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The Constitution “forms a government, not a league,” a government in which all the people are represented and which operates directly on the people themselves, not upon the states.
Disunion by armed force is treason.
“Nullification is dead,” declared Jackson. But “the next pretext will be the negro, or slavery question.”
There are only two things I can’t give up: one is coffee, and the other is tobacco.”
Actually he had a third purpose, and that was to find bankers who could qualify as loyal Jacksonians. To become one of the “selected banks”—or “pet” banks, as the opposition came to call them—it was essential that a prospective pet enjoy “friendly” relations with the Democrats.
What made the situation all the more precarious was Jackson’s ignorance of financial matters and his total lack of appreciation for the fiscal value of the BUS and its importance to the American economy. The Bank was interlaced with the economy. To damage it of necessity would devastate the financial and business communities.
When they had gone, Jackson broke into a broad grin. “Didn’t I manage them well?” he laughed to the leader of the deputation who had been summoned back to the President’s office. The visitor stared at his host. The old rascal had staged the tantrum. He was not one whit as angry as he pretended. He was an old hand at feigning anger in order to silence those who opposed him.
Not a single slave did Jackson free, not even his own manservant, George. True, manumission was incredibly difficult in Tennessee by the 1840s; but for a man who cared so deeply about freedom he had no conception that it might apply to black people. In that respect he resembled most of his contemporaries.
“What is the matter with my Dear Children,” he said, “have I alarmed you? Oh, do not cry—be good children & we will all meet in heaven.”21 Those were Jackson’s last words.
110 slaves at the Hermitage and another 51 on the Mississippi plantation, for a total of 161 slaves,
