Tennessee Historical QUARTERLY Front Cover: VOLUME LXV FALL 2006 NUMBER 3 X A publication of the Tennessee Historical Society in cooperation with the Tennessee Historical Commission. 203 Andrew Jackson: Chivalric Slave Master by Matthew Warshauer X X X Back Cover: X Contributors X X Book Reviews X Guidelines The Tennessee Historical Quarterly (ISSN 0400-3261) is published quarterly for $35 per year by the Tennessee Historical Society, Ground Floor, War Memorial Building, Nashville, TN 37243-0084. Periodicals postage paid at Nashville, TN. Correspondence concerning subscriptions or membership should be addressed to Membership Director, Tennessee Historical Society, Ground Floor, War Memorial Building, Nashville, TN 37243-0084. Phone: 615-741-8934. This number may be obtained at $7.50 per copy, plus tax and postage, if applicable. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Tennessee Historical Society, Ground Floor, War Memorial Building, Nashville, TN 37243-0084. Correspondence concerning contributions and manuscripts for the quarterly should be addressed to Carroll Van West, THQ Senior Editor, Box 80 MTSU, Murfreesboro, TN 37132. The Tennessee Historical Commission and the Tennessee Historical Society disclaim responsibility for statements, whether fact or of opinion, made by contributors. Copyright ©2006 by The Tennessee Historical Society Chivalric Slave Master Andrew Jackson: by Matthew Warshauer n 1839 Andrew Jackson engaged in a sur- The question of Jackson as slave master, how- prising legal battle. During a Christmas ever, remains unanswered. What kind of master Iparty, several of his slaves were involved in a was the indomitable Jackson? His notions of loy- brawl that resulted in the death of a bonds- alty and duty, his legendary temper, and his will- man from another plantation. When the man’s ingness to punish those who crossed him make owner pressed for an indictment, four of Jackson’s one wonder how slaves at the Hermitage faired. slaves were arrested and jailed in Nashville. On The question of Jackson as slave master is of par- trial for a capital offense, the men would have suf- ticular interest considering a renewed study of fered hanging if found guilty. Tennessee law stip- American presidents and slavery, beginning with ulated free legal counsel for slaves, yet Jackson the founding fathers George Washington and hired three top defense attorneys, placing himself Thomas Jefferson.5 A recent work on James K. in debt to raise the legal expenses. In going to Polk as slave master found that Young Hickory such lengths, Jackson saved the lives of his bonds- focused more on the economic self-interest of men.1 Why would a slaveholder, let alone the slavery than on questions of morality. Slavery on iron-willed general, engage in such actions? his plantation was often brutal and deadly. Polk’s Jackson certainly never questioned the morality will noted that he “hoped” for his slaves’ freedom, of slavery. He firmly believed in the peculiar insti- though this never occurred.6 tution, he supported the institution’s constitu- This recent research makes the question of tionality, and he had harsh words for those who Andrew Jackson as slaveholder all the more attempted to incite revolt through abolitionist intriguing. He never achieved the degree of intro- publications.2 The seventh president viewed slav- spection that Jefferson and Washington enter- ery as a means of economic enrichment and a way tained, nor did he consider emancipation. to establish himself in the aristocratic planter Jackson did join earlier slaveholding presidents in class. Surprisingly, historians have engaged in lit- attracting the rumor that he fathered a mulatto tle systematic investigation of Jackson as slave- child, though it does not appear that the charge holder,3 even though he owned upwards of one surfaced during his lifetime. It remained a feature hundred and fifty slaves, making him one of the of oral history among Hermitage slave descen- state’s largest slave owners. Archeologists have dents and has yet to be confirmed.7 plumbed the depths of Jackson’s plantation, the The available evidence indicates that Jackson Hermitage, to unearth the story of material con- as slave master epitomizes the story of southern ditions among the slaves. More than a dozen years paternalism.8 Indeed, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese of digs have revealed over a million artifacts, giv- and Eugene Genovese, in their latest work, The ing scholars an amazing albeit still limited under- Mind of the Master Class, recently included standing of plantation slave life.4 Jackson within a chapter entitled “Chivalric Slave Historians have engaged in little systematic investigation of Andrew Jackson as slaveholder. What kind of master was the indomitable Jackson? Part of the answer lies in the accounts of his slaves such as Hannah and Aaron Jackson. (The Hermitage: Home of President Andrew