THE BUILDER JUNE 1925

Andrew Jackson, the Man and Mason

By BRO. ERIK MCKINLEY ERIKSSON,

PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, LOMBARD COLLEGE, II

BRO. ERIKSSON will be remembered as the author of "The AntiMasonic
Party," published in these pages, March, 1921, an essay
characterized, like that printed below, by adequacy, impartiality,
and accuracy. The student who wishes to make a thorough
investigation of the whole Anti-Masonic period is recommended to
read along with Bro. Eriksson's study McCarthy's "Anti-Masonic
Party," published in the American Historical Association Reports,
1902, p. 370; it will be found in almost any public library. Bro.
Charles Comstock P.G.M., of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee Historical
Research Committee, has published a leaflet on "The Masonic Record
of Andrew Jackson."

AMONG the truly great men of the United states must be included
Andrew Jackson, victor at the famous Battle of New Orleans,
President of the United states for two terms, and for two years
Grand Master of Masons of Tennessee. Not only was he a military
genius and a master politician, but he was an active Mason. His
record is one in which all Masons may take pride.

Perhaps no man in American public life has been more reviled by his
enemies or more warmly praised by his friends than Jackson. This
was natural in view of the fact that, during the period in which he
occupied the presidential chair, 1829-1837, politics became most
bitterly partisan. It was at this time that political parties were
for the first time definitely organized under the control of
leaders at Washington. It was inevitable that a man of such strong
will and domineering personality as the leader of the new
Democratic Party, should be hated by his political opponents who
included the Anti-Masons, the National Republicans, and the
Nullifiers, all of whom later merged to form the Whig party.
Because in the past historians and biographers have depended
largely on the writings of these political opponents for their
sources of information, it has not been until recently that Jackson
has been presented in a true light.

Andrew Jackson was far from being a perfect man, but he was not the
uncouth, illiterate, head-strong individual pictured by unfriendly
critics. He was a man whose personality presented many
contradictions, which make it difficult to characterize him. His
enemies described him as irascible, egotistical, stubborn,
vindictive, intolerant of the opinions of others, and unforgiving.
He was regarded as embodying all the coarseness and crudity of the
frontier. To his friends he was a very different man. They praised
him as a military hero, a true patriot, a great statesman and
referred in glowing terms to his probity, his sagacity, his
firmness, his courtesy, his generosity, his virtue, his bravery,
his chivalry towards women, his hospitality, and his steadfastness.

Viewed from the historical perspective of the present time, he
appears to have been a man in whom these faults and virtues were
curiously blended, but with the good qualities over-balancing the
bad. Had he been the kind of a man pictured by his enemies he could
never have achieved the greatness to which history shows he is
entitled.

In order to understand Jackson it is necessary to know something of
his career and the conditions under which he lived. Born on the
frontier, he spent almost all of the fifty-seven years of his life,
prior to his accession to the Presidency, under frontier
conditions. The date of his birth was, March 15, 1767, but there is
some dispute as to the place where the: event occurred. Two years
before, his parents had come from northern Ireland to join the
Scotch-Irish settlement, the Waxhaws, near the boundary between
North and South Carolina. Only a few days before Andrew was born
the head of the family died. It has been contended that the mother
then crossed the line and went to the home of a relative in North
Carolina, where the child was born. However, the latest historical
research indicate South Carolina as Jackson's native State, and he,
himself, always referred to it as such.

HIS MOTHER WISHED HIM TO BECOME A MINISTER

Elizabeth Jackson, the future President's mother, was a pious woman
of the Presbyterian faith, as were most of the Scotch-Irish, and
cherished the hope that her son Andrew would become a minister. But
there was little in his rough frontier environment to incline him
towards that calling. As a boy he not only was an active
participant in the rough sports of the frontier settlement, but he
is reported to have excelled his companions. He was always ready
for a quarrel or for a cock-fight, and he was proficient in the use
of oaths which seemed so essential to the frontiersman. Yet vice
was not a passion with him and his constant striving to excel boded
well for his future.

