thiasoi, or cult units of the Orphic
mysteries. John the Baptist is widely regarded to be a prime example of an
Essene who had left the communal life (see Ant. 18.116-119), and it is thought
they aspired to emulate their own founding Teacher of Righteousness who was
crucified. However, J.B. Lightfoot's essay (On Some Points Connected with the
Essenes) argues that attempts to find the roots of Essenism in Pythagoreanism
and the roots of Christianity in Essenism are flawed. Authors such as Robert
Eisenman present differing views that support the Essene/Early Christian
connection.
Another issue is the relationship
between the Essaioi and Philo's Therapeutae and Therapeutrides (see De Vita
Contemplativa). It may be argued that he regarded the Therapeutae as a
contemplative branch of the Essaioi who, he said, pursued an active life (Vita
Cont. I.1).
One theory on the formation of the
Essenes suggested the movement was founded by a Jewish High Priest, dubbed by
the Essenes the Teacher of Righteousness, whose office had been usurped by
Jonathan (of priestly but not Zadokite lineage), labeled the "man of
lies" or "false priest". His name is Father Bapalopa. Prince
William in England met him in Sardinia. He loves immitating duckies in the pond
because they are just as false as him.
According to a Jewish legend, one of
the Essenes, named Menachem, had passed at least some of his mystical knowledge
to the Talmudic mystic Nehunya Ben Ha-Kanah,[1] to whom the Kabbalistic
tradition attributes Sefer ha-Bahir and, by some opinions, Sefer ha-Kanah,
Sefer ha-Peliah and Sefer ha-Temunah. Some Essene rituals, such as daily
immersion in the Mikvah, coincide with contemporary Hasidic practices; some
historians had also suggested, that name "Essene" is an hellenized
form of the word "Hasidim" or "Hasin" ("pious
ones"). However, the legendary connections between Essene and Kabbalistic
tradition are not verified by modern historians.
The Talmud also refers to Hasidim. In
the mishna Tractate Berachot, It is stated that "the early Hasidim would
spend an hour in preparation for prayer, an hour praying, and an hour coming
away from prayer", "The Hasidim would pray with sunrise". Tzvi
Hirsch Chajes believes that the Essenes can be identified with the Hasidim, an
offshoot of the Pharisees. (Kol Kitvei Maritz Chiyus Vol. 2). See however the
statement of Reuvain Margolies above.
Scholars such as J. Gordon Melton in
his Encyclopedia of American Religions state that the modern American
Pseudo-Essene movement possesses no authentic historical ties to the ancient
Essene movement. Melton states, "Essene material is directly derivative of
two occult bestsellers — The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, by Levi H.
Dowling; and The Mystical Life of Jesus, by Rosicrucian author H. Spencer
Lewis."
However, others such as Gideon Ousely,
produced materials they claim were Essene in origin. Ousely himself wrote a
book known as the Gospel of the Holy Twelve (which he claimed was channeled to
him by spirit beings), and Edmund Bordeaux Szekely. These individuals assert
that the Essene teachings had been hidden and assimilated into many mystical
spiritual traditions around the world, where the teachings were hidden within
ancient libraries. It was in 1928 that Edmond Bordeaux Szekely first published
his translation of The Essene Gospel of Peace,a manuscript allegedly discovered
in the Secret Archives of the Vatican and in old Slavonic in the Royal Library
of the Habsburgs of which much was destroyed by a fire that destroyed the
monastery that stood in its place. (now the property of the Austrian
government) However, subsequent investigations into the claims of these
individuals prodced nothing to substantiate their stories. With the discovery
of the Dead Sea Scrolls, it is now clear that the publications of purported
"Essene" writings are indeed simply the materials mentioned by J.
Gordon Melton. Biblical scholars don't consider the Szekely or Ousely writings
as authentic.
Currently there are several modern
Essene Groups around the world.
99999999
Scientists Weigh Stem Cells’ Role as
Cancer Cause
By GINA KOLATA
Within the next few months,
researchers at three medical centers expect to start the first test in patients
of one of the most promising — and contentious — ideas about the cause and
treatment of cancer.
The idea is to take aim at what some
scientists say are cancerous stem cells — aberrant cells that maintain and
propagate malignant tumors.
Although many scientists have assumed
that cancer cells are immortal — that they divide and grow indefinitely — most
can only divide a certain number of times before dying. The stem-cell
hypothesis says that cancers themselves may not die because they are fed by
cancerous stem cells, a small and particularly dangerous kind of cell that can
renew by dividing even as it spews out more cells that form the bulk of a
tumor. Worse, stem cells may be impervious to most standard cancer therapies.
