was left for him a peaceful old age, and a calm and happy
deathbed. Neighbors, political associates, old comrades, famous
foreigners, visited The Hermitage to see the man who had played so great
a part in history. Like Jefferson at Monticello, he guided with his
counsel the party he had led. The long struggle over slavery was now
begun, and soon the annexation of Texas took the first place among
public questions. The old man had encouraged Houston to go to Texas, and
had done all he could, and more than any other President would have
dared, to forward the movement for independence. Now that Texas was
ready to come into the Union, he heartily favored annexation. In 1844,
Clay and Polk were candidates for the presidency, and Jackson's
influence, still a power, was freely exerted for Polk and annexation. It
was as if Clay, now an old man also, were once more about to lift the
cup to his lips, and the relentless hand of Andrew Jackson dashed it to
the ground.

Yet Andrew Jackson declared before he died that he forgave all his
enemies. He had promised his wife, whose picture he wore in a great
locket next his heart, whose Bible he read every day at the White House,
that when he should be free of politics he would join himself to the
church; if, he said, he made a profession while he was still before the
people, his enemies would accuse him of hypocrisy. He kept his word.
Trembling and weeping, he stood before the altar in the tiny church he
had built for her and took the vows of a Christian. It had been hard for
him to say that he forgave his enemies; hardest of all, to say that he
forgave those who had attacked him while he was serving his country in
the field. But after a long pause he told the minister he thought he
could forgive even them.

June 8, 1845, in his seventy-ninth year, he died. His last words to
those about him bade them meet him in heaven.

* * * * *

What is the rightful place in history of the fiery horseman in front of
the White House? The reader must answer for himself when he has studied
for himself all the great questions Jackson dealt with. Such a study
will surely show that he made many mistakes, did much injustice to men,
espoused many causes without waiting to hear the other side, was often
bitter, violent, even cruel. It will show how ignorant he was on many
subjects, how prejudiced on others. It will show him in contact with men
who surpassed him in wisdom, in k