Here's Where It Gets Interesting - Andrew Jackson and the Cheese That Pleased a Nation

Episode Date: November 28, 2022

Today on Here's Where It Gets Interesting, we're going to dive in and take a look at some of the actions and eccentricities of the Andrew Jackson presidency. You may think we’ve talked about all of Andrew Jackson’s quirks by now, but NO! We haven’t even scratched the surface. So join us today, and we’ll talk about cheese, the National Debt, and the time Jackson had to climb out a back window of the White House. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, friends. Welcome. So glad you're joining me for another episode of Here's Where It Gets Interesting. We couldn't move on to the next First Lady in our series without first taking a deeper look into some of the more notable parts of Andrew Jackson's presidential years. So buckle up, because today we're going to get into it. And as often as we've talked about Jackson before, I have a previous episode in which my friend and the host of the This American President podcast, Richard Lim, and I dish about our favorite Andrew Jackson stories. Today, we are going to activate a bunch of new brain tangles. So let's dive in and take a look at some of the actions and eccentricities

of the Andrew Jackson presidency. I'm Sharon McMahon, and here's where it gets interesting. A team of 24 horses came into view as White House staff peered out of the windows, waiting for a special arrival. First of all, imagine a team of 24 horses. Okay, think to like, you know, you think about like the Cinderella carriage, that team of horses might be like six or eight horses, a team of 24 horses. And the horses were pulling a wagon that contained an enormous gift for the President of the United States. Andrew Jackson, in the main foyer of his White House, had a big block of cheese. A very big block of cheese, 1,400 pounds to be exact. And this was an arrival that Andrew Jackson had been anticipating for a very long time. Gifts of cheese were actually quite common among our earliest presidents. Dairy farmers from many territories would craft and give giant hunks of cheese to United States government officials

as a thank you for supporting their business endeavors. And in 1801, the largest dairy-related gift to date was gifted to Thomas Jefferson. It was a 1,200-pound wheel of cheese. But Andrew Jackson was determined that his cheese gift would outdo that of Jefferson's. And during his second presidential term, his wish came true. The dairymen of Oswego County, New York, under the leadership of Thomas S. Meacham, crafted for President Jackson the record-breaking 1,400-pound block of cheese, record-breaking 1,400-pound block of cheese, painting intricate designs onto its surface and carving the quote,

the union, it must be preserved. Because who doesn't love a good cheese joke? Andrew Jackson, wanting to make sure that people would know he was being gifted with the largest and grandest cheese wheel out of any president, sent the giant thing on a publicized tour through New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore before it arrived at the White House. Like, crowds of people took time out of their day to watch the wheel of cheese make its way down city streets. Can you imagine this? Governors being like, for today's outing, children, we're going to go see the president's cheese.

I mean, think about this. If Joe Biden or Donald Trump sent a wheel of cheese on a tour of America's major cities, would you turn up? Would you turn up to watch the cheese drive by? I don't know. I don't know if that would be popular today. And once the team of 2,000 horses dropped off the cheese at the White House, Andrew Jackson kept it on display in the entrance hall for almost two years. In February of 1837, Andrew's time in the White House was coming to an end. But before he left, he had a big problem to solve. The 1,400-pound block of cheese was still sitting in the entrance hall, and now the entire White House stunk horribly. And his solution was to throw a giant party at the White House to celebrate his past

eight years as president. The open house was scheduled for the anniversary of George Washington's birthday, and the guest list was open-ended. Anyone could come. Politicians, diplomats, school teachers, lamplighters. Also difficult to imagine, right? Like you could just show up at the White House. That is a far cry from the way things work today, obviously. And for the meal, the staff at the White House pointed to Jackson's Wheel of Cheese. Have at it, they said. Over 10,000 people showed up. Everyone was told to take a hunk of cheese and the people began to mingle and have conversations with staff, members of Congress, the president's cabinet, and the numerous other government officials who were there for the party.

A 19th century historian wrote in 1886, for hours did a crowd of men, women, and boys hack at the cheese, many taking large hunks of it away with them. When they commenced, the cheese weighed 1,400 pounds, and only a small piece was saved for the president's use. The air was redolent with cheese. The carpet was slippery with cheese. And nothing else was talked about in Washington that day. The entire 1,400-pound block of cheese was gone in just a few hours. And the American people left the celebration feeling important and connected to their president. feeling important and connected to their president. This kind of event, from the parade of cheese to the open doors of the White House, was one of the many reasons why Andrew Jackson was considered a man of the people by his supporters. It was a belief that helped elevate him to the office

of president. Andrew Jackson was elected as our seventh president in 1828, but if you listen to last week's episodes, you already know that it was not his first presidential campaign. In 1824, he ran against John Quincy Adams while they were both a part of the singular Democratic-Republican political party. Even though Andrew Jackson won the popular vote during the election, neither Jackson nor Adams won a majority in the Electoral College, and in a vote the House of Representatives ultimately elected the Quincy. Henry Clay, as the Speaker of the House, campaigned hard for John Quincy Adams, but in return Adams appointed Clay to the position of Secretary of State. And it wasn't the last time Henry Clay would be a thorn in the side of Andrew Jackson. Four years later, Jackson and