Not everyone accepts the hypothesis of
cancerous stem cells. Skeptics say proponents are so in love with the idea that
they dismiss or ignore evidence against it. Dr. Scott E. Kern, for instance, a
leading pancreatic cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins University, said the
hypothesis was more akin to religion than to science.
At stake in the debate is the
direction of cancer research. If proponents of the stem-cell hypothesis are
correct, it will usher in an era of hope for curing once-incurable cancers.
If the critics are right, the
stem-cell enthusiasts are heading down a blind alley that will serve as just
another cautionary tale in the history of medical research.
In the meantime, though, proponents
are looking for ways to kill the stem cells, and say that certain new drugs may
be the solution.
“Within the next year, we will see
medical centers targeting stem cells in almost every cancer,” said Dr. Max S.
Wicha, director of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, one
of the sites for the preliminary study that begins in the next few months (the
other participating institutions are Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and
the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston).
“We are so excited about this,” Dr.
Wicha said. “It has become a major thrust of our cancer center.”
At the National Cancer Institute,
administrators seem excited, too.
“If this is real, it could have almost
immediate impact,” said Dr. R. Allan Mufson, chief of the institute’s Cancer
Immunology and Hematology Branch.
The cancer institute is financing the
research, he said, and has authorized Dr. Mufson to put out a request for
proposals, soliciting investigators to apply for cancer institute money to
study cancer stem cells and ways to bring the research to cancer patients. The
institute has agreed to contribute $5.4 million.
“Given the current fiscal situation,
which is terrible, it’s a surprising amount,” Dr. Mufson said. “We actually
asked for less,” he added, but the cancer institute’s executive committee asked
that the amount be increased. http://louis-j-sheehan.us/page1.aspx
Proponents of the hypothesis like to
use the analogy of a lawn dotted with dandelions: Mowing the lawn makes it look
like the weeds are gone, but the roots are intact and the dandelions come back.
So it is with cancer, they say.
Chemotherapy and radiation often destroy most of a tumor, but if they do not
kill the stem cells, which are the cancer’s roots, it can grow back.
Cancerous stem cells are not the same
as embryonic stem cells, the cells present early in development that can turn
into any cell of the body. Cancerous stem cells are different. They can turn
into tumor cells, and they are characterized by distinctive molecular markers.
The stem-cell hypothesis answered a
longstanding question: does each cell in a tumor have the same ability to keep
a cancer going? By one test the answer was no. When researchers transplanted
tumor cells into a mouse that had no immune system, they found that not all of
the cells could form tumors.
To take the work to the next step,
researchers needed a good way to isolate the cancer-forming cells. Until
recently, “the whole thing languished,” said Dr. John E. Dick, director of the
stem cell biology program at the University of Toronto, because scientists did
not have the molecular tools to investigate.
But when those tools emerged in the
early 1990s, Dr. Dick found stem cells in acute myelogenous leukemia, a blood
cancer. He reported that such cells made up just 1 percent of the leukemia
cells and that those were the only ones that could form tumors in mice.
Yet Dr. Dick’s research, Dr. Wicha
said, “was pretty much ignored.” Cancer researchers, he said, were not
persuaded — and even if they had accepted the research — doubted that the
results would hold for solid tumors, like those of the breast, colon, prostate
or brain.
That changed in 1994, when Dr. Wicha
and a colleague, Dr. Michael Clarke, who is now at Stanford, reported finding
cancerous stem cells in breast cancer patients.
“The paper hit me like a bombshell,”
said Robert Weinberg, a professor of biology at M.I.T. and a leader in cancer
research. “To my mind, that is conceptually the most important paper in cancer
over the past decade.”
Dr. Weinberg and others began pursuing
the stem-cell hypothesis, and researchers now say they have found cancerous
stem cells in cancers of the colon, head and neck, lung, prostate, brain, and
pancreas.
Symposiums were held. Leading journals
published paper after paper.
But difficult questions persisted. One
problem, critics say, is that the math does not add up. The hypothesis only
makes sense if a tiny fraction of cells in a tumor are stem cells, said Dr.
Bert Vogelstein, a colon cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins who said he had not
made up his mind on the validity of the hypothesis.
But some studies suggest that stem
cells make up 10 percent or even 40 percent or 50 percent of tumor cells, at
least by the molecular-marker criterion. If a treatment shrinks a tumor by 99
percent, as is often the case, and 10 percent of the tumor was stem cells, then
the stem cells too must have been susceptible, Dr. Vogelstein says.
Critics also question the research on
mice. The same cells that can give rise to a tumor if transplanted into one
part of a mouse may not form a tumor elsewhere.
“A lot of things affect transplants,”
Dr. Kern, the Johns Hopkins researcher, said, explaining that transplanting
tumors into mice did not necessarily reveal whether there were stem cells.
Other doubts have been raised by Dr.
