Existing comment:
A Hero in a Nation on the Move, 1815-1821:
Jackson's victory and the news of peace filled the citizens of the United States with great confidence in the future of their nation. European capital and goods flooded into the U.S., while textile mills in Europe and New England clamored for more cotton. The demand for cotton pushed settlers west into the fertile lands of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. At the same time, General Jackson moved to secure that land for settlement by intimidating southern Indian tribes into treaties giving up vast tracks of land and forcing them to move onto smaller reservations. Jackson's readiness to seize Florida convinced Spain to sell it to the U.S.. By 1819, Andrew Jackson and American forces had largely extinguished Creek and Seminole resistance to American expansion. The American presence in Florida and the Gulf Coast discouraged the ambitions of Spain and Great Britain in Florida. In 1821, the U.S. rewarded Jackson with the post of Florida's first territorial governor, but after six months, he resigned and retired to The Hermitage.
As Jackson's fame grew after the War of 1812, so too did his wealth. As one of two Major Generals in the U.S. Arm, Jackson had a good salary, but more importantly, the high price of cotton brought him increasing profits. From 1804 to 1823, Jackson's plantation grew from nine slaves and 425 acres to eighty slaves and more than 1,000 acres. The growth of slavery at The Hermitage was not unique; it was a story repeated over and over again in the South as the demand for cotton grew. In 1821, craftsmen finished a fine Federal-style brick home for Jackson and his family that better reflected his position than did the log farmhouse. Jackson built his newer slave quarters of brick also, possibly because as a national figure, Jackson felt compelled to make his plantation a model for others to follow. From 1804 to 1821, Andrew Jackson, his home, and his country had undergone dramatic change. Jackson, like so many Americans before and after him, got a second chance and he made the most of it. |