Andrew Jackson Quotes & Sayings

To extraordinary powers of labor, both mental and physical, he unites that tact and judgement which are requisite to the successful direction of such an office as that of Chief Magistrate of a free people. — Andrew Jackson

If a warden sees cigarette litter being thrown from a car, they will take the number and trace the owner to send them a fine. — Andrew Jackson

I have never in my life seen a Kentuckian who didn't have a gun, a pack of cards, and a jug of whiskey. — Andrew Jackson

What good man would prefer a country covered with forests and ranged by a few thousand savages to our extensive Republic, studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms, embellished with all the improvements which art can devise or industry execute. — Andrew Jackson

The planter, the farmer, the mechanic, and the laborer ... form the great body of the people of the United States, they are the bone and sinew of the country men who love liberty and desire nothing but equal rights and equal laws. — Andrew Jackson

The President is the direct representative of the American people and is elected by the people and responsible to them. — Andrew Jackson

Disunion by force is treason. — Andrew Jackson

The bank, Mr. Van Buren, is trying to kill me, but I will kill it. — Andrew Jackson

I say to you never involve yourself in debt, and become no man's surety. — Andrew Jackson

Being satisfied, from observation and experience, as well as from medical testimony, that ardent spirit as a drink is not only needless but hurtful; and that the entire disuse of it would tend to promote the health, the virtue, and the happiness of the community, we hereby express our convention that should the citizens of the United States, and especially ALL YOUNG MEN, discontinue entirely the use of it, they would not only promote their own personal benefit, but the good of our country and the world. — Andrew Jackson

Perpetuity is stamped upon the Constitution by the blood of our fathers. — Andrew Jackson

When the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in. — Andrew Jackson

I consider, then, the power to annul a law of the United States, assumed by one state, incompatible with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed. — Andrew Jackson

The Constitution and the laws are supreme and the Union indissoluble. — Andrew Jackson

The wisdom of man never yet contrived a system of taxation that would operate with perfect equality. — Andrew Jackson

But as a war time president James Madison did not display dynamic leadership. Andrew Jackson acknowledged Madison " a great civilian," but declared " the mind of a philosopher could not dwell on blood and carnage with any composure," and judged his talents " not fitted for a stormy sea. — Andrew Jackson

This spirit of mob-law is becoming as great an evil as a servile war. — Andrew Jackson

Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error. — Andrew Jackson

All who wish to hand down to their children that happy republican system bequeathed to them by their revolutionary fathers, must now take their stand against this consolidating, corrupting money power, and put it down, or their children will become hewers of wood and drawers of water to this aristocratic ragocracy. — Andrew Jackson

All the rights secured to the citizens under the Constitution are worth nothing, and a mere bubble, except guaranteed to them by an independent and virtuous Judiciary. — Andrew Jackson

In this point of the case the question is distinctly presented whether the people of the United States are to govern through representatives chosen by their unbiased suffrages or whether the money and power of a great corporation are to be secretly exerted to influence their judgment and control their decisions. — Andrew Jackson

I have always been afraid of banks. — Andrew Jackson

As long as our government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of persons and of property, liberty of conscience and of the press, it will be worth defending. — Andrew Jackson

Free from public debt, at peace with all the world, and with no complicated interests to consult in our intercourse with foreign powers, the present may be hailed as the epoch in our history the most favorable for the settlement of those principles in our domestic policy which shall be best calculated to give stability to our Republic and secure the blessings of freedom to our citizens. — Andrew Jackson

Temporize not! It is always injurious. — Andrew Jackson

When death comes, he respects neither age nor merit. He sweeps from the earthly existence the sick and the strong, the rich and the poor, and should teach us to live to be prepared for death. — Andrew Jackson

One man with courage makes a majority. — Andrew Jackson

In a free government the demand for moral qualities should be made superior to that of talents. — Andrew Jackson

Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth can not be produced by human institutions. — Andrew Jackson

The safety of the republic being the supreme law, and Texas having offered us the key to the safety of our country from all foreign intrigues and diplomacy, I say accept the key ... and bolt the door at once. — Andrew Jackson

There is nothing that I shudder at more than the idea of a separation of the Union. Should such an event ever happen, which I fervently pray God to avert, from that date I view our liberty gone. — Andrew Jackson

There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and not doing it. — Andrew Jackson

It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes. Distinctions in society will always exist under every just government. Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth cannot be produced by human institutions. In the full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior industry, economy, and virtue, every man is equally entitled to protection by law; but when the laws undertake to add to these natural and just advantages artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society - the farmers, mechanics, and laborers - who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their Government. — Andrew Jackson

I do not promise to believe tomorrow exactly what I believe today, and I do not believe today exactly what I believed yesterday. I expect to make, as I have made, some honest progress within every succeeding twenty-four hours. — Andrew Jackson

Every good citizen makes his country's honor his own, and cherishes it not only as precious but as sacred. He is willing to risk his life in its defense and its conscious that he gains protection while he gives it. — Andrew Jackson

