JACKSON

953

JACKSON

to his military fame by defeating the Seminole Indians of Florida in 1810. On the purchase of that territory from Spain he became its first governor.

The typical hero on horseback, he rode with a dash into the arena of national politics as United States senator from Tennessee. The next year he was an unsuccessful candidate foi president. Thomas Jefferson, the founder of the Democratic party, then within two years of his death, recognized the fiery westerner as the future leader. Jackson's election to the presidency in 1828 was of immense significance. It marked the apotheosis of the new west — vigorous straightforward, forceful, crude. His bold application of the spoils system alarmed the country as well it might, for it was productive of corruption in the public service for the next half century. But this is not all he stood for. He revived the tradition of Jeffersonian simplicity, but he repudiated the doctrine of state sovereignty. His personal force must have been great, indeed, for him to ride thus over a principle of his party that had become an article in the political creed of the south, his own section. South Carolina during his administration refused to obey a tariff law passed by Congress, but it submitted when Jackson issued a proclamation to the effect that all Federal laws would be enforced and could not be nullified by the states. Yet when, at a banquet, he proposed the toast: "The Federal Union; it must be preserved," his vice-president, John C. Calhoun, proposed another: "Liberty dearer than Union." The eight years of his administration were marked by relentless war on the United States Bank. Tyrannical to the last degree, Jackson broke up his cabinet to force the social recognition of a good woman of lowly birth.

His power survived all these shocks, and he retired from the presidency with increased popularity to become his party's dictator. He secured the succession to his favorite, Van Buren, and crushed the political aspirations of Calhoun. He had made of the Democratic party an organization that was to rule the country up to the Civil War.

A loyal friend, he believed Aaron Burr to be maligned and defended him successfully against the charge of treason; a bitter foe, he shot the man who slandered Mrs. Jackson, and he carried a loaded pistol for 30 years to defend her good name. On his plantation he was Sir Harry Hotspur turned patriarch. His great colonial mansion, The Hermitage, was always filled with guests. He adopted his wife's son by a former marriage, and cared for her numerous young relatives. He wore crape for his wife for 17 years, He died at The Hermitage, near Nashville, June 8, 1845, and was buried in the garden. The estate

is owned by Tennessee, and the mansion is preserved as a museum of Jackson relics. See Life by James Parton and by Major Eaton.

Jack'son, a city and the county-seat of Jackson County, central southern Michigan, lies on both sides of Grand River, which is here crossed by 17 bridges (five of iron) 76 miles west of Detroit and 37 south of Lansing, at the intersection of several railroads. It has a number of flour, paper and planing mills and foundries and machine shops; the Michigan Central locomotive-works, breweries and manufactures of automobiles, furniture, carriages, wagons, boilers and machinery, farming implements, corsets, underwear etc. There is a flourishing general trade. Within the city-limits and close by are several mines of bituminous coal. The city has handsome churches and public school buildings, Y. M. C. A building, a masonic temple and a Carnegie Library. Jackson was settled in 1830 and became a city in 1857. Population 3i>433

Jackson, capital of Mississippi and county-seat of Hinds County, stands on a plain on the right bank of Pearl River, which becomes navigable here. The city lies 45 miles east of Vicksburg and 180 miles north of New Orleans by rail. It is situated in a rich cotton-growing region, and, as the railway and geographical center of the state, it has an important and growing trade. Being the capital, it is the seat of several important state institutions and asylums, Millsap's College (M. E.) and the Bell Haven College for young women. The city is noted for its beautiful residence streets, with houses standing in the midst of gardens. The great industry of the surrounding region is cotton-growing, and in average years, from 30,000 to 40,000 bales are shipped from Jackson. Among its industrial establishments are cottonseed-oil mills, a cotton-compress, foundries and fertilizers, sash, door and blind factories. Population 21,262.

Jackson, county-seat of Madison Cou: ty, Tennessee, on the south fork of Forked Deer River, J07 miles by rail southeast of Cairo, 111. It is the seat of Southwestern Baptist University, of Memphis Co: fer-ence Institute (M. E.), St. Mary's Academy (R. C.) and Lane College for colored students. It has excellent public schools, a high school, a public library etc. Jackson is of importance as a cotton-market; and has placing and other mills and railway shops. Its factories produce engines, boilers, iron and steel bridge material and church and school furniture. Population 15,779.

Jackson, Helen Hunt (maiden name, Helen Maria Fiske), was boro aů Amherst, Mass., Oct. 18, 1831. She studied at Ipswich Female Seminary, and i'i 1^52 married Major E. B. Hunt (d. 1863) of the United States engineers. She afterward married