At fifteen years of age, Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United States, and his other brother, Robert, were captured by the British in 1781. A British officer slashed Jacksons face with his sword when he refused to polish the officer’s boots while in prison, leaving lasting scars.
This was typical of Jackson’s personality—stubborn, fearless, touchy, and ill-tempered. These traits led Jackson to challenge possibly as many as 100 people to duels. Most of these confrontations involved little more than the combatants firing their guns into the air as a show of courage for not rejecting the initial challenge.
But at least one turned deadly. It started when a fellow horse trader and rival Charles Dickenson insulted Jackson, calling him a “worthless scoundrel” and his wife a bigamist. This resulted in Dickinson’s death on May 30, 1806. Jackson was wounded near the heart when Dickerson fired. The bullet was never removed and Jackson carried it with him for the rest of his life.
Jackson participated in more duels than most, but duels were not unusual at the time. Aaron Burr famously killed his personal and political rival Alexander Hamilton in one on July 11, 1804, at which time Burr was serving as Thomas Jefferson’s Vice President. Unlike Jackson, however, Burr was vilified for his actions — Hamilton was a founding father, after all — and Burr never held elected office again after his term ended.
Note that many duels of the era were ceremonial in which neither of the duelists intended to kill the other. Hamilton fired first but intentionally missed, his ball hitting a tree above and behind Burr. But Burr shot Hamilton in the stomach, and he died from the wound.
Jackson suffered a political blow in 1824. It was hotly contested, with four different candidates receiving a substantial number of electoral votes: Jackson (99), John Quincy Adams (84), William H. Crawford (41), and Henry Clay (37).
All four belonged to the Democratic-Republican Party, which was a problem. After winning six consecutive elections, the party failed to rally around one candidate. Jackson won more popular votes and electoral votes than his trio of opponents but failed to secure a majority. This sent the election to the House of Representatives and Adams emerged victorious.
Jackson, however, won the presidency in 1828. As part of his celebration, he donated a wheel of cheese weighing 1400 pounds.
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Frank Victoria is an award-winning author and screenwriter. He’s been an Amazon bestseller with his recent book, The Founders’ Plot, a political thriller for our times. He donates proceeds of his books to Tunnels to Towers and Fisher House, helping military veterans and first responders. His novella, The Ultimate Bet and The Protectors are available on his website and Amazon. Check out his new website: FrankVictoriaAuthor.com
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