July 4th Special: Andrew Jackson Part 4

This post is a tad late, but I'm simply going to skip any excuses and get right to the point of this post: the conclusion of the action-packed life of Andrew Jackson.

________

Andrew Jackson was one of the first presidents upon whom an assassination attempt was made, possibly the first to have survived two of them during his administration. The first attempt on his life was made in 1833, and another in 1835. In the latter event, Jackson (and his assassin) was (were) lucky to have made it out alive.

In 1835, Jackson was walking with his aides, when the crazed Richard Lawrence came up to him with two pistols, and attempted to shoot the president. When the first gun didn't work, he tried the second, and, fortunately for Jackson, both weapons were jammed. Obviously irked that someone would attempt to kill him (unarmed, at that), Jackson went forward and repeatedly beat Lawrence with his cane; his aides had to pull him off his own attacker.

His eventual death in 1845 was far less exciting, but still a bit interesting (and by interesting, I mean somewhat gross, so you may want to skip this paragraph if such things perturb you). Andrew Jackson got the nickname "Old Hickory" because he was also tough physically: in the various duels and wars he had been in, he sustained a number of bullet wounds; a few bullets were never even removed. Because of a particular injury, he often coughed up blood. The extent of his injuries are likely to have caused a death by lead poisoning, though that is debatable. What is known is that he most likely died of heart failure, and that the days leading up to his demise certainly weren't pretty: he also suffered from dropsy. Dropsy, or edema, is essentially a build-up of fluid in the body. For Jackson, the swelling started in his legs, and worked its way up to his face.

________

And now for a final fun fact about the nation's seventh president: During his administration, Jackson received a 1,400-pound wheel of cheese from northern dairy farmers. This hunk of acidified milk was about four feet in diameter, and two feet high -- about the size of a small kiddie pool. So, Jackson did what any American would do, and had a big cheese party -- a public cheese party. This event was as big as his Inaugural Ball (possibly without the shattered dishes, though), and the cheese was consumed within two hours.

________

I hope you enjoyed the July 4th Special on Andrew Jackson. If you have any questions/comments/concerns, feel free to comment this post, or e-mail me at metal_enthalpy@yahoo.com. Don't forget: you can also send me your own mugshots to me, at the same e-mail address.
________
Sources:
Wikipedia - Andrew Jackson
Wikipedia - Edema
Doctor Zebra - President Andrew Jackson
A fact book on presidents, of which I unfortunately forgot the title