80 Administrative Facts About US Presidents For History Buffs – Part 2

Junaluska, a Cherokee leader who saved Andrew Jackson's life. Jackson later sent the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears from NC to OK, which killed up to 1/3 of them en route. Junaluska survived, escaped twice, walked hundreds of mountainous miles home, and lived well into old age as a Chief.

2. After a tornado in 1998, 1000+ trees were toppled at The Hermitage, a plantation built by President Andrew Jackson. Using wood from the fallen trees, the Gibson Guitar Corporation produced 200 limited edition "Old Hickory" guitars.

3. Andrew Jackson's pet parrot was thrown out of Jackson's funeral for cursing too much.

4. 1835 was the only time in U.S. history when the country was debt free when Andrew Jackson paid off what he called "The National Curse". It lasted exactly one year.

5. President Andrew Jackson once had a block of cheddar cheese delivered to the white house that was four feet in diameter and two feet thick, weighed nearly 1400 pounds. He invited 10,000 visitors to the White House to eat it and it was gone within two hours.

Andrew Jackson carried a locket with a picture of his deceased wife, Rachel Jackson, and propped it up in front of his bed every night so that she would be the last thing he saw when falling asleep and the first thing when he woke up.

7. When President Andrew Jackson was in school, he organized a dance in which he invited 2 of the town prostitutes in order to make all the proper attendees feel uncomfortable.

8. US President Andrew Jackson, who now appears on the $20 bill, thought that paper money was inherently evil.

9. The reasons that a donkey represents Democrats is that Andrew Jackson's opponents called him a jackass, so he embraced it and used the strong-willed animal on his campaign posters.

10. The inauguration of US President Andrew Jackson was an open party at the white house. The public got drunk and trashed the place, and could only be removed by tempting them out with bowls of punch on the lawn outside.

Andrew Jackson participated in the American Revolution informally at age 13 as a courier, survived being captured by the British, and was the only member of his family to survive the revolution, becoming an orphan at age 14.

12. In 1831, an American pepper trading ship was attacked off the Island of Sumatra, where locals killed 3 and plundered the ship. In retaliation, Andrew Jackson sent a warship all the way back to Sumatra to destroy the village the attackers were from.

13. US President Andrew Jackson had been shot so many times people said he "rattled like a bag of marbles."

14. President Andrew Jackson had to leave for a hotel when roughly 20,000 citizens celebrated his inauguration inside the White House. His aides ultimately had to lure the mob outside with washtubs filled with a potent cocktail of orange juice and whiskey.

15. Martin Van Buren, 8th president of the U.S., did not mention his wife of 12 years even once in his 800-page autobiography.

Martin Van Buren, the eight president of the United States was the first president to be born a US citizen.

17. Martin Van Buren left the Democratic party and ran for president in 1848 for the Free Soil Party, an anti-slavery and "True Democratic" party.

18. Martin Van Buren was the only United States president who spoke English as a second language. His first language was Dutch.

19. President Martin Van Buren was intentionally thrown from a carriage to convince him of the need to fund road construction.

20. American President William Henry Harrison delivered his 1 hour 45-minute inaugural address in a snowstorm while wearing neither a hat or coat, promptly contracted pneumonia, and died less than a month later, making his the shortest presidency in history.

As an 11-year-old boy, the future president John Tyler led his classmates in hog tying the teacher who whipped them. When asked to punish the boy, John Tyler's father said: "sic semper tyrannis" (thus always to tyrants).

22. During the U.S. Civil War, former President John Tyler became a Confederate and was elected to serve in the Confederate Congress. He is the only U.S. President to not be mourned officially in Washington D.C. due to his being a Confederate supporter.

23. Senator Daniel Webster turned down two offers to be vice president by William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor because he thought the office was a dead-end position. Both these presidents then died in office.

24. John Tyler, 10th President of the United States, was actually elected by Virginians to the Confederate Congress. When he died he became the only President to be buried under the flag of a foreign nation.

25. John Tyler was the only US president elected to serve two different governments, the Union, and the Confederacy.