By Steve Payne, Jeff Provine and Allen W. McDonnell
This article was originally posted on Today in Alternate History (twitter)and the original article can be found there. Please check that blog for more like this.
In May 1833, Robert Randolph, a Naval officer who Jackson had dismissed, attacked President Jackson with the intention of breaking his nose. Randolph succeeded in giving the President a bloody nose and the president had to be restrained from responding with his cane. This was the first assault on a president, though not the last, two years later another man would fire two pistols at Jackson, though both misfired. But what if the fight with Randolph had grown out of control until one man took a bad blow to the head and died? Below is one take.
"The sons of America, have given a new proof how impossible it is to conquer freemen fighting in defense of all that is dear to them. Henceforward we shall be respected by nations who, mistaking our character, had treated us with the utmost contumely and outrage " ~ Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans
Given that the Conflict of 1812 was considered the second war of independence, it was entirely logical that General Andrew Jackson's glorious victory at New Orleans should be marked as a National Celebration Day paired with the Fourth of July in the American calendar.
Following the abdication of Napoleon, British Prime Minister Lord Liverpool wanted the Duke of Wellington to go to command in Canada with the assignment of winning the war. But the truth was that the Royal Navy no longer needed to stop American shipments to France or more sailors, all parties were exhausted and willing to negotiate peace.
Before New Orleans, some hawkish British elements wanted to occupy the Louisiana Purchase and it was for this reason that Major General Sir Edward Pakenham launched his ill-fated attack. The calamitous British defeat arrived in only thirty minutes of the poorly executed assault. Like Yorktown before, the defeat did not have to mean the end of the war, but it did require a complete reset and on both occasions, the national will to continue was not there. This result was generally thought to have dissuaded Lord Liverpool et. al from ripping up the Treaty of Ghent that had been signed but needed to be ratified by the two governments (in truth, the British had already ratified the agreement, only the Americans had not, but the battle's significance became such a part of American myth that this is rarely noted).
Following the victory, Jackson was treated to fried alligator, a local dish, and to his surprise, discovered that he really liked it. From then on, he made sure his cook prepared him alligator for celebratory meals. Jackson was celebrated as an iconic hero and was elected President on his second attempt in 1828. But tragically, he was assassinated by Robert B. Randolph in the first year of his second term of office. Given the causes of the War of 1812, there was a grim irony that Jackson had ordered Randolph's dismissal from the navy for embezzlement.
Out of this tragedy, his successor Martin von Buren would mark January 8th, the day of the Battle of New Orleans, as a day of national celebration, and made alligator the official Thanksgiving dish, though turkey still persists as a cheaper alternative. Jackson would also be included in the Presidential faces on Whiteside Mountain and took his place in the Pantheon of American heroes.
President Van Buren was a masterful builder of national myth, continuing the legend of Andrew Jackson into his re-election in 1836 and again in 1840, becoming the first president to serve longer than the eight-year norm established by George Washington. Van Buren however would face controversy over US relations with its neighbour Texas, the ongoing slavery issue and the economic situation following deflation in the 1830s. He was also known for his inability to enforce the Indian Removal Acts in the face of increasing hostility from a newly emboldened Supreme Court and the Whig opposition. The 1832 decision in Worcester v. Georgia (which ruled that it was the Government of the United States not the individual states that dictated relationship with the Native Nations and so the state of Georgia had no right to dictate laws within the Cherokee Nation) combined with the Nullification crisis and the assassination of Jackson, largely derailed the Democratic government's plans for the native nations and Van Buren had no choice but to shift gears. This would have long-lasting legal implications for the Seminole and Cherokee and would result in other court victories by native polities, such as the Great Sioux Nation, that preserved their land rights.
Van Buren's clear personal disagreement with this ruling and his inability to reign in state governors however was blamed for later struggles with encroachment, especially as agriculture pushed into Seminole lands in Florida for quick cash in harvesting the increasingly valuable alligators. Later legal appeals would strengthen tribal authority against encroachment while maintaining federal rather than state authority. The question of supremacy in states' rights and federal rule, along with the other major controversy of slavery, would ultimately be decided in the civil war with a Union victory that maintained tribal rights.