US History Cheat Notes: Andrew Jackson (not the same person as Abe Lincoln) [Greg Laden's Blog]

Andrew Jackson was born in March, 1767.

Jackson was about 9 years old when the Revolutionary War started.

The Revolutionary War and the Civil War were two different wars. There was another war in between called the War of 1812. It was approximately in 1812.

Andrew Jackson was a lawyer, a judge, and a congressional representative, before he was President.

Andrew Jackson was an officer in the Tennessee Militia, and fought Native Americans, killing or ordering his men to kill, a bunch of them. He also sort of started one of the Indian wars he fought in. He also fought in the War of 1812.

Andrew Jackson was a big loser in 1824 when he lost the presidential election. That was one of the strange elections because the winner didn’t win either, and the US House decided the election. It was about then that they should have gotten ride of the Electoral College but they didn’t.

Andrew Jackson and his supporters were the founders of the Democratic Party. Most people don’t know that. Most people don’t even ask that.

Andrew Jackson was a Big Winner in 1828 when he ran for president again and won big league.

The big deal when Jackson was President was that the government had imposed a tariff, and the states rights people in South Carolina said they would leave the country and go back to Russia or something if it was enforced. Andrew Jackson wrote a letter that forced them to follow the law. Sad.

Later, Abraham Lincoln read Andrew Jackson’s letter and used some of it, but with attribution, in his first speech to Congress. But by that time, Andrew Jackson was long dead.

Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809, and he was in his mid thirties when Jackson died, yet, they were still not the same person.

Andrew Jackson is probably best known for helping gold miners in the South and others push Indians off their land so they could take it, by passing, signing, and enforcing the Indian Removal Act. Under Jackson, and his successor (who was not Abraham Lincoln) thousands of Indians died during the removals.

Andrew Jackson was a pretty good businessman and deal maker, especially when it came to buying and selling humans, which he did very well as a big league slave owner.

Andrew Jackson was vehemently against paper currency, yet his picture appears, for now, on the $20 bill. This is thought to be because not a lot of people at the US Treasury like him.

Over time, Jackson’s picture has appeared on many different bills and many different postage stamps, right up there just behind Washington, Franklin, and Lincoln (Jackson is a different person than Lincoln). No one is sure why, but it is thought by some that this is because Andrew Jackson had great hair.

One bad dude tried to assassinate Jackson, and this was the first known attempt at an assassination of a US President. The assassin had two pistols (one bullet each) and both misfired because it is so damn humid in Washington DC. It is said that Jackson then went after the would-be assassin with his cain, but this is widely thought to be alt-History.

In any event, that started a long tradition. To date, four US Presidents have been killed in office, to match the four who died in office of supposedly, but maybe we don’t really know if you know what I mean, natural causes. (So, there is about an 18% chance, given our history, that a given president will die in office.)

Finally, and in sum, Andrew Jackson was as stated not Abraham Lincoln, but he was also not Stonewall Jackson, who was an entirely different dude who fought in the Civil War and is famous for his stone walls. You wouldn’t believe the beautiful stone walls he built. We’re gonna build a beautiful wall and make Abraham Lincoln pay for it.