Jon Meacham , who was born in Chattanooga and graduated from the University of the South, is clearly an admirer of fellow Tennessean Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United States and the first to come from the frontier. American Lion:Andrew Jackson in the White House , Meacham’s 2009 biography of Jackson, is not biased, however, and clearly presents both the virtues and vices of the man who considered himself “the people’s President.” Americans in the early 18 th century were looking for heroes and they found one in the orphaned boy who rose to prominence and influence as a military leader and planter. Meacham’s theme is that this orphan who never knew his own father and lost his mother at an early age saw himself as a father to the American people. With no children of his own, he had become a father by adoption to several young people and fulfilled that role to a number of his wife Rachel’s nieces and nephews. When he became President, he sa...
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