Inaugural Addresses: Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson came to the Presidency as a man of the people. He also entered the office a bitter man, convinced that he deserved to win the Presidency four years earlier, but that it had been stolen from him because of a "corrupt bargain" between John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay which made Adams the president and Clay the Secretary of State. He was also bitter because, in the intervening time between the election and inauguration day, his beloved wife Rachel had died from heart failure, and he blamed his political enemies, who had slandered Rachel during the previous election campaign, for her untimely death. Jackson was known for his temper that sometimes led him into duels. He could hold a grudge as well as any man.
The first inauguration of Andrew Jackson as President of the United States was held on March 4, 1829 at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. To get there, Jackson had to make a three-week journey from Nashville, Tennessee, first by steamboat to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and then onward by carriage. The inauguration was the first time that the ceremony was held on the East Portico of the United States Capitol. Ten thousand people arrived in town for the ceremony, to hear what the man of the people and the hero of the Battle of New Orleans would have to say. By 10:00 am, the area in front of the Capitol was filled with people, and the stairs on the East Portico were blocked by a ship's cable to prevent the crowd from advancing. A crowd of around 21,000 people attended. Jackson walked to the ceremony, but to avoid the crowd, he used a basement door on the west front to enter the Capitol. Many wondered what Jackson would have to say at this challenging time. Jackson's address was 1,125 words long, brief for most addresses.
Jackson addressed his "fellow citizens" and began by expressing his gratitude to those who had selected him as their president and acknowledged "the accountability which my situation enjoins." He outlined his constitutional duties, namely, "to execute the laws of the United States, to superintend their foreign and their confederate relations, to manage their revenue, to command their forces, and, by communications to the Legislature, to watch over and to promote their interests generally." He promised:
"In administering the laws of Congress I shall keep steadily in view the limitations as well as the extent of the Executive power, trusting thereby to discharge the functions of my office without transcending its authority. With foreign nations it will be my study to preserve peace and to cultivate friendship on fair and honorable terms, and in the adjustment of any differences that may exist or arise to exhibit the forbearance becoming a powerful nation rather than the sensibility belonging to a gallant people."
The issue of states' rights was a contentious one at the time, and Jackson said that he would show "proper respect for those sovereign members of our Union, taking care not to confound the powers they have reserved to themselves with those they have granted to the Confederacy." He then discussed "the management of the public revenue" which he said would be a delicate task. He said that he wished to "facilitate the extinguishment of the national debt, the unnecessary duration of which is incompatible with real independence," and he proposed to govern such that "the spirit of equity, caution, and compromise in which the Constitution was formed requires that the great interests of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures should be equally favored," with "perhaps the only exception to this rule" being "the peculiar encouragement of any products of either of them that may be found essential to our national independence."
Jackson set as priorities "Internal improvement and the diffusion of knowledge." He said that he considered "standing armies as dangerous to free governments in time of peace." This was an important topic because Jackson's critics had spread the fear that the military leader would become a military despot if elected. Jackson tried to allay those fears, saying:
"I shall not seek to enlarge our present establishment, nor disregard that salutary lesson of political experience which teaches that the military should be held subordinate to the civil power. The gradual increase of our Navy, whose flag has displayed in distant climes our skill in navigation and our fame in arms; the preservation of our forts, arsenals, and dockyards, and the introduction of progressive improvements in the discipline and science of both branches of our military service are so plainly prescribed by prudence that I should be excused for omitting their mention sooner than for enlarging on their importance. But the bulwark of our defense is the national militia, which in the present state of our intelligence and population must render us invincible. As long as our Government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of person and of property, liberty of conscience and of the press, it will be worth defending; and so long as it is worth defending a patriotic militia will cover it with an impenetrable aegis. Partial injuries and occasional mortifications we may be subjected to, but a million of armed freemen, possessed of the means of war, can never be conquered by a foreign foe. To any just system, therefore, calculated to strengthen this natural safeguard of the country I shall cheerfully lend all the aid in my power."
In hindsight, it seems disingenuous that the man who created the "Trail of Tears" would pledge fairness to Native Americans, but that is the subject Jackson addressed next, with a very important qualifier. He said:
" It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe toward the Indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to give that humane and considerate attention to their rights and their wants which is consistent with the habits of our Government and the feelings of our people."
Jackson next took aim on political patronage, which he saw as requiring "correction of those abuses that have brought the patronage of the Federal Government into conflict with the freedom of elections, and the counteraction of those causes which have disturbed the rightful course of appointment and have placed or continued power in unfaithful or incompetent hands." He promised to "endeavor to select men whose diligence and talents will insure in their respective stations able and faithful cooperation, depending for the advancement of the public service more on the integrity and zeal of the public officers than on their numbers."
Jackson closed his brief address with these words:
"A diffidence, perhaps too just, in my own qualifications will teach me to look with reverence to the examples of public virtue left by my illustrious predecessors, and with veneration to the lights that flow from the mind that founded and the mind that reformed our system. The same diffidence induces me to hope for instruction and aid from the coordinate branches of the Government, and for the indulgence and support of my fellow-citizens generally. And a firm reliance on the goodness of that Power whose providence mercifully protected our national infancy, and has since upheld our liberties in various vicissitudes, encourages me to offer up my ardent supplications that He will continue to make our beloved country the object of His divine care and gracious benediction."
Jackson left the ceremony through the same route through the capitol that he had arrived, but this time he left on horseback to the White House, which was opened to the public for a post-inaugural reception. It was full of people even before Jackson arrived. The crowd became so large and unruly that Jackson left, some say by a window and some say by a side entrance. He proceeded to Gadsby's Hotel in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. The rowdy crowd dispersed only after bowls of liquor and punch were placed on the front lawn of the White House. The White House was left a mess, including several thousand dollars worth of broken china.