Educational opportunities at that period of history in this country
were very meagre, except for a very few individuals. On the
frontier the educational standards were not high and it was
regarded as sufficient if one could read and understand English in
an indifferent manner, write a legible hand, and perform a few
arithmetical calculations necessary for business transactions. Of
such education Jackson partook insofar as opportunity was offered
in the rude neighborhood school. The formal learning which he thus
acquired was sadly inadequate for one who was to occupy the
prominent position which he later attained. Later, in his study of
law, he picked up some Latin phrases, but he never acquired the
knowledge of literature or history which distinguished such of his
contemporaries as Thomas Hart Benton.

His spelling was faulty and yet not to such a degree as commonly
supposed. The reason so much stress was put on this was that,
during the campaign of 1828, his political opponents sought to
discredit him as an illiterate, and therefore unfit to be
President, by magnifying his inability to spell correctly. Though
largely untaught he was not unlearned. He, through his own efforts,
acquired the ability to express himself in clear, vigorous English,
and his ideas were original with him. His state papers were
essentially his own, though others helped put them in final form
for publication.

While he was still a mere boy and before he could have attended
school much, the fact that a War for Independence was being fought
was forcibly impressed on him. In 1780, the British captured
Charleston and over-ran South Carolina. Though but a boy of
thirteen, Andrew Jackson served as a trooper with the American
forces. The following year, he and his brother were taken prisoners
by the British. Refusing to shine an officer's boots he was slashed
across the hand and head with a sword. The scars of this and the
marks left by smallpox, which he contracted while in prison, he
carried to the end of his life.

His brother died, but Andrew's release was secured by his mother.
Shortly afterwards she died of fever contracted while serving as a
volunteer nurse caring for Americans who were held prisoners at
Charleston. The end of the Revolution found Andrew alone in the
world with the necessity of relying on his own resources. While he
considered continuing his education, there was no opportunity in
his locality for doing so. He then undertook to become a saddler
but after a short period he found the life too monotonous. He is
reported to have spent more time in the saddle--for he was an
expert horseman--than in working at the trade.

HE SOWED HIS WILD OATS

After this, he thought to make his fortune in the world beyond the
frontier, and went to Charleston. There he became associated with
the sporting element and by reckless betting on horse races
involved himself in debt. Extricating himself from his difficulties
by a fortunate wager, he turned from the gay life of the city.

He must have been conscious that the frontier offered him the best
opportunity for success, for he returned to the region of his
nativity. In 1784 he took up the study of law at Salisbury, North
Carolina, in the office of Spruce Macay. Finally completing the law
course he was admitted to the bar in 1787 and launched out on his
professional career at Martinsville, North Carolina. There is no
record to indicate how much practice he had but it is reasonable to
think that he received few clients, since he was as yet not twenty
one years old, was given to the pursuit of pleasure, and probably
knew little law.

At the time, Tennessee was still a part of North Carolina, and had
been but little settled. Three counties in the eastern part had
been organized and, in 1788, these were constituted a judicial
district by the North Carolina legislature, and John McNairy, one
of Jackson's fellow law students at Salisbury, was appointed judge.
He persuaded Jackson to accompany him with the result that the
autumn of the year found them established at Nashville. Jackson
soon acquired a lucrative business among the merchants, for the
most part. The only lawyer of the vicinity had been retained by a
group of debtors, so the creditors were glad to retain Jackson. He
was also appointed solicitor in McNairy's district with a salary of
forty pounds for each court he attended. He invested his income in
land and in eight years was one of the wealthy land owners of the
new community.