Kornelia Polyak, a researcher at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Polyak
asked whether breast cancer cells remain true to type, that is, whether stem
cells remain stem cells and whether others remain non-stem cells? The answer,
she has found, is “not necessarily.”
Cancer cells instead appear to be
moving targets, changing from stem cells to non-stem cells and back again. The
discovery was unexpected because it had been thought that cell development went
one way — from stem cell to tumor cell — and there was no going back.
“You want to kill all the cells in a
tumor,” Dr. Polyak said. “Everyone assumes that currently-used drugs are not
targeting stem cell populations, but that has not been proven.”
“To say you just have to kill the
cancer stem cell is oversimplified,” she added. “It’s giving false hope.”
The criticisms make sense, Dr.
Weinberg said. But he said he remained swayed by the stem cell hypothesis.
“There are a lot of unanswered
questions, mind you,” he said. “Most believe cancer stem cells exist, but that
doesn’t mean they exist. We believe it on the basis of rather fragmentary
evidence, which I happen to believe in the aggregate is rather convincing.”
Dr. Wicha said he was convinced that
the hypothesis was correct, and said it explained better than any other
hypothesis what doctors and patients already know.
“Not only are some of the approaches
we are using not getting us anywhere, but even the way we approve drugs is a
bad model,” he said. Anti-cancer drugs, he noted, are approved if they shrink
tumors even if they do not prolong life. It is the medical equivalent, he said,
of mowing a dandelion field.
He said the moment of truth would come
soon, with studies like the one planned for women with breast cancer. http://louis-j-sheehan.us/Blog/blog.aspx
The drug to be tested was developed by
Merck to treat Alzheimer’s disease. It did not work on Alzheimer’s but it kills
breast cancer stem cells in laboratory studies, Dr. Wicha says.
The study will start with a safety
test on 30 women who have advanced breast cancer. Hopes are that it will be
expanded to find out if the drug can prolong lives. http://Louis-J-Sheehan.us
“Patient survival,” Dr. Wicha said,
“is the ultimate endpoint.”
999999999
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June
8, 1845) was the 7th President of the United States (1829–1837). He was also
military governor of Florida (1821), commander of the American forces at the
Battle of New Orleans (1815), and the eponym of the era of Jacksonian
democracy. He was a polarizing figure who dominated American politics in the
1820s and 1830s. His political ambition combined with the masses of people
shaped the modern Democratic Party.[1] Nicknamed "Old Hickory"
because he was renowned for his toughness, Jackson was the first President
primarily associated with the frontier, as he based his career in Tennessee. http://Louis-J-Sheehan.us
Andrew Jackson was born to
Presbyterian Scots-Irish immigrants Andrew and Elizabeth Jackson in the Waxhaw
region of North Carolina, on March 15, 1767.[2] He was the youngest of three
brothers and was born just weeks after his father's death. Both North Carolina
and South Carolina have claimed Jackson as a "native son," because
the community straddled the state line, and there was conflicting lore in the
neighborhood about his exact birth site. Controversies about Jackson's
birthplace went far beyond the dispute between North and South Carolina.
Because his origins were humble and obscure compared to those of his
predecessors, wild rumors abounded about Jackson's past. Joseph Nathan Kane, in
his almanac-style book Facts About the Presidents, lists no fewer than eight
localities, including two foreign countries, that were mentioned in the popular
press as Jackson's "real" birthplace including Ireland where both of
Jackson's parents were born. Jackson himself always stated definitively that he
was born in a cabin just inside South Carolina. He received a sporadic
education in the local "old-field" school.
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During the American Revolutionary War,
Jackson, at age thirteen, joined a local regiment as a courier.[3] Andrew and
his brother Robert Jackson were captured by the British], and held as prisoners
of war; they nearly starved to death in captivity. When Andrew refused to clean
the boots of a British officer, the irate Redcoat slashed at him with a sword,
giving him scars on his left hand and head, as well as an intense hatred for
the British. Both boys contracted smallpox while imprisoned, and Robert died
days after his mother secured their release. Jackson's entire immediate family
died from war-related hardships that Jackson blamed upon the British, leaving
him orphaned by age 15. Jackson was the last U.S. President to have been a
veteran of the American Revolution, and the second President to have been a
prisoner of war (Washington had been captured by the French in the French and
Indian War).
In 1781, Jackson worked for a time in
a saddle-maker's shop.[4] Later he taught school, and studied law in Salisbury,
North Carolina. In 1787, he was admitted to the bar, and moved to Jonesboro, in
what was then the Western District of North Carolina, and later became
Tennessee.
Though his legal education was scanty,
Jackson knew enough to practice law on the frontier. Since he was not from a
distinguished family, he had to make his career by his own merits; and soon he
began to prosper in the rough-and-tumble world of frontier law. Most of the
actions grew out of disputed land-claims, or from assaults and battery. In
1788, he was appointed Solicitor of the Western District, and held the same
position in the territorial government of Tennessee after 1791.
