forgotten.

0:18:22.990,0:18:26.773
But her new husband was[br]interested in politics,

0:18:26.773,0:18:30.568
and her adultery would[br]one day be a central issue

0:18:30.568,0:18:34.485
in the race for president[br]of the United States.

0:18:38.339,0:18:41.380
For all his wildness,[br]the young Andrew Jackson

0:18:41.380,0:18:43.878
also had the determination, vision,

0:18:43.878,0:18:47.461
and charisma of a born[br]leader, and in 1796,

0:18:48.854,0:18:51.121
the state of Tennessee sent him

0:18:51.121,0:18:54.371
as its lone representative to Congress.

0:18:55.559,0:18:58.869
But the learned statesmen who[br]filled the nation's capitol

0:18:58.869,0:19:03.036
didn't quite know what to make[br]of the fiery frontiersman.

0:19:04.124,0:19:05.719
- Jackson was so passionate

0:19:05.719,0:19:08.374
when he came to Congress in the 1790s,

0:19:08.374,0:19:10.622
that Thomas Jefferson remembered

0:19:10.622,0:19:12.533
that he would get on his feet

0:19:12.533,0:19:15.071
and become overwhelmed with his emotions,

0:19:15.071,0:19:18.876
literally choked with rage,[br]could not get out a word,

0:19:18.876,0:19:22.804
and, red-faced, had to sit down again.

0:19:22.804,0:19:23.943
- [Martin] If the Washington elite

0:19:23.943,0:19:27.298
were unimpressed with the[br]passionate Mr. Jackson,

0:19:27.298,0:19:29.215
the feeling was mutual.

0:19:30.240,0:19:33.231
- Congress was stifling for Jackson.

0:19:33.231,0:19:35.984
It was a place where[br]people met in committees

0:19:35.984,0:19:37.715
and did backroom deals,

0:19:37.715,0:19:40.237
and Jackson despised backroom deals.

0:19:40.237,0:19:44.109
It was a place where people[br]traded favors with one another

0:19:44.109,0:19:45.662
in order to get what they wanted,

0:19:45.662,0:19:49.579
and Jackson thought that[br]was hideously corrupt.

0:19:52.530,0:19:55.011
- [Martin] After just[br]over a year in congress,

0:19:55.011,0:19:58.308
Jackson resigned, declaring...

0:19:58.308,0:20:00.972
- [Jackson] I was born for the storm,

0:20:00.972,0:20:03.305
and a calm does not suit me.

0:20:04.560,0:20:05.750
- [Martin] Raising racehorses

0:20:05.750,0:20:08.246
now became his favorite pastime,

0:20:08.246,0:20:12.182
and betting enormous sums on[br]those horses in match races

0:20:12.182,0:20:13.765
became his passion.

0:20:14.931,0:20:18.890
- Andrew Jackson loved[br]horses, violence, whiskey,

0:20:18.890,0:20:21.201
he was also someone who,

0:20:21.201,0:20:24.180
if you were his friend, you[br]were his friend forever.

0:20:24.180,0:20:27.180
If you were his enemy, God help you.

0:20:28.401,0:20:32.241
- [Martin] In 1805, Jackson[br]won a huge sum of money

0:20:32.241,0:20:36.179
when his opponent's horse came up lame.

0:20:36.179,0:20:39.414
But a dispute over how[br]the payoff was made,

0:20:39.414,0:20:42.471
led to an escalating series of insults

0:20:42.471,0:20:45.331
between Jackson and a young Tennessean

0:20:45.331,0:20:47.331
named Charles Dickinson.

0:20:48.340,0:20:50.693
- Later, his friends insisted

0:20:50.693,0:20:55.512
that Dickinson had said[br]something about Rachel Jackson.

0:20:55.512,0:20:57.184
And here's something else

0:20:57.184,0:21:00.062
that Jackson is very sensitive about,

0:21:00.062,0:21:03.062
because his whole marriage to Rachel

0:21:04.065,0:21:07.953
had been under a cloud from the beginning,

0:21:07.953,0:21:10.703
and anybody, to raise that point,

0:21:12.081,0:21:14.998
in any direct or even indirect way,

0:21:15.874,0:21:19.041
would trigger a very violent response.

0:21:24.107,0:21:26.437
- [Martin] On May 30, 1806,

0:21:26.437,0:21:28.802
Charles Dickinson and Andrew Jackson

0:21:28.802,0:21:30.802
met on a dueling ground.

0:21:32.542,0:21:36.538
Dickinson was reputed to be[br]the best shot in Tennessee,

0:21:36.538,0:21:40.615
and when the signal was given[br]to fire, he fired first.

0:21:40.615,0:21:43.459
(gun fires)

0:21:43.459,0:21:46.709
But to his shock, he apparently missed.

0:21:48.255,0:21:51.608
Then, Andrew Jackson took careful aim

0:21:51.608,0:21:53.120
(gun fires)

0:21:53.120,0:21:55.703
and mortally wounded Dickinson.

0:21:59.810,0:22:04.523
Only then did Jackson's second[br]notice that he was bleeding.

0:22:04.523,0:22:07.627
Jackson had, in fact,[br]been shot in the chest,

0:22:07.627,0:22:11.127
with the bullet lodging next to his heart.

0:22:12.069,0:22:14.350
When his shocked second asked how

0:22:14.350,0:22:17.383
he could possibly have[br]fired back accurately,

0:22:17.383,0:22:19.589
Jackson replied...

0:22:19.589,0:22:21.851
- [Jackson] I should have hit him

0:22:21.851,0:22:24.851
if he had shot me through the brain.

0:22:26.898,0:22:28.444
- [Martin] Jackson carried the bullet

0:22:28.444,0:22:30.982
for the rest of his life.

0:22:30.982,0:22:34.477
It was unmistakable evidence[br]of how unsuited he was

0:22:34.477,0:22:37.599
to the give-and-take of politics,

0:22:37.599,0:22:40.078
but his future in a different arena

0:22:40.078,0:22:42.495
could not have been brighter.

0:22:46.704,0:22:48.952
- [Sam Houston] Sam Houston.

0:22:48.952,0:22:51.400
The reputation of General Jackson

0:22:51.400,0:22:54.337
will adorn the proudest, brightest pages

0:22:54.337,0:22:56.681
in the nation's history.

0:22:56.681,0:23:00.848
He wears the laurel wreath,[br]which his own valor won.

0:23:09.657,0:23:12.074
(drums beat)

0:23:16.888,0:23:18.341
- [Martin] In 1812,

0:23:18.341,0:23:22.341
the United States declared[br]war on Great Britain.

0:23:24.374,0:23:27.876
Andrew Jackson had been[br]yearning since he was 13,

0:23:27.876,0:23:30.508
for another shot at the British,

0:23:30.508,0:23:33.972
and, having been voted commander[br]of the Tennessee militia,

0:23:33.972,0:23:36.305
his dream had now come true.

0:23:38.170,0:23:41.488
To inspire fellow[br]Tennesseans to join his army,

0:23:41.488,0:23:42.655
he declared...

0:23:43.871,0:23:48.038
- [Jackson] Who are we, and[br]for what are we going to fight?

0:23:49.844,0:23:53.810
Are we the titled slaves of George III,

0:23:53.810,0:23:57.517
the military conscripts[br]of Napoleon the Great,

0:23:57.517,0:24:01.287
or the frozen peasants[br]of the Russian Tsar?

0:24:01.287,0:24:04.704
No, we are the free-born sons of America,

0:24:06.469,0:24:10.644
the citizens of the only republic[br]now existing in the world,

0:24:10.644,0:24:12.650
and the only people on earth

0:24:12.650,0:24:16.003
who possess rights,[br]liberties, and property

0:24:16.003,0:24:18.586
which they dare call their own.

0:24:21.444,0:24:22.277
- [Martin] But the mission

0:24:22.277,0:24:25.154
Jackson and his men were ultimately given

0:24:25.154,0:24:28.595
was far from glamorous,[br]tramping and slogging

0:24:28.595,0:24:31.885
through the forests and[br]swamps of the southeast

0:24:31.885,0:24:35.594
until they had found and[br]defeated Creek Indian warriors

0:24:35.594,0:24:39.141
who were allied with the British.

0:24:39.141,0:24:42.390
- Well, Jackson is in[br]an unenviable position.

0:24:42.390,0:24:45.704
He has one of four armies[br]assigned to punish the Creeks,

0:24:45.704,0:24:47.196
he is poorly supplied,

0:24:47.196,0:24:50.113
his troops are very poorly trained,

0:24:51.086,0:24:52.589
they have very short enlistments,

0:24:52.589,0:24:57.012
and it's cold and wet, and[br]they want to return home.

0:24:57.012,0:24:59.911
Things are not going well.

0:24:59.911,0:25:01.683
- [Martin] After months in the field,

0:25:01.683,0:25:05.208
Jackson's supply lines broke down.

0:25:05.208,0:25:08.553
Fearing starvation, some[br]of his soldiers mutinied

0:25:08.553,0:25:11.553
and began to walk home to Tennessee.

0:25:12.550,0:25:14.886
But Andrew Jackson threatened to kill them

0:25:14.886,0:25:17.053
if they took another step.

0:25:18.349,0:25:20.489
It was not an idle threat,

0:25:20.489,0:25:22.330
for on two other occasions,

0:25:22.330,0:25:26.402
Jackson had men under[br]his command executed.

0:25:26.402,0:25:28.735
(guns fire)

0:25:29.746,0:25:32.036
- I see, in Jackson's Indian campaigns,

0:25:32.036,0:25:36.390
a ruthlessness that is[br]frightful to behold.

0:25:36.390,0:25:38.554
He seemed possessed, almost,

0:25:38.554,0:25:42.304
with a determination to[br]go on no matter what.

0:25:43.829,0:25:46.698
- [Martin] Finally, in March of 1814,

0:25:46.698,0:25:50.097
Jackson cornered the main Creek force.

0:25:50.097,0:25:53.678
It was camped on a peninsula[br]called Horseshoe Bend,

0:25:53.678,0:25:56.144
because it was protected on three sides

0:25:56.144,0:25:58.144
by the Tallapoosa River.

0:25:59.184,0:26:00.846
With the fourth side protected

0:26:00.846,0:26:04.104
by a mammoth breastwork[br]of logs they had built,

0:26:04.104,0:26:05.375
the Creeks were convinced

0:26:05.375,0:26:08.375
that their position was impregnable.

0:26:12.783,0:26:15.526
But then, Cherokee warriors[br]fighting with Jackson

0:26:15.526,0:26:18.298
swam across the river to the Creek village

0:26:18.298,0:26:19.881
and set it on fire.

0:26:21.205,0:26:22.853
Jackson saw his chance

0:26:22.853,0:26:26.409
and ordered his men to[br]storm the barricade.

0:26:26.409,0:26:28.742
(guns fire)

0:26:29.585,0:26:31.835
(shouting)

0:26:34.669,0:26:37.002
(guns fire)

0:26:56.358,0:26:58.600
After brutal hand-to-hand fighting,

0:26:58.600,0:27:01.600
Jackson's forces took the barricade.

0:27:04.504,0:27:07.117
- From that point on, after[br]the barricade was breached,

0:27:07.117,0:27:08.676
it's no longer a battle.

0:27:08.676,0:27:12.217
It is a search and destroy mission.

0:27:12.217,0:27:13.717
It is a slaughter.

0:27:17.179,0:27:21.346
- [Martin] Of the 1,000 Creek[br]warriors, not one surrendered.

0:27:25.054,0:27:28.721
It was Andrew Jackson's[br]first great triumph,

0:27:30.010,0:27:34.247
but to his friend Sam Houston,[br]who fought beside him,

0:27:34.247,0:27:36.080
it was also a tragedy.

0:27:38.154,0:27:40.305
- [Sam Houston] The sun was going down,

0:27:40.305,0:27:43.972
and it set on the ruins[br]of the Creek Nation.

0:27:46.478,0:27:48.442
Where but a few hours before,

0:27:48.442,0:27:52.609
a thousand brave warriors had[br]scowled on their assailants,

0:27:53.737,0:27:58.394
there was nothing to be seen[br]but volumes of dense smoke

0:27:58.394,0:28:03.278
rising heavily over the[br]corpses of painted warriors,

0:28:03.278,0:28:06.778
the burning ruins of their fortifications.

0:28:09.061,0:28:11.172
- [Martin] More Native[br]Americans were killed

0:28:11.172,0:28:13.524
in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend

0:28:13.524,0:28:17.691
than on any other day in the[br]history of the United States.

0:28:21.914,0:28:23.314
- One of the American participants

0:28:23.314,0:28:26.543
who went down to the river[br]that night to fill his canteen,

0:28:26.543,0:28:28.710
said it very, very nicely.

0:28:30.510,0:28:34.491
The Tallapoosa might very well[br]be called a river of blood,

0:28:34.491,0:28:37.934
because, as the dead and[br]dying made it to the river,

0:28:37.934,0:28:40.434
the Tallapoosa was turned red.

0:28:45.608,0:28:46.708
- [Martin] Horseshoe Bend

0:28:46.708,0:28:49.330
was one of the only victories in a war

0:28:49.330,0:28:53.497
that was turning out to be a[br]disaster for the United States.

0:28:54.959,0:28:58.376
- The British had captured Washington, DC

0:28:59.874,0:29:02.874
following the battle of Bladensburg,

0:29:04.058,0:29:06.620
which military historians have called

0:29:06.620,0:29:10.620
the worst disgrace in[br]American military history.

0:29:12.764,0:29:16.097
When the American militia broke and ran,

0:29:17.870,0:29:19.620
hardly firing a shot,

0:29:20.951,0:29:22.797
the British then moved in,

0:29:22.797,0:29:26.047
burned the White House and the capitol.

0:29:27.180,0:29:30.347
So, the war had been going very badly.

0:29:36.860,0:29:38.027
- [Martin] With Britain threatening

0:29:38.027,0:29:41.979
to further humiliate America[br]by conquering New Orleans,

0:29:41.979,0:29:44.528
the army was desperate to find a general

0:29:44.528,0:29:47.945
who could get his men to stand and fight.

0:29:48.867,0:29:52.958
The general finally chosen was[br]incredibly tough on his men,

0:29:52.958,0:29:56.955
and yet his men were[br]fiercely loyal to him,

0:29:56.955,0:30:00.955
a riddle explained by his[br]nickname, Old Hickory.

0:30:01.899,0:30:03.705
- Andrew Jackson became Old Hickory

0:30:03.705,0:30:07.616
when he was coming back from[br]the front down the Mississippi.

0:30:07.616,0:30:12.387
And he decided that he would[br]walk while the wounded rode.

0:30:12.387,0:30:15.567
And, so, he walked all the way home.

0:30:15.567,0:30:17.690
And his men loved him for it.

0:30:17.690,0:30:21.284
It was an example of amazing[br]spiritual leadership,

0:30:21.284,0:30:23.191
and they started calling him Old Hickory,

0:30:23.191,0:30:27.358
because they thought he was[br]as tough as a hickory stick.

0:30:28.430,0:30:29.357
- [Martin] Old Hickory

0:30:29.357,0:30:33.524
had never had a day of formal[br]military training in his life.

0:30:35.977,0:30:37.809
And yet, the Battle of New Orleans

0:30:37.809,0:30:40.961
would be depicted in song, story, and art

0:30:40.961,0:30:42.878
for the next 100 years,

0:30:44.918,0:30:47.587
for Andrew Jackson and his men

0:30:47.587,0:30:50.087
were about to shock the world.

