MARCH 15 — 1767 Happy Birthday Andrew Jackson; 1892 Jesse Reno patents escalator; 1999 Brides of March begin in San Francisco; 1978 Happy birthday Coney Island hot dog eating legend Takeuru Kobyashi
MARCH 15
1767 Happy Birthday Andrew Jackson; 1892 Jesse Reno patents escalator; BASKETBALL 2007 Virginia Commonwealth upsets Duke, 1967 Chamberlin gets two technical fouls and is ejected from game, 1991 Moses Malone gets 15,000th rebound, Golden State goes on OT losing streak
MARCH 15
Happy Birthday Old Hickory Andrew Jackson, #7.
Born in a log cabin on March 15, 1767 to Andrew and Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson,, his actual birthplace is disputed by historians. Both North and South Carolina have claimed him as a native son, as the line between the two states had not been entirely surveyed at that time. His father died before Andy was born, and his early education growing up was sporadic.
The Revolutionary War had spread to the Carolinas when he was 13, and his older brother was killed in the Battle of Stono Ferry. He and another brother named Robert was captured by Redcoat soldiers, and Andy was ordered to polish one of the soldiers boots. Barely a teenager, young Andrew refused, and as a result got gashed in the face with a sword. The Jackson boys caught a bad case of smallbox while imprisoned, then were released in a prisoner exchange. Robert never recovered from his sickness, and soon died. Shortly thereafter, when he was 14, his mom died from cholera, leaving him completely orphaned. So Andrew hadn’t liked the British since childhood. After the Revolution ended, Old Hickory Jackson began studying law and became a very prominent lawyer. At age 21, he moved west to present day Nashville, TN, set up his law practice, and met Rachel Donnelson Robards. Rachel was already married to a sailor who was never there for her, she got divorced and married Andy in 1797. Old Hickory Jackson was a brawler; once in a duel killed a man who insulted Rachel. That’s a whole ‘nother story.
Several years later, Andy’s practice had become lucrative enough for him and Rachel to build a giant mansion called the Hermitage. When I say they built the Hermitage, I mean he had slaves working on it from the start, and by the time Jackson died he had a total of around 150 African American slaves. By the time he was 30, Jackson became elected to the House of Representatives, then served briefly in the Senate. After the War of 1812 broke out, Old Hickory earned his nickname in battle, first soundly defeating the Creek Indians at the Battle of Tohapeka, or Horseshoe Bend in Alabama, in 1814.
Then Old Hickory Sharp Knife Jackson became a national hero after defeating the British at the Battle of New Orleans, though he was outnumber 2:1 by the British. It didn’t hurt the fact that legendary warriors Davy Crockett and Sam Houston served under him. Yet, The Old Hero Sharp Knife wasn’t done yet. He went into West Florida and overthrew Governor Jose Masot, which, another long story, led to the 1819 Adams-Onis Treaty, where Spain ceded Florida to the U.S., and The Old Hero Jackson would be its interim governor. From there began Andrew “The Mechanic Statesmen” Jackson’s very confusing journey to the White House. At first The Old Hero didn’t really want to be President, but admitted he would serve if the people wanted him.
And want him the people did; in 1824 The Mechanic Statesman Jackson smashed his opponents in the popular vote, but lost in the Electoral College after Speaker Henry Clay threw his support to John Quincy Adams. Jackson accepted his defeat, until Adams named Clay as secretary of state, leading to the Corrupt Bargain (which I go into on my December 1 episode). Old Hickory Mechanic Statesmen would run again in 1828, and this time around his critics called him a jackass, which would become the symbol of the Democratic Party as Jackson was honored to be nicknamed after a strong and stubborn donkey, another long story which I go into more detail on my January 15 episode. King mob Jackson easily defeated Adams in 1828. But the presidential campaign was brutal, and took it’s tool on Rachael, who grew sick and died just before Andy Jackson began his first term. During the inauguration he had a huge party at the White House that was so fun he was nicknamed King Mob Jackson. King Andrew the First was America’s first frontiersman president, and he changed policy for the betterment of the common man, attempting to remove the Spoils System by elitist and their government ties.
Old Hickory Jackson used his veto power more than all his predecessors combined. He started out by attempting to abolish the Electoral College. Two main events defined his presidency. The Bank War, where he privately regretted on his deathbed not shooting Henry Clay, and the nullification crisis, where he privately regretted on his deathbed not hanging John Calhoun. On my September 10th show, I get into more detail about the Bank War, but basically the Second Bank of the United States was up for recharter in 1832, which Jackson vetoed. It was a private corporation that was essentially a government-sponsored monopoly, and in the president’s opinion, was dangerous for America, calling it “the advancement of the few at the expense of the many.”
