Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
it's a great honor thank you to the daughters of 1812
a war that does not hold the
place in the broader national imagination that it should
for it was the conflict that ratified the existence of the nation
before
1815 it was a tenuous
close run thing as Wellington said of Waterloo
partly because of what andrew jackson did and the tennessee volunteers did
and the diplomatic worker John Quincy Adams
a name not often spoken here but we should do so in the spirit of ecumenical
uh... reverend Moran would appreciate that
I am not going to mention Henry Clay that would just upset the general too
much
because of that work
the country survived and thrived and here we are
the dancing had just ended
when word arrived
it was the second week of December
1814
a mid a new orleans social gathering offering the briefest of respites
from the war with great britain
a report reach General Andrew Jackson that fighting was about to break out
understandably a guest recalled
there was the greatest alarm
fear broke out
and panic insued
until
that is Andrew Jackson stepped in
described as elegant
persuading and convincing
the major general from tennessee soothed the crowd
bringing order to chaos
it was vintage Jackson
who taught himself the most elemental art of command
the capacity to reassure
amidst anxiety
such was the man on his land we stand at this distant hour
a flawed hero
who in many ways represents the best
and the worst in the american character
we gather to commemorate the victory in new orleans and what a victory it was
on the 8th January 1815 it was a winter time Sunday
the British lost nearly three hundred men
with another twelve hundred wounded
and hundreds more taken prisoner
or going missing
three hundred died
by contrast
only thirteen Americans died
with thirty nine suffering wounds
three hundred to
thirteen
it was a wondrous victory
as they canon smoke began to lift that morning
and surviving British soldiers who had hidden beneath their fallen comrades red
coats rose from the heaps of corpses
jackson remarked
i'd never had so grand and awful an idea of the resurrection
as on that day
the triumph propeled Jackson to national and international glory
in the popular mind he became the second George Washington
the commander who won the War of 1812
the victory
that as we've noted
ratified the revolution
i'd like to take just a moment this morning to talk about how the
complexities of Jackson
mirror our own complexities
and thus those of the country's
because there is a little Jacksonianism
in all of us or at least in most of us
we have to understand the man buried here
in order
the understand ourselves
soldier
brawler duelist lover politician
Andrew Jackson was the first american president
to be the target of assassination
and the only one
to attack his own assassin
tough and wiley passionate uncanny
he rewrote the script of american life
to give the people larger voice
in its affairs
as Harry Truman once said
Andrew Jackson
looked after the little guy
who had no pull
and that's what a president
is supposed to do
Ill say that again
andrew jackson looked after the little guy who had no pull
and that's what a president
is supposed to do
and it is
at least it's what our greatest presidents have always done
urged us to open our arms wider
to expand the definition of what it means to be an American
to include the newcomer and the wanderer
rather
than exclude
let's be very clear
with one another
Andrew Jackson
was actively complicity
in the twin tragedies
of American life
he was an unapologetic defender of slavery
and the driving force
behind the removal
of native americans
we live on land
that once rightfully belonged to others
not far from this very spot
are The Hermitage slave quarters
rebuked to the generations of white americans
limited crusades for life and liberty
to their own kind
yet the great often teach not only by their finest hours
but by their demist
the tragedy of Andrew Jackson's life
is that a man dedicated the freedom fail to see liberty as a universal
not a particular gift
the triumph of his life
is that beginning at New Orleans
he held together a country
whose experiment in liberty ultimately allowed
for the ongoing extension
of its protections and promises
i believe the moral utility of history
lies in the capacity of the present in our capacity yours and mine
to look the past
in the eye
not to look up at it adoringly
or down on it self righteously
we learn more from people when we meet them in the eye
then when we judge them
beforehand
or when we celebrate them
mindlessly
by looking our long ago leaders in the eye
we can see things about them and about ourselves they should ideally inspire
and challenge us
not to wag our fingers at posterity
but to undertake the urgent work
of moral and social reform
in our own time
if only
so that when the future looks us in the eye
they will see men and women who took action rather than taking a pass
the challenges Jackson face resonate in our own age
he believed the financial sector of the american economy was bad for the help of
the nation
and so he destroyed the bank of the United States
he wanted the country to be respected globally
and so he was quick to send forces to confront pirates engaged in an epic
diplomatic battle against France some things never change
when it refused to pay money it owed The United States
he thought the American Union sacred
and so he threatens civil war
to put down radicals
in South Carolina
his enemies as we know were ferocious
a new england teacher once asked her class
who had killed able
a little boy rose raised his hand and said General Jackson
when Harvard voted to give the seventh president an honorary degree in 1833
Massachusetts newspaper wrote
he deserved in eight a.s.s.
rather than an L.L.D.
the slurs and slanders against Rachel Donelson Jackson were worse
she was a noble woman whose contribution to american history
is far too little appreciated
let's be honest
any woman
who could create a safe loving haven for the restless and relentless Andrew
Jackson
would be remarkable enough
that rachel jackson did so while suffering the slings and arrows
of political hate
makes her achievement all the more remarkable
every president since Old Hickory has worked in the shadow of and stood on the
shoulders of
Andrew Jackson
and his presidency offers
very interesting and important lessons
I want to quickly talk about two
they come to mind at this moment in our history
first is that jackson never allowed himself to become a prisoner of
Washington D.C.
the white house can be lonely
isolating and distorting
presidents only hear good news from subordinates and criticism from foes
Jackson understood this and often received old friends
and members of the public
as well as his staff
he traveled every year to the shore in Virginia
and back here to The Hermitage staying at hotels in public houses along the way
this way he could hear what real people were saying
a crucial
element in the art of democratic leadership
the second
lesson i think from Jacksons presidency
is one that i think
we could all use and i suspect
reverend Moran would appreciate this too
he turned his vices into virtues
he was to say the least
a hot tempered man
he carried two bullets in his body from duels and gun fights over matters of
honor
and threatened to hang his own vice president
those who think that
Washington is only now in conflict I refer you
to that
he did once say that his only two regrets in public life is that he had not shot Henry Clay
and hung John C Calhoun
I know congressman Cooper thinks is tough but you know
but he was wise enough to know how to make this possible disadvantage
his temper
an advantage
once during a crisis over the bank of The United States the delegation came to
Jackson wanting relief and he phoned in pounded the table and raged in
said why are you here don't
I don't want to see you
They ran out terrified
closer to his position because i thought he was
going to tear them apart
the moment the door shut
Jackson turned to an aide and said
didn't I manage them well more broadly Jackson's faults are the country's
and whenever we take the selfish rather than the unselfish route
or close the door rather than opening it
we're repeating the mistakes of the past
when we trust in others when we fight for everyone to have a fair shot at
making it in this country
when we care for the helpless and stand by our friends
then we are working in the best part of the tradition
of Andrew Jackson
so let us end where we began
at the battle of new orleans nearly two centuries ago
when the war of 1812 began
Jackson called for Tennessee volunteers with these words
who are we
and for what are we going to fight
are we to titled slaves of George III
the military conscripts of Napoleon the great
or the Sons of America
the citizens of the only republican now existing in the world
and the only people on earth who possess rights
liberties and property they dare call their own
then as now we you and I
or the sons and Daughters of America
of a Republic worth fighting for
on battlefields of all kinds
the unending war
to perfect the union
that Andrew and Rachel Jackson
loved so thank you