0:30:52.748,0:30:55.432
To even out the odds with the British,

0:30:55.432,0:30:59.906
Jackson enlisted the aid of[br]the French pirate Jean Lafitte,

0:30:59.906,0:31:04.886
Choctaw Indians, and the[br]free blacks of New Orleans.

0:31:04.886,0:31:07.159
Then he mashed them beside his men

0:31:07.159,0:31:09.143
on a narrow stretch of ground

0:31:09.143,0:31:12.643
between a swamp and the Mississippi River.

0:31:14.593,0:31:16.176
On January 8, 1815,

0:31:17.348,0:31:20.201
a huge wave of[br]battle-hardened British troops

0:31:20.201,0:31:23.059
swept down on Jackson's irregulars.

0:31:23.059,0:31:25.065
(guns fire)

0:31:25.065,0:31:26.905
Instead of turning and running,

0:31:26.905,0:31:29.455
as the British has[br]watched American troops do

0:31:29.455,0:31:31.808
in numerous battles before,

0:31:31.808,0:31:33.241
Jackson and his men

0:31:33.241,0:31:36.824
marched into the pages[br]of American history.

0:31:38.291,0:31:41.883
- They really thought that[br]once these professionals

0:31:41.883,0:31:46.050
came marching towards these[br]frontiersmen, they'd all run.

0:31:49.379,0:31:53.379
And to their surprise,[br]they not only didn't run,

0:31:54.481,0:31:58.231
they stood and fired[br]one volley after another

0:32:00.482,0:32:04.649
right into the faces of these[br]poor oncoming British soldiers

0:32:06.163,0:32:08.246
and just mowed them down.

0:32:10.327,0:32:12.851
- [Martin] Jackson had proved that America

0:32:12.851,0:32:16.294
could stand up to the world's[br]greatest military power

0:32:16.294,0:32:17.127
and win.

0:32:18.250,0:32:22.560
- The victory that he won[br]was almost unbelievable.

0:32:22.560,0:32:25.567
The British lost hundreds of[br]men dead on the battlefield.

0:32:25.567,0:32:29.303
Jackson's casualties in the main battle

0:32:29.303,0:32:31.834
were eight killed and 13 wounded.

0:32:31.834,0:32:35.628
It was astonishing.[br]It's still astonishing.

0:32:35.628,0:32:38.633
- [Martin] As news of the victory[br]spread across the country,

0:32:38.633,0:32:41.924
America was swept up[br]in a wave of patriotism

0:32:41.924,0:32:44.007
unrivaled in its history.

0:32:44.870,0:32:49.037
- I think the whole character[br]of the American people changed

0:32:49.885,0:32:51.718
after the War of 1812.

0:32:53.020,0:32:54.962
Prior to that time,

0:32:54.962,0:32:57.630
if you asked a person[br]who or what they were,

0:32:57.630,0:32:59.766
they'd say, I'm a New Yorker.

0:32:59.766,0:33:01.082
I'm a Virginian.

0:33:01.082,0:33:04.884
I'm from Connecticut.[br]I'm from Massachusetts.

0:33:04.884,0:33:08.967
After New Orleans, they[br]said, "I am an American."

0:33:09.856,0:33:11.689
- [Martin] Americans pride in the victory

0:33:11.689,0:33:14.885
was stoked by a flood[br]of images of the battle.

0:33:14.885,0:33:17.908
For a new invention, aquatint engraving,

0:33:17.908,0:33:20.853
enabled artists to make[br]multiple color copies

0:33:20.853,0:33:24.770
of the same image must[br]faster than ever before.

0:33:27.201,0:33:30.709
A delighted American public[br]bought up thousands of pictures

0:33:30.709,0:33:34.709
of the glorious American[br]victory at New Orleans.

0:33:35.781,0:33:38.869
And at the center of many[br]of these new engravings

0:33:38.869,0:33:42.369
was the new American hero, Andrew Jackson.

0:33:47.032,0:33:48.769
- [Historian] Andrew Jackson[br]was really one of the first

0:33:48.769,0:33:51.212
national celebrities.

0:33:51.212,0:33:54.919
Songs were written about him,[br]clubs were founded for him.

0:33:54.919,0:33:57.433
January 8th, the anniversary[br]of the Battle of New Orleans,

0:33:57.433,0:34:00.656
towns would have Jackson[br]dinners and banquets.

0:34:00.656,0:34:04.823
He was a cultural force before[br]he was a political force.

0:34:06.481,0:34:08.670
- [Martin] The festivities[br]were boisterous,

0:34:08.670,0:34:10.063
for Americans had more

0:34:10.063,0:34:14.181
than just the Battle of[br]New Orleans to celebrate.

0:34:14.181,0:34:16.527
- After 1815, the Americans[br]were very much free

0:34:16.527,0:34:18.286
to work out their own destiny

0:34:18.286,0:34:21.321
without interference from Europe.

0:34:21.321,0:34:25.337
This meant that they[br]were enthused, excited.

0:34:25.337,0:34:27.973
They thought they could[br]accomplish anything they wanted.

0:34:27.973,0:34:30.904
It also lent a sense of urgency.

0:34:30.904,0:34:32.813
They believed that if they[br]didn't get it right now

0:34:32.813,0:34:34.447
they might not get another chance.

0:34:34.447,0:34:37.224
That this was the time, this was the place

0:34:37.224,0:34:40.469
on which a new world[br]was going to be created.

0:34:40.469,0:34:43.985
They had to make sure that[br]it was the right new world.

0:34:43.985,0:34:45.663
- [Martin] This turbulent age

0:34:45.663,0:34:48.782
would become the only[br]period in American history

0:34:48.782,0:34:52.036
known by the name of a single man.

0:34:52.036,0:34:53.619
The Jacksonian Era.

0:34:55.101,0:34:56.900
Yet, as the era began,

0:34:56.900,0:35:01.455
Andrew Jackson was once again[br]living on a farm in Tennessee

0:35:01.455,0:35:04.955
with no clear future in American politics.

0:35:06.299,0:35:09.658
For Rachel Jackson, having[br]Andrew home was a break

0:35:09.658,0:35:13.241
from what was, in many[br]ways, a lonely life.

0:35:15.825,0:35:19.239
She and Andrew had proven[br]unable to have children,

0:35:19.239,0:35:21.090
and her dream of spending her life

0:35:21.090,0:35:24.858
surrounded by a loving[br]husband and large family

0:35:24.858,0:35:26.358
had not come true.

0:35:28.366,0:35:31.267
- I think that when Rachel[br]ran off with Andrew Jackson,

0:35:31.267,0:35:33.680
she thought that she[br]was gonna get a husband

0:35:33.680,0:35:36.601
who was devoted to her, and[br]that they would have this

0:35:36.601,0:35:40.092
warm circle around the[br]family fire every night

0:35:40.092,0:35:41.867
with children running about,

0:35:41.867,0:35:45.691
very similar to the household[br]she had grown up in.

0:35:45.691,0:35:47.370
But, instead, she's married a man

0:35:47.370,0:35:50.659
who's got tremendous ambition.

0:35:50.659,0:35:54.225
So, instead of having[br]this quiet family home,

0:35:54.225,0:35:57.748
which, I think, was at the[br]heart of Rachel's desires,

0:35:57.748,0:36:01.008
instead she's married[br]to a very ambitious man

0:36:01.008,0:36:04.033
who pursues national politics,

0:36:04.033,0:36:07.991
becomes a military leader,[br]and, in her own words,

0:36:07.991,0:36:09.966
spends less than a fourth of his nights

0:36:09.966,0:36:11.549
under his own roof.

0:36:14.501,0:36:15.540
- [Martin] As he waited to see

0:36:15.540,0:36:18.969
what avenue for his[br]ambition might open next,

0:36:18.969,0:36:22.982
Andrew Jackson tended to[br]his farm and his horses

0:36:22.982,0:36:25.065
and became a wealthy man.

0:36:26.139,0:36:29.458
His admirers were soon[br]touting the political appeal

0:36:29.458,0:36:30.850
of a penniless orphan

0:36:30.850,0:36:35.109
who had pulled himself[br]up by his own bootstraps.

0:36:35.109,0:36:37.588
But the real story of how Andrew Jackson

0:36:37.588,0:36:41.088
became a wealthy man was more complicated.

0:36:45.595,0:36:48.486
- [Frederick Douglass] Frederick Douglass.

0:36:48.486,0:36:50.887
General Jackson has to own

0:36:50.887,0:36:54.865
that he owes his farm on[br]the banks of the Mobile

0:36:54.865,0:36:57.448
to the strong arm of the negro.

0:37:07.798,0:37:10.215
(folk music)

0:37:12.945,0:37:15.545
- [Martin] For millions[br]of poor, white Americans,

0:37:15.545,0:37:19.410
many of whom had come from[br]Europe seeking a better life,

0:37:19.410,0:37:23.577
the ideal America was one[br]in which they could prosper.

0:37:24.504,0:37:26.296
To give them that opportunity,

0:37:26.296,0:37:29.698
General Andrew Jackson had[br]forced the Creek Nation

0:37:29.698,0:37:33.063
to cede vast amounts of[br]land in what would become

0:37:33.063,0:37:36.813
Alabama and Mississippi[br]to the United States.

0:37:38.365,0:37:41.348
The treasured myth was[br]that this was a place

0:37:41.348,0:37:44.340
where white Americans[br]could improve their lot

0:37:44.340,0:37:47.840
by relying solely on their own hard labor.

0:37:50.590,0:37:54.121
The harsh reality was that[br]it was black Americans

0:37:54.121,0:37:57.909
who were often doing much of the labor.

0:37:57.909,0:38:01.982
Jackson himself founded a[br]plantation in Northern Alabama,

0:38:01.982,0:38:06.095
on land from which he had[br]just driven the Creeks.

0:38:06.095,0:38:09.345
To work the land, he brought in slaves.

0:38:11.040,0:38:12.588
- Jackson firmly believed

0:38:12.588,0:38:15.912
that slaves were put[br]on this earth to labor,

0:38:15.912,0:38:18.286
and whites are here to rule and to govern

0:38:18.286,0:38:20.180
and to lead society,

0:38:20.180,0:38:23.307
and they are on the top[br]of the pecking order,

0:38:23.307,0:38:25.792
they are at the top of the social order,

0:38:25.792,0:38:28.027
they are at the top of[br]the political order,

0:38:28.027,0:38:31.662
and, therefore, they[br]are the ones who rule.

0:38:31.662,0:38:35.412
Superior whites lead,[br]inferior blacks follow.

0:38:40.066,0:38:42.565
- [Martin] Jackson named[br]his biggest parcel of land

0:38:42.565,0:38:44.982
near Nashville the Hermitage.

0:38:46.993,0:38:48.827
At the height of its operation,

0:38:48.827,0:38:51.940
well over 100 slaves at the Hermitage

0:38:51.940,0:38:54.357
called Andrew Jackson Master.

0:38:56.428,0:38:59.763
- He would've been a very[br]paternalistic person,

0:38:59.763,0:39:01.806
and he would've made the slaves think

0:39:01.806,0:39:05.973
he was their mother and father[br]and God all wrapped into one.

0:39:08.643,0:39:12.253
But to enslave another[br]person, another human being,

0:39:12.253,0:39:14.412
you can't be a good person.

0:39:14.412,0:39:18.906
You have to be a pretty[br]tough, vicious, mean person

0:39:18.906,0:39:23.692
to hold another person,[br]or 140 people, in slavery

0:39:23.692,0:39:25.609
for all of their lives.

0:39:27.790,0:39:30.513
- [Martin] When one of[br]Jackson's slaves escaped,

0:39:30.513,0:39:32.364
he offered a reward to anyone

0:39:32.364,0:39:35.197
who would give the man 300 lashes.

0:39:37.502,0:39:40.190
- 300 lashes could kill a man,

0:39:40.190,0:39:44.357
because of the infection[br]from 300 lashes on his back.

0:39:46.752,0:39:51.144
Perhaps they would put[br]some grease into the wound,

0:39:51.144,0:39:53.986
some ointment into the wound.

0:39:53.986,0:39:57.052
They may pour some[br]whiskey on it, you know,

0:39:57.052,0:40:00.675
which would make the man go into shock.

0:40:00.675,0:40:04.050
But, he could die from those wounds.

0:40:04.050,0:40:07.450
He certainly would be ill for a long time.

0:40:07.450,0:40:10.532
And that would remind all the other slaves

0:40:10.532,0:40:12.457
here's what you're gonna get

0:40:12.457,0:40:15.707
if you try to run away from this place.

0:40:18.993,0:40:20.640
- [Martin] Though a few white Americans

0:40:20.640,0:40:24.584
were starting to question the[br]morality of enslaving blacks,

0:40:24.584,0:40:28.751
the fact was that slavery was[br]vital to American prosperity.

0:40:29.807,0:40:31.613
And men like Andrew Jackson

0:40:31.613,0:40:34.780
could not envision a world without it.

0:40:36.355,0:40:38.554
- Human slavery was the powerhouse

0:40:38.554,0:40:41.054
of the early American economy.

0:40:43.124,0:40:46.667
Slave-grown products were[br]the most valuable exports

0:40:46.667,0:40:49.050
that the United States produced.

0:40:49.050,0:40:52.661
Slave grown cotton, slave grown rice,

0:40:52.661,0:40:54.616
slave grown tobacco

0:40:54.616,0:40:57.506
spilled out of the[br]plantations of the South,

0:40:57.506,0:40:59.331
crowded onto boats,

0:40:59.331,0:41:03.048
enriched the harbors[br]of New York and Boston,

0:41:03.048,0:41:07.890
and then fed an appetite of[br]a hungry and shivering world.

0:41:07.890,0:41:10.973
And that's where the money came from.

0:41:12.157,0:41:14.740
So, the people who owned the slaves,

0:41:14.740,0:41:16.553
and the people who bought and sold

0:41:16.553,0:41:18.405
the produce that the slaves made

0:41:18.405,0:41:20.920
were the richest people in the country.

0:41:20.920,0:41:25.003
And it was the desire to[br]get more of those riches

0:41:25.867,0:41:27.499
that drove Americans

0:41:27.499,0:41:29.873
into the best cotton country in the world,

0:41:29.873,0:41:31.318
the country that was possessed

0:41:31.318,0:41:33.797
by the Creek, and the[br]Choctaw, and the Cherokee,

0:41:33.797,0:41:35.964
and the Chickasaw Indians.

0:41:37.534,0:41:39.970
- [Martin] The relentless[br]demand for Indian land

0:41:39.970,0:41:41.695
on which to grow cotton,

0:41:41.695,0:41:45.612
created intense conflict[br]with Native Americans.

0:41:49.051,0:41:51.997
Some of the bloodiest fighting[br]was in southern Georgia,

0:41:51.997,0:41:55.845
where white settlers were[br]battling Seminoles and Creeks

0:41:55.845,0:41:59.928
who were staging cross[br]border raids from Florida.

0:42:04.931,0:42:07.656
With Florida still owned by Spain,

0:42:07.656,0:42:10.320
president James Monroe called up a man

0:42:10.320,0:42:14.487
he knew he could depend on[br]to defend America's borders.

0:42:15.609,0:42:19.192
But, General Jackson[br]had even bigger plans.

0:42:20.821,0:42:23.749
- Jackson really wasn't[br]simply concerned with

0:42:23.749,0:42:25.734
Indian insurgency in Florida.