The duty of government is to leave commerce to its own capital and credit as well as all other branches of business, protecting all in their legal pursuits, granting exclusive privileges to none. — Andrew Jackson

Give me a thousand Tennesseans, and I'll whip any other thousand men on the globe! — Andrew Jackson

Freemasonry is an establishment founded on the benevolent intention of extending and conferring mutual happiness upon the best and truest principles of moral life and social virtue. — Andrew Jackson

Do they think that I am such a damned fool as to think myself fit for President of the United States? No, sir; I know what I am fit for. I can command a body of men in a rough way, but I am not fit to be President. — Andrew Jackson

It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe toward the Indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to give that humane and considerate attention to their rights and their wants which is consistent with the habits of our Government and the feelings of our people. — Andrew Jackson

It's a darn poor mind that can only think of one way to spell a word. — Andrew Jackson

The bold effort the present (central) bank had made to control the government ... are but premonitions of the fate that await the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another like it. — Andrew Jackson

Too much praise cannot be bestowed on those who managed my artillery. — Andrew Jackson

The brave man inattentive to his duty, is worth little more to his country than the coward who deserts in the hour of danger. — Andrew Jackson

I trust in due time to lay the perfidy, meanness, and wickedness of [Henry] Clay naked before the American people. I have lately got an intimation of some of his secret movements, which, if I can reach with positive and responsible proof, I will wield to his political, and perhaps his actual, destruction. — Andrew Jackson

Peace, above all things, is to be desired, but blood must sometimes be spilled to obtain it on equable and lasting terms. — Andrew Jackson

No free government can stand without virtue in the people, and a lofty spirit of partiotism. — Andrew Jackson

Nullification means insurrection and war; and the other states have a right to put it down. — Andrew Jackson

Every diminution of the public burdens arising from taxation gives to individual enterprise increased power and furnishes to all the members of our happy confederacy new motives for patriotic affection and support. — Andrew Jackson

There never was a woman like her. She was gentle as a dove and brave as a lioness ... The memory of my mother and her teachings were, after all, the only capital I had to start life with, and on that capital I have made my way. — Andrew Jackson

The individual who refuses to defend his rights when called by his government deserves to be a slave, and must be punished as an enemy of his country and a friend to her foe — Andrew Jackson

In England the judges should have independence to protect the people against the crown. Here the judges should not be independent of the people, but be appointed for not more than seven years. The people would always re-elect the good judges. — Andrew Jackson

His [the President's] earnest desire is, that you may perpetuated and preserved as a nation; and this he believes can only be doneand secured by your consent to remove to a country beyond the Mississippi ... Where you are, it is not possible you can live contented and happy. — Andrew Jackson

Freemasonry is a moral order, instituted by virtuous men, with the praiseworthy design of recalling to our remembrance the most sublime truths, in the midst of the most innocent and social pleasures, founded on liberality, brotherly love and charity. — Andrew Jackson

I feel in the depths of my soul that it is the highest, most sacred, and most irreversible part of my obligation to preserve the union of these states, although it may cost me my life. — Andrew Jackson

I find virtue to be found amongst the farmers of the country alone, not about courts, where courtiers dwell. — Andrew Jackson

Toward the aborigines of the country no one can indulge a more friendly feeling than myself, or would go further in attempting to reclaim them from their wandering habits and make them a happy, prosperous people. — Andrew Jackson

There are only two things I can't give up; one is coffee and the other is tobacco. — Andrew Jackson

There goes a man made by the Lord Almighty and not by his tailor. — Andrew Jackson

It is a damn poor mind indeed which can't think of at least two ways to spell any word. — Andrew Jackson

Desperate courage makes One a majority. — Andrew Jackson

Gentlemen! I too have been a close observer of the doings of the Bank of the United States. I have had men watching you for a long time, and am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I have determined to rout you out, and by the Eternal, (bringing his fist down on the table) I will rout you out! — Andrew Jackson

It is an infirmity of our nature to mingle our interests and prejudices with the operation of our reasoning powers, and attribute to the objects of our likes and dislikes qualities they do not possess and effects they can not produce. — Andrew Jackson

Men do not get up and do mischief, without there is someone in the head of it. — Andrew Jackson

Being the dependents of the general government, and looking to its treasury as the source of all their emoluments, the state officers, under whatever names they might pass and by whatever forms their duties might be prescribed, would in effect be the mere stipendiaries and instruments of the central power. — Andrew Jackson

The mischief springs from the power which the monied interest derives from a paper currency which they are able to control, from the multitude of corporations with exclusive privileges which they have succeeded in obtaining ... and unless you become more watchful in your states and check this spirit of monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges you will in the end find that the most important powers of government have been given or bartered away ... . — Andrew Jackson

To the victors belong the spoils. — Andrew Jackson

I am now eased in my finances and replenished in my wardrobe. — Andrew Jackson

Their object is disunion. — Andrew Jackson

If congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given them to use themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations. — Andrew Jackson

