Sunday, August 5
We
decided it would be a good idea to get back to the presidents today, so we
started with Andrew Jackson's Hermitage in Nashville. This was a lovely mansion
where the seventh president lived before and after his presidency. For someone
who was against the aristocracy ruling the country, it was pretty lavish.
Jackson was a DC outsider of the time who had a cotton plantation and many
slaves. He seems to have been very respected and liked by many and hated by
many others. He did get a lot of good things done in his presidency, like
getting the US government out of the banking business and standing up to the
French but, to me, his hypocrisy stands out. He wanted to give the US government
back to the common man but he was far from common. Also, that dream, obviously,
did not include all people since he was a slave owner and ordered the removal
of thousands of Native Americans from their homeland in the Southeast. He
was very courageous, though, and did move our country into new and good ways.
I learned a lot about him. We found a pewter miniature of him to go with our
one of Hoover. His gravesite (left) is located in the garden next to the Hermitage.
After
Jackson, we went a bit out of our way to Greenville, TN to see a museum for
Andrew Johnson who has a reputation of being less than forthright, probably
due to the fact that he was impeached. We found, however, that his reputation
was less than accurate. He was actually the only major Southern politician
who remained loyal to the union. Even though Lincoln did not necessarily prefer
Johnson as his running mate, and he was in a different political party, Johnson
really believed in what Lincoln was doing and when Lincoln was killed, he
carried on in his stead. Johnson was left, shortly after the civil war, with
the daunting task of reuniting the North and the South. He worked hard to
do that but the congress had it in for him so they put forth a string of bills
that he had to veto and then one that would trap him - saying that it was
illegal to dismiss a member of the cabinet. When Johnson did dismiss one of
his cabinet members, he was impeached, but the vote was one short of convicting
him. I gained some respect for him and enjoyed learning about him.
On our way to the Johnson museum, through Knoxville, we passed the Sunsphere, a relic from the 1982 world's fair. That was fun because, being big Simpsons fans, we are well acquainted with the episode when Bart and three of his friends rent a car and drive to Knoxville for the world's fair only to find out it's no longer there. When Nelson, the town bully throws rocks at the Sunsphere, bringing it down on their rental car and only way home, he exclaims "But on the plus side, I knocked over the Sunsphere!" We love that episode.
The trip to Andrew Johnson's place was particularly arduous because we lost an hour when we crossed into Eastern Standard Time. Vienna, being smarter than mom and dad sometimes, tried to warn us but we were stubborn and wouldn't listen. We were worried we wouldn't make it before the 5:00 closing time but we got there by 4:30, just in time to enjoy and learn about our 17th president. From here, we drove back through Knoxville and then to Atlanta to get ready for Carter and James Polk, tomorrow!