0:42:25.734,0:42:27.645
He was really concerned[br]about the growing numbers

0:42:27.645,0:42:30.116
of free and escaped blacks who were there,

0:42:30.116,0:42:32.019
free and escaped slaves who were there,

0:42:32.019,0:42:34.629
who were armed and potentially dangerous

0:42:34.629,0:42:36.400
and a magnet for other slaves.

0:42:36.400,0:42:40.309
It's a threat to the plantation economy.

0:42:40.309,0:42:43.410
The combination of an[br]Indian-Slave alliance

0:42:43.410,0:42:47.311
had haunted Americans from[br]the 18th century onward,

0:42:47.311,0:42:51.478
and this was something that[br]concerned Jackson terribly.

0:42:52.515,0:42:54.609
- [Martin] Without orders from Washington,

0:42:54.609,0:42:58.776
Jackson launched an invasion[br]of Florida and conquered it.

0:43:01.724,0:43:04.876
During the invasion, he[br]captured two British men

0:43:04.876,0:43:08.769
who he believed were inciting[br]attacks on Americans.

0:43:08.769,0:43:12.680
Ignoring the ruling of[br]his own military tribunal,

0:43:12.680,0:43:14.763
he had both men executed.

0:43:18.562,0:43:22.352
When news of the unauthorized[br]invasion reached Washington,

0:43:22.352,0:43:24.987
the Speaker of the House, Henry Clay,

0:43:24.987,0:43:26.416
declared that Jackson

0:43:26.416,0:43:30.161
had the makings of an American Napoleon.

0:43:30.161,0:43:33.578
He called on Congress to censure Jackson.

0:43:35.326,0:43:38.600
Being censured would[br]have disgraced Jackson,

0:43:38.600,0:43:40.503
but his conquest of Florida

0:43:40.503,0:43:44.423
was enormously popular[br]with most Americans,

0:43:44.423,0:43:48.590
and Congress refused to[br]censure the great war hero.

0:43:55.046,0:43:57.172
- [Henry Clay] Henry Clay.

0:43:57.172,0:43:59.363
I fail to see how the killing

0:43:59.363,0:44:02.318
of 2,000 English persons at New Orleans

0:44:02.318,0:44:04.539
qualifies a person for the difficult

0:44:04.539,0:44:07.956
and complicated duties of the presidency.

0:44:17.005,0:44:20.784
- [Martin] In 1824,[br]James Monroe was retiring

0:44:20.784,0:44:23.201
after two terms as president.

0:44:24.221,0:44:27.394
Andrew Jackson thought he[br]was an excellent candidate

0:44:27.394,0:44:30.160
to be the next occupant[br]of the White House,

0:44:30.160,0:44:34.327
but he was not the only one[br]with his eye on the job.

0:44:35.468,0:44:38.415
John Quincy Adams was[br]the son of John Adams,

0:44:38.415,0:44:40.973
America's second president.

0:44:40.973,0:44:42.759
He had spent much of his childhood

0:44:42.759,0:44:44.555
in Europe with his father,

0:44:44.555,0:44:47.435
and was now Secretary of State.

0:44:47.435,0:44:50.350
His worldview was as[br]different from Jackson's

0:44:50.350,0:44:52.475
as his upbringing.

0:44:52.475,0:44:55.975
- He was a politician with imagination.

0:44:55.975,0:44:57.868
He imagined an America

0:44:57.868,0:45:00.732
that was much more economically developed.

0:45:00.732,0:45:02.469
He imagined an America

0:45:02.469,0:45:06.636
with much broader educational[br]opportunities for everybody.

0:45:08.612,0:45:10.641
He imagined an America

0:45:10.641,0:45:15.207
in which the rights of[br]Indians and black people

0:45:15.207,0:45:18.040
and women were actually respected.

0:45:20.482,0:45:22.702
- [Martin] Treasury[br]secretary William Crawford,

0:45:22.702,0:45:25.333
and Speaker of the House Henry Clay

0:45:25.333,0:45:28.250
were also candidates for president.

0:45:29.117,0:45:31.368
As in every previous election,

0:45:31.368,0:45:33.956
the candidates did not campaign.

0:45:33.956,0:45:35.256
And, in some states,

0:45:35.256,0:45:39.288
residents did not even[br]get to vote for president.

0:45:39.288,0:45:41.526
Instead, the state legislature

0:45:41.526,0:45:45.693
chose that state's members[br]of the electoral college.

0:45:47.155,0:45:49.835
- In the early years of the republic,

0:45:49.835,0:45:51.747
voters were not called on

0:45:51.747,0:45:55.087
to choose the president[br]of the United States.

0:45:55.087,0:45:58.003
Choosing the president was,

0:45:58.003,0:46:02.523
quite honestly and quite[br]deliberately, an elitist operation.

0:46:02.523,0:46:04.651
The people who were thought to be

0:46:04.651,0:46:06.576
the insiders in state government

0:46:06.576,0:46:08.645
became the presidential electors,

0:46:08.645,0:46:10.298
and they chose the president

0:46:10.298,0:46:14.298
based on which set of Washington insiders

0:46:14.298,0:46:16.449
they thought was the best.

0:46:16.449,0:46:19.711
And the people were basically expected

0:46:19.711,0:46:23.211
to accept that decision without complaint.

0:46:25.214,0:46:26.399
- [Martin] In an election controlled

0:46:26.399,0:46:28.687
by Washington politicians,

0:46:28.687,0:46:30.913
the frontiersman from Tennessee

0:46:30.913,0:46:33.413
seemed certain to finish last.

0:46:35.171,0:46:37.482
- When Andrew Jackson's[br]name was first floated about

0:46:37.482,0:46:39.240
as a candidate for the presidency,

0:46:39.240,0:46:42.375
all kinds of leading[br]politicians were aghast.

0:46:42.375,0:46:46.491
They understood him to be a[br]wild eyes military chieftain,

0:46:46.491,0:46:47.839
a hot-tempered individual

0:46:47.839,0:46:50.755
who had executed a couple[br]of Brits down in Florida

0:46:50.755,0:46:53.838
without authority or apparent reason.

0:46:55.431,0:46:56.536
And, as Jefferson said,

0:46:56.536,0:46:58.909
he was the most unfit man imaginable

0:46:58.909,0:47:01.894
for the office of the presidency.

0:47:01.894,0:47:02.881
- [Martin] To counter the view

0:47:02.881,0:47:05.644
that Jackson was unfit to be president,

0:47:05.644,0:47:08.383
one of his advisors, John Eaton,

0:47:08.383,0:47:10.257
published a series of letters

0:47:10.257,0:47:13.629
that proposed an entirely new rationale

0:47:13.629,0:47:16.959
for what was important in a president.

0:47:16.959,0:47:18.044
- [Eaton] In the selection

0:47:18.044,0:47:20.977
of a chief magistrate of this Union,

0:47:20.977,0:47:24.573
it is not necessary that[br]we should look exclusively

0:47:24.573,0:47:28.240
to the mental qualifications[br]of a candidate.

0:47:29.706,0:47:32.090
It is strength of character,

0:47:32.090,0:47:35.479
a perseverance and steadiness of purpose

0:47:35.479,0:47:38.229
that makes the distinguished man.

0:47:39.763,0:47:42.470
- What John Eaton does[br]in the Letters of Wyoming

0:47:42.470,0:47:46.204
is simply stand on its head,[br]the conventional understanding

0:47:46.204,0:47:49.387
of the qualifications of a president.

0:47:49.387,0:47:52.012
The very qualities that[br]made a candidate before,

0:47:52.012,0:47:54.283
John Quincy Adams being the ideal,

0:47:54.283,0:47:56.115
experience in courts of Europe,

0:47:56.115,0:47:57.636
experience in diplomacy,

0:47:57.636,0:48:00.049
experience as his father's secretary

0:48:00.049,0:48:02.743
in various offices of government,

0:48:02.743,0:48:04.964
all of this is proof of corruption,

0:48:04.964,0:48:07.361
proof of insider status,

0:48:07.361,0:48:10.534
proof of being out of[br]touch with the people,

0:48:10.534,0:48:14.590
whereas Jackson's complete[br]absence of a resume

0:48:14.590,0:48:18.340
becomes his primary[br]qualification for office.

0:48:20.042,0:48:22.864
- [Martin] When the votes[br]were counted in 1824,

0:48:22.864,0:48:25.827
the Washington establishment[br]was stunned to discover

0:48:25.827,0:48:27.989
that Andrew Jackson had won

0:48:27.989,0:48:31.489
both the most popular and electoral votes.

0:48:33.993,0:48:37.459
But with four men dividing[br]up the electoral vote,

0:48:37.459,0:48:40.116
Jackson did not win a majority,

0:48:40.116,0:48:41.575
and the election was thrown

0:48:41.575,0:48:44.408
into the House of Representatives.

0:48:46.049,0:48:49.660
Speaker of the House, Henry[br]Clay, had finished last

0:48:49.660,0:48:51.748
and was out of the running.

0:48:51.748,0:48:55.718
But he had enough support[br]to play kingmaker.

0:48:55.718,0:48:58.153
Clay believed with all of his heart

0:48:58.153,0:49:01.546
that Andrew Jackson was[br]unfit to be president.

0:49:01.546,0:49:05.111
So he threw his support[br]to John Quincy Adams,

0:49:05.111,0:49:08.611
and, with it, Adams was elected president.

0:49:10.228,0:49:13.061
Adams them immediately offered Clay

0:49:13.061,0:49:15.561
the job of Secretary of State.

0:49:19.820,0:49:22.055
Outraged Jackson supporters

0:49:22.055,0:49:25.138
began railing against what[br]they were convinced was

0:49:25.138,0:49:28.673
a corrupt bargain between[br]Washington insiders

0:49:28.673,0:49:32.340
to steal the presidency[br]from Andrew Jackson.

0:49:34.170,0:49:38.215
One newspaper which had[br]endorsed Jackson, declared...

0:49:38.215,0:49:40.054
- [Man] Expired at Washington,

0:49:40.054,0:49:43.091
on the 9th of February, 1825,

0:49:43.091,0:49:47.258
the virtue, liberty, and[br]independence of the United States,

0:49:48.234,0:49:49.795
caused by poison

0:49:49.795,0:49:52.193
administered by the assassin hand

0:49:52.193,0:49:56.360
of John Quincy Adams, the[br]usurper, and Henry Clay.

0:49:59.194,0:50:01.225
- What they were absolutely convinced of

0:50:01.225,0:50:03.698
was the popular will had been thwarted,

0:50:03.698,0:50:05.857
the election had been stolen,

0:50:05.857,0:50:10.024
Washington insiders had[br]cooked up the whole thing,

0:50:11.082,0:50:15.489
and they had to make sure[br]it didn't happen again.

0:50:15.489,0:50:18.197
- [Martin] By 1828, when Andrew Jackson

0:50:18.197,0:50:21.556
ran against John Quincy[br]Adams a second time,

0:50:21.556,0:50:23.596
the Jacksonians were ready to launch

0:50:23.596,0:50:27.763
the first true political[br]campaign in American history.

0:50:29.839,0:50:33.348
Their strategy was driven[br]by the fact that most states

0:50:33.348,0:50:37.926
had finally given the[br]vote to all white males.

0:50:37.926,0:50:39.245
To inspire those men

0:50:39.245,0:50:42.776
to get out and vote for the[br]first time in their lives,

0:50:42.776,0:50:44.744
Jackson's campaign took advantage

0:50:44.744,0:50:48.765
of the latest media[br]revolution, lithography,

0:50:48.765,0:50:51.064
to flood America with lithographs

0:50:51.064,0:50:54.481
of the hero of the Battle of New Orleans.

0:50:56.476,0:50:58.640
- If you're going to elect the president

0:50:58.640,0:51:01.455
by appealing to the people as a whole,

0:51:01.455,0:51:05.264
you change the ground rules completely,

0:51:05.264,0:51:08.212
because you have to win the popular vote

0:51:08.212,0:51:11.028
down there at the grassroots,[br]at the militia grounds,

0:51:11.028,0:51:14.268
in the taverns, in the[br]fairs, in the streets

0:51:14.268,0:51:16.185
all across the country.

0:51:17.151,0:51:20.382
So, somehow you have to be[br]able to reach those people.

0:51:20.382,0:51:22.931
You've got to fire them up.

0:51:22.931,0:51:25.514
(parade music)

0:51:32.194,0:51:33.669
- [Martin] The Jacksonians' plan

0:51:33.669,0:51:38.065
was to rally average[br]Americans around a new idea,

0:51:38.065,0:51:42.232
that they should choose the[br]president of the United States.

0:51:43.603,0:51:47.258
- So, they organized all kinds[br]of popular demonstrations,

0:51:47.258,0:51:50.829
rallies, conventions, assemblies of people

0:51:50.829,0:51:54.662
who would get together[br]and hurrah for Jackson.

0:51:55.993,0:51:57.947
They would pass a set of resolutions

0:51:57.947,0:51:59.722
and then they would all have a barbecue,

0:51:59.722,0:52:01.272
and they would all have a drink,

0:52:01.272,0:52:02.746
and they would start to cheer,

0:52:02.746,0:52:04.675
and, pretty soon, you'd get the sense

0:52:04.675,0:52:06.777
that everybody in this[br]precinct is for Jackson,

0:52:06.777,0:52:09.595
and they'd send the results[br]of that to the newspaper

0:52:09.595,0:52:13.850
and try to publicize it[br]as much as they could.

0:52:13.850,0:52:15.309
And this was the kind of tactic

0:52:15.309,0:52:19.579
that didn't require finagling[br]behind closed doors.

0:52:19.579,0:52:21.330
It could take place in the boondocks.

0:52:21.330,0:52:24.588
It could happen in rural[br]Tennessee, rural Alabama,

0:52:24.588,0:52:25.838
rural New York.

0:52:30.579,0:52:33.996
And this kind of stirring up popular vote

0:52:35.901,0:52:37.449
and giving the people the notion

0:52:37.449,0:52:40.065
that they should choose the president,

0:52:40.065,0:52:44.006
and not the caucus members in Washington,

0:52:44.006,0:52:47.080
that revolutionized American politics.

0:52:47.080,0:52:49.665
The people have not[br]been willing to give up

0:52:49.665,0:52:52.582
the choice of president ever since.

0:52:53.766,0:52:56.547
- [Martin] The revolutionary[br]new style of campaigning

0:52:56.547,0:53:00.645
soon made Jackson into the heavy favorite.

0:53:00.645,0:53:03.429
But, then his opponents[br]discovered the skeleton

0:53:03.429,0:53:06.262
inside Andrew and Rachel's closet.

0:53:08.429,0:53:11.994
The man behind the mischief was[br]a confidant of Henry Clay's,

0:53:11.994,0:53:14.827
who edited a Cincinnati newspaper.

0:53:15.840,0:53:18.610
He uncovered and printed the court record

0:53:18.610,0:53:21.465
of Rachel Jackson's divorce proceedings,

0:53:21.465,0:53:24.689
which revealed that Rachel[br]had lived with Andrew

0:53:24.689,0:53:27.772
while she was married to another man.

0:53:29.983,0:53:34.174
The story of Rachel's adultery[br]was soon on the front pages

0:53:34.174,0:53:36.924
of newspapers across the country.

0:53:37.785,0:53:40.161
- Jackson is called the western bluebeard.

0:53:40.161,0:53:42.959
Rachel is the American jezebel.

0:53:42.959,0:53:47.077
And, it's said, the touch of[br]a profligate women like Rachel

0:53:47.077,0:53:48.833
is going to pollute anyone.

