The attacks gave deep distress to Mrs. Jackson, who was a truly good and noble woman and greatly beloved by all who knew her. One of the outstanding features of General Jackson’s life was his tender devotion to her. After her death this devotion continued to her memory until he was laid by her side. It was given beautiful expression in the epitaph which he himself wrote and which is carved upon her tomb in the Hermitage garden. No student of Jackson should fail to read and reread this epitaph.
Mrs. Jackson died December 22, 1828, just after her husband’s election to the Presidency. As he sat at her bier, he said: “What are all the world and its honors to me since she is taken from me?”
A great demonstration planned in Nashville in celebration of Jackson’s election was cancelled on account of Mrs. Jackson’s death.
General and Mrs. Jackson had no children. In 1809 they adopted the infant son of Severn Donelson, brother of Mrs. Jackson, and named him Andrew Jackson, Jr. He bore that name and became heir to all the estate.
An Appraisal of Jackson
He was absolutely without fear, having not only superb physical courage but moral courage of the same degree.
He was intensely patriotic, and having been cradled in the Revolution in which as a boy he took part, he was imbued with the underlying spirit of that conflict, and carried that spirit throughout his life and expressed it in his acts.
He agreed with Thomas Jefferson’s construction of the fundamental purposes of government and became an active, dynamic exponent of Jefferson’s democratic ideals; for example, believing in the doctrine of special privileges to none, with his first message to Congress he began the fight against renewal of the charter of the United States Bank, then grown into a great financial and political power, and continued until he finally destroyed that beneficiary of privilege.
He had what might be called a dominating personality, inspiring a devoted and confident following, as is the case with a leader who always knows just where he is and why he is there; he had an iron will which surmounted difficulties and mastered his own physical infirmities.
He had at times a violent temper, but it was always subject to his will.