John Quincy Adams were back at it again. The 1828 election cycle got ugly, with the supporters of both candidates launching smear campaigns against the other. The factions went back and forth, attacking both candidates and their personalities, public histories, and even their families. Andrew Jackson was particularly sensitive to the insults lobbed at his wife, Rachel, who was publicly accused of being an adulterer and bigamist after it became public knowledge that the couple had wed before the divorce with her previous husband had been finalized. Andrew Jackson finally won the election, receiving over 55% of the popular vote and 178 electoral votes. But the victory was clouded by the death of his beloved Rachel, who passed away before Jackson was inaugurated.

In his 1828 campaign, Andrew Jackson ran on a platform that championed strong populist ideals. He promoted a message that the opinions of the general public mattered far more than the opinions of government officials. far more than the opinions of government officials. This endeared him to the average American citizen, many of whom were excited about the idea of having a president who seemed so relatable. Notably, while giving his inaugural address, he chose to not wear a top hat, which was the popular dress code for wealthy gentlemen of that time. The absence of the hat at such a formal occasion made the people love him even more. His inauguration party in early 1829 saw the White House so flooded with guests who wanted to meet the new president that it turned into a mob riot. March 1829 letter to her friend, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, the Washington gossip column writer, we've talked about her in a previous episode, Margaret Bayard Smith, described in detail what she witnessed at the White House. She said, the president, after having been literally nearly pressed to death and

almost suffocated and torn to pieces by the people in their eagerness to shake hands with him, had retreated through the back way and had escaped to his lodgings at Gadsby's. Not only did Edward Jackson, who was overwhelmed by the mob, retreat, but he had to escape the White House by climbing out of a window. Okay, this cracks me up. Imagine literally any president in the modern era. Can you imagine Richard Nixon escaping out a White House window? Bill Clinton climbing out the White House window? It's nonsensical to think about today, but that's literally what happened. So Margaret described even further in her letter, she said, cut glass and china to the amounts of

several thousand dollars had been broken in the struggle to get the refreshments, punch, and other articles like ice creams and cake and lemonade for 20,000 people. Ladies fainted, men were seen with bloody noses, and such a scene of confusion took place that it is impossible to describe. Okay, so 20,000 people showed up for the party, and it ends with men in bloody noses, Andrew Jackson climbing out a window, women fainting, broken glass. I mean, it's mayhem. And so on day one of his presidency, Andrew faced a trashed White House. It just cracks me up. Like day one, trashed the White House. But you know what? It did not hurt him with the American people. He immediately convinced Congress to give him $50,000, which is about $1.6 million in today's money to repair and redecorate the White House to his liking.

It was Emily Donaldson, Andrew's niece, who stepped in as the White House hostess in the absence of a first lady. And it was one of her very first acts in the role when she oversaw this massive renovation process. The North Portico, the iconic four-pillar entrance that we think of when we picture the White House, was constructed during that renovation, and it still stands to this day. During his campaign, Andrew had secretly promised key positions to his political supporters. And although he ran on a message of ending corruption, political supporters. And although he ran on a message of ending corruption, he proved that he was not above stooping to it when it suited him. Early in his tenure as president, he cleaned house. He fired 919 government employees, a whopping 10% of all government employees at the time,

along with 423 postmasters. He called it a rotation of office, which is a phrase that is immediately unbelievable to anybody who is getting fired. His political opponents shot back that it wasn't a rotation of office, it was a spoils system in which Jackson instead installed his supporters in the majority of the newly vacated positions. Andrew Jackson spent most of his time in office blocking new bills rather than creating them. But one of his biggest acts is arguably the most shameful part of his legacy, the Indian Removal Act that led to the infamous Trail of Tears. and lots of laughs. Guess who's sitting next to me? Steve! It's Steve Carell in the studio!