That night an official inaugural ball for administration officials and Washington's high society was held in Carusi's Assembly Rooms. Twelve hundred guests were present, but Jackson, still mourning the loss of his wife Rachel Jackson that December, did not attend.
The first inauguration of Andrew Jackson as President of the United States was held on March 4, 1829 at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. To get there, Jackson had to make a three-week journey from Nashville, Tennessee, first by steamboat to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and then onward by carriage. The inauguration was the first time that the ceremony was held on the East Portico of the United States Capitol. Ten thousand people arrived in town for the ceremony, to hear what the man of the people and the hero of the Battle of New Orleans would have to say. By 10:00 am, the area in front of the Capitol was filled with people, and the stairs on the East Portico were blocked by a ship's cable to prevent the crowd from advancing. A crowd of around 21,000 people attended. Jackson walked to the ceremony, but to avoid the crowd, he used a basement door on the west front to enter the Capitol. Many wondered what Jackson would have to say at this challenging time. Jackson's address was 1,125 words long, brief for most addresses.
Jackson addressed his "fellow citizens" and began by expressing his gratitude to those who had selected him as their president and acknowledged "the accountability which my situation enjoins." He outlined his constitutional duties, namely, "to execute the laws of the United States, to superintend their foreign and their confederate relations, to manage their revenue, to command their forces, and, by communications to the Legislature, to watch over and to promote their interests generally." He promised:
"In administering the laws of Congress I shall keep steadily in view the limitations as well as the extent of the Executive power, trusting thereby to discharge the functions of my office without transcending its authority. With foreign nations it will be my study to preserve peace and to cultivate friendship on fair and honorable terms, and in the adjustment of any differences that may exist or arise to exhibit the forbearance becoming a powerful nation rather than the sensibility belonging to a gallant people."
The issue of states' rights was a contentious one at the time, and Jackson said that he would show "proper respect for those sovereign members of our Union, taking care not to confound the powers they have reserved to themselves with those they have granted to the Confederacy." He then discussed "the management of the public revenue" which he said would be a delicate task. He said that he wished to "facilitate the extinguishment of the national debt, the unnecessary duration of which is incompatible with real independence," and he proposed to govern such that "the spirit of equity, caution, and compromise in which the Constitution was formed requires that the great interests of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures should be equally favored," with "perhaps the only exception to this rule" being "the peculiar encouragement of any products of either of them that may be found essential to our national independence."
Jackson set as priorities "Internal improvement and the diffusion of knowledge." He said that he considered "standing armies as dangerous to free governments in time of peace." This was an important topic because Jackson's critics had spread the fear that the military leader would become a military despot if elected. Jackson tried to allay those fears, saying:
"I shall not seek to enlarge our present establishment, nor disregard that salutary lesson of political experience which teaches that the military should be held subordinate to the civil power. The gradual increase of our Navy, whose flag has displayed in distant climes our skill in navigation and our fame in arms; the preservation of our forts, arsenals, and dockyards, and the introduction of progressive improvements in the discipline and science of both branches of our military service are so plainly prescribed by prudence that I should be excused for omitting their mention sooner than for enlarging on their importance. But the bulwark of our defense is the national militia, which in the present state of our intelligence and population must render us invincible. As long as our Government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of person and of property, liberty of conscience and of the press, it will be worth defending; and so long as it is worth defending a patriotic militia will cover it with an impenetrable aegis. Partial injuries and occasional mortifications we may be subjected to, but a million of armed freemen, possessed of the means of war, can never be conquered by a foreign foe. To any just system, therefore, calculated to strengthen this natural safeguard of the country I shall cheerfully lend all the aid in my power."
In hindsight, it seems disingenuous that the man who created the "Trail of Tears" would pledge fairness to Native Americans, but that is the subject Jackson addressed next, with a very important qualifier. He said:
" It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe toward the Indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to give that humane and considerate attention to their rights and their wants which is consistent with the habits of our Government and the feelings of our people."
Jackson next took aim on political patronage, which he saw as requiring "correction of those abuses that have brought the patronage of the Federal Government into conflict with the freedom of elections, and the counteraction of those causes which have disturbed the rightful course of appointment and have placed or continued power in unfaithful or incompetent hands." He promised to "endeavor to select men whose diligence and talents will insure in their respective stations able and faithful cooperation, depending for the advancement of the public service more on the integrity and zeal of the public officers than on their numbers."
Jackson closed his brief address with these words:
"A diffidence, perhaps too just, in my own qualifications will teach me to look with reverence to the examples of public virtue left by my illustrious predecessors, and with veneration to the lights that flow from the mind that founded and the mind that reformed our system. The same diffidence induces me to hope for instruction and aid from the coordinate branches of the Government, and for the indulgence and support of my fellow-citizens generally. And a firm reliance on the goodness of that Power whose providence mercifully protected our national infancy, and has since upheld our liberties in various vicissitudes, encourages me to offer up my ardent supplications that He will continue to make our beloved country the object of His divine care and gracious benediction."
Jackson left the ceremony through the same route through the capitol that he had arrived, but this time he left on horseback to the White House, which was opened to the public for a post-inaugural reception. It was full of people even before Jackson arrived. The crowd became so large and unruly that Jackson left, some say by a window and some say by a side entrance. He proceeded to Gadsby's Hotel in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. The rowdy crowd dispersed only after bowls of liquor and punch were placed on the front lawn of the White House. The White House was left a mess, including several thousand dollars worth of broken china.
That night an official inaugural ball for administration officials and Washington's high society was held in Carusi's Assembly Rooms. Twelve hundred guests were present, but Jackson, still mourning the loss of his wife Rachel Jackson that December, did not attend.