0:53:48.833,0:53:52.253
How could someone like this[br]be put in the White House

0:53:52.253,0:53:55.670
and over the women in Washington society?

0:53:57.802,0:53:59.649
- [Martin] Jackson blamed Henry Clay

0:53:59.649,0:54:01.584
for the attacks on Rachel,

0:54:01.584,0:54:03.136
and he would later say

0:54:03.136,0:54:05.878
that it was one of the[br]great regrets of his life,

0:54:05.878,0:54:08.128
that he did not shoot Clay.

0:54:11.526,0:54:15.454
Instead, Jackson's campaign[br]fired back with the charge

0:54:15.454,0:54:18.362
that, while Adams was US envoy to Russia,

0:54:18.362,0:54:22.529
he had procured an American[br]whore for the Russian Tsar.

0:54:25.035,0:54:29.549
- This and other stories they[br]told about Adams were lies,

0:54:29.549,0:54:31.873
whereas the story that the Adams people

0:54:31.873,0:54:34.844
were telling about Jackson was true.

0:54:34.844,0:54:37.218
But, taken together,

0:54:37.218,0:54:42.002
they all made the campaign[br]of 1828 quite possibly

0:54:42.002,0:54:45.919
the dirtiest campaign[br]in all American history.

0:54:45.919,0:54:48.502
(somber music)

0:54:53.291,0:54:55.107
- [Martin] The viciousness of the campaign

0:54:55.107,0:55:00.012
would have consequences no[br]one could have foreseen.

0:55:00.012,0:55:04.179
Rachel was now 57, and had[br]become deeply religious.

0:55:07.016,0:55:11.664
She found it impossible to[br]accept that people across America

0:55:11.664,0:55:15.664
were now publicly calling[br]her a whore and worse,

0:55:17.403,0:55:21.258
just because she had fallen[br]in love with Andrew Jackson

0:55:21.258,0:55:22.758
so many years ago.

0:55:26.777,0:55:29.515
To a friend, she wrote...

0:55:29.515,0:55:33.682
- [Rachel] Who has been so[br]cruelly tried as I have?

0:55:34.980,0:55:39.147
Our enemies have dipped their[br]arrows in wormwood and gull

0:55:40.139,0:55:41.806
and sped them at me.

0:55:43.295,0:55:47.462
Almighty God, was there[br]every anything to equal it?

0:55:49.310,0:55:52.227
To think that 30 years have passed.

0:55:56.442,0:55:58.460
- I've come to see Rachel Jackson's life

0:55:58.460,0:56:00.877
as the plot of a grand opera.

0:56:02.371,0:56:03.997
You have a young woman

0:56:03.997,0:56:06.677
who makes a mistake in her first marriage,

0:56:06.677,0:56:09.602
and then chooses to escape that

0:56:09.602,0:56:12.352
with a very courageous protector.

0:56:14.566,0:56:15.846
But, by doing that,

0:56:15.846,0:56:19.595
she's made, perhaps, the[br]biggest mistake of her life,

0:56:19.595,0:56:23.634
because this whole story[br]of Rachel as a fallen woman

0:56:23.634,0:56:25.810
explodes on the scene again,

0:56:25.810,0:56:29.977
and becomes the moral wedge[br]issue of the 1820 campaigns.

0:56:37.752,0:56:40.348
- [Martin] When the[br]election of 1828 was over

0:56:40.348,0:56:42.133
and the votes were counted,

0:56:42.133,0:56:44.415
Andrew Jackson, the war hero

0:56:44.415,0:56:47.300
who had dramatically expanded America,

0:56:47.300,0:56:50.383
was elected president in a landslide.

0:56:52.935,0:56:56.435
In January of 1829, he boarded a steamboat

0:56:57.406,0:57:01.573
to begin his journey from[br]Nashville to Washington, DC.

0:57:04.094,0:57:06.378
At many stops along the way,

0:57:06.378,0:57:09.179
the townsfolk planned joyous celebrations

0:57:09.179,0:57:12.449
to honor the first man of humble origins

0:57:12.449,0:57:14.116
to become president.

0:57:15.568,0:57:17.353
But, Andrew Jackson declined

0:57:17.353,0:57:20.353
every single invitation he received.

0:57:21.219,0:57:24.302
For he was too bowed down with grief.

0:57:25.395,0:57:27.572
Just after the election,

0:57:27.572,0:57:31.072
Rachel Jackson had died of a heart attack.

0:57:35.329,0:57:39.139
- [Historian] Jackson was[br]devastated by Rachel's death.

0:57:39.139,0:57:43.155
From that day forward,[br]he carried her miniature

0:57:43.155,0:57:45.837
and would speak to Rachel every night

0:57:45.837,0:57:48.104
before he went to sleep,

0:57:48.104,0:57:52.187
whether he was at the[br]Hermitage or in Washington.

0:57:53.707,0:57:55.365
And when he was home at the Hermitage,

0:57:55.365,0:57:59.532
each evening he would go[br]and visit Rachel's grave.

0:58:03.823,0:58:06.633
- [Martin] And yet, Rachel's[br]death was seen by some

0:58:06.633,0:58:09.550
as a political godsend for Jackson.

0:58:11.746,0:58:13.982
- Everyone around Jackson knows

0:58:13.982,0:58:16.196
Rachel is going to be a[br]problem in the White House

0:58:16.196,0:58:19.021
because the women in Washington

0:58:19.021,0:58:22.261
will not accept her socially.

0:58:22.261,0:58:26.428
And, Rachel choosing, shall[br]we say, to die at that moment,

0:58:27.513,0:58:31.321
frees him to focus on all the challenges

0:58:31.321,0:58:34.161
he'll have in the White House.

0:58:34.161,0:58:36.622
And, in many ways, she's[br]like Madame Butterfly,

0:58:36.622,0:58:39.386
who realizes it's only through her death

0:58:39.386,0:58:43.553
that she'll be able to give[br]her lover what he needs.

0:58:45.412,0:58:49.157
- [Martin] But that was not[br]how Andrew Jackson saw it.

0:58:49.157,0:58:50.266
In his eyes,

0:58:50.266,0:58:54.433
his enemies had made an[br]unforgivable attack on his wife.

0:58:55.876,0:58:59.568
- He blames John Quincy Adams[br]for not putting a stop to it.

0:58:59.568,0:59:03.536
And he blamed Henry[br]Clay for initiating it.

0:59:03.536,0:59:07.456
Jackson actually believed[br]that they killed her,

0:59:07.456,0:59:10.323
and, so, as far as he was concerned,

0:59:10.323,0:59:12.323
they were her murderers.

0:59:14.930,0:59:16.981
- [Martin] Over the next eight years,

0:59:16.981,0:59:19.248
Jackson's anger at his enemies

0:59:19.248,0:59:21.982
would combine with his[br]passionate personality

0:59:21.982,0:59:23.973
and strong convictions

0:59:23.973,0:59:27.300
to produce one of the most[br]turbulent presidencies

0:59:27.300,0:59:29.717
America has ever experienced.

0:59:36.633,0:59:38.683
- [Webster] Daniel Webster.

0:59:38.683,0:59:41.048
When General Jackson comes,

0:59:41.048,0:59:44.012
he will bring a breeze with him.

0:59:44.012,0:59:47.179
Which way it will blow, I cannot tell.

1:00:01.803,1:00:04.648
- [Martin] On March 4th, 1829,

1:00:04.648,1:00:07.041
thousands of farmers and tradesmen,

1:00:07.041,1:00:10.182
who had never been to[br]Washington, DC before,

1:00:10.182,1:00:13.327
poured into the White House.

1:00:13.327,1:00:14.742
They had come to celebrate

1:00:14.742,1:00:17.250
the inauguration of the first president

1:00:17.250,1:00:20.809
who's life story they could identify with.

1:00:20.809,1:00:22.059
Andrew Jackson.

1:00:23.823,1:00:27.816
- His whole family is wiped[br]out in the revolution.

1:00:27.816,1:00:29.889
He's an orphan,

1:00:29.889,1:00:30.806
he's angry,

1:00:32.464,1:00:34.863
but he decides to make[br]something of himself.

1:00:34.863,1:00:39.544
And he becomes the president[br]of the United States.

1:00:39.544,1:00:41.961
It's an extraordinary career.

1:00:43.068,1:00:47.829
It's what America, we like[br]to think is all about.

1:00:47.829,1:00:50.432
- [Martin] To Jackson's[br]working class supporters,

1:00:50.432,1:00:54.265
their presence at the[br]inauguration celebration was proof

1:00:54.265,1:00:59.192
that America was entering[br]a far more democratic age.

1:00:59.192,1:01:03.359
And that was precisely what[br]worried the Washington elite.

1:01:05.359,1:01:08.525
Prominent socialite Margaret Bayard Smith

1:01:08.525,1:01:12.692
described how the inauguration[br]party turned into a riot.

1:01:14.210,1:01:16.943
- [Margaret] What a scene we did witness.

1:01:16.943,1:01:20.500
The majesty of the people disappeared,

1:01:20.500,1:01:24.667
and a rabble, a mob, was[br]scrambling, fighting, romping.

1:01:25.989,1:01:27.218
Cut glass and china,

1:01:27.218,1:01:29.531
to the amount of several thousand dollars,

1:01:29.531,1:01:33.198
was broken in the[br]struggle to get the punch.

1:01:34.236,1:01:37.823
Ladies fainted, men were to[br]be seen with bloody noses,

1:01:37.823,1:01:40.116
and such a scene of confusion took place

1:01:40.116,1:01:43.273
as is impossible to describe.

1:01:43.273,1:01:45.896
Those who got in could not[br]get out by the door again,

1:01:45.896,1:01:48.449
but had to scramble out of windows.

1:01:48.449,1:01:51.913
The president, after having[br]been nearly pressed to death,

1:01:51.913,1:01:54.557
and almost suffocated by the people

1:01:54.557,1:01:58.030
and their eagerness to shake[br]hands with Old Hickory,

1:01:58.030,1:02:01.030
had to retreat through the back way.

1:02:03.471,1:02:05.010
- [Martin] The riot deeply alarmed

1:02:05.010,1:02:07.427
the Washington establishment.

1:02:09.376,1:02:11.945
As men like Henry Clay saw it,

1:02:11.945,1:02:13.880
Jackson's motley supporters

1:02:13.880,1:02:16.667
had demonstrated why the Founding Fathers

1:02:16.667,1:02:20.834
had not trusted the masses[br]to choose the president.

1:02:23.119,1:02:26.632
Now, Clay and his allies[br]worried that Jackson,

1:02:26.632,1:02:30.239
a man famous for his[br]dictatorial disposition,

1:02:30.239,1:02:33.585
would use the support of[br]this same mindless mob

1:02:33.585,1:02:37.752
to turn himself into America's[br]first imperial president.

1:02:39.426,1:02:41.129
- It's hard for us to imagine

1:02:41.129,1:02:44.135
how much that generation worried

1:02:44.135,1:02:47.257
that a republic could[br]so easily be taken over

1:02:47.257,1:02:51.582
by a strong man, by a military[br]chieftain, by an emperor.

1:02:51.582,1:02:55.520
Napoleon, of course, had just[br]recently done that in France.

1:02:55.520,1:02:58.937
Henry Clay was convinced that King Andrew

1:03:00.114,1:03:02.915
was the farthest thing from[br]the deliberative statesman

1:03:02.915,1:03:04.347
that a republic required,

1:03:04.347,1:03:07.805
that he was, in fact, a[br]dangerous, egomaniacal,

1:03:07.805,1:03:09.305
potential emperor.

1:03:11.677,1:03:13.178
- [Martin] President Jackson's plans

1:03:13.178,1:03:15.678
would only stoke Clay's fears,

1:03:16.935,1:03:18.888
for, over the next eight years,

1:03:18.888,1:03:20.967
he would attempt to do nothing less

1:03:20.967,1:03:23.384
than reinvent the presidency.

1:03:24.796,1:03:27.651
- Jackson as president was not[br]unlike Jackson as a general.

1:03:27.651,1:03:29.014
He was the leader.

1:03:29.014,1:03:30.538
He thought of himself as a leader.

1:03:30.538,1:03:32.697
He understood the separation of powers

1:03:32.697,1:03:34.017
under the Constitution,

1:03:34.017,1:03:36.107
but, nevertheless, he[br]thought that the president

1:03:36.107,1:03:38.192
had a very particular role

1:03:38.192,1:03:41.091
as the man that had been[br]elected by all of the people

1:03:41.091,1:03:43.121
to lead government in a way

1:03:43.121,1:03:45.928
that no previous president[br]could have even thought of

1:03:45.928,1:03:47.428
let alone execute.

1:03:48.979,1:03:50.617
- [Martin] Jackson's first assault

1:03:50.617,1:03:52.515
on the Washington establishment

1:03:52.515,1:03:55.370
was to fire dozens of federal employees,

1:03:55.370,1:03:58.026
including 13 district attorneys,

1:03:58.026,1:04:01.311
charging that they were[br]either incompetent or corrupt,

1:04:01.311,1:04:02.144
or both.

1:04:04.437,1:04:06.458
- Most of these high level[br]government bureaucrats

1:04:06.458,1:04:08.294
were regarded as untouchable.

1:04:08.294,1:04:11.415
Some of them had been there[br]since George Washington's day.

1:04:11.415,1:04:16.045
Jackson, within a few weeks,[br]fired a number of them.

1:04:16.045,1:04:18.917
He removed more government officials

1:04:18.917,1:04:22.210
than all of his predecessors put together.

1:04:22.210,1:04:24.627
(folk music)

1:04:25.743,1:04:27.184
- [Martin] But, while[br]the president claimed

1:04:27.184,1:04:31.299
pure motives for the firings,[br]his opponents took one look

1:04:31.299,1:04:33.614
at the replacements Jackson hired

1:04:33.614,1:04:37.621
and proclaimed it the work of the Devil.

1:04:37.621,1:04:41.621
- Some of these people[br]were personally unsavory.

1:04:43.217,1:04:45.735
Some of them had scandals[br]in their backgrounds.

1:04:45.735,1:04:47.198
And, as his opponents,

1:04:47.198,1:04:50.620
and even some of Jackson's[br]own supporters thought,

1:04:50.620,1:04:54.217
he was undercutting the competency

1:04:54.217,1:04:58.736
and efficiency of government[br]by nakedly rewarding

1:04:58.736,1:05:01.089
people for no virtue other than

1:05:01.089,1:05:05.827
being willing to say and do[br]anything to get him elected.

1:05:05.827,1:05:08.590
And, so, he was turning the[br]United States government

1:05:08.590,1:05:11.923
into his own personal political machine.

1:05:16.583,1:05:18.162
- [Martin] But, just as Andrew Jackson

1:05:18.162,1:05:21.048
was starting to look invincible,

1:05:21.048,1:05:22.366
the Washington elite

1:05:22.366,1:05:25.949
snared his administration[br]in a sex scandal.

1:05:27.611,1:05:30.444
(classical music)

1:05:32.486,1:05:36.018
Jackson's friend and[br]Secretary of War, John Eaton,

1:05:36.018,1:05:40.185
had long been friendly with[br]a woman named Peggy O'Neal.

1:05:43.212,1:05:45.967
Peggy was married to[br]an officer in the navy,

1:05:45.967,1:05:48.879
but it was whispered among[br]the ladies in Washington

1:05:48.879,1:05:51.796
that she was not entirely faithful.

