Andrew Jackson was an American soldier and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, Jackson gained fame as a general in the United States Army and served in both houses of the U.S. Congress. An expansionist president, Jackson sought to advance the rights of the “common man” against a “corrupt aristocracy” and to preserve the Union. These Andrew Jackson quotes will motivate you.
Best Andrew Jackson Quotes
- “I was born for a storm and a calm does not suit me.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “You are a den of vipers. I intend to rout you out and by the Eternal God I will rout you out. If the people only understood the rank injustice of our money and banking system, there would be a revolution before morning.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “After eight years as President I have only two regrets: that I have not shot Henry Clay or hanged John C. Calhoun.” ~ Andrew Jackson
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“When you get in debt you become a slave.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “From the earliest ages of history to the present day there never have been thirteen millions of people associated in one political body who enjoyed so much freedom and happiness as the people of these United States. You have no longer any cause to fear danger from abroad… It is from within, among yourselves – from cupidity, from corruption, from disappointed ambition and inordinate thirst for power.” ~ Andrew Jackson
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“John Calhoun, if you secede from my nation I will secede your head from the rest of your body.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “Peace, above all things, is to be desired, but blood must sometimes be spilled to obtain it on equable and lasting terms.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “Every man is equally entitled to protection by law. But when the laws undertake to add… artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges—to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful— the humble members of society—the farmers, mechanics, and laborers, who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their government.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “But you must remember, my fellow-citizens, that eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “The Supreme Court has made its decision, now let them enforce it.” ~ Andrew Jackson
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“When the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “If in madness of delusion, anyone shall lift his parricidal hand against this blessed union, the arms of thousands will be raised to save it, and the curse of millions will fall upon the head which may have plotted its destruction.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “War is a blessing compared with national degradation.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “I am one of those who do not believe that a national debt is a national blessing, but rather a curse to a republic; inasmuch as it is calculated to raise around the administration a moneyed aristocracy dangerous to the liberties of the country.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “[The Bible] is the rock on which our Republic rests.” ~ Andrew Jackson
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“This spirit of mob-law is becoming as great an evil as a servile war.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “The planter, the farmer, the mechanic, and the laborer…form the great body of the people of the United States they are the bone and sinew of the country men who love liberty and desire nothing but equal rights and equal laws.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “The bold effort the present (central) bank had made to control the government … are but premonitions of the fate that await the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another like it.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “The mischief springs from the power which the monied interest derives from a paper currency which they are able to control, from the multitude of corporations with exclusive privileges which they have succeeded in obtaining, and unless you become more watchful in your states and check this spirit of monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges you will in the end find that the most important powers of government have been given or bartered away.” ~ Andrew Jackson
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“No free government can stand without virtue in the people, and a lofty spirit of partiotism.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “Give me a thousand Tennesseans, and I’ll whip any other thousand men on the globe!” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “Americans are not a perfect people, but we are called to a perfect mission.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “In a free government the demand for moral qualities should be made superior to that of talents.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “In this point of the case the question is distinctly presented whether the people of the United States are to govern through representatives chosen by their unbiased suffrages or whether the money and power of a great corporation are to be secretly exerted to influence their judgment and control their decisions.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “There are only two things I can’t give up; one is coffee and the other is tobacco.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “The President is the direct representative of the American people and is elected by the people and responsible to them.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “All the rights secured to the citizens under the Constitution are worth nothing, and a mere bubble, except guaranteed to them by an independent and virtuous Judiciary.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “Live within your means, never be in debt, and by husbanding your money you can always lay it out well.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will rout you out.” ~ Andrew Jackson