He also said to the bankers at a delegation in 1832, “You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and the eternal God, I will rout you out.” Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, who acted as attorneys on behalf of the banks, threw their support in Congress against Jackson, but Jackson hesitated not to use his pen. By the eternal! Old Hickory sharp knifed his way through the 1832 election, easily defeating Clay by nearly five times the electoral votes. Then came King Andrew the First’s next biggest adversary, his own vice president John Calhoun, who led forces to remove a high protective tariff in South Carolina.
The state of South Carolina declared federal tariffs from 1828 and 1832 unconstitutional, and thus “null and void,” and even threatened to secede from the United States. But Old Hickory would hear none of this, and enforced the tariff by all means necessary, sending in federal troops to South Carolina. But when Clay stepped in and lowered the tariffs, South Caroline backed down. Jackson once again emerged victorious, earning credit for preserving the Union.
Meanwhile, back at the White House, Jackson bought 20 spittoons for the East Room, each one costing $12. He was criticized for wasting government money on these spittoons, so he argued it saved money on White House carpets. He was the first president to ride on a train, raised 11 nieces and nephews, had running water and indoor bathrooms installed, and had a parrot named Poll, spelled POLL. I’m guessing it was a male. Incidentally, I don’t know when he showed up on the $20. Sharp Knife Jackson also enforced the embarrassing Trail of Tears, which kicked 15,000 Cherokee out of their ancestral homelands to the west of the Mississippi. An estimated 4,000 Native Americans perished on the trail. Interestingly enough, two of Jackson’s 11 children that he raised were Native American infants he found on the battlefields in the Creek War.
Andy Jackson also nominated Roger Taney to the Supreme Court. Taney would later rule that African Americans were not citizens in the Dred Scott decision and thus had no legal standings to file lawsuits. The first president to face attempted assassination, Jackson got his revenge on Richard Lawrence, who tried to shoot Jackson at close range while Jackson was attending a funeral. But Lawrence’s gun misfired.
He pulled out a second pistol, and it misfired. Jackson tackled Lawrence and beat him with his cane. Andrew Jackson, the first Democratic President from the former Democratic-Republican Party, faced opposition to a new party that named themselves after anti-monarchists in England, the Whig party. His faithful deputy and second vice president Martin Van Buren would take Jackson’s place as president upon finishing his second term. One of Jackson’s neices would go on to marry future president James Polk.
Old Hickory retired to the Hermitage, and died June 8, 1845, age 78, most likely from lead poisoning from the bullets that had been in his body since his early days of brawling and dueling. At his funeral, legend has it that his pet parrot Poll had to be removed from the ceremony because he was squawking curse words. “Heaven will be no heaven to me if I do not meet my wife there,”he said about Rachel upon nearing death. Andrew Jackson. Considered by most historians to be one of the most important, influential, controversial, and aggressive presidents in U.S. history. Did I mention he’s on the 20 spot? Oh, and the capital of Mississippi is named after him.
Happy birthday Andrew!
1999 – Brides of March begin in, where else, San Francisco.
Brought to us by the Cacophony Society, this annual bar-hopping sloshfest began as a springtime celebration, or in many cases, parody the wedding season. Brides of March have only two participation rules: have fun, and wear a wedding dress. The tackier the better. You might even see some aliens or zombies in wedding dresses.
Men and women welcome. If you have hairy arms and a moustache, as long as you’re sporting a wedding dress you’ll fit right in. . . . Which is one of the reason you will probably never see me at one of these events.
1:30
1892 – 1st escalator patented by Jesse Reno. Who says Americans are lazy. It was used at the Old Iron Pier at Coney Island.
BASKETBALL:
2007 – Virginia Commonwealth upsets Duke 79-77 in the NCAAAA terny. 1967 –Wilt Chamberloin gets two Technicals and is ejected from the game for the only time in his career. 1991 Moses Malone of Cleveland gets his `15,000th rebound. Golden State loses its 10th consecutive OT game on a streak which spanned two seasons; an NBA record.
1978 happy birthday Takeuru “The Tsunami” Kobayashi.
Great guy but you wouldn’t want to ask him to dinner because he would probably eat everything in sight. H
e loves hot dogs, hamburgers, you name it, and he’ll munch it down. If you catch him on YouTube you can enjoy watching him feast on 12 burgers in three minutes, a feat he pulled off in 2014 in Milan, Italy, as well as also being the record holder for six hot dogs in three minutes, on August 25, 2009, and an amazing 29 meatballs in one minute on in March of 2010.
He’s also a legend at Coney Island every 4th of July. What’s his secret? The Kobeyashi shake, where you wiggle your torso around while you’re eating to get the food digested quicker. How this man is only 128 pounds is beyond me. Happy birthday tsunami, and my man, thanks for grossing out pretty much all so us.