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Show lG LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. CHAP. young, no person was more distinguished than Andrew I. Jackson, in defending the country against these preda- ~tory incursions of the savages, who continually harassed the frontiers, and not unfrequently approached the heart of the settlements, which were tl1in, but not widely extended. He aided alike in garrisoning the forts, and in pursuing and chastising the enemy. In t11e year 1796, having, by his patriotism, firmness, and talents, secured to himself a distinguished standing with all classes, he was chosen one of the members of tl1e convention, for establishing a constitution for the state. His good conduct and zeal for the public interest, on this occasion, brought him more conspicuously to view ; and, without proposing or soliciting, he was, in the same year, elected a member of the house of representatives, in congress, for the stat~ of Tennessee. The following year, his reputation continuing to increase, and every bosom feeling a wish to raise him to still higher honours, he was chosen a member of the United States' senate. The state of Tennessee, on its admission into the Union, comprising but one military division, and general Conway, who commanded it, as major general, dying about this time, Jackson, without being consulted on the subject, and without the least intimation of what was in agitation, was chosen, by the field officers, to succeed him ; which appointment he continuecl to hold, until May, 1814, when he was constituted a major general in the United States' service. . Growing tired of political life, for the intrigues of which he found himself unqualifted, and having for two ye:u·s voted in the minority in congress, he rc- LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. IT signed his seat in the senate, in 1799. To thi.s mea- CHAP. sure he was strongly urged, by a wish to make way 1· . for general Smith, who, he conjectured, wou,ld, in that~ capacity, be able to render more important services to the. government than himself. His country, unwilling that his talents should remain inactive a:hd unemployed, again demanded his services. Immediately after his resignation, he was appointed one of the judges of the supreme court of the state. Sensibly alive to the diffi-cult duties of this station, and impressed with the great injury he might do to suitors, by erroneous decisions, he advanced to the office with reluctance and in a short time resigned it ; leaving it open fo; those, who, he believed, were better qualified than himself, to discharge its intricate and important duties. Determined now to spend his life in tranquillity and retirement, he settled himself on an elegant farm, ten miles from Nashville, on the Cumberland river; where, for sever-al years, he enjoyed all the comfmts of do-mestic and social intercourse. Abstracted from the busy scenes of public life, surrounded by friends whom he loved, and who entertained for him the highest veneration and respect, and blessed with an amiable and affectionate consort, nothing seemed wanting to the completion of that happiness he so anxiously desired whilst in office. But a period approached, when all these endearments were again to be abandoned, for tl1e duties of more active life. Great Britain, by multiplied out-rages on our rights, as an independent and neutral na-tion, had provoked from our government a declaration of war against her. This measure, though founded in abundant cause, had been long forborne, and ewry at- .'f.. · |
