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THE MAKING OF A NATION #57
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| 2004-5-11 9:56:21 [点击数：3943] |
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点击下载录音：
2004 0408 SE FEATURE.rm
THE MAKING OF A NATION #57 - Andrew Jackson, Part 1
By Frank Beardsley
Broadcast: April 8, 2004
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.
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General Andrew Jackson was elected president in eighteen-twenty-eight. He defeated president John Quincy Adams, after a campaign in which both sides made bitter and vicious charges. One of those charges was about Jackson's wife. The General's opponents accused him of taking her from another man. They said Andrew and Rachel were married before her divorce from her first husband. This was true. But it happened because Misses Jackson's first husband said he had divorced her when he really had not done so. Andrew and Rachel completed a second marriage -- a legal one -- when they learned of the mistake.
The campaign charge deeply hurt Rachel Jackson. She was a kind and simple woman. She was proud that Andrew was elected president. But she was not happy about the life she would have to lead as wife of the president. At first, it was thought she might remain in Tennessee, instead of going to Washington. But Rachel Jackson knew her place was with her husband. She would go with him.
VOICE TWO:
Rachel Jackson
(Image:www.nps.gov)
Preparations had to be made for the move to Washington. And for weeks, the Jackson home was busy. There was little time for Misses Jackson to rest. Her health seemed to suffer. Then on December seventeenth, just a few days before the Jacksons were to leave for Washington, two doctors were rushed to the Jackson home outside Nashville. They found Rachel in great pain. She seemed to be suffering a heart attack. The doctors treated her, and for a time, she seemed to get better.
After a day or so, Rachel was able to sit up and talk with friends. She seemed cheerful. Jackson was at her side much of the time. On Sunday, Rachel sat up too long and began feeling worse. But the doctors said it was not serious, and they urged General Jackson to get some rest. He was to go to Nashville the next day. After her husband went to sleep in the next room, Rachel had her servant help her to sit up again. Rachel's mind was troubled about the years ahead in Washington. "I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of God," she said, "than live in that palace in Washington."
VOICE ONE:
A few minutes after ten that night, Rachel cried out and fell from her chair. The servants' screams awakened everyone. Jackson was the first to get to Rachel. He lifted her to the bed. He watched as the doctors bent over her. Jackson read in their eyes that life had left Rachel. Jackson could not believe it. He sat next to her, his head in his hands, his fingers through his gray hair.
To his friend, John Coffee, Jackson said: "John, can you realize she is dead. I certainly cannot." Rachel was buried two days later. Ten-thousand people went to the Jackson home for the funeral. The Reverend William Hume spoke simply of Rachel Jackson's life. He talked of her kindness and humility. And he told how she had been hurt by the terrible charges made during the election campaign.
VOICE TWO:
Jackson fought to hold back his tears. When the churchman finished speaking, those near Jackson heard him say: "In the presence of this dear saint, I can and do forgive all my enemies. But those vile wretches who have lied about her, must look to God for mercy."
Jackson felt that Rachel's death was caused by the vicious charges made during the election campaign. He told a friend a few days later: "May God almighty forgive her murderers as I know she would forgive them. I never can." Jackson left his home January eighteenth to begin the long trip to Washington. "My Heart is nearly broken," he said. "I try to lift my spirits, but cannot."
VOICE ONE:
In Washington, no one knew what to expect. Senator Daniel Webster wrote a friend at B
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| 2004-5-11 9:56:21 [点击数：3943] |
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