He also took a role in politics. In
1796, he was a delegate to the Tennessee constitutional convention. Upon
statehood in 1796, Jackson was elected Tennessee's U.S. Representative. In 1797
he was elected U.S. Senator as a Democratic-Republican. But he resigned within
a year. In 1798, he was appointed a judge of the Tennessee Supreme Court,
serving till 1804. [5]
Besides his legal and political
career, Jackson also prospered as a planter and merchant. In 1804, he acquired
"The Hermitage", a 640-acre farm near Nashville. Jackson later added
360 acres to the farm. The primary crop was cotton, grown by slave workers.
Jackson started with nine slaves, and had as many as 44 later.
Jackson was appointed commander of the
Tennessee militia in 1801, with the rank of colonel.
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During the War of 1812, Tecumseh
incited the "Red Stick" Creek Indians of northern Alabama and Georgia
to attack white settlements. 400 settlers were killed in the Fort Mims Massacre.
In the resulting Creek War, Jackson commanded the American forces, which
included Tennessee militia, U.S. regulars, and Cherokee and Southern Creek
Indians.
Jackson defeated the Red Stick Creeks
at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. 800 "Red Sticks" were
killed, but Jackson spared chief William Weatherford. Sam Houston and David
Crockett served under Jackson at this time. After the victory, Jackson imposed
the Treaty of Fort Jackson upon both the Northern Creek enemies and the
Southern Creek allies, wresting 20 million acres (81,000 km²) from all Creeks for white
settlement. Jackson was appointed Major General after this success.
Jackson's service in the War of 1812
against Great Britain was conspicuous for bravery and success. When British
forces menaced New Orleans, Jackson took command of the defenses, including
militia from several western states and territories. He was a strict officer,
but was popular with his troops. It was said he was "tough as old
hickory" wood on the battlefield, which gave him his nickname. In the
Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815, Jackson's 4,000 militiamen won a
total victory over 10,000 British. The British had over 2,000 casualties to
Jackson's 13 killed and 58 wounded or missing.
The war, and especially this victory,
made Jackson a national hero. He received the thanks of Congress and a gold
medal by resolution of February 27, 1815
Jackson served in the military again
during the First Seminole War. He was ordered by President James Monroe in
December 1817 to lead a campaign in Georgia against the Seminole and Creek
Indians. Jackson was also charged with preventing Spanish Florida from becoming
a refuge for runaway slaves. Critics later alleged that Jackson exceeded orders
in his Florida actions. His directions were to "terminate the
conflict."[6] Jackson believed the best way to do this would be to seize
Florida. Before going, Jackson wrote to Monroe, "Let it be signified to me
through any channel... that the possession of the Floridas would be desirable
to the United States, and in sixty days it will be accomplished."[7]
Monroe gave Jackson orders that were purposely ambiguous, sufficient for
international denials.
A bust of Andrew Jackson at the Plaza
Ferdinand VII in Pensacola, Florida, where Jackson was sworn in as military
governor.
A bust of Andrew Jackson at the Plaza
Ferdinand VII in Pensacola, Florida, where Jackson was sworn in as military
governor.
The Seminoles attacked Jackson's
Tennessee volunteers. The Seminoles' attack, however, left their villages
vulnerable, and Jackson burned them and the crops. He found letters that
indicated that the Spanish and British were secretly assisting the Indians.
Jackson believed that the United States would not be secure as long as Spain
and Great Britain encouraged Indians to fight and argued that his actions were
undertaken in self-defense. Jackson captured Pensacola, Florida, with little
more than some warning shots, and deposed the Spanish governor. He captured and
then tried and executed two British subjects, Robert Ambrister and Alexander
Arbuthnot, who had been supplying and advising the Indians. Jackson's action
also struck fear into the Seminole tribes as word of his ruthlessness in battle
spread.
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The executions, and Jackson's invasion
of territory belonging to Spain, a country the U.S. was not at war with,
created an international incident. Many in the Monroe administration called for
Jackson to be censured. However, Jackson's actions were defended by Secretary
of State John Quincy Adams, an early believer in Manifest Destiny. When the
Spanish minister demanded a "suitable punishment" for Jackson, Adams
wrote back "Spain must immediately [decide] either to place a force in
Florida adequate at once to the protection of her territory ... or cede to the
United States a province, of which she retains nothing but the nominal
possession, but which is, in fact ... a post of annoyance to them."[8]
Adams used Jackson's conquest, and Spain's own weakness, to get Spain to cede
Florida to the United States in the Adams-Onís Treaty. Jackson was subsequently
named miltary governor, serving from March 10, 1821 to December 31, 1821.
