I wanted to celebrate today’s Presidents’ Day by examining a list of alleged Andrew Jackson quotes recently posted by Mental Floss. Some of the quotes are accurate, but several are apocryphal. Not surprisingly, a couple of them come from our old friend and noted purveyor of historical lies Augustus C. Buell.
- “The bank, Mr. Van Buren, is trying to kill me. But I will kill it.” Martin Van Buren, Autobiography, 625.
- “I have been afraid of banks.” Memorandum, n.d. [Oct. 1829-Jan. 1830], in Reginald McGrane, ed., Correspondence of Nicholas Biddle, 93.
- “If he had shot me through the brain, sir, I should still have killed him.” Henry Lee, A Biography of Andrew Jackson, ed. Mark A. Mastromarino, 21.
- “Do they think that I am such a d[amne]d fool as to think myself fit for President of the United States? No, sir; I know what I am fit for. I can command a body of men in a rough way; but I am not fit to be President.” H.M. Brackenridge to unknown, n.d., in Parton, Life of Andrew Jackson, 2:354.
- “I was born for a storm, and a calm does not suit me.” James A. Hamilton to Martin Van Buren, 23 February 1829.
- “I try to live my life as if death might come for me at any moment.” Cited by several popular books, but no original source I’ve found.
- “It’s a damn poor mind that can think of only one way to spell a word.” Frequently cited, but no original source I’ve found.
- “[That] I didn’t shoot Henry Clay and I didn’t hang John C. Calhoun.” Buell, History of Andrew Jackson, 2:363. See also J.L. Bell’s analysis of the quote.
- “John Calhoun, if you secede from my nation, I will secede your head from the rest of your body.” No original source I’ve found.
- “It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes.” Jackson’s Bank veto message, 10 July 1832.
- “The wisdom of man never yet contrived a system of taxation that would operate with perfect equality.” Jackson’s Nullification Proclamation, 10 December 1832.
- “I never in my life seen a Kentuckian who didn’t have a gun, a pack of cards, and a jug of whiskey.” Buell, History of Andrew Jackson, 1:423.
Jacksonian America: Society, Personality, and Politics 