Andrew Jackson, Southerner

IV: “As Members of Civilized Society”

29 IV “As Members of Civilized Society” Jackson’s family connections, his business enterprises, and his contributions to the defense of Nashville were important in helping him cultivate ties to leading politicians. He had begun this process of social networking before moving to Tennessee, but new surroundings required new relationships . The most significant bond that he made in Tennessee was with William Blount. The former North Carolina delegate to the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention and state legislator was also a land speculator and intriguer, conspiring with other prominent North Carolina leaders to explore uniting the western region of Tennessee with Spain. Blount’s objective was to force North Carolina’s cession of its western lands to Congress, allowing Tennessee to apply for statehood.1 Territorial status for Tennessee came first. In December 1789 North Carolina passed a cession act, which Congress ratified the following April. In May Congress enacted legislation forming the Southwest Territory , which included Tennessee. Blount was appointed territorial governor and, in turn, placed associates in influential positions. Jackson’s friends benefited from this patronage. Donelson relative Daniel Smith was the territory’s secretary and land surveyor. Archibald Roane, who may have been part of the Jackson party that traveled from North Carolina to Jonesborough in 1788, was attorney general of the Washington District in East Tennessee, and David Allison was Blount’s business manager. John McNairy’s appointment as superior court judge in the Mero District also brought Jackson to Middle Tennessee as prosecuting attorney.2 With Blount exercising unquestioned control of the Southwest Territory , Jackson knew that cultivating a friendship with the governor was indispensable to his ambitions. Upon becoming acquainted with Jackson, Blount immediately recognized him as a man who could help maintain stability on the Tennessee frontier. In February 1791 Blount appointed him attorney general of the Mero District; nineteen months later he made Jack- 30 | Andrew Jackson, Southerner son judge advocate for the Davidson County militia, a commission that was significant to the future success of Jackson’s military career. Along with kinship networks the militia was one of the most important social institutions on the frontier. Officers received land grants as part of their first year’s pay, which fit Jackson’s speculative interests. The near universal requirement of service for Tennessee males was also crucial to linking him more closely to many men who could further his ambitions. Militias created social networks that bound elites to one another and enabled them to exert control over militia members who were eligible to vote. They also produced bonds of camaraderie, as Jackson had witnessed during his time as a courier during the Revolution.3 Jackson made other moves to strengthen his gentry membership as well. In 1791 he was elected a trustee of Davidson Academy, Middle Tennessee ’s first school. This position enabled him to mingle and make connections with the prominent members of the Nashville community, such as Thomas Craighead, the founder and president of the institution. Jackson also joined the Masonic order, although exactly when is unknown. He may have become a Mason before leaving North Carolina, but more likely it was after his move to Nashville. By the late 1790s he was a member of first Masonic lodge in Nashville. William R. Davie, the military commander whom Jackson had admired during the Revolution, was the lodge’s grand master. Many of Jackson’s closest friends in North Carolina , including Charles Bruce, Tom Henderson, and Bennett and Robert Searcy, and at least two of his earliest Tennessee colleagues, Robert Hays and John Overton, were Masons. The tight-knit Masonic brotherhood appealed not only to Jackson’s desire to advance his career but also to his need for familial and fraternal support. It offered stability in “a society that was experiencing greater mobility.” Lastly, it marked Jackson as a man of enlightenment as well as a man of republican character. “Post-revolutionary Masons saw their fraternity as profoundly connected to the utopian dreams of the revolution, as a peculiarly republican organization,” according to Steven Bullock, the foremost historian of the fraternal organization. “Freemasonry, they argued, would exemplify, teach, and spread these ideals , with Masons serving as priests, teachers, and missionaries of liberty, virtue, and true religion.”4 The ideals that Freemasons were supposed to “exemplify, teach, and “As Members of Civilized Society” | 31 spread” fit neatly within the political ideology termed “classical republicanism...