James Jackson

James Jackson - Tennessee and Alabama - 1782–1840 - Oil on canvas by unknown artist. (Courtesy of Charles P. Jackson, The Papers of Andrew Jackson, Vol. V) James Jackson (1782–1840) was an Irish-American immigrant merchant, land speculator, plantation owner, racehorse owner, and Alabama politician.

Early life Jackson was born in Ballybay, Ireland, where he was raised and where he was educated as a civil engineer. He came to the United States in 1799. In a list of expenses accrued by Aaron Burr in account with Andrew Jackson at the time of the Burr expedition, one of the line items was $44 paid to "W. & J. Jackson bill do."

According to The Papers of Andrew Jackson (1984), James Jackson served as a "private banker for Andrew, extending large sums of money on promissory notes. They were later partners in numerous land ventures, including the Chickasaw Purchase speculation." For instance, in 1813 James Jackson lent Andrew Jackson $1,000 to cover logistics (wagons to haul the sick and provision the troops with cornmeal, flour, and beef) for the return trip to Tennessee on the government-rejected adventure that was the Natchez Expedition, and in 1818 he lent Jackson about $5,500 so that he could buy land in Lauderdale County, Alabama Territory for himself and his late business partner's orphaned son.

James Jackson left Nashville for Florence, Alabama where he "bought a stock-farm. Among the amenities were "a regulation racetrack in the flat meadow in front of the mansion". He also reportedly raced horses at Huntsville (possibly at the Green Bottom Inn), and at Col. Colwell's track near Fort Mitchell.

In 1822, Andrew Jackson's nephew Stockley D. Hays was living in James Jackson's old Tennessee house, Greenvale, that stood on the road between Nashville and Haysborough.

In 1822 Jackson was elected to the Alabama legislature for the first time. He represented Lauderdale County in the Alabama House of Representatives in 1822, 1823, 1833, and 1834, and he represented Lauderdale County in the Alabama Senate in 1825, 1826, 1830, and 1831.

In 1824, Jesse Benton alleged that Andrew Jackson, John Eaton, and James Jackson had been investors in a criminal land speculation in 1818, buying up lots in Pensacola just before General Jackson invaded, which is called the First Seminole War, and which pushed the Spanish to sell Florida to the United States under the terms of the Adams–Onís Treaty.

Despite his long association with Jackson, founder of the Democratic Party, by 1827 James Jackson turned toward opposing candidates. According to one school of thought this was because he had been "left hanging" in a speculation on land made newly available for purchase by treaty with the Chickasaw. James Jackson even placed wagers in favor of "Whig" candidates John Bell and John Quincy Adams, which demonstrated his "confidence in [Henry] Clay's whole political network, and showed them that they had gained an aggressive advocate worthy of patronage." In 1828, William Berkeley Lewis wrote John Coffee to ask if he thought "Jimmy" Jackson had been involved in reports to the newspapers about possibly corrupt actions on the part of Andrew Jackson in the Colbert Reservations of the 1818 Chickasaw treaty.

Jackson served as president of the Alabama State Senate in 1831–1832.

Jackson was famous as a racehorse breeder in later life.

In November 1847 the trustees of Jackson's estate listed for sale almost 1400 acres of land included "fresh cleared" plantation land, town lots, and a forested island. In January 1848 the trustees of Jackson's estate listed for sale 75 slaves, which were "the portion of the Negroes, which, on division are reserved in trust for the benefit of his daughters. Mrs. Martha Andrews, Mrs. Ellen Hunt and Mrs. Sarah Polk, on a credit of One and Two years, for drafts on New Orleans." In 1850 his widow Sarah Jackson owned 65 slaves. In 1860 his widow Sarah Jackson owned 80 slaves.

Ancestors of Alex Haley, author of Roots and Queen, were enslaved by the Jacksons at the Forks of Cypress.

Siblings During the 1828 presidential election, opponents of Andrew Jackson published a document said to have been found in the papers of Harman Blennerhassett, showing "Aaron Burr in account with Andrew Jackson" during the Burr conspiracy of 1805–1807; W. P. Anderson was Jackson's aide-de-camp, Donelson Caffery was his Louisiana-based nephew, and W. & J. Jackson were Washington Jackson and James Jackson, merchants of Nashville and Natchez Jackson was business partners with his brothers John Jackson (1773–1832), and Washington Jackson (1784–1865). They were said to have relatives remaining in Pennsylvania.

When the brothers lived in Nashville, James and Washington had a "large dry-goods store on the square." and where he sold a slave woman prone to "fits" to a "free French" woman of color on behalf of Andrew Jackson in December. Once settled in Mississippi he became a cotton factor and developed business relationships with planter-barons including Stephen Duncan and Dr. William Mercer. As of 1811, Washington Jackson had a partner named Riddle in Philadelphia.

In the 1820s he ran "major" trading firm in New Orleans called Washington Jackson & Co. The firm shipped sugar and other products out of the Attakapas district of Louisiana. By 1821 he was "in the commission business with a Philadelphia partner". References for Jackson, Todd & Co. included Dr. Stephen Duncan, Capt. James C. Wilkins, Francis Surget, L. R. Marshall, Samuel Davis, John Routh, and John F. Gillespie (The Semi-Weekly Mississippi Free Trader, October 25, 1838) W. Jackson then moved to Philadelphia, and from there he moved to England. New Orleans millionaire Mercer left "his favorite watch" to Jackson in his will. His sons "carried on a successful mercantile business" in England into the 1880s.