Gambling: How Andrew Jackson Became Famous
In the early years of nationhood, nobody did more to enhance the reputation of the region and its gambling than Andrew Jackson, the West's favorite son and most illustrious bettor.
Jackson was not the first president to gamble openly, but he wagered with an energy that contemporaries viewed not generally unfavorably, as representative of the frontier.
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, from settled tidewater Virginia, had been known to bet cards; they recorded their small winnings and losses on journals as if to caution themselves against excess.
Andrew Jackson, on the other hand, played deeply, emotionally, and aggressively.
Before he turned thirty, he had twice staked virtually all his possessions on gambling events, and in 1895, he killed a man, and nearly died himself, in a duel--- to settle an argument issuing from the terms of a bet on a horse race gambling was a crucial ingredient in the General's makeup, a focus for its competitiveness, vanity, sociability, and adventurousness.
Two biographies have likened Jackson to a 'fighting cock', finding in the man both the strength and weakness of that fierce animal.
Jackson began to gamble as a youth in the piedmont of Revolutionary Carolina when he participated in cockfighting and horse racing.
After the War for interdependence, the young man gambled away a small inheritance on horses and dice at Charleston, and as a law student in Salisbury, North Carolina, he gained recognition as 'the most roaring, rollicking, game-cocking, horse-racing, card-playing, mischievous fellow that ever lived.'
After the rising attorney migrated westward to Nashville, he continued to fight cocks for a time, and he once proposed a lottery for a local college, but he became particularly fond of horse racing, a sport that better suited his aspirations and his growing status in western Tennessee.
Between 1788 and 1816, Jackson not only raced, but also owned a share of a track and stable near Nashville, and perhaps another course in the vicinity of Natchez.
During this period, and later during his presidency, the topic of racing often permeated Jackson's correspondence.
Attention paid to the turf served as a kind of social cement within his circle of family and friends.
Jackson took the pastime of horse racing very seriously. He could not stand to lose a race, for he seemed to stake his pride and status on every event.
To Jackson, gambling signified living to the fullest the daring and enterprising life of the West.
Because each match was a matter of honor to this vain man, it is not entirely surprising that the duel with Charles Dickinson resulted from uncertainty about the terms of a wager on a race that was never run.
The showdown cost Jackson a good measure of popularity and good health, but did not cool his ardor for the turf.
Rather, his interest in the sport declined only later, after the War of 1812, when his new fame and success launched him into a life that allowed no time for the personal care he liked to give him to training and running his horses.