Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 15.pdf/398

 Andrew Jackson as a Lawyer. United States respected abroad. It was Henry Clay who hurled defiance in the teeth of a mighty nation, and proclaimed the famous sentiment, "Free Trade and Sailors' Rights," that a sailor on the deck of an American ship was on sacred ground,—that the flag which floated over that ship was an segis protecting him. In examining the life of Andrew Jackson one fact stands out most prominent,—the fact that he was successful in everything he un dertook; appointed solicitor for the wild region of Middle Tennessee, when he was only twenty-one years old, he succeeded in his difficult and dangerous work, in which many an older man with less courage and determination might have failed. His vigor ous prosecution of desperate offenders gave him a great prominence in the community, and brought him other legal business. His many personal "difficulties" were a help rather than a hindrance to the young lawyer in his profession, and, as has been already shown, he was one of the most distinguished men in Tennessee when it was admitted into the Union, and that was only eight years after he arrived in the State, a raw, uncouth, un known young man, who knew little law and no literature. During the six years that he sat on the bench— 1798 to 1804—he devoted his time, labor, energy and will power to the duties of the office, to the neglect of his health and estate. Thomas H. Benton bears cordial and deliberate testimony to the extraordinary character of Jackson's mind, declaring that he possessed a rare judgment, with a rapid and almost intuitive perception, followed by an instant and decisive action. He went from the judge's bench to the counter of a country store, and the more in teresting occupation of stock raising. From these pursuits he was called in 1813 to his true vocation, the life of a soldier, for Jack son was a natural born leader of men in battle, as Clay was a leader of men in the

355

forum. Jackson's early life as a strenuous solicitor and fighting lawyer had made him a masterful man,—a man of ready resources, of dauntless courage and of inflexible will. His duties as prosecuting attorney necessarily placed him in the front of the wild, semicivilized life of early Tennessee life which preceded the admission of the State into the Union. We have followed the picturesque career of Jackson as a lawyer, as a judge, and as a man. With his public life as a soldier and statesman—as general and President—we have nothing to do. Unlike Alexander the Great, Andrew Jackson was satisfied with what he had done, for his long list of suc cesses exceeded his ambition. No American before him had exercised, or wished to exer cise the great power that he wielded. No man had been so idolized. Mb man had triumphed over his enemies so completely as he had. He did more than any man to pre vent Henry Clay from reaching the object of his ambition—the Presidency. He saw Calhoun driven into retirement, when he had one foot on the Presidential ladder. He saw the Bank of the United States destroyed, and its president die of a broken heart. He re tired to his well-earned repose, at the age of seventy, after ruling eight years, his popu larity undiminished, and still the recognized leader of his party. He enjoyed the satis faction—unique in the public life of the United States—of the setting sun being more honored than the rising sun. It was a mar vellous tribute to the great and lasting popu larity of the Hero of New Orleans, a popu larity which never declined during his life time, and is exceeded by that of no other American hero. As a lawyer, Andrew Jackson was suited to the time and place when and where he practised; but, as his friend and biographer, Amos Kendall, says, he was not made for what is called a first-rate lawyer. His mode of reasoning would not permit him to seek for