Jackson, Nashville, TN) ANDREW JACKSON h 203 Masters,” describing him as a “model,” and eled the court circuit with other lawyers, many of Eloped from the subscriber, living explaining the traits of such a master: “While whom were accompanied by their slaves. Jackson near Nashville, on the 25th of June managing the work of his slaves, supervising their desired the same mark of status.10 Within just four last, a Mulatto Man Slave, about lives, paying bills, and getting the crop out, he years Jackson purchased six more slaves, and by thirty years old, six feet and an inch was simultaneously to be gentle, forbearing, and 1798 tax records indicate that he owned fifteen, high, stout made and active, talks kind – but stern, even severe, when duty, dignity, five of whom were most likely under the age of sensible, stoops in his walk, and has and preservation of authority required.”9 Jackson twelve. Part of the rapid increase in slave numbers a remarkable large foot, broad across epitomized such a master. Viewing Hermitage was due to an inheritance from the father of his the root of the toes—will pass for a slaves as his black “family,” he expressed a degree wife, Rachel Donelson Jackson.11 This number of free man, as i am informed he has of concern, made sure slaves had adequate med- slaves placed Jackson in the upper percentile of obtained by some means, certificates ical attention, counseled overseers on good treat- owners in Tennessee. Even by the 1850s the largest as such—took with him a drab ment, and exacted punishment only when “neces- group of slave masters in the state held four or less great-coat, dark mixed body coat, a sary.” Some of this can be explained in terms of slaves, and just under 70 percent owned less than ruffled shirt, cotton home-spun economics and social control. As an asset, healthy ten. Jackson had not yet achieved the status of shirts and overalls. He will make for slaves who were treated humanely worked harder, “planter,” which, according to one Tennessee histo- Detroit through the states of posed fewer problems, and were less apt to revolt. rian, required thirty or more slaves.12 Kentucky and Ohio, or the upper Within this framework all interactions between Records also indicate that during these early part of Louisiana. The above reward slaves and masters were about good business. The frontier years Jackson acquired and at times deliv- will be given any person that will only reason a slaveholder might reveal feeling for ered slaves as commodities to settle debts and take him, and deliver him to me, or a slave was to maximize profit and control. Yet purchased slaves on behalf of friends.13 Slave own- secure him in jail, so that I can get the issue of good treatment also orbits the larger ers separated this common practice from the him. If taken out of the state, the complexity of human bondage. The fact that occupation of “slave trader,” a position that was, above reward, and all reasonable owners possessed legal title over slaves necessarily with no irony, held in abhorrence. Even Jackson expences paid—and ten dollars reduced any relationship to one of sheer power, showed disgust for such men, denouncing extra, for every hundred lashes any yet does such a fact dissolve the possibility of the Charles Dickinson, who Jackson killed in a duel, person will give him, to the amount full range of human emotions, including affec- as one who made “a fortune off speculating on of three hundred.15 tion, between master and slave? Can the actions human flesh.” In later years Jackson too was of some slaveholders be seen in the light of caring charged by a political opponent with slave trad- that is either beyond or in conjunction with pecu- ing. The charge was true to the extent that on one niary motives? occasion he acted as a silent partner in a transac- Andrew Jackson as slave master helps to tion involving the sale of slaves, but untrue in the address some of these questions, for there are sense that he would not have fit the definition of numerous instances—especially two judicial pro- the time as one who made his living from slave ceedings—when he paid particularly close atten- trading.14 tion to the welfare of his bondsmen and appar- By 1804, Jackson experienced the same prob- ently defended the rights of slaves. The first of lem encountered by many slave owners: runaways. these instances may have been a turning point in The remedy was posting an advertisement in local In 1804, Jackson experienced the same problem encountered by his concern for Hermitage slaves. papers offering a reward and payment of costs for many slave owners: runaways. He posted an advertisement in local Andrew Jackson purchased his first slave, “a capture. Jackson, however, went a step further, papers offering a reward, and went a step further when he promised Negro Woman named Nancy,” on November 17, promising additional money for punishment: additional money for punishment.