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Well, we can't wait to see you there. Follow and listen to Office Ladies on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts. and wherever you get your podcasts. Andrew Jackson wanted to move all the Native American tribes in the Southern United States to new lands that he called Indian Territory, west of the Mississippi River. He justified the act by telling the people that he was concerned for the well-being

of the indigenous people who needed safe new areas to inhabit as American land expansion continued. In his first State of the Union address in 1829, Andrew Jackson presented the idea of a Native American relocation as helpful to their nations, arguing that removing them from assimilated land with white settlers would protect them from being wiped out. He speaks about extinguishing tribal titles to land within the federal union, saying, Thus will all conflicting claims to jurisdiction between the states and the Indian tribes be put to rest. It is pleasing to reflect that result so beneficial, not only to the states immediately concerned, but to the harmony of the Union, will have been accomplished by measures equally

advantageous to the Indians. Indigenous tribes knew better, though. As a leader from the Muscogee Creek Nation wrote to a sympathizer at the time, we are surrounded by white people and there are encroachments made. What assurances have we that similar ones will not be made on us should we remove to the Mississippi? Jackson's removal policy faced strong opposition with many white Americans, as well as representatives from Congress, who saw this act for what it actually was. Nothing but a forced removal of humans from land that belonged to them. But Andrew, believing that he was fighting for the people who had elected him president, campaigned relentlessly for the government to put into place a so-called Indian solution so that white Americans could expand their land openings in the South and grow the country's

economy. Moves by representatives to block Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act failed by only a handful of votes, and in 1830, the policy was signed into law, and the process of the Andean Removal Act began. Andrew Jackson wrote an open letter to the Indigenous people telling them, Brothers, you cannot remain where you are now. You have but one remedy within your reach, and that is to remove to the West. May the Great Spirit teach you how to choose. Willie Benson from the Muskogee Creek Nation wrote in his memoir about the execution of the act, the command of removal came unexpectedly upon most of us. There was a time that we noticed several overloaded wagons were passing our home that we did not grasp the meaning. And then one

day, wagons stopped. We were to be taken away and leave our homes, never to return. To enforce his new policy, Jackson negotiated 70 different treaties with the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, and Seminole nations by paying them to leave their historical lands for the new territory the United States government would provide for them. Red Cloud said of these negotiations, they made us many promises, more than I can remember. They only kept one. They promised to take our land, and they took it. Those who refused to leave had to follow state and federal laws and assimilate into European culture. Many of these tribes had already been attempting to do this in an effort to live more peacefully with the new settlers that had begun to make claims on their land.

But by the time the Indian Removal Act was passed, most had realized that land compromises were untenable. Settlers just settled wherever they wanted. Faced with an impossible decision, many Indigenous people chose to leave their homelands in the hope of preserving their families and cultural heritage on land in the West. The removal process was filled with eruptions of violence across the southeastern United States. Even the people who initially refused to leave their lands for the new territory were forcefully removed, usually by the military and with little to no supplies. And the journey that lay ahead for them was a hell on earth. Willie Benson wrote

about the Trail of Tears in his memoir, at first we had something to eat, but that gave out and we were starving. We came to a slippery elm tree and ate the bark of that. Lots took sick and died from that and more took sick and died from having to walk barefoot in the freezing cold. During the years-long relocation scheme, children were orphaned, whole communities wiped out, and Indigenous cultures were extinguished. I have been to the National Archives and seen the original Indian Removal Act in person. I was able to touch the document itself, which at the time laws were written by hand in beautiful calligraphy on huge pieces of paper. Think about the kind of pieces of paper that you might have on a large pad on an easel if you're going to do a presentation and you just sort of like flip it over. Paper that big is what laws were written on. And when we say paper, we don't mean like

cotton paper. They were actually written on very thin, fine pieces of animal skin, because it was much more durable. And then once the laws were completed and passed and signed by the president, then they were bound into these large books that are now kept in the National Archives. And I went to an event at the National Archives where the archivist pulled out the Indian Removal Act. And one of the things that struck me was Andrew Jackson's signature. When you compare his signature to the signature of other presidents of his era, or even some of his predecessors. You can see some of their personalities come through. George Washington has beautiful penmanship.

And Andrew Jackson writes almost like a scribble. It's almost impossible to read. And to me, that really reflected his personality, this sort of chaotic, hot-headed, temper-driven man who scribbled Andrew Jackson on the Indian Removal Act. Andrew Jackson ran for a second term as president in 1932 and won in a landslide victory. His National Republican Party opponent, Henry Clay, who over the course of Jackson's second term as president went on to help evolve the National Republican Party into the Whig Party, W-H-I-G. Ultimately, Clay ran for president three times and unsuccessfully sought the Whig Party nomination twice more. Clay was an incredibly influential man in 19th century American politics,

but he never made it to the seat of the presidency. Jackson, on the other hand, had one lofty goal for his second term. He was going to do something that had never been done and hasn't happened again since he left office. Andrew Jackson eliminated the national debt. Andrew Jackson had a pet peeve. Paper money. In July of 1832, Jackson vetoed the bill to recharter the Second Bank of the United States, which was at the time the nation's central bank and fiscal agent. The action made it easier for individual state banks to set their own interest rates and print