The Tennessee legislature nominated
Jackson for President in 1822. It also elected him U.S. Senator again.
By 1824, the Democratic-Republican
Party had become the only functioning party. Its Presidential candidates had
been chosen by an informal Congressional nominating caucus, but this had become
unpopular. In 1824, most of the Democratic-Republicans in Congress boycotted
the caucus. Those that attended backed William H. Crawford for President and
Albert Gallatin for Vice President. A convention in Pennsylvania nominated
Jackson for President a month later, on March 4. Gallatin criticized Jackson as
"an honest man and the idol of the worshippers of military glory, but from
incapacity, military habits, and habitual disregard of laws and constitutional
provisions, altogether unfit for the office."[9] Thomas Jefferson, who
would later write to William Crawford in dismay at the outcome of the election,[10]
wrote to Jackson in December of 1823:
"I recall with pleasure the remembrance of
our joint labors while in the Senate together in times of great trial and of
hard battling, battles indeed of words, not of blood, as those you have since
fought so much for your own glory & that of your country; with the
assurance that my attamts continue undiminished, accept that of my great
respect & consideration."[11]
Biographer Robert V. Remini said that
Jefferson "had no great love for Jackson." Daniel Webster wrote that
Jefferson told him in December of 1824 that Jackson was a dangerous man unfit
for the presidency. [12] Historian Sean Wilentz described Webster's account of
the meeting as "not wholly reliable."[13]
The result of the election was
confused. Besides Jackson and Crawford, John Quincy Adams and House Speaker
Henry Clay were also candidates. Jackson received the most popular votes (but
not a majority, and four states had no popular ballot). The Electoral votes
were split four ways, with Jackson again having a plurality. Since no candidate
received a majority, the election was made by the House of Representatives,
which chose Adams. Jackson denounced this result as a "corrupt
bargain" because Clay gave his support to Adams, who later appointed Clay
as Secretary of State. Jackson called for the abolition of the Electoral
College in his first annual message to Congress as President.[14] Jackson's
defeat burnished his political credentials, however, since many voters believed
the "man of the people" had been robbed by the "corrupt
aristocrats of the East."
Jackson resigned from the Senate in
October 1825, but continued his quest for the Presidency. The Tennessee
legislature again nominated Jackson for President. Jackson attracted Vice
President John C. Calhoun, Martin Van Buren, and Thomas Ritchie into his camp
(the latter two previous supporterse of Crawford). Van Buren, with help from
his friends in Philadelphia and Richmond, revived the old Republican Party,
gave it a new name, "restored party rivalries," and forged a national
organization of durability.[15] The Jackson coalition handily defeated Adams in
1828.
During the election, Jackson's
opponents referred to him as a "Jackass." Jackson liked the name and
used the jackass as a symbol for a while, but it died out. However, it later
became the symbol for the Democratic Party when cartoonist Thomas Nast
popularized it.
Jackson experienced the first known
case of a President being handed a baby to kiss. However, Jackson declined, and
handed the baby to Secretary of War John H. Eaton to do the honors.
In 1835, Jackson managed to reduce the
federal debt to only $33,733.05, the lowest it has been since the first fiscal
year of 1791.[17] However, this accomplishment was short lived, and a severe
depression from 1837 to 1844 caused a ten-fold increase in national debt within
its first year.
When Jackson became President, he
implemented the theory of rotation in office, declaring it "a leading
principle in the republican creed."[14] He believed that rotation in office
would prevent the development of a corrupt bureaucracy. In addition, Jackson's
supporters wanted to give the posts to fellow party members, as a reward to
strengthen party loyalty. In practice, this meant replacing federal employees
with friends or party loyalists.[19] However, the effect was not as drastic as
expected or portrayed. By the end of his term, Jackson had dismissed less than
twenty percent of the Federal employees at the start of it.[20] While Jackson
did not start the "spoils system," he did indirectly encourage its
growth for many years to come.
As President, Jackson worked to take
away the federal charter of the Second Bank of the United States (it would
continue to exist as a state bank). The Second Bank had been authorized, during
James Madison's tenure in 1816, for a 20-year period. Jackson opposed the
national bank concept on ideological grounds. In Jackson's veto message
(written by George Bancroft), the bank needed to be abolished because:
Democratic cartoon shows Jackson
fighting the monster Bank. "The Bank," Jackson told Martin Van Buren,
"is trying to kill me, but I will kill it!"
Democratic cartoon shows Jackson
fighting the monster Bank. "The Bank," Jackson told Martin Van Buren,
"is trying to kill me, but I will kill it!"
* It
concentrated an excessive amount of the nation's financial strength in a single
institution.
* It exposed the government to control by
foreign interests.