1:05:53.644,1:05:57.144
In 1829, news arrived that Peggy's husband

1:05:58.142,1:06:00.642
had died on board a navy ship.

1:06:01.541,1:06:03.604
Instead of going into mourning,

1:06:03.604,1:06:07.271
Peggy almost immediately[br]married John Eaton.

1:06:08.396,1:06:12.259
And that was when the rumor[br]began racing through the capital

1:06:12.259,1:06:15.074
that the naval officer[br]had committed suicide

1:06:15.074,1:06:17.943
after finding out that[br]the Secretary of War

1:06:17.943,1:06:20.610
was having an affair with Peggy.

1:06:21.605,1:06:22.955
To the ladies of Washington,

1:06:22.955,1:06:25.954
it was proof that[br]Jackson's depraved rabble

1:06:25.954,1:06:27.575
was going to sully the cabinet

1:06:27.575,1:06:30.825
just as it had defiled the White House.

1:06:31.740,1:06:33.030
- Problem with Peggy Eaton,

1:06:33.030,1:06:35.952
part courtesan, part common tart,

1:06:35.952,1:06:38.952
is she had a scandalous sexual past.

1:06:39.911,1:06:44.212
And, whenever you see women[br]and sex in this period,

1:06:44.212,1:06:46.701
you know it's about fear.

1:06:46.701,1:06:49.238
And, there was a lot[br]of fear in Washington,

1:06:49.238,1:06:53.024
and anxiety about the coming of democracy.

1:06:53.024,1:06:55.900
The ladies of Washington maybe[br]couldn't do much about that,

1:06:55.900,1:06:58.782
but they could do something[br]about Margaret Eaton,

1:06:58.782,1:07:02.931
and they decided to[br]close their doors to her.

1:07:02.931,1:07:03.839
- [Martin] It was a decision

1:07:03.839,1:07:06.922
with stunning political consequences.

1:07:08.322,1:07:11.484
In the capitol's early[br]years, the social gatherings,

1:07:11.484,1:07:13.792
hosted by politicians' wives,

1:07:13.792,1:07:17.471
were a key venue for[br]Washington's movers and shakers

1:07:17.471,1:07:20.721
to discuss politics and form alliances.

1:07:23.303,1:07:25.982
But, now, prominent Washington wives,

1:07:25.982,1:07:29.818
including those of other[br]Jackson cabinet secretaries,

1:07:29.818,1:07:33.820
began demanding that their[br]husbands boycott all gatherings

1:07:33.820,1:07:36.570
to which Peggy Eaton was invited.

1:07:38.665,1:07:41.462
Suddenly, it became almost impossible

1:07:41.462,1:07:44.639
to conduct politics in Washington,

1:07:44.639,1:07:48.389
supposedly because of[br]a single scarlet woman.

1:07:49.968,1:07:51.181
- If you read the press,

1:07:51.181,1:07:54.467
you would imagine that[br]Margaret Eaton was some

1:07:54.467,1:07:57.743
Cleopatra or Madame Pompadour.

1:07:57.743,1:08:00.623
They called Peggy Eaton[br]the Doom of the Republic,

1:08:00.623,1:08:02.808
and they imputed all kinds of power to her

1:08:02.808,1:08:05.633
that she really didn't have.

1:08:05.633,1:08:08.474
But what was behind not so much fact

1:08:08.474,1:08:10.920
as this terrible anxiety and fear

1:08:10.920,1:08:14.490
about this man who could abuse power.

1:08:14.490,1:08:18.407
And, somehow, Peggy Eaton[br]symbolized that fear.

1:08:20.979,1:08:22.069
- [Martin] The simplest way

1:08:22.069,1:08:24.961
for the president to get[br]Washington functioning again

1:08:24.961,1:08:29.127
was to tell John Eaton to[br]accept Peggy's social isolation.

1:08:31.785,1:08:34.710
But for Jackson, the attacks on Peggy

1:08:34.710,1:08:36.496
were painfully reminiscent

1:08:36.496,1:08:39.412
of the mud-slinging against Rachel.

1:08:40.843,1:08:43.376
The president's wounds[br]from the loss of his wife

1:08:43.376,1:08:44.626
were still raw.

1:08:46.639,1:08:49.144
Each night he read from her prayer book,

1:08:49.144,1:08:53.035
and then went to sleep thinking about her.

1:08:53.035,1:08:55.380
And the more he thought about Rachel,

1:08:55.380,1:08:57.310
the more determined he became

1:08:57.310,1:09:01.228
to stop the same thing[br]from happening to Peggy.

1:09:04.242,1:09:06.264
And, so, for two years,

1:09:06.264,1:09:10.274
the president spent more of[br]his time defending Peggy Eaton

1:09:10.274,1:09:12.357
than on any other matter.

1:09:14.198,1:09:15.048
- For us today,

1:09:15.048,1:09:17.760
the Eaton affair can only be[br]compared to Monica Lewinsky.

1:09:17.760,1:09:20.229
But, actually, it was even more serious,

1:09:20.229,1:09:22.341
because, in the end, of course,

1:09:22.341,1:09:24.359
President Clinton did not lose his office,

1:09:24.359,1:09:28.005
but, as a result of, not[br]Margaret Eaton herself,

1:09:28.005,1:09:31.537
but what she symbolized,[br]the cabinet broke up,

1:09:31.537,1:09:33.345
which was the first time[br]this had ever happened

1:09:33.345,1:09:36.929
in the United States[br]History, and the last.

1:09:41.590,1:09:44.269
- [Martin] To put an end[br]to the scandal, John Eaton,

1:09:44.269,1:09:48.191
and the other members of[br]Jackson's cabinet, resigned,

1:09:48.191,1:09:50.243
enabling the president to replace them

1:09:50.243,1:09:53.160
with men not caught up in the feud.

1:09:54.207,1:09:57.358
The press lampooned[br]the cabinet secretaries

1:09:57.358,1:10:00.608
as rats fleeing Jackson's sinking ship.

1:10:06.827,1:10:08.786
- [Andrew Jackson] Andrew Jackson.

1:10:08.786,1:10:11.703
Disunion by armed force is treason.

1:10:13.916,1:10:16.666
Are you ready to incur its guilt?

1:10:28.645,1:10:31.887
- [Martin] If the Eaton affair[br]had an air of melodrama,

1:10:31.887,1:10:36.054
it was also a sign that tragedy[br]was waiting in the wings.

1:10:37.250,1:10:39.745
Vice President John C. Calhoun,

1:10:39.745,1:10:43.147
who's wife had battled[br]Jackson over Peggy Eaton,

1:10:43.147,1:10:46.836
was simultaneously[br]involved in another crisis,

1:10:46.836,1:10:51.003
one that threatened to bring[br]the nation to civil war.

1:10:52.286,1:10:56.274
- John C. Calhoun, from about 1830 on,

1:10:56.274,1:10:58.734
was obsessed for the remainder of his life

1:10:58.734,1:11:01.151
with one fundamental problem.

1:11:02.903,1:11:05.051
And that was the problem[br]of protecting slavery

1:11:05.051,1:11:09.310
in a nation where slaveholders[br]were becoming a minority.

1:11:09.310,1:11:11.984
How could slavery be perpetuated

1:11:11.984,1:11:16.151
in the face of an indifferent[br]or even hostile North?

1:11:18.597,1:11:21.468
- [Martin] The crisis was[br]triggered, not by slavery,

1:11:21.468,1:11:22.301
but taxes.

1:11:24.768,1:11:27.858
Congress, eager to protect[br]Northern factories,

1:11:27.858,1:11:31.070
had passed a law which imposed a high tax

1:11:31.070,1:11:33.384
on the cheap imported cloth

1:11:33.384,1:11:37.551
used by Southern plantation[br]owners to clothe their slaves.

1:11:40.122,1:11:43.971
Determined to eliminate the[br]tax and protect slavery,

1:11:43.971,1:11:47.264
Calhoun began promoting nullification,

1:11:47.264,1:11:50.754
under which every state[br]had the right to disregard,

1:11:50.754,1:11:54.921
within its borders, any law it[br]considered unconstitutional.

1:11:58.626,1:12:00.458
- Nullification appealed to Calhoun

1:12:00.458,1:12:02.160
and other South Carolinians

1:12:02.160,1:12:06.182
because it was a way of[br]asserting states' rights.

1:12:06.182,1:12:09.189
And, clearly, that was[br]a fundamental threat

1:12:09.189,1:12:11.801
to the entire idea of a federal system.

1:12:11.801,1:12:14.345
And it went straight to the heart of

1:12:14.345,1:12:18.265
the fundamental American[br]question of who was sovereign.

1:12:18.265,1:12:19.756
Was the federal government sovereign?

1:12:19.756,1:12:22.248
Were the states sovereign?

1:12:22.248,1:12:24.899
Were the people sovereign?

1:12:24.899,1:12:27.270
These were all incredibly[br]complicated questions

1:12:27.270,1:12:29.706
that consumed the Jackson White House

1:12:29.706,1:12:31.789
and Jackson's Washington.

1:12:35.650,1:12:38.151
- [Martin] Nullification's[br]fiercest supporters

1:12:38.151,1:12:41.234
were congressmen from South Carolina.

1:12:42.150,1:12:45.091
It's bitterest opponents[br]were Northern congressmen

1:12:45.091,1:12:46.863
who were convinced it would lead

1:12:46.863,1:12:49.196
to the breakup of the Union.

1:12:51.199,1:12:54.569
And then there were those[br]who's positions were unknown,

1:12:54.569,1:12:57.486
including President Andrew Jackson.

1:12:59.297,1:13:03.349
On April 13th, 1830, all three factions

1:13:03.349,1:13:06.867
were represented at a[br]dinner in Washinton DC

1:13:06.867,1:13:10.200
in honor of Thomas Jefferson's birthday.

1:13:11.306,1:13:13.958
John C. Calhoun and the nullifiers

1:13:13.958,1:13:16.706
had been plotting for[br]months to use the event

1:13:16.706,1:13:21.381
to convert those sitting on[br]the fence to their cause,

1:13:21.381,1:13:24.969
and, in their eyes, Jackson,[br]a fellow slave owner,

1:13:24.969,1:13:26.552
was a natural ally.

1:13:29.826,1:13:33.576
But, Andrew Jackson had his[br]own plans for the dinner,

1:13:33.576,1:13:36.532
and, as he arrived, he[br]felt the same thrill

1:13:36.532,1:13:39.449
he had always felt before a battle.

1:13:41.942,1:13:43.447
As the evening began,

1:13:43.447,1:13:46.262
the nullifiers endeavored to build support

1:13:46.262,1:13:48.253
by making toast after toast

1:13:48.253,1:13:51.253
to the importance of states' rights.

1:13:53.356,1:13:57.523
Then, suddenly, President[br]Jackson raised his glass.

1:13:58.476,1:14:02.002
Looking John C. Calhoun[br]straight in the eye,

1:14:02.002,1:14:04.196
he made his toast.

1:14:04.196,1:14:08.363
- [Jackson] Our federal[br]union, it must be preserved.

1:14:11.650,1:14:13.117
- [Martin] Those seven words

1:14:13.117,1:14:15.506
sent shock waves through Washington,

1:14:15.506,1:14:19.173
for all now knew where[br]Andrew Jackson stood.

1:14:20.210,1:14:24.377
He would not tear apart the[br]nation he had helped build.

1:14:27.745,1:14:29.564
For Vice President Calhoun,

1:14:29.564,1:14:34.334
Jackson's opposition to[br]nullification was intolerable.

1:14:34.334,1:14:37.167
The two men soon stopped speaking.

1:14:38.140,1:14:40.307
Then, in November of 1832,

1:14:41.387,1:14:45.111
the state of South Carolina[br]formally nullified the tax,

1:14:45.111,1:14:47.391
and added, that if the federal government

1:14:47.391,1:14:49.699
challenged its right to do so,

1:14:49.699,1:14:53.449
South Carolina would[br]withdraw from the Union.

1:14:54.386,1:14:55.702
- It's hard for us to understand

1:14:55.702,1:14:58.683
how serious nullification was.

1:14:58.683,1:15:00.930
It nearly led to civil war.

1:15:00.930,1:15:04.525
Troops in South Carolina were marching.

1:15:04.525,1:15:05.588
Jackson himself

1:15:05.588,1:15:09.195
wanted to lead the federal[br]army into South Carolina.

1:15:09.195,1:15:12.345
They were fortifying forts[br]in Charleston Harbor.

1:15:12.345,1:15:16.760
This was very close to[br]an all out civil war,

1:15:16.760,1:15:20.593
and it was Andrew Jackson's[br]duty to stop that.

1:15:21.890,1:15:24.011
- [Martin] Instead of reacting in anger,

1:15:24.011,1:15:26.153
as he had so often before,

1:15:26.153,1:15:28.951
Jackson issued a presidential proclamation

1:15:28.951,1:15:33.118
in which he appealed to the[br]people of South Carolina.

1:15:34.285,1:15:37.525
- [Jackson] Seduced, as you[br]have been, my fellow countrymen,

1:15:37.525,1:15:40.942
by ambitious, deluded, and designing men,

1:15:42.451,1:15:46.264
I call upon you in the language of truth,

1:15:46.264,1:15:49.408
and with the feelings of a father,

1:15:49.408,1:15:51.241
to retrace your steps.

1:15:52.725,1:15:55.892
Say, we, too, are citizens of America.

1:15:57.490,1:16:01.090
Carolina is one of these proud states.

1:16:01.090,1:16:05.186
Her best blood has[br]cemented this happy union.

1:16:05.186,1:16:09.913
And then add, if you can,[br]without horror and remorse,

1:16:09.913,1:16:12.746
this happy union we will dissolve.

1:16:13.925,1:16:18.092
This picture of peace and[br]prosperity, we will deface.

1:16:18.941,1:16:22.941
These fertile fields, we[br]will deluge with blood.

1:16:25.533,1:16:28.450
Disunion by armed force is treason.

1:16:30.756,1:16:33.506
Are you ready to incur its guilt?

1:16:36.845,1:16:41.409
- And that's when he said[br]the Union is perpetual,

1:16:41.409,1:16:45.576
it's not a union of states,[br]it is a union of people,

1:16:46.674,1:16:50.539
and, once you're in that[br]union, you can't get out,

1:16:50.539,1:16:52.885
and, I ask the chief executive,

1:16:52.885,1:16:55.468
have sworn to enforce the laws.

1:16:56.634,1:16:58.757
Both those ideas

1:16:58.757,1:17:02.757
are adopted by Abraham[br]Lincoln in his inaugural.

1:17:04.777,1:17:07.860
The whole thing is set up by Jackson.

1:17:12.347,1:17:15.388
- [Martin] With both sides[br]preparing for civil war,

1:17:15.388,1:17:19.273
the most skilled negotiator[br]in Congress, Henry Clay,

1:17:19.273,1:17:22.452
succeeded in winning[br]passage of a compromise bill

1:17:22.452,1:17:25.535
that dramatically lowered the tariff.

1:17:26.739,1:17:30.870
Jackson signed it, South[br]Carolina agreed to abide by it,

1:17:30.870,1:17:32.537
and war was averted.

1:17:37.646,1:17:38.826
For Andrew Jackson,

1:17:38.826,1:17:43.726
the story of nullification[br]contained a dire warning.

1:17:43.726,1:17:46.961
If Americans kept arguing about slavery,

1:17:46.961,1:17:49.211
a civil war was inevitable.

1:17:50.163,1:17:53.272
And, so, the president began[br]appealing to Northerners

1:17:53.272,1:17:56.105
to stop agitating against slavery.

