Hi Ya’ll,
Well, today I have some information about the presidents who were from Tennessee. There have been three U.S. Presidents from Tennessee. Do you know who they were?
The first one was Andrew Jackson, also known as “Old Hickory”. He
was the 7th president from 1829 to 1837 and lived in the Nashville area.
Jackson experienced the first known case of a President being handed a
baby to kiss; however, Jackson declined, and handed the baby to Secretary
of War John H. Eaton to do the honors.
Andrew Jackson’s home is in Hermitage and the driveway is in the shape of a guitar.
The second president from Tennessee was James K. Polk who served as
our 11th president from 1845 to1849. He was born in Columbia, Tennessee
and was the first "dark-horse candidate" in U.S. history to win the
Presidency. During his term, he helped form the U.S. Naval Academy and
the Smithsonian Institute. Polk was the first Governor of Tennessee
to have a college education.
President Polk also called for American volunteers to fight in the Mexican War from 1846 to 1848. He gave each state a quota of men and although Tennessee Governor Aaron Brown's quota was 2,600 men, 30,000 Tennesseans responded to his request and forever earned the state the "Volunteer" nickname. Both Polk and his wife Sarah are buried on the grounds of the state capitol.
The third president from Tennessee was Andrew Johnson who was our 17th president serving from 1865 to 1869. What I find interesting about Andrew Johnson is that he held every elective office at the local, state, and federal levels. He was elected alderman, mayor, state representative, and state senator from Greeneville Tennessee. He served as governor and military governor of Tennessee and United States congressman, senator, and vice president, becoming President following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. President Johnson also oversaw the purchase of the State of Alaska for $7,200,000.00.
He really accomplished quite a bit but during his presidency, the House of
Representatives voted in 1868 to impeach him. They wanted him
impeached because he refused to cooperate or compromise over black
rights and the reconstruction of Southern state governments. They held a trial but the Senate failed by one vote to convict Johnson and remove him from the presidency. Following his term, Andrew Johnson became the only U.S. President in history to be re-elected to the U.S. Senate.
FUN TIDBITS:
MOVIE FILMED IN TENNESSEE: “The Firm”, starring Tom Cruise was filmed in Memphis in 1993.
Randy Travis used to wash dishes at the Nashville Palace.
YOUR FAVORITE TENNESSEAN
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