Old Hickory

“Old Hickory” is the epithet by which the early settlers’ political idol, Andrew Jackson, is evoked. In the account of their community, the expression joins admiration for Jackson to a local ideal of courage and self-reliance, while linking that ideal to the identity of Jackson County itself.

Reference and Context

The settlers were predominantly Scotch-Irish, Baptist, and Democratic, and believed that those who worked the land were God’s chosen people. They regarded themselves as the true Americans and looked to Jackson, described as “Old Hickory of Tennessee,” as a figure of their own Scotch-Irish stock. The passage also calls attention to his being the first President from west of the Alleghenies, placing him within a story of western political identity.

Political Ideal and Local Identity

The name appears alongside the settlers’ rallying description of Jackson as “One-man-with-courage-makes-a-majority.” The passage says they could be tough, courageous, blunt, touchy, narrow-minded, intolerant, quarrelsome, and obstinate: Jackson’s appeal is presented not as a single virtue detached from them, but as a model reflecting traits they recognized in their own community. The county had been named for him, making the epithet part of the region’s public identity as well as a sign of personal admiration.

Significance in the Account

“Old Hickory” condenses the passage’s portrait of a community whose political loyalties and self-image reinforce one another. Its force comes from the connection between a celebrated national figure, the settlers’ belief in courage as political power, and a county bearing Jackson’s name. The epithet therefore helps explain why their admiration is more than a reference to a president: it expresses a claim about the kind of people they believed themselves to be.