Jackson rapidly acquired prestige and was soon recognized as one of
the outstanding men in Tennessee. His rise to fame was aided by his
personal appearance, for he was tall, slender, and erect, with a
pale face and keen blue eyes surmounted by a high narrow forehead.
His hair was bushy and of a sandy hue; his chin - was clear-cut and
square, and h his lips expressive. He carried himself like one who
was his own master and his actions were quick and decisive.

When he appeared in court he always created a favorable impression.
While acting in his capacity as solicitor he exhibited such courage
and such love for justice that he won the respect of the law
abiding while the evil doers came to fear him. It was not long
before he received further preferment. When only twenty three years
old he was appointed United States attorney. When Tennessee was
admitted into the Union as a State in 1796 he was elected as its
first and only Representative in the lower house of Congress.

A year later he was appointed United States Senator, but resigned
this office in April, 1798. The national capital at that time was
located at Philadelphia, and Jackson seems to have found the life
in that metropolis distasteful. Upon his return to Tennessee he was
appointed a justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court, and served
acceptably until 1804. His decisions, while not always exhibiting
as much knowledge of law as might have been desirable, were
eminently fair and were characterized by their common sense.

Meanwhile two important events had taken place in Jackson's life
which were to mean much to him in the future--his marriage and his
entrance into the Masonic Fraternity. Concerning the former much
has been written; little is known of his early Masonic record.

When he first came to the Nashville settlement Jackson became
acquainted with Rachel, the daughter of John Donelson, one of the
pioneer leaders. She was married to one Lewis Robards of Kentucky,
a worthless individual whose cruelty forced her to seek refuge in
her parental home. At the time there were no divorce laws in
Kentucky so it was necessary for Robards to petition the Virginia
legislature, which then exercised jurisdiction over Kentucky, for
permission to sue for a divorce in a Kentucky court. When this
petition was granted, in 1791, his wife married Jackson, both
believing that she had been freed from Robards. But two years
later, that individual sued for divorce in a Kentucky court and was
granted it on the grounds that his wife had for two years been
unlawfully living with Jackson as his wife.

HE FINDS HIMSELF IN A HUMILIATING SITUATION

When the news reached Tennessee, Jackson was much mortified and
hastened to re-marry in 1794. Later, especially in the campaign of
1828, his political enemies sought to make political capital of the
event by circulating stories of this marriage. But, while Jackson
acted precipitately in the matter, there is no doubt that both he
and his wife were innocent of any intentional wrongdoing. He was
always very sensitive concerning the matter and nothing would
arouse his ire more quickly than allusion to the circumstances of
his marriage. He killed one man in a duel, it is supposed, because
of some disparaging remark in regard to his marriage, though the
quarrel leading to the duel began over a horse race. Jackson was
always fondly devoted to his wife and she to him.

Concerning his early Masonic record the facts a not so clear.
Several lodges claim him, but there is doubt as to which lodge
conferred on him the first three Degrees of Masonry. At the time of
his going to Tennessee the region was under the jurisdiction of the
North Carolina Grand Lodge as the Grand Lodge of Tennessee was not
organized until 1813. The claim of Greeneville Lodge, No. 3, of
Tennessee, formerly No 43, of North Carolina, seems to be the most
weighty. The records were destroyed by fire during the Civil War,
so it is unknown just when he took the three Degrees. But an
original transcript of the lodge record for Sept. 5, 1801, shows
that he was a member at the time.

Philanthropic Lodge, No. 12, at Clover Bottom, Tennessee, the only
lodge in the territory chartered by the Grand Lodge of Kentucky,
has claimed Jackson, but as it was not chartered until 1805, its
claim does n seem valid. The Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of
North Carolina for 1805 list him as a member of Harmony Lodge, No.
29, at Nashville, which later became No. 3, in the Tennessee
jurisdiction. He might have been made a Mason in this lodge, but
here, too, the evidence is not conclusive. During this period he
appears to have been active in the work of the Fraternity, and is
known to have served as a Worshipful Master. He also became a Royal
Arch Mason. (To Be Concluded.)

