Beacon Lights of History, Volume 12 | Page 4

his honesty, sincerity, and
integrity; exciting fear from his fierce wrath when insulted,--a man
terribly in earnest; always as courteous and chivalric to women as he
was hard and savage to treacherous men. Above all, he was now a man
of commanding stature, graceful manners, dignified deportment, and a
naturally distinguished air; so that he was looked up to by men and
admired by women. What did those violent, quarrelsome, adventurous
settlers on the western confines of American civilization care whether
their favorite was learned or ignorant, so long as he was manifestly
superior to them in their chosen pursuits and pleasures, was capable of
leading them in any enterprise, and sympathized with them in all their
ideas and prejudices,--a born democrat, as well as a born leader. His
claim upon them, however, was not without its worthy elements. He
was perfectly fearless in enforcing the law, laughing at intimidation. He
often had to ride hundreds of miles to professional duties on circuit,
through forests infested by Indians, and towns cowed by ruffians; and
he and his rifle were held in great respect. He was renowned as the
foremost Indian fighter in that country, and as a prosecuting attorney
whom no danger and no temptation could swerve from his duty. He
was feared, trusted, and boundlessly popular.
The people therefore rallied about this man. When in 1796 a
convention was called for framing a State constitution, Jackson was

one of their influential delegates; and in December of that year he was
sent to Congress as their most popular representative. Of course he was
totally unfitted for legislative business, in which he never could have
made any mark. On his return in 1797, a vacancy occurring in the
United States Senate, he was elected senator, on the strength of his
popularity as representative. But he remained only a year at
Philadelphia, finding his calling dull, and probably conscious that he
had no fitness for legislation, while the opportunity for professional and
pecuniary success in Tennessee was very apparent to him.
Next we read of his being made chief-justice of the Superior Court of
Tennessee, with no more fitness for administering the law than he had
for making it, or interest in it. Mr. Parton tells an anecdote of Jackson
at this time which, whether true or not, illustrates his character as well
as the rude conditions amid which he made himself felt. He was
holding court in a little village in Tennessee, when a great, hulking
fellow, armed with a pistol and bowie-knife, paraded before the little
court-house, and cursed judge, jury, and all assembled. Jackson ordered
the sheriff to arrest him, but that functionary failed to do it, either alone
or with a posse. Whereupon Jackson caused the sheriff to summon him
as posse, adjourned court for ten minutes, walked out and told the
fellow to yield or be shot.
In telling why he surrendered to one man, when he had defied a crowd,
the ruffian afterwards said: "When he came up I looked him in the eye,
and I saw shoot. There wasn't shoot in nary other eye in the crowd. I
said to myself, it is about time to sing small; and so I did."
It was by such bold, fearless conduct that Jackson won admiration,--not
by his law, of which he knew but little, and never could have learned
much. The law, moreover, was uncongenial to this man of action, and
he resigned his judgeship and went for a short time into
business,--trading land, selling horses, groceries, and dry-goods,--when
he was appointed major-general of militia. This was just what he
wanted. He had now found his place and was equal to it. His habits,
enterprises, dangers, and bloody encounters, all alike fitted him for it.
Henceforth his duty and his pleasure ran together in the same line. His

personal peculiarities had made him popular; this popularity had made
him prominent and secured to him offices for which he had no talent,
seeing which he dropped them; but when a situation was offered for
which he was fitted, he soon gained distinction, and his true career
began.
It was as an Indian fighter that he laid the foundation of his fame. His
popularity with rough people was succeeded by a series of heroic
actions which brought him before the eyes of the nation. There was no
sham in these victories. He fairly earned his laurels, and they so
wrought on the imagination of the people that he quickly became
famous.
But before his military exploits brought him a national reputation he
had become notorious in his neighborhood as a duellist. He was always
ready to fight when he deemed himself insulted. His numerous duels
were very severely commented on when he became a candidate for the
presidency, especially in New