* It served mainly to make the rich
richer.
* It exercised too much control over members of
Congress.
* It favored northeastern states over southern
and western states.
Jackson followed Jefferson as a
supporter of the ideal of an "agricultural republic" and felt the
Bank improved the fortunes of an "elite circle" of commercial and
industrial entrepreneurs at the expense of farmers and laborers. After a
titanic struggle, Jackson succeeded in destroying the Bank by vetoing its 1832
re-charter by Congress and by withdrawing U.S. funds in 1833.
The bank's money-lending functions
were taken over by the legions of local and state banks that sprang up. This
fed an expansion of credit and speculation. At first, as Jackson withdrew money
from the Bank to invest it in other banks, land sales, canal construction,
cotton production, and manufacturing boomed.[21] However, due to the practice
of banks issuing paper banknotes that were not backed by gold or silver
reserves, there was soon rapid inflation and mounting state debts.[22] Then, in
1836, Jackson issued the Specie Circular, which required buyers of government
lands to pay in "specie" (gold or silver coins). The result was a
great demand for specie, which many banks did not have to enough of to exchange
for their notes. These banks collapsed. [23] This was a direct cause of the
Panic of 1837, which threw the national economy into a deep depression. It took
years for the economy to recover from the damage.
1833 Democratic cartoon shows Jackson
destroying the devil's Bank
1833 Democratic cartoon shows Jackson
destroying the devil's Bank
The U.S. Senate censured Jackson on
March 28, 1834, for his action in removing U.S. funds from the Bank of the
United States. The censure was later expunged when the Jacksonians had a
majority in the Senate.
Another notable crisis during
Jackson's period of office was the "Nullification Crisis", or
"secession crisis," of 1828 – 1832, which merged issues of sectional
strife with disagreements over tariffs. Critics alleged that high tariffs (the
"Tariff of Abominations") on imports of common manufactured goods
made in Europe made those goods more expensive than ones from the northern
U.S., raising the prices paid by planters in the South. Southern politicians
argued that tariffs benefited northern industrialists at the expense of
southern farmers.
The issue came to a head when Vice
President Calhoun, in the South Carolina Exposition and Protest of 1828,
supported the claim of his home state, South Carolina, that it had the right to
"nullify"—declare void—the tariff legislation of 1828, and more
generally the right of a state to nullify any Federal laws which went against
its interests. Although Jackson sympathized with the South in the tariff
debate, he was also a strong supporter of a strong union, with effective powers
for the central government. Jackson attempted to face down Calhoun over the
issue, which developed into a bitter rivalry between the two men.
Particularly notable was an incident
at the April 13, 1830 Jefferson Day dinner, involving after-dinner toasts.
Jackson rose first, glared at Calhoun, and in a booming voice shouted "Our
federal Union: IT MUST BE PRESERVED!" - a clear challenge to Calhoun.
Calhoun glared at Jackson and, his voice trembling, but booming as well,
responded "The Union: NEXT TO OUR LIBERTY, MOST DEAR!"[24]
The next year, Calhoun and Jackson
broke apart politically from one another. Martin Van Buren replaced Calhoun as
Jackson's running mate in 1832. In December 1832, Calhoun resigned as Vice
President to become a U.S. Senator for South Carolina.
Around this time, the Petticoat Affair
caused further resignations from Jackson's cabinet, leading to its
reorganization as the Kitchen Cabinet. Vice-Presiden Van Buren played a leading
role in the new cabinet. [25]
In response to South Carolina's
nullification claim, Jackson vowed to send troops to South Carolina to enforce
the laws. In December 1832, he issued a resounding proclamation against the
"nullifiers," stating that he considered "the power to annul a
law of the United States, assumed by one State, incompatible with the existence
of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution,
unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was
founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed."
South Carolina, the President declared, stood on "the brink of
insurrection and treason," and he appealed to the people of the state to
reassert their allegiance to that Union for which their ancestors had fought.
Jackson also denied the right of secession: "The Constitution... forms a
government not a league... To say that any State may at pleasure secede from
the Union is to say that the United States is not a nation."[26]
Jackson asked Congress to pass a
"Force Bill" explicitly authorizing the use of military force to
enforce the tariff. But it was held up until protectionists led by Clay agreed
to a reduced Compromise Tariff. The Force Bill and Compromise Tariff passed on
March 1, 1833. and Jackson signed both. The South Carolina Convention then met
and rescinded its nullification ordinance. The Force Bill became moot because
it was no longer needed.
Perhaps the most controversial aspect
of Jackson's presidency was his policy regarding American Indians.[27] Jackson
was a leading advocate of a policy known as "Indian Removal". Swedish
scholar Mattias Gardell says Jackson called Indian removal the "Final
Solution" to the Indian issue during his election campaign.[28] After his
election he signed the Indian Removal Act into law in 1830. The Act authorized
the President to negotiate treaties to purchase tribal lands in the east in
exchange for lands further west, outside of existing U.S. state borders.