1:17:57.995,1:18:02.162
But that was not what the[br]abolition movement had in mind.

1:18:04.602,1:18:09.587
In 1835, the New York abolitionist,[br]Lewis and Arthur Tappan,

1:18:09.587,1:18:12.677
realized that the steam[br]powered printing press

1:18:12.677,1:18:17.259
made something brand new in[br]American politics possible,

1:18:17.259,1:18:18.509
a mass mailing.

1:18:21.332,1:18:22.812
And so they sent pamphlets

1:18:22.812,1:18:26.019
to thousands of influential[br]people in the South,

1:18:26.019,1:18:27.470
such as ministers,

1:18:27.470,1:18:31.637
to try and convince them to[br]speak out against slavery.

1:18:33.760,1:18:35.807
The first batch of pamphlets arrived

1:18:35.807,1:18:38.307
in Charleston, South Carolina.

1:18:39.825,1:18:43.937
But the postmaster never[br]delivered them to the addressees.

1:18:43.937,1:18:48.104
Instead, they were taken to[br]the town square and burned.

1:18:52.053,1:18:55.344
- Jackson and the Jacksonians'[br]paranoia about slavery,

1:18:55.344,1:18:58.488
as is seen in this whole incident about

1:18:58.488,1:19:01.687
abolitionist literature[br]being sent into the South,

1:19:01.687,1:19:06.469
like all paranoia, has[br]some foundation in reality.

1:19:06.469,1:19:08.686
Their fear is that the word would get out

1:19:08.686,1:19:10.042
to the slave population,

1:19:10.042,1:19:12.313
and would incite slaves to revolt.

1:19:12.313,1:19:16.644
And this is a concern that[br]they all have in this period,

1:19:16.644,1:19:19.804
particularly as you get[br]into the early 1830s,

1:19:19.804,1:19:23.137
in the wake of the Nat Turner Rebellion.

1:19:25.307,1:19:27.627
Anytime rebellions have taken place,

1:19:27.627,1:19:30.680
slave holders have become[br]increasingly paranoid,

1:19:30.680,1:19:33.385
and their instinct is to squash

1:19:33.385,1:19:36.205
the articulation of these[br]sorts of expressions

1:19:36.205,1:19:38.372
as quickly as is possible.

1:19:40.102,1:19:41.370
- [Martin] Tampering with the mail

1:19:41.370,1:19:44.054
was a serious federal crime.

1:19:44.054,1:19:48.246
But, President Jackson[br]tacitly encouraged postmasters

1:19:48.246,1:19:50.967
to destroy the pamphlets.

1:19:50.967,1:19:53.898
And he demanded that[br]Congress outlaw mailing them,

1:19:53.898,1:19:56.231
saying they were incendiary.

1:19:58.478,1:20:01.608
- The Tappan Fliers provide[br]an interesting insight

1:20:01.608,1:20:03.187
into what we could say

1:20:03.187,1:20:06.354
is the Jacksonians' view of democracy,

1:20:08.081,1:20:11.669
because, of all things,[br]the ability to petition,

1:20:11.669,1:20:15.334
the ability to get word[br]out about your position,

1:20:15.334,1:20:19.894
is a fundamental tenant of[br]all democratic societies.

1:20:19.894,1:20:22.580
So, in that sense, then,[br]Jackson and his people

1:20:22.580,1:20:26.529
are attempting to squash[br]a clear democratic voice

1:20:26.529,1:20:27.779
in this period.

1:20:34.095,1:20:38.048
- [Elias] Elias Boudinot,[br]the Cherokee Nation.

1:20:38.048,1:20:39.838
What sort of hope have we,

1:20:39.838,1:20:42.601
from a president who has an inclination

1:20:42.601,1:20:45.184
to disregard laws and treaties?

1:20:46.998,1:20:50.998
We have nothing to expect[br]from such a president.

1:21:00.325,1:21:02.742
(folk music)

1:21:06.014,1:21:07.474
- [Martin] Like Thomas Jefferson,

1:21:07.474,1:21:09.955
Andrew Jackson fervently believed

1:21:09.955,1:21:12.647
that it was small, self employed farmers

1:21:12.647,1:21:15.232
who had made America great.

1:21:15.232,1:21:18.077
And, he believed that the[br]key to keeping it great

1:21:18.077,1:21:20.591
was to continue expanding West,

1:21:20.591,1:21:24.758
so that each new generation[br]could have farms of their own.

1:21:25.711,1:21:26.869
- In Jefferson's vision,

1:21:26.869,1:21:28.858
the frontier was the[br]place that each generation

1:21:28.858,1:21:32.775
would replicate the ideal[br]republican community.

1:21:33.938,1:21:34.936
The problem, of course,

1:21:34.936,1:21:38.167
is that the native people[br]are already living out there,

1:21:38.167,1:21:41.667
and, with one eye, Americans[br]managed to not notice them,

1:21:41.667,1:21:44.102
but, with the other eye, they[br]couldn't fail to notice them.

1:21:44.102,1:21:45.301
Because, as soon as you got there

1:21:45.301,1:21:47.027
you were in conflict with them.

1:21:47.027,1:21:49.938
And that creates the fundamental tension

1:21:49.938,1:21:53.378
that becomes the story of Indian removal.

1:21:53.378,1:21:57.203
- [Martin] In 1830, Jackson[br]won approval from Congress

1:21:57.203,1:21:59.214
of an Indian Removal Act

1:21:59.214,1:22:01.834
that appropriated half a million dollars,

1:22:01.834,1:22:05.353
so that Native Americans[br]living east of the Mississippi

1:22:05.353,1:22:09.436
could be removed to land[br]west of the Mississippi.

1:22:10.437,1:22:14.246
In support of the act, Jackson said...

1:22:14.246,1:22:15.423
- [Jackson] What good man

1:22:15.423,1:22:18.136
would prefer a country[br]covered with forests

1:22:18.136,1:22:21.136
and ranged by a few thousand savages

1:22:22.639,1:22:24.806
to our extensive republic,

1:22:25.778,1:22:30.379
studded with cities, towns,[br]and prosperous farms,

1:22:30.379,1:22:34.772
occupied by more than[br]12 million happy people,

1:22:34.772,1:22:37.690
and filled with all the[br]blessings of liberty,

1:22:37.690,1:22:39.940
civilization, and religion?

1:22:45.623,1:22:49.186
- [Martin] But Native American[br]tribes, such as the Cherokee,

1:22:49.186,1:22:52.327
had an entirely different[br]view than white men

1:22:52.327,1:22:54.744
of how to relate to the land.

1:22:56.579,1:22:59.447
- The Cherokee way is to share.

1:22:59.447,1:23:02.010
It is to be harmonious.

1:23:02.010,1:23:04.638
They really were a spiritual people.

1:23:04.638,1:23:06.556
They had a way of life

1:23:06.556,1:23:10.556
that would perhaps put[br]most Christians to shame.

1:23:11.611,1:23:14.778
They exercised that way of life daily.

1:23:16.853,1:23:21.402
Every morning, the whole[br]village would go to the water

1:23:21.402,1:23:22.652
for a blessing.

1:23:23.880,1:23:26.797
And, at this going to water ritual,

1:23:28.211,1:23:30.544
this old man sung this song.

1:23:32.300,1:23:35.300
(sings in Cherokee)

1:23:56.919,1:24:01.858
So, when I sang that song, it[br]would have been the same sound

1:24:01.858,1:24:05.108
that you would have heard in the 1700s.

1:24:08.006,1:24:09.620
So, that was all disturbed

1:24:09.620,1:24:12.870
because of the contact with the whites.

1:24:15.925,1:24:18.881
- [Martin] Soon after the[br]creation of the United States,

1:24:18.881,1:24:20.367
many in the Cherokee tribe

1:24:20.367,1:24:23.610
decided that their one[br]hope of saving their land

1:24:23.610,1:24:26.236
was to take Thomas Jefferson's advice

1:24:26.236,1:24:29.569
and embrace the white man's way of life.

1:24:31.696,1:24:32.767
- The Cherokees, in fact,

1:24:32.767,1:24:36.107
took exactly the advice[br]that Jefferson offered.

1:24:36.107,1:24:38.226
They settled down, they[br]put on European clothing,

1:24:38.226,1:24:41.066
they developed an alphabet,[br]they learned to read and write,

1:24:41.066,1:24:43.736
they set up town meetings, and a mayor,

1:24:43.736,1:24:47.115
and a city council and all those things,

1:24:47.115,1:24:48.688
and they still had to go.

1:24:48.688,1:24:52.296
Because the problem was they[br]were sitting in Georgia,

1:24:52.296,1:24:54.681
and Georgia was to be ours, not theirs.

1:24:54.681,1:24:56.598
They could not coexist.

1:24:57.947,1:25:01.469
- [Martin] With Georgia[br]preparing to expel the Cherokee,

1:25:01.469,1:25:03.050
two Christian missionaries

1:25:03.050,1:25:05.498
brought a case to the Supreme Court

1:25:05.498,1:25:07.902
that challenged Georgia's jurisdiction

1:25:07.902,1:25:09.985
over the Cherokee Nation.

1:25:10.966,1:25:15.590
The Supreme Court ruled[br]in the Cherokee's favor.

1:25:15.590,1:25:18.612
But Andrew Jackson declared...

1:25:18.612,1:25:21.235
- [Jackson] The decision[br]of the Supreme Court

1:25:21.235,1:25:22.902
has fell, stillborn.

1:25:25.644,1:25:29.214
- [Martin] Jackson encouraged[br]Georgia to ignore the verdict

1:25:29.214,1:25:33.381
on the grounds that the Cherokee[br]were not really a nation.

1:25:35.095,1:25:38.072
A writer to the Cherokee[br]newspaper, the Phoenix,

1:25:38.072,1:25:40.757
remembering that warriors[br]from the Cherokee Nation

1:25:40.757,1:25:44.486
had played a key role in[br]the Battle of Horseshoe Bend

1:25:44.486,1:25:47.696
that had launched Jackson[br]on his road to fame,

1:25:47.696,1:25:49.113
had this request.

1:25:50.482,1:25:52.745
- [Cherokee Writer][br]Ask of General Jackson,

1:25:52.745,1:25:54.253
when the thunders of his cannon

1:25:54.253,1:25:56.532
were heard in the Southern Forest,

1:25:56.532,1:25:59.615
and he will say, "They are a nation."

1:26:01.957,1:26:04.161
These unfortunate people,

1:26:04.161,1:26:05.558
who flocked to the standard

1:26:05.558,1:26:09.536
of the brave commander at[br]Horseshoe, and nobly fought,

1:26:09.536,1:26:13.453
are now repaid with[br]ingratitude and oppression.

1:26:22.470,1:26:25.689
- [Martin] Solely on the basis[br]of the color of their skin,

1:26:25.689,1:26:27.774
thousands of Cherokee families

1:26:27.774,1:26:31.761
were evicted from their[br]homes by American soldiers

1:26:31.761,1:26:35.928
and forced onto what became[br]known as The Trail of Tears.

1:26:44.770,1:26:46.173
One of the Christian missionaries

1:26:46.173,1:26:49.289
who traveled with them, wrote...

1:26:49.289,1:26:52.332
- [Missionary] I have no[br]language to express the emotions

1:26:52.332,1:26:54.437
which rend our hearts to witness

1:26:54.437,1:26:57.104
this season of cruel oppression.

1:26:58.726,1:27:01.280
In Georgia, multitudes were not allowed

1:27:01.280,1:27:06.167
to take anything with them[br]but the clothes they had on.

1:27:06.167,1:27:09.344
Well-furnished houses were[br]left to prey to plunderers,

1:27:09.344,1:27:13.349
who, like hungry wolves, follow[br]the progress of the captors

1:27:13.349,1:27:17.099
and rifle the houses,[br]and strip the helpless.

1:27:18.421,1:27:21.604
For what crime, then, was[br]this whole nation doomed

1:27:21.604,1:27:24.604
to this almost unheard of suffering?

1:27:27.343,1:27:28.459
- The period of Indian removal

1:27:28.459,1:27:32.342
really is a black mark[br]on American history.

1:27:32.342,1:27:35.801
America, which started out[br]as a shining city on a hill,

1:27:35.801,1:27:39.968
sinks to the bottom of the[br]darkest depths in Indian removal.

1:27:42.225,1:27:44.678
Andrew Jackson, and other Americans,

1:27:44.678,1:27:46.478
were willing to do what it took

1:27:46.478,1:27:48.561
to separate Indians from their land.

1:27:48.561,1:27:50.277
If it meant ignoring treaties,

1:27:50.277,1:27:53.293
if it meant ignoring principles[br]of international law,

1:27:53.293,1:27:57.460
if it meant ignoring common[br]decency and a sense of justice,

1:27:58.545,1:27:59.962
then it was done.

1:28:02.010,1:28:04.380
- [Martin] With smallpox[br]and cholera rampant

1:28:04.380,1:28:08.547
on the Trail of Tears, more[br]than 2,000 Cherokees died.

1:28:13.036,1:28:16.276
Andrew Jackson had tried to[br]convince Native Americans

1:28:16.276,1:28:19.359
that he was their great white father.

1:28:21.137,1:28:25.511
But the Cherokee now had[br]a different name for him.

1:28:25.511,1:28:28.297
- They called him Jacksena,

1:28:28.297,1:28:32.464
and, other Cherokee people[br]hearing me say that would laugh.

1:28:35.191,1:28:36.691
Jackson the Devil.

1:28:39.606,1:28:41.689
Jacksena. He's devilized.

1:28:47.946,1:28:51.107
(dramatic music)

1:28:51.107,1:28:53.798
- [Jackson] Andrew Jackson.

1:28:53.798,1:28:56.668
Unless you become more watchful,

1:28:56.668,1:29:00.354
you will find that the most[br]important powers of government

1:29:00.354,1:29:04.271
have passed into the[br]hands of the corporations.

1:29:14.763,1:29:17.180
(folk music)

1:29:18.686,1:29:21.621
- [Martin] When it came to[br]Indian removal and slavery,

1:29:21.621,1:29:22.968
President Jackson's views

1:29:22.968,1:29:26.218
mirrored those of many other Americans.

1:29:27.606,1:29:32.151
But there was one issue where[br]he was truly a visionary

1:29:32.151,1:29:35.751
in his concern for how[br]average Americans would fare

1:29:35.751,1:29:39.668
as the economy became[br]ever more industrialized.

1:29:43.134,1:29:47.420
- The world we know was[br]taking shape in those years.

1:29:47.420,1:29:50.111
And the questions that were so urgent then

1:29:50.111,1:29:51.706
continue to be urgent.

1:29:51.706,1:29:53.559
It was the nature of capitalism.

1:29:53.559,1:29:56.071
It was how people were[br]gonna make their livings.

1:29:56.071,1:29:58.500
And there's nothing scarier,

1:29:58.500,1:30:00.421
nothing more fundamental to people,

1:30:00.421,1:30:02.426
then how they're going to feed themselves

1:30:02.426,1:30:06.593
and clothe their families and[br]make their way in the world.

1:30:08.116,1:30:09.300
- [Martin] For centuries,

1:30:09.300,1:30:11.924
learning a craft, such a shoe making,

1:30:11.924,1:30:15.531
had enabled workers to[br]make a decent living.

1:30:15.531,1:30:18.877
But, across the country,[br]artisans like shoe makers

1:30:18.877,1:30:23.110
were suddenly losing[br]their jobs to factories.