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“You must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessings.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “As long as our government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of person and property, liberty of conscience, and of the press, it will be worth defending.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “The brave man, inattentive to his duty, is worth little more to his country than the coward who deserts her in the hour of danger.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “Who are we? And for what are we going to fight? Are we the titled slaves of George the Third? The military conscripts of Napoleon the Great? Or the frozen peasants of the Russian Czar? No — we are the free born sons of America; the citizens of the only republic now existing in the world; and the only people on earth who possess rights, liberties, and property which they dare call their own.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “Unless you become more watchful in your states and check the spirit of monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges you will in the end find that…the control over your dearest interests has passed into the hands of these corporations.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “There never was a woman like her. She was gentle as a dove and brave as a lioness… The memory of my mother and her teachings were, after all, the only capital I had to start life with, and on that capital, I have made my way.” ~ Andrew Jackson
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“The bank…is trying to kill me, but I will kill it!” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “The people are the government, administering it by their agents; they are the government, the sovereign power.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “I do not promise to believe tomorrow exactly what I believe today, and I do not believe today exactly what I believed yesterday. I expect to make, as I have made, some honest progress within every succeeding twenty-four hours.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “Go to the Scriptures… the joyful promises it contains will be a balsam to all your troubles.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “If they [Mexicans] touch the hair of the head of one of our citizens, tell him [Commodore Dallas] to batter down and destroy their town and exterminate the inhabitants from the face of the earth!” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “Do they think that I am such a damned fool as to think myself fit for President of the United States? No, sir; I know what I am fit for. I can command a body of men in a rough way, but I am not fit to be President.” ~ Andrew Jackson
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“Heaven will be no heaven to me if I do not meet my wife there.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “Mischief springs from the power which the moneyed interest derives from a paper currency which they are able to control, from the multitude of corporations with exclusive privileges… which are employed altogether for their benefit.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “Corporations have neither bodies to kick, nor souls to damn.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth can not be produced by human institutions.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “The duty of government is to leave commerce to its own capital and credit as well as all other branches of business, protecting all in their legal pursuits, granting exclusive privileges to none.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “That those tribes [the Sac and Fox Indians] cannot exist surrounded by our settlements and in continual contact with our citizens is certain. They have neither the intelligence, the industry, the moral habits, nor the desire of improvement which are essential to any favorable change in their condition.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “Live within your means, never be in debt, and by husbanding your money you can always lay it out well. But when you get in debt you become a slave. Therefore I say to you never involve yourself in debt, and become no man’s surety.” ~ Andrew Jackson
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“I have always been afraid of banks.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “Were all the worshippers of the gold calf to memorialize me and request a restoration of the deposits I would cut my right hand from my body before I would do such an act. The gold calf may be worshipped by others but as for myself I serve the Lord.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “Finally, it is my most fervent prayer to that Almighty Being before whom I now stand, and who has kept us in His hands from the infancy of our Republic to the present day, that He will so overrule all my intentions and actions and inspire the hearts of my fellow-citizens that we may be preserved from dangers of all kinds and continue forever a united and happy people.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “When death comes, he respects neither age nor merit. He sweeps from the earthly existence the sick and the strong, the rich and the poor, and should teach us to live to be prepared for death.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “It was settled by the Constitution, the laws, and the whole practice of the government that the entire executive power is vested in the President of the United States.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “I have only two regrets: I didn’t shoot Henry Clay and I didn’t hang John C. Calhoun.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “There are, perhaps, few men who can for any length of time enjoy office and power without being more or less under the influence of feelings unfavorable to the faithful discharge of their political duties.” ~ Andrew Jackson
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“People are my religion/Because I believe in them.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “I do not forget that I am a mechanic. I am proud to own it. Neither do I forget that the apostle Paul was a tentmaker; Socrates was a sculptor, and Archimedes was a mechanic.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “The safety of the republic being the supreme law, and Texas having offered us the key to the safety of our country from all foreign intrigues and diplomacy, I say accept the key and bolt the door at once.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing.” ~ Andrew Jackson
- “I have never in my life seen a Kentuckian who didn’t have a gun, a pack of cards, and a jug of whiskey.” ~ Andrew Jackson
