Tony L. Turnbow's Blog
April 15, 2020
How Andrew Jackson Reacted to A Perceived Apocalypse
Andrew Jackson began his rise to leadership at a time when many people thought the world was coming to an end. When others allowed fear to control their decisions, Jackson charged ahead.
I discussed those events from my book Hardened to Hickory: The Missing Chapter in Andrew Jackson's Life at the 2018 Southern Book Festival. You can see a clip here;
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c478321...
I discussed those events from my book Hardened to Hickory: The Missing Chapter in Andrew Jackson's Life at the 2018 Southern Book Festival. You can see a clip here;
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c478321...
December 2, 2018
ANDREW JACKSON WAS HUMAN
A woman in the audience at a talk I gave at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum last week approached me afterwards to discuss what seemed to be a revelation ---Andrew Jackson was human. I had commented that in the current public discussion, Jackson has become almost a one-dimensional figure. Jackson sometimes encouraged that view when the image was positive, or at least one worthy of fear or respect. But we can learn more from his victories and mistakes when we examine the decisions he took within his human limitations.
In my book Hardened to Hickory: The Missing Chapter in Andrew Jackson's Life, I provide instances when Jackson showed an almost superhuman will to survive and excel. And I relate the only occasion I have have seen documented that Jackson shed tears in public. Jackson succeeded when he harnessed his enormous ambition. He failed when he allowed that same ambition to blind him.
In this "missing chapter," Andrew Jackson was changed by the mistakes he made and by his reaction to them. It is a worthwhile study of how a man who appeared to face losing everything as a result of his own errors - even facing a possible firing squad- fought back and used the lessons he learned to become President of the United States. Jackson learned those lessons only from the human pain he felt from watching young soldiers under his command suffer from his mistakes. At the same time, Jackson's human limitations prevented him from appreciating that he had escaped the trap of failure only with the help of his Indian friends.
When I began researching Jackson's apparently failed 1813 Natchez Expedition, I also had a one-dimensional view of Jackson as one who mistreated the Indians. My study of the documents I pulled together to tell the story forced me to see Jackson from the perspective of his needs, ambitions, and fears. In other words, as human. I could relate to the woman's reaction, because I had also experienced it.
Whether Jackson is loved or hated, he is part of the fabric of the nation that we have become. His life is an important study to understand that nation as well as our own human achievements and limitations.
Jackson's Tony L Turnbow Tony L. TurnbowHardened to Hickory: The Missing Chapter in Andrew Jackson's Life www.hardenedtohickory.com
In my book Hardened to Hickory: The Missing Chapter in Andrew Jackson's Life, I provide instances when Jackson showed an almost superhuman will to survive and excel. And I relate the only occasion I have have seen documented that Jackson shed tears in public. Jackson succeeded when he harnessed his enormous ambition. He failed when he allowed that same ambition to blind him.
In this "missing chapter," Andrew Jackson was changed by the mistakes he made and by his reaction to them. It is a worthwhile study of how a man who appeared to face losing everything as a result of his own errors - even facing a possible firing squad- fought back and used the lessons he learned to become President of the United States. Jackson learned those lessons only from the human pain he felt from watching young soldiers under his command suffer from his mistakes. At the same time, Jackson's human limitations prevented him from appreciating that he had escaped the trap of failure only with the help of his Indian friends.
When I began researching Jackson's apparently failed 1813 Natchez Expedition, I also had a one-dimensional view of Jackson as one who mistreated the Indians. My study of the documents I pulled together to tell the story forced me to see Jackson from the perspective of his needs, ambitions, and fears. In other words, as human. I could relate to the woman's reaction, because I had also experienced it.
Whether Jackson is loved or hated, he is part of the fabric of the nation that we have become. His life is an important study to understand that nation as well as our own human achievements and limitations.
Jackson's Tony L Turnbow Tony L. TurnbowHardened to Hickory: The Missing Chapter in Andrew Jackson's Life www.hardenedtohickory.com
