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Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by
JOHN FROST,

In the office of the Clerk of the District Court of the United States, in and
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

STEREOTYPED BY E. B. MEARS, PHILADELPHIA.

PRINTED BY CASE, TIFFANY AND CO., HARTFORD.

PREFACE.

A LIFE of GENERAL JACKSON, written so soon after his decease as the present, may be thought premature. Perhaps in some respects it is so. There are many points in which posterity alone will be able to appreciate his merits, and do justice to his claims. But with respect to the great elements of his character, and the leading actions of his life, all parties seem now to be agreed. The number of those who will deny his ability as a soldier, or his purity, disinterestedness, and instinctive foresight as a statesman, is comparatively small. Many of those able and distinguished men who deemed it their duty to oppose his leading political measures, always regarded him, while living, with respect, and still cherish his memory with reverence. It may therefore be confidently hoped that an attempt to give an impartial biography of him may be received with candour by the great mass of his countrymen.

In the present attempt, the writer has dwelt chiefly on that part of General Jackson's life respecting

which there is no controversy, viz: his brilliant military career. In the narrative of his political life, little more has been attempted than a succinct statement of facts. Later biographers will be enabled to do him ampler justice, by tracing the beneficial effects of his political measures into remoter times.

For the events of the Creek war, and the defence of New Orleans, the writer is chiefly indebted to the copious and able biography of General Jackson written by his friend Major Eaton, whose access to the best means of information is undoubted. The other authorities are cited in the work. The pictorial embellishments of the book are chiefly from the prolific pencil of Mr. Croome, whose merits are well known to the public.

The author has found his esteem and reverence for the character of Gencral Jackson to be constantly increasing, with the extent of the researches which this work has required him to make; and he believes, that popular as the subject of this memoir always has been, his favour with the American people is destined still to increase, so long as the Republic shall continue to exist.

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