Marshall made his decision, now let him enforce it. — Andrew Jackson

From his proceedings in Congress, he appears demented, and his actings and doings inspire my pity more than anger. — Andrew Jackson

If they [Mexicans] touch the hair of the head of one of our citizens, tell him [Commodore Dallas] to batter down and destroy their town and exterminate the inhabitants from the face of the earth! — Andrew Jackson

Americans are not a perfect people, but we are called to a perfect mission. — Andrew Jackson

It is a damn poor mind that can think of only one way to spell a word. — Andrew Jackson

My political enemies I can freely forgive; but as for who abused me when I was serving my country in the field, and those who attacked me for serving my country
Doctor, that is a different case. — Andrew Jackson

This season has been full of rewards. The dinners and banquets just keep on coming. It's great. We want to carry it on as long as we can. — Andrew Jackson

From the earliest ages of history to the present day there have never been thirteen millions of people associated in one political body who enjoyed so much freedom and happiness as the people of these United States. You have no longer any cause to fear dangers from abroad ... It is from within, among yourselves - from cupidity, from corruption, from disappointed ambition and inordinate thirst for power - that factions will be formed and liberty endangered ... — Andrew Jackson

I am one of those who do not believe that a national debt is a national blessing, but rather a curse to a republic; inasmuch as it is calculated to raise around the administration a moneyed aristocracy dangerous to the liberties of the country. — Andrew Jackson

The Bible is the rock on which this Republic rests. — Andrew Jackson

You are a den of vipers. I intend to rout you out and by the Eternal God I will rout you out. If the people only understood the rank injustice of our money and banking system, there would be a revolution before morning. — Andrew Jackson

Never for a moment believe that the great body of the citizens of any State or States can deliberately intend to do wrong. They may, under the influence of temporary excitement or misguided opinions, commit mistakes; they may be misled for a time by the suggestions of self-interest; but in a community so enlightened and patriotic as the people of the United States argument will soon make them sensible of their errors, and when convinced they will be ready to repair them. — Andrew Jackson

When you get in debt you become a slave. — Andrew Jackson

Without union our independence and liberty would never have been achieved; without union they can never be maintained. Divided into twenty-four, or even a smaller number, of separate communities, we shall see our internal trade burdened with numberless restraints and exactions; communications between distant points and sections obstructed or cut off; our sons made soldiers to deluge with blood the fields they now till in peace ... The loss of liberty, of all good government, of peace, plenty, and happiness, must inevitably follow a dissolution of the Union. — Andrew Jackson

After a harassing warfare, prolonged by the nature of the country and by the difficulty of procuring subsistence, the Indians were entirely defeated, and the disaffected band dispersed or destroyed. The result has been creditable to the troops engaged in the service. Severe as is the lesson to the Indians, it was rendered necessary by their unprovoked aggressions, and it is to be hoped that its impression will be permanent and salutary. — Andrew Jackson

Although I could lament in the language and feelings of David for Absalom, I am constrained to say, peace to his manes. Let us weep for the living, and not for the dead. — Andrew Jackson

Thomas Paine needs no monument made with hands; he has erected a monument in the hearts of all lovers of liberty. — Andrew Jackson

You must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing. — Andrew Jackson

Secession, like any other REVOLUTIONARY ACT, may be morally justified by the extremity of oppression; but to call it a constitutional right is confounding the meaning of terms ... — Andrew Jackson

You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will rout you out. — Andrew Jackson

The hydra of corruption is only scotched, not dead. An investigation kills and it and its supporters dead. Let this be had. — Andrew Jackson

If in madness of delusion, anyone shall lift his parricidal hand against this blessed union, the arms of thousands will be raised to save it, and the curse of millions will fall upon the head which may have plotted its destruction. — Andrew Jackson

Trusting as we did to the virtue of the people, the real people, not the politicians and demagogues, we passed through the most responsible and trying scenes, sustained by the bone and sinew of the nation, the laborers of the land, where alone, in these days of Bank rule, and ragocrat corruption, real virtue and love of liberty is to be found. — Andrew Jackson

Live within your means, never be in debt, and by husbanding your money you can always lay it out well. — Andrew Jackson

I am fearful that the paper system will ruin the state. Its demoralizing effects are already seen and spoken of everywhere. I therefore protest against receiving any of that trash. — Andrew Jackson

Elevate those guns a little lower. — Andrew Jackson

The authority of the Supreme Court must not be permitted to control the Congress or the Executive when acting in their legislative capacities, but to have only such influence as the force of their reasoning may deserve. — Andrew Jackson

People are my religion/Because I believe in them. — Andrew Jackson

Freemasonry is an ancient and respectable institution, embracing individuals of every nation, of every religion, and of every condition in life. Wealth, power and talents are not necessary to the person of a Freemason. An unblemished character and a virtuous conduct are the only qualifications for admission into the Order. — Andrew Jackson

Were all the worshippers of the gold calf to memorialize me and request a restoration of the deposits I would cut my right hand from my body before I would do such an act. The gold calf may be worshipped by others but as for myself I serve the Lord. — Andrew Jackson