4 - The American Way: The Making of a Legend

•Read LoH page 125 through the very top of 128.
•Read the biography of Andrew Jackson's life, pre-Presidency, by Daniel Feller of UT (URL provided).
•Listen to the historical song "The Battle of New Orleans" by Johnny Horton (URL provided)
•Narrate this material about Andrew Jackson (Example: Andrew Jackson was born in 1767 in the Waxhaws region between the Carolinas. He was orphaned by age 14 during the American Revolution, studied law on the frontier, and built his reputation as a lawyer, judge, land speculator, and militia leader, building the Hermitage in Nashville, Tennessee. His victory at the Battle of New Orleans made him a national hero and eventually a presidential contender.)
•Discuss:
-What early hardships shaped his youth?
-How did he build a career after the Revolution?
-What made him a household name by 1815?
-What qualities of leadership or character stand out in his early life?
-How did Jackson’s frontier background influence his views of government and the people?
-In what ways did he embody the ideal of the “self-made man”?
-What virtues and vices are evident in his early actions — courage, loyalty, pride, anger, justice?
-How might Jackson’s experiences with loss and violence have prepared him — or distorted him — as a national leader?
•Wrap-Up: The classical virtue of fortitude means courage in the face of suffering — yet without rashness or pride. Jackson possessed the first in abundance but often lacked the second.