The would-be assassin turned out to be one Richard Lawrence, an unemployed house painter. He was quickly hurried off to “civil authorities” and incarcerated. When the House sergeant-at-arms asked him why he attempted to assassinate the President, Lawrence replied that Jackson had murdered his father three years before. He also claimed to be the legitimate heir to the British throne and that Jackson had impeded his succession. “There is nothing but madness in all this,” said John Tyler. Indeed. Lawrence was immediately brought to trial but on April 11, 1835, he was found not guilty because “he
...more
