This seeming digression from the main subject will be pardoned, in view of the fact that Chief Justice Fuller, as I understand him, refers to the act under consideration as applicable only to the Miro District.
The method of choosing presidential electors prescribed in this act shows how implicitly the people at that time trusted their representatives, and also the confidence the representatives reposed in the judgment and patriotism of the citizen, as well as the confidence which the people then had in the honor and patriotism of each other.
FOOTNOTES:
[J] Haywood, Ramsey, Putnam and Phelan unanimously and invariably so spell it.
[K] Haywood’s History of Tennessee.
[L] This “big Injun” seems to have written his name as the fancy struck him. The signature to one of the letters is “McGillivray,” while the other two are signed “McGilveray.” All are in the same handwriting, and all are evidently autographic.
CHAPTER VII.
ANDREW JACKSON AS A “SPORT.”
In many respects Andrew Jackson was the most interesting, picturesque and unique character America has produced. Scotch and Irish blood commingling in his veins, there was a perfect blend of the characteristics of both races, and in addition thereto he had some traits and besetments peculiarly his own. In his calm and restful moods, he was as tender and serene as a child, and easily accessible by the very humblest; but when the storm of passion swept over his soul, he was a flaming furnace of fury, almost wholly heedless of consequences, and as much to be feared and avoided as an enraged lion. In the face of perils he had the dauntlessness of John Knox, and was an exact counterpart of the great reformer when he threw down the gage of battle to the Roman hierarchy. A soldier by nature, he scoffed at the prescribed rules of military movements, and made his own tactics, surpassing even the Corsican prodigy in martial genius and originality, as the trained soldiers of Pakenham, who won the bloody field of Waterloo, testified involuntarily when they fled in defeat and dismay before his undisciplined militia from the gates of New Orleans.
The highest order of statesmanship wrought in him its perfect work. If he was not the founder, he was the preserver, of a great party. He was a sturdy patriot. Love of country was the controlling emotion of his great soul. The determination which animated him, crystallized in his stern pronouncement, “The federal union: it must be preserved!” crushed an incipient rebellion as a giant would crush a shell of glass.