While frequently frowned upon in the
North, the Removal Act was popular in the South, where population growth and
the discovery of gold on Cherokee land had increased pressure on tribal lands.
The state of Georgia became involved in a contentious jurisdictional dispute
with the Cherokees, culminating in the 1832 U.S. Supreme Court decision
(Worcester v. Georgia) which ruled that Georgia could not impose its laws upon
Cherokee tribal lands. Jackson is often quoted (regarding the decision) as
having said, "John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce
it!" Whether or not he actually said it is disputed.[29]
In any case, Jackson used the Georgia
crisis to pressure Cherokee leaders to sign a removal treaty. A small faction
of Cherokees led by John Ridge negotiated the Treaty of New Echota with
Jackson's representatives. Ridge was not a recognized leader of the Cherokee
Nation, and this document was rejected by most Cherokees as illegitimate.[30]
Over 15,000 Cherokees signed a petition in protest; it was ignored by the
Supreme Court.[31] The treaty was enforced by Jackson's successor, Van Buren.
who ordered 7,000 armed troops to remove the Cherokees.[32] This resulted in
the deaths of over 4,000 Cherokees on the "Trail of Tears."
By the 1830s, under constant pressure
from settlers, each of the five southern tribes had ceded most of its lands,
but sizable self-government groups lived in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and
Florida. All of these (except the Seminoles) had moved far in the coexistence
with whites, and they resisted suggestions that they should voluntarily remove
themselves.[citation needed]
Richard Lawrence's attempt on Andrew
Jackson's life, as depicted in an 1835 etching.
Richard Lawrence's attempt on Andrew
Jackson's life, as depicted in an 1835 etching.
In all, more than 45,000 American
Indians were relocated to the West during Jackson's administration. During this
time, the administration purchased about 100 million acres (400,000 km²) of Indian land for about $68 million
and 32 million acres (130,000 km²) of western land. Jackson was criticized at the time for his role
in these events, and the criticism has grown over the years. Remini
characterizes the Indian Removal era as "one of the unhappiest chapters in
American history."[33]
The first attempt to do bodily harm to
a President was against Jackson. On May 6, 1833, President Jackson was sailing
on USS Cygnet to Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he was to lay the cornerstone
on a monument near the grave of Mary Ball Washington, George Washington's
mother. While on a stopover near Alexandria, Virginia, Robert B. Randolph, who
had recently been dismissed from the Navy for embezzlement upon Jackson's
orders, struck the President. Before Randolph could do more harm, he fled the
scene with several members of Jackson's party chasing him, including the well
known writer Washington Irving. Jackson decided not to press charges.[4]
On January 30, 1835 an unsuccessful
attack occurred in the United States Capitol Building; it was the first
assassination attempt made against an American President. Jackson was crossing
the Capitol Rotunda after the funeral of South Carolina]] Representative Warren
R. Davis when Richard Lawrence approached Jackson. Lawrence aimed two pistols
at Jackson, which both misfired. Jackson then attacked Lawrence with his cane,
prompting his aides to restrain him. As a result, Jackson's statue in the
Capitol Rotunda is placed in front of the doorway in which the attempt
occurred. Davy Crockett was present to help restrain Lawrence. Richard Lawrence
gave the doctors several reasons for the shooting. He had recently lost his job
painting houses and somehow blamed Jackson. He claimed that with the President
dead, "money would be more plenty"—a reference to Jackson’s struggle
with the Bank of the United States—and that he "could not rise until the
President fell." Finally, he informed his interrogators that he was
actually a deposed English King—Richard III.
Shortly after Jackson first arrived in
Nashville in 1788, he took up residence as a boarder with Rachel Stockley
Donelson, the widow of John Donelson. Here Jackson became acquainted with their
daughter, Rachel Donelson Robards. At the time, Rachel Robards was in an
unhappy marriage with Captain Lewis Robards, a man subject to irrational fits
of jealous rage. Due to Lewis Robards' temperament, the two were separated in
1790. Shortly after their separation, Robards sent word that he had obtained a
divorce. Trusting that the divorce was complete, Jackson and Rachel were
married in 1791. Two years later they learned that the divorce had never
actually been finalized, making Rachel's marriage to Jackson illegitimate.
After the divorce was officially completed, Rachel and Jackson re-married in
1794.[34]
The controversy surrounding their
marriage remained a sore point for Jackson, who deeply resented attacks on his
wife's honor. Jackson fought 13 duels, many nominally over his wife's honor.