their own paper money. The value of that money often fluctuated at the drop of a dime. Literally, at the drop of a dime. Some of that paper money was almost completely worthless with very little regulation on the part of the government, and inflation skyrocketed. Jackson hated it. He felt cheating citizens. Real money, he believed, was silver and gold. So in 1836, he wrote an executive order called the Species Circular that required payment for federal land to be made in gold or silver. The American public called it his pet money. Andrew sold off all the federal land he could for gold. And then he paid off bonds with that gold. And he reduced the national debt down to zero where it stayed for just about two years. But while the debt disappeared, so did savings and bank reserves. The order shut down many banks' ability to give out loans, which in turn impacted the national infrastructure.

Everyone was struggling. The economy took a nosedive. We call it the Panic of 1837, and it became one of the worst recessions in U.S. history. Recovery from that took well over six years. history. Recovery from that took well over six years. So paying off the national debt ultimately did not result in a positive impact for the United States. Out of 850 banks in the late 1830s, over 340 of them closed permanently, and the United States had to briefly withdraw from the international money market. With his strong dislike of paper money, it is very ironic that Andrew Jackson is the face on the U.S. $20 bill. Andrew Jackson's likeness began to show up on American money in 1869. in 1869. His high collar and unkempt head of hair first appeared on the $5 bill, and then the $10 bill, and then the now discontinued $10,000 bill before landing on our $20 bill. But not for much longer. The faces on our money are chosen by a group effort of the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and even the U.S. Secret Service.

But the final say in the design selection on our currency is made by the Secretary of the United States Treasury. Secretary of the United States Treasury. In 2016, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced the approval of a proposal to replace President Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. It was a campaign that began with a letter from an 11-year-old girl to then-President Barack Obama in 2014, asking him why there were no women on U.S. currency. Andrew Jackson will be permanently removed from the $20 bill in 2030. It's no secret that most of Andrew Jackson's own personal wealth was made through the slave trade. By the time he returned to the Hermitage after serving two presidential terms, he enslaved around 150 people. Historians report that Jackson firmly believed in treating his enslaved laborers well, and he saw to it that they had comfortable housing, good food, and access to medical care for their families.

But in the end, no matter how well he treated them, it's a fact that Andrew Jackson enslaved people, and he considered them an investment in perpetuating the wealth of his plantation home. In fact, we have newspaper records of a time when one of Andrew Jackson's enslaved men ran away, and he placed a newspaper ad offering a reward for his capture. And then he offered an additional reward. He said, I will pay $10 extra for every 100 lashes that anyone will give him up to 300 lashes. So essentially saying, I'll pay $30 extra for his return if you will give him 300 lashes before you return him to me. Andrew Jackson was a pile of contradictions, a powerful man who possibly had an ability to see what was right, but whose temper, greed, eccentricities, and ambitions often

took him in the wrong direction. But I felt me to leave you with one good thing about the controversial and complicated legacy of Andrew Jackson. Consider this. In early 2014 2014 during the Obama administration, inspired by the 1837 shindig, the White House hosted their very own Big Block of Cheese Day. Sadly, there was no actual Big Block of Cheese, and the event was held virtually. But thousands of Americans had the opportunity to speak directly to White House staff, members of the president's cabinet, and members of Congress. It was inspired by Jackson's success with connecting his supporters with their elected officials, blurring the line that so often separates citizens from decision makers. The virtual Big Block of Cheese Day was a massive success and has since been held twice more with a push to make it an annual event, part of the yearly traditions at the White House. Thank you so much for being here today.

There are so many more stories I could share with you about the unbendable old Hickory Jackson. the unbendable old Hickory Jackson. We could talk about the parrot at his funeral that had to be removed because it kept squawking obscenities. We could talk about the time somebody tried to kill Andrew Jackson and instead he beat them with an umbrella. We could talk about the time that he fired his whole cabinet and replaced them with a kitchen cabinet. The list literally goes on indefinitely. We have just scratched the surface. And I've hinted more than once about a scandal that rocked the socks off of Washington, D.C. during Jackson's second term. So we'll talk about that over the next few episodes as we dive into our eighth president, Barton Van Buren, and his wife, Hannah. Hannah, like Rachel Jackson, left her husband a widow before his presidency.

I'll see you soon. Thank you so much for listening to Here's Where It Gets Interesting. If you enjoyed this episode, would you consider sharing it on social media or leaving us a rating or review on your favorite podcast platform? All those things help podcasters out so much. The show is written and researched by executive producer Heather Jackson, Valerie Hoback, and Sharon McMahon. Our audio engineer is Jenny Snyder, and it's hosted by me, Sharon McMahon. We'll see you again soon.