1:30:23.110,1:30:24.334
- All of a sudden,

1:30:24.334,1:30:27.368
it's a job that can be done[br]by a child, by a woman,

1:30:27.368,1:30:30.035
by an unskilled man for pennies.

1:30:31.767,1:30:33.972
But, think what happens to the shoe maker,

1:30:33.972,1:30:36.296
the shoe maker who has[br]spent all of his life

1:30:36.296,1:30:39.094
learning the skills of[br]making a whole shoe,

1:30:39.094,1:30:42.332
his skills have become worthless.

1:30:42.332,1:30:45.468
And, as a result, he feels worthless.

1:30:45.468,1:30:49.583
And, if you look at how much[br]money he's got in his pocket,

1:30:49.583,1:30:52.097
he may be worthless that way also.

1:30:52.097,1:30:53.728
He's broke.

1:30:53.728,1:30:56.311
(fiddle music)

1:31:04.563,1:31:05.501
- [Martin] In the early years

1:31:05.501,1:31:07.733
of Andrew Jackson's presidency,

1:31:07.733,1:31:11.126
these working class[br]Americans created a new way

1:31:11.126,1:31:13.959
of giving voice to their concerns.

1:31:14.905,1:31:16.405
The minstrel show.

1:31:20.948,1:31:24.932
On the surface, it was simply[br]an expression of racism

1:31:24.932,1:31:27.346
and proof of how little white Americans

1:31:27.346,1:31:30.179
really knew about black Americans.

1:31:35.150,1:31:37.716
But the hidden secret of the minstrel show

1:31:37.716,1:31:42.184
was that it was not just[br]about how whites saw blacks,

1:31:42.184,1:31:45.434
but also about how they saw themselves.

1:31:47.961,1:31:49.675
- Of course you're putting on that mask

1:31:49.675,1:31:51.716
to make fun of African Americans,

1:31:51.716,1:31:53.936
but, by virtue of putting on that mask,

1:31:53.936,1:31:57.769
you also enable yourself[br]to speak of yourself.

1:32:01.473,1:32:04.995
The songs of the theater[br]at the time reveal that

1:32:04.995,1:32:08.955
the audience is feeling[br]squeezed by a new America.

1:32:08.955,1:32:10.595
It's being squeezed by an America

1:32:10.595,1:32:13.386
that seems to be coming[br]more and more for the rich

1:32:13.386,1:32:15.968
instead of the common people.

1:32:15.968,1:32:17.551
So, we can look to the stage

1:32:17.551,1:32:21.338
and we can find a place[br]in American society

1:32:21.338,1:32:24.914
where that working class could express,

1:32:24.914,1:32:27.946
in a powerful and gripping way,

1:32:27.946,1:32:30.117
what it felt about what this world

1:32:30.117,1:32:32.450
was doing to them our there.

1:32:34.752,1:32:37.226
- [Martin] For a working[br]class white American,

1:32:37.226,1:32:40.586
putting on the mask of a[br]slave was a way of saying

1:32:40.586,1:32:42.253
I feel like a slave.

1:32:44.880,1:32:47.196
The minstrels also talked about the man

1:32:47.196,1:32:49.631
they hoped would free them.

1:32:49.631,1:32:53.915
They sang, there's some[br]who at our party rail,

1:32:53.915,1:32:56.498
call us the ragtag and bobtail,

1:32:57.401,1:33:00.098
but we have sung within our pale,

1:33:00.098,1:33:04.265
who we are will never fail[br]to vote for General Jackson.

1:33:11.799,1:33:15.626
For Andrew Jackson, the central[br]question of his presidency

1:33:15.626,1:33:19.178
was what he could do to[br]prevent these average Americans

1:33:19.178,1:33:23.011
from being exploited by[br]the rich and powerful.

1:33:26.151,1:33:28.120
The answer Jackson hit upon

1:33:28.120,1:33:31.072
was to destroy an[br]institution that he thought

1:33:31.072,1:33:34.851
was giving the wealthy[br]an unfair advantage.

1:33:34.851,1:33:39.645
It's real title was the Second[br]Bank of the United States.

1:33:39.645,1:33:43.812
But, Jackson supporters[br]called it the Monster Bank.

1:33:45.022,1:33:48.686
- Andrew Jackson dislikes all[br]banks, he said at one point,

1:33:48.686,1:33:51.278
but he particularly disliked[br]the Bank of the United States

1:33:51.278,1:33:54.729
as established by Congress[br]after the War of 1812.

1:33:54.729,1:33:57.372
The reason was simple,[br]it had too much power

1:33:57.372,1:34:01.795
outside of any kind of[br]public accountability.

1:34:01.795,1:34:06.182
The bank was an enormous[br]economic institution.

1:34:06.182,1:34:08.084
It could really control credit,

1:34:08.084,1:34:11.741
and therefore control the[br]American economy itself.

1:34:11.741,1:34:15.824
For Jackson, that meant[br]that the American economy

1:34:17.570,1:34:20.256
was being run by people[br]who were not elected.

1:34:20.256,1:34:21.497
That these unelected bankers

1:34:21.497,1:34:24.346
had their hands on the levers of power,

1:34:24.346,1:34:26.839
and could control people's[br]lives, their destinies,

1:34:26.839,1:34:31.006
and indeed could control[br]the political system itself.

1:34:32.022,1:34:35.552
- [Martin] To Jackson, one of[br]the Monster Bank's worst sins

1:34:35.552,1:34:38.704
was that it was funding[br]new style businesses

1:34:38.704,1:34:40.955
that were beginning to[br]wrap their tentacles

1:34:40.955,1:34:45.170
around both the economy[br]and the government.

1:34:45.170,1:34:49.003
These new businesses[br]were called corporations.

1:34:50.729,1:34:52.773
- The problem with corporations

1:34:52.773,1:34:55.165
as far as Jackson was concerned

1:34:55.165,1:34:59.907
was they had no body to be[br]kicked or soul to be damned.

1:34:59.907,1:35:03.074
They were faceless, anonymous machines

1:35:06.292,1:35:09.116
that were motivated only by

1:35:09.116,1:35:11.614
making profit for their shareholders,

1:35:11.614,1:35:15.367
and, as a result, they[br]could grow much, much larger

1:35:15.367,1:35:18.108
than the average consumer,[br]the average worker,

1:35:18.108,1:35:19.775
the average citizen.

1:35:20.934,1:35:23.506
- [Martin] But Jackson's[br]opponents thought corporations

1:35:23.506,1:35:26.554
would help America become more prosperous.

1:35:26.554,1:35:29.411
And they thought his[br]plan to blow up the bank

1:35:29.411,1:35:31.641
verged on insanity,

1:35:31.641,1:35:34.271
for it was the bank that guaranteed

1:35:34.271,1:35:36.990
that the paper dollars[br]in Americans' wallets

1:35:36.990,1:35:38.740
were worth something.

1:35:39.609,1:35:42.059
- Jackson took a kind[br]of fundamentalist view

1:35:42.059,1:35:43.699
of money and credit.

1:35:43.699,1:35:45.993
Gold and silver dollars were real money.

1:35:45.993,1:35:48.576
Paper was, in some sense, fake.

1:35:50.170,1:35:54.924
Those who were perhaps more[br]astute economists than Jackson

1:35:54.924,1:35:58.259
thought that this position[br]was just short of neanderthal.

1:35:58.259,1:36:00.683
The United States had[br]been built on credit,

1:36:00.683,1:36:02.457
as Henry Clay said in the Senate,

1:36:02.457,1:36:04.776
"We have always been a paper money people.

1:36:04.776,1:36:08.026
"We won the revolution on paper money."

1:36:10.361,1:36:12.491
- [Martin] Clay and his allies in Congress

1:36:12.491,1:36:16.329
decided to put some heat on Old Hickory.

1:36:16.329,1:36:18.699
Near the end of Jackson's first term,

1:36:18.699,1:36:22.980
they passed a bill extending[br]the bank's charter.

1:36:22.980,1:36:25.829
Clay calculated that the[br]president would have no choice

1:36:25.829,1:36:27.415
but to sign the bill,

1:36:27.415,1:36:30.406
because a veto would be[br]seen by the American public

1:36:30.406,1:36:34.573
as so irresponsible, it would[br]cost Jackson reelection.

1:36:41.470,1:36:44.334
But Clay had made a[br]fundamental miscalculation

1:36:44.334,1:36:47.990
about the character of Andrew Jackson.

1:36:47.990,1:36:50.384
A character that was[br]exemplified by an event

1:36:50.384,1:36:54.551
that took place in the midst[br]of the battle over the bank.

1:36:56.965,1:36:58.678
At the president's request,

1:36:58.678,1:37:01.051
a navy surgeon was[br]brought to the White House

1:37:01.051,1:37:03.801
to operate on a painful shoulder.

1:37:05.932,1:37:08.631
The problem was a simple one.

1:37:08.631,1:37:10.714
There was a bullet in it.

1:37:11.913,1:37:15.642
20 years before, during the War of 1812,

1:37:15.642,1:37:18.936
Major General Jackson[br]became embroiled in a feud

1:37:18.936,1:37:20.857
between one of his officers

1:37:20.857,1:37:23.607
and a prominent Nashville family.

1:37:25.859,1:37:27.841
Instead of mediating the dispute,

1:37:27.841,1:37:30.676
as might have been expected[br]of a man of his stature,

1:37:30.676,1:37:34.843
General Jackson took part[br]in a full scale gun battle.

1:37:37.777,1:37:41.944
During it, he was shot at point[br]blank range and almost died.

1:37:45.631,1:37:50.132
This saga defined the[br]character of Andrew Jackson.

1:37:50.132,1:37:52.040
He could not pass up a fight.

1:37:52.040,1:37:56.207
And, when he fought, he was[br]willing to risk everything.

1:37:57.337,1:37:59.587
Of the bank, he declared...

1:38:00.750,1:38:04.158
- [Jackson] The bank is trying to kill me,

1:38:04.158,1:38:05.741
but I will kill it.

1:38:10.032,1:38:12.778
- [Martin] On July 10th, 1832,

1:38:12.778,1:38:16.695
Jackson vetoed the bill[br]reauthorizing the bank.

1:38:19.772,1:38:22.212
The president's address[br]in defense of the veto

1:38:22.212,1:38:25.874
was perhaps the most[br]important of his life,

1:38:25.874,1:38:28.920
for he had to explain[br]to the American people,

1:38:28.920,1:38:32.960
not with bombast, but[br]with words from his heart,

1:38:32.960,1:38:36.043
why he so fervently opposed the bank.

1:38:37.623,1:38:41.543
- Jackson] It is to be regretted[br]that the rich and powerful

1:38:41.543,1:38:44.119
too often bend the acts of government

1:38:44.119,1:38:46.286
to their selfish purposes.

1:38:48.138,1:38:51.637
When the laws on the take[br]to make the rich richer

1:38:51.637,1:38:54.569
and the potent more powerful,

1:38:54.569,1:38:56.479
the humble members of society,

1:38:56.479,1:38:59.309
the farmers, the mechanics, and laborers,

1:38:59.309,1:39:01.650
who have neither the time nor the means

1:39:01.650,1:39:04.394
of securing like favors to themselves,

1:39:04.394,1:39:06.648
have a right to complain

1:39:06.648,1:39:09.731
of the injustice of their government.

1:39:12.634,1:39:14.445
We can at least take a stand

1:39:14.445,1:39:17.943
against any prostitution of our government

1:39:17.943,1:39:22.110
to the advancement of the few[br]at the expense of the many.

1:39:25.402,1:39:27.985
(parade music)

1:39:29.647,1:39:30.909
- [Martin] To help rally support

1:39:30.909,1:39:34.620
for Jackson's reelection campaign in 1832,

1:39:34.620,1:39:38.983
the president and his closest[br]advisor, Martin Van Buren,

1:39:38.983,1:39:41.237
came up with one of the boldest strokes

1:39:41.237,1:39:43.819
in American political history.

1:39:43.819,1:39:46.652
They founded the Democratic Party.

1:39:47.848,1:39:50.981
- Jackson thought of The[br]Democracy, as it was called,

1:39:50.981,1:39:51.814
it wasn't called the Democratic Party,

1:39:51.814,1:39:53.320
it was called The Democracy,

1:39:53.320,1:39:56.133
thought of it as the association of

1:39:56.133,1:39:58.503
the vast majority of Americans,

1:39:58.503,1:39:59.989
the majority that should govern,

1:39:59.989,1:40:03.348
to make sure that they would govern.

1:40:03.348,1:40:04.458
There were all sorts of ways

1:40:04.458,1:40:08.051
in which ordinary people can participate.

1:40:08.051,1:40:09.478
Jackson thinks that's important,

1:40:09.478,1:40:12.493
because the ordinary people[br]have to associate more

1:40:12.493,1:40:14.407
because they don't have the resources

1:40:14.407,1:40:17.324
that the rich and the well born do.

1:40:18.923,1:40:19.838
- [Martin] For years,

1:40:19.838,1:40:23.628
Jackson's opponents had[br]lampooned his frontier roots

1:40:23.628,1:40:26.211
by portraying him as a jackass.

1:40:28.302,1:40:32.469
To their shock, the Jacksonians[br]began embracing the symbol.

1:40:37.431,1:40:39.205
- Well, the donkey as the[br]symbol of the Democratic Party

1:40:39.205,1:40:40.834
started out as a satire,

1:40:40.834,1:40:43.084
as an attack on the rubish,

1:40:44.494,1:40:47.775
sort of Beverly Hillbillies nature of

1:40:47.775,1:40:50.846
Jackson's Democratic Party.

1:40:50.846,1:40:53.814
But, interesting that people[br]like Henry Clay and others

1:40:53.814,1:40:56.342
didn't quite understand that

1:40:56.342,1:40:59.871
in urban settings, the donkey[br]may have been a figure of fun,

1:40:59.871,1:41:02.440
but for people in rural America,

1:41:02.440,1:41:04.726
which was most of America at the time,

1:41:04.726,1:41:07.328
the donkey was essential to daily life,

1:41:07.328,1:41:09.294
and it was someone you could rely on.

1:41:09.294,1:41:11.782
And Jackson and the Democrats[br]were presenting themselves

1:41:11.782,1:41:14.115
as people you could rely on.

1:41:15.702,1:41:16.738
- [Martin] A second party

1:41:16.738,1:41:20.063
quickly arose to oppose the Democrats.

1:41:20.063,1:41:22.265
Called The National Republicans,

1:41:22.265,1:41:26.369
they chose Jackson's[br]fiercest rival, Henry Clay,

1:41:26.369,1:41:29.719
to run against him for president.

1:41:29.719,1:41:32.588
- Henry Clay and Andrew[br]Jackson hated each other.

1:41:32.588,1:41:36.505
Clay saw himself as a[br]great American statesman,

1:41:38.614,1:41:40.292
and couldn't quite understand

1:41:40.292,1:41:44.766
how this rube from the[br]Carolina back country

1:41:44.766,1:41:46.142
who had never gone to school,

1:41:46.142,1:41:48.520
who'd never read a book, in Clay's view,

1:41:48.520,1:41:51.495
could possibly be so powerful

1:41:51.495,1:41:54.086
and have such a hold over the people.

1:41:54.086,1:41:57.966
Thereby ensuring that Clay[br]himself would never do that.

1:41:57.966,1:42:00.922
Because he didn't appreciate, I think,

1:42:00.922,1:42:03.545
Jackson's gifts of both charisma

1:42:03.545,1:42:06.295
and the power of his personality.