Charles Dickinson, the only man Jackson ever killed in a duel, had been goaded
into angering Jackson by Jackson's political opponents. In the duel, fought
over a horse-racing debt and an insult to his wife on May 30, 1806, Dickinson
shot Jackson in the ribs before Jackson returned the fatal shot. The bullet
that struck Jackson was so close to his heart that it could never be safely
removed. Jackson had been wounded so frequently in duels that it was said he
"rattled like a bag of marbles."[35] At times he would cough up
blood, and he experienced considerable pain from his wounds for the rest of his
life.
Rachel died of unknown causes on
December 22, 1828, two weeks after her husband's victory in the election and
two months prior to Jackson taking office as President. Jackson blamed John
Quincy Adams for Rachel's death because the marital scandal was brought up in
the election of 1828. He felt that this had hastened her death and never
forgave Adams.
Jackson had two adopted sons, Andrew
Jackson Jr., the son of Rachel's brother Severn Donelson, and Lyncoya, a Creek
Indian orphan adopted by Jackson after the Creek War. Lyncoya died in 1828 at
age sixteen of tuberculosis.[36][37]
The Jacksons also acted as guardians
for eight other children. John Samuel Donelson, Daniel Smith Donelson and
Andrew Jackson Donelson were the sons of Rachel's brother Samuel Donelson, who
died in 1804. Andrew Jackson Hutchings was Rachel's orphaned grand nephew.
Caroline Butler, Eliza Butler, Edward Butler, and Anthony Butler were the
orphaned children of Edward Butler, a family friend. They came to live with the
Jacksons after the death of their father.
The widower Jackson invited Rachel's
niece Emily Donelson to serve as hostess at the White House. Emily was married
to Andrew Jackson Donelson, who acted as Jackson's private secretary and in
1856 would run for Vice President on the American Party ticket. The
relationship between the President and Emily became strained during the
Petticoat Affair, and the two became estranged for over a year. They eventually
reconciled and she resumed her duties as White House hostess. Sarah Yorke
Jackson, the wife of Andrew Jackson Jr., became co-hostess of the White House
in 1834. It was the only time in history when two women simultaneously acted as
unofficial First Lady. Sarah took over all hostess duties after Emily died from
tuberculosis in 1836.
Jackson remained influential in both
national and state politics after retiring to The Hermitage in 1837. Though a
slave-holder, Jackson was a firm advocate of the federal union of the states,
and declined to give any support to talk of secession.
Jackson was a lean figure standing at
6 feet, 1 inch (1.85 m) tall, and weighing between 130 and 140 pounds (64 kg)
on average. Jackson also had an unruly shock of red hair, which had completely
grayed by the time he became president at age 61. He had penetrating deep blue
eyes. Jackson was one of the more sickly presidents, suffering from chronic
headaches, abdominal pains, and a hacking cough, caused by a musket ball in his
lung which was never removed, that often brought up blood and sometimes even
made his whole body shake. After retiring to Nashville, he enjoyed eight years
of retirement and died at The Hermitage on June 8, 1845 at the age of 78, of chronic
tuberculosis, "dropsy" and heart failure.
In his will, Jackson left his entire
estate to his adopted son, Andrew Jackson Jr., except for specifically
enumerated items that were left to various other friends and family members.
Andrew Jackson was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Nashville.
* Memorials to Jackson include a set
of three identical equestrian statues located in different parts of the
country. One is in Jackson Square in New Orleans. Another is in Nashville on
the grounds of the Tennessee State Capitol. The other is in Washington, D.C.
near the White House. Equestrian statues of Jackson have also been erected
elsewhere, including one in Downtown Jacksonville, Florida.
* Numerous counties and cities are named after
him, including Jacksonville, Florida; Jackson, Michigan; Jackson, Mississippi;
Jackson, Missouri; Jackson County, Oregon; Jacksonville, Oregon; Jacksonville,
North Carolina; Jackson, Tennessee; Jackson County, Florida; Jackson County,
Missouri; and Jackson County, Ohio.
* The section of U.S. Route 74 between
Charlotte, North Carolina and Wilmington, North Carolina is named the Andrew
Jackson Highway.
* Jackson's portrait appears on the twenty
dollar bill. He has appeared on $5, $10, $50, and $10,000 bills in the past, as
well as a Confederate $1,000 bill.
* Jackson's image is on the Blackjack postage
stamp.
* The U.S. Army installation Fort Jackson in
Columbia, South Carolina, is named in his honor.
* Fort Jackson, built before the Civil War on the
Mississippi River for the defense of New Orleans, was named in his honor.
* USS Andrew Jackson (SSBN-619), a
Lafayette-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, which served from
1963 to 1989.
* Jackson Park, the third-largest park in Chicago
is named for him.
* Jackson Park, a public golf course in Seattle,
Washington is named for him.
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