1:42:07.884,1:42:09.860
- [Martin] During the election campaign,

1:42:09.860,1:42:14.044
Jackson and his advisors again[br]demonstrated complete mastery

1:42:14.044,1:42:17.127
of the media tools available to them.

1:42:18.398,1:42:21.987
- This man was sitting for his portrait

1:42:21.987,1:42:24.334
again and again and again.

1:42:24.334,1:42:26.102
Jackson had a sense

1:42:26.102,1:42:29.685
that I want the American[br]people to know me,

1:42:30.870,1:42:33.190
and to know what I look like.

1:42:33.190,1:42:37.357
And, I think that says something[br]about his political sense.

1:42:40.584,1:42:42.855
He's a first in many ways,

1:42:42.855,1:42:45.801
and he's the first president that I know

1:42:45.801,1:42:48.551
who had a desire to use the media

1:42:51.471,1:42:54.804
to communicate with the American people.

1:42:55.646,1:42:56.996
- [Martin] On election day,

1:42:56.996,1:43:00.382
voters flocked to the[br]polls in record numbers.

1:43:00.382,1:43:04.061
And, thanks to Jackson's[br]reputation as a military hero,

1:43:04.061,1:43:07.333
and his continuing expansion of America,

1:43:07.333,1:43:10.833
they gave Old Hickory a landslide victory.

1:43:14.708,1:43:17.524
But what Andrew Jackson[br]read into the victory

1:43:17.524,1:43:19.803
was that he now had a mandate

1:43:19.803,1:43:23.220
to destroy The Bank of the United States.

1:43:24.694,1:43:27.186
And so the president ordered[br]the government's money

1:43:27.186,1:43:29.019
removed from the bank.

1:43:30.484,1:43:32.557
But even some in his own cabinet

1:43:32.557,1:43:35.196
thought such a step was illegal.

1:43:35.196,1:43:38.722
And Jackson had to replace[br]two treasury secretaries

1:43:38.722,1:43:42.222
before finding a third who would obey him.

1:43:43.486,1:43:46.611
- Nothing like this would happen again

1:43:46.611,1:43:50.210
until Richard Nixon, during[br]the Watergate Crisis,

1:43:50.210,1:43:52.924
had to go through three attorneys' general

1:43:52.924,1:43:56.203
to find one who would fire Archibald Cox

1:43:56.203,1:43:58.036
as special prosecutor.

1:43:59.677,1:44:01.971
- [Martin] On the floor of the US Senate,

1:44:01.971,1:44:04.350
Henry Clay asserted that nothing less

1:44:04.350,1:44:08.517
than the future of American[br]Democracy was at stake.

1:44:09.574,1:44:12.473
- [Clay] We are in the[br]midst of a revolution,

1:44:12.473,1:44:14.300
hitherto bloodless,

1:44:14.300,1:44:17.913
but rapidly tending toward[br]the concentration of all power

1:44:17.913,1:44:19.913
in the hands of one man.

1:44:23.474,1:44:26.214
- [Martin] For the only[br]time in American history,

1:44:26.214,1:44:29.047
the Senate censured the president.

1:44:30.608,1:44:35.321
People throughout the nation[br]began calling it The Bank War.

1:44:35.321,1:44:36.270
It was a war

1:44:36.270,1:44:39.413
in which reason and economics[br]were the casualties,

1:44:39.413,1:44:40.810
and the chief combatants

1:44:40.810,1:44:44.977
were Jackson and the president[br]of the bank, Nicholas Biddle.

1:44:46.434,1:44:48.173
- The confrontation between Andrew Jackson

1:44:48.173,1:44:50.048
and The Bank of the United States

1:44:50.048,1:44:52.074
escalated, you might almost say,

1:44:52.074,1:44:54.817
beyond the bounds of sanity.

1:44:54.817,1:44:56.785
From the point of view of Nicholas Biddle,

1:44:56.785,1:44:58.881
president of The Bank[br]of the United States,

1:44:58.881,1:45:00.106
this maniac president

1:45:00.106,1:45:03.403
was going to destroy the American economy.

1:45:03.403,1:45:05.388
And both sides got so wrapped up in it

1:45:05.388,1:45:07.888
that they did reckless things.

1:45:09.596,1:45:10.540
Nicholas Biddle,

1:45:10.540,1:45:13.218
in an effort to procure a recharter,

1:45:13.218,1:45:17.597
actually triggered what was[br]called a panic in those days,

1:45:17.597,1:45:21.578
of a stock market crash[br]and a brief depression,

1:45:21.578,1:45:23.779
not realizing that, in doing this,

1:45:23.779,1:45:26.565
he was proving every point Jackson made

1:45:26.565,1:45:29.540
about the reckless power that[br]The Bank of the United States

1:45:29.540,1:45:32.540
held over ordinary Americans' lives.

1:45:34.765,1:45:39.288
- [Martin] Finally, in 1836,[br]the bank's charter expired

1:45:39.288,1:45:41.348
and its doors were closed.

1:45:41.348,1:45:43.277
And Andrew Jackson, once again,

1:45:43.277,1:45:46.027
emerged from a battle victorious.

1:45:47.579,1:45:49.370
- An historian has written

1:45:49.370,1:45:51.877
that every once in a[br]while in American history

1:45:51.877,1:45:55.777
it becomes necessary to[br]save American capitalism

1:45:55.777,1:45:57.180
from the capitalists.

1:45:57.180,1:45:58.943
That, left to their own devices,

1:45:58.943,1:46:01.157
they will so accrete power

1:46:01.157,1:46:04.873
that they will end up ruining the economy.

1:46:04.873,1:46:07.226
Well, Jackson in some ways saw that

1:46:07.226,1:46:09.043
was the beginning of that process,

1:46:09.043,1:46:11.743
as American capitalism was[br]just beginning to develop.

1:46:11.743,1:46:14.111
He saw that, to keep the system going

1:46:14.111,1:46:17.454
in a democratic fashion, as he saw it,

1:46:17.454,1:46:20.972
it was necessary that accountability

1:46:20.972,1:46:22.625
had to be there in the system

1:46:22.625,1:46:27.173
in a way that it did not[br]seem to be as of 1832.

1:46:27.173,1:46:29.673
(tense music)

1:46:32.929,1:46:33.967
- [Martin] Jackson's battles

1:46:33.967,1:46:38.134
during his second term in[br]office were not just political.

1:46:39.683,1:46:42.791
One afternoon, as the president[br]was leaving the capitol,

1:46:42.791,1:46:44.066
a mentally ill man,

1:46:44.066,1:46:46.848
who believed that Jackson[br]had killed his father

1:46:46.848,1:46:48.098
approached him.

1:46:49.070,1:46:51.570
(tense music)

1:46:57.449,1:46:59.782
(gun fires)

1:47:01.113,1:47:03.751
The explosion of the[br]pistol's percussion cap

1:47:03.751,1:47:07.968
convinced bystanders that[br]the president had been shot.

1:47:07.968,1:47:12.135
But the gunpowder inside[br]the pistol failed to ignite.

1:47:15.764,1:47:19.441
The assailant then drew a second pistol

1:47:19.441,1:47:23.871
and fired point blank into[br]the president's chest.

1:47:23.871,1:47:26.204
(gun fires)

1:47:27.114,1:47:30.199
Miraculously, the powder[br]inside the second gun

1:47:30.199,1:47:32.032
also failed to ignite.

1:47:34.981,1:47:37.979
As a result, Andrew Jackson survived

1:47:37.979,1:47:40.328
the first assassination attempt ever

1:47:40.328,1:47:42.828
against an American president.

1:47:50.342,1:47:54.081
Then, in the presidential[br]election of 1836,

1:47:54.081,1:47:57.761
Jackson's hand-picked[br]successor, Martin Van Buren,

1:47:57.761,1:48:01.535
rode Old Hickory's coat tails to victory.

1:48:01.535,1:48:03.952
(folk music)

1:48:09.846,1:48:11.429
On March 4th, 1837,

1:48:12.647,1:48:16.814
Andrew Jackson's tumultuous[br]presidency came to an end.

1:48:19.154,1:48:21.313
In a sign of the remarkable changes

1:48:21.313,1:48:24.387
that had taken place[br]during his years in office,

1:48:24.387,1:48:28.212
he left Washington, not in[br]a carriage pulled by horses,

1:48:28.212,1:48:31.006
as he had arrived eight years before,

1:48:31.006,1:48:35.173
but on a train car pulled by[br]a steam powered locomotive.

1:48:37.435,1:48:39.935
To a reporter, Jackson said...

1:48:41.677,1:48:43.669
- [Jackson] After eight[br]years as president,

1:48:43.669,1:48:45.669
I have only two regrets.

1:48:47.070,1:48:51.237
That I have not shot Henry[br]Clay or hanged John C. Calhoun.

1:48:58.498,1:49:01.362
- [Martin] The legacy Andrew[br]Jackson left behind him

1:49:01.362,1:49:03.195
was a complicated one.

1:49:04.089,1:49:06.111
But, if there was one key feature

1:49:06.111,1:49:10.398
that would allow future generations[br]to make sense of it all,

1:49:10.398,1:49:12.685
it was the way in which Jackson's fight

1:49:12.685,1:49:15.043
for the rights of the average white man

1:49:15.043,1:49:19.210
pointed the way for others[br]to seek rights of their own.

1:49:22.428,1:49:25.499
- Jacksonian democracy had no[br]room in it for black people,

1:49:25.499,1:49:28.395
it was not willing to free the slaves,

1:49:28.395,1:49:29.979
it had utter contempt

1:49:29.979,1:49:32.285
for the political aspirations of women,

1:49:32.285,1:49:33.881
and everybody knows it was

1:49:33.881,1:49:37.631
utterly violent and[br]merciless to the Indians.

1:49:38.501,1:49:41.503
But, look how the victims[br]of Jacksonian democracy

1:49:41.503,1:49:43.403
defended themselves.

1:49:43.403,1:49:45.785
They didn't go out and become monarchists.

1:49:45.785,1:49:47.438
Instead, what they did

1:49:47.438,1:49:50.523
was to take the principles[br]of Jacksonian democracy

1:49:50.523,1:49:53.686
and demand that they[br]be applied to them too.

1:49:53.686,1:49:54.959
When you look at the feminists,

1:49:54.959,1:49:56.631
they used the Declaration of Independence

1:49:56.631,1:49:58.762
to demand the right to vote.

1:49:58.762,1:50:00.286
When you look at the abolitionists,

1:50:00.286,1:50:03.405
they said the demand for human equality

1:50:03.405,1:50:06.445
is good for the slaves as well.

1:50:06.445,1:50:08.151
When the Indians wanted to

1:50:08.151,1:50:11.321
defend themselves against[br]white encroachment,

1:50:11.321,1:50:13.562
the Cherokees created[br]a written constitution

1:50:13.562,1:50:16.320
and a democratic government of their own.

1:50:16.320,1:50:21.149
So that the abolitionists,[br]the feminists, the Indians,

1:50:21.149,1:50:25.316
all responded to this[br]aggressive Jacksonian democracy,

1:50:26.810,1:50:28.685
not by becoming monarchists,

1:50:28.685,1:50:32.185
but by saying, "We have to have some too."

1:50:36.632,1:50:39.379
- [Martin] Jackson spent the[br]remaining years of his life

1:50:39.379,1:50:42.239
at his beloved Hermitage.

1:50:42.239,1:50:44.642
Though others would one[br]day see a connection

1:50:44.642,1:50:48.452
between his quest for[br]opportunity for white men

1:50:48.452,1:50:51.674
and the ideal of opportunity for all,

1:50:51.674,1:50:54.424
Andrew Jackson himself never did.

1:50:57.089,1:51:00.232
He continued to own dozens of slaves,

1:51:00.232,1:51:04.100
never worrying that they[br]toiled from sunrise to midnight

1:51:04.100,1:51:06.445
with no hope of a better life,

1:51:06.445,1:51:10.612
or giving any thought to what[br]their opinion was of him.

1:51:12.724,1:51:17.122
- Sometimes, when they had a[br]funeral for a fellow slave,

1:51:17.122,1:51:20.895
like at The Hermitage, they would say,

1:51:20.895,1:51:24.645
"One day, your head must[br]bow as low as ours."

1:51:25.630,1:51:29.221
As they sang this funeral[br]march to the grave.

1:51:29.221,1:51:32.804
One day, your head must[br]bow as low as ours.

1:51:35.470,1:51:39.358
When they sang that song, they're[br]looking at Andrew Jackson,

1:51:39.358,1:51:42.025
the master, as they march along.

1:51:45.538,1:51:47.398
The whites think that[br]they're just singin' a

1:51:47.398,1:51:49.688
great, melodious song.

1:51:49.688,1:51:51.714
But it had a deep meaning,

1:51:51.714,1:51:55.714
and, what it meant it,[br]one day you must die too.

1:51:56.809,1:52:00.476
One thing that makes[br]all men equal is death.

1:52:01.333,1:52:04.126
All men must die equally.

1:52:04.126,1:52:07.626
One day your head must bow as low as ours.

1:52:10.427,1:52:14.594
- [Martin] On June 8th,[br]1845, Andrew Jackson died.

1:52:20.385,1:52:22.240
America's seventh president

1:52:22.240,1:52:26.016
was laid to rest beside[br]his beloved wife, Rachel,

1:52:26.016,1:52:28.599
in the garden at The Hermitage.

1:52:31.356,1:52:36.061
14 years later, Jackson's[br]first biographer, James Parton,

1:52:36.061,1:52:37.561
visited the grave.

1:52:39.599,1:52:42.128
The historian had[br]already spent many months

1:52:42.128,1:52:44.925
reading what hundreds of[br]Jackson's contemporaries

1:52:44.925,1:52:46.675
had to say about him.

1:52:48.584,1:52:51.568
But the writer still[br]found it nearly impossible

1:52:51.568,1:52:53.401
to sum up Old Hickory.

1:52:57.343,1:53:00.263
- [Parton] If anyone, at[br]the end of a year even,

1:53:00.263,1:53:03.983
had asked what I discovered[br]respecting General Jackson,

1:53:03.983,1:53:06.233
I might have answered thus.

1:53:08.718,1:53:12.165
Andrew Jackson, I am given to understand,

1:53:12.165,1:53:14.498
was a patriot and a traitor.

1:53:16.739,1:53:19.023
He was one of the greatest generals,

1:53:19.023,1:53:22.190
and wholly ignorant of the art of war.

1:53:24.367,1:53:26.402
A stickler for discipline,

1:53:26.402,1:53:29.985
he never hesitated to[br]disobey his superior.

1:53:30.895,1:53:32.815
The first of statesmen,

1:53:32.815,1:53:35.898
he never devised or framed a measure.

1:53:37.810,1:53:39.870
He was the most candid of men,

1:53:39.870,1:53:43.953
and was capable of the[br]profoundest dissimulation.

1:53:46.328,1:53:48.745
He was a democratic autocrat,

1:53:49.689,1:53:51.106
an urbane savage,

1:53:53.289,1:53:54.872
an atrocious saint.

1:54:05.674,1:54:07.985
- [Announcer] Discover[br]more about Andrew Jackson,

1:54:07.985,1:54:11.037
explore the history of[br]the imperial presidency,

1:54:11.037,1:54:14.481
and watch debates about[br]Indian removal, slavery,

1:54:14.481,1:54:18.648
and other controversies from[br]the Jacksonian era at PBS.org.

1:54:20.166,1:54:22.666
(folk music)