Of Heroes and Villains
My latest audio book has been a biography of Andrew Jackson. He’s been called a hero and he’s been called a villain. The folks in both camps are right. He was both. His policies about native nations of America were shameful, and that was only one of his major faults.
On the other hand, he was a sincere believer who read three chapters in the Bible every day. He was a devoted husband. He adopted an orphaned native boy because the boy reminded him of himself when he was orphaned. And those are only a few of his many admirable qualities.
Devastated at the loss of his wife Rachel shortly after his election to his first term as president, Jackson asked Rachel’s nephew Andrew Donelson and his wife Emily to accompany him to the White House. Emily, in her early 20s, served as Jackson’s hostess at the White House.
Andrew and Emily Donelson traveled with the president-elect from the Hermitage to the White House. They rode a steamboat down the Cumberland River to the Ohio River and then on to Pittsburgh. From there, they rode in a carriage to Washington, D.C. The young couple had one child, and Emily was expecting another.
Andrew Jackson longed for a family because he had none of his own. His father died before Jackson was born. Andrew and his older brothers fought for America during the American Revolution. Andrew was only 13. His oldest brother died of a heat stroke after a battle. His other brother died as a result of disease and mistreatment by a British officer. Jackson’s mother traveled to Charleston, South Carolina, from their home near the North Carolina/South Carolina border to help sick and injured soldiers, including some of their relatives. She became ill with cholera and died there. This left Andrew Jackson completely alone at age 14. He never even knew where his mother was buried.
Andrew loved his wife Rachel and her family. The Jacksons never had biological children. Andrew and Rachel adopted another of Rachel’s nephews who became Andrew Jackson Jr. After Rachel’s death, Andrew wanted her relatives around him. Andrew and Emily Donelson lived with him at the White House. After the president left office, Andrew Jackson Jr. and his family and even Andrew Jr.’s widowed sister-in-law and her children lived with him at the Hermitage.
In this book, I learned about an especially sweet side of this complex man. When Andrew and Emily Donelson’s children were young and living at the White House, sometimes they would, of course, awake in the night. Sometimes President Jackson would get up, get dressed, encourage Emily to go back to bed, and walk the floors of that great house comforting the little one.
As a writer of history, I have the constant dilemma of how to present historical figures. The truth is that there is villain in each of us.
. . . for all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God . . .
Romans 3:23
We all also have the potential to be heroes.
The apostle Paul hunted down Christians and watched with approval when a mob stoned Stephen.
When they had driven him out of the city,
they began stoning him;
and the witnesses laid aside their robes
at the feet of a young man named Saul . . .
Saul was in hearty agreement
with putting him to death.
Acts 7:58, 8:1
When Paul came to Jesus, he turned around 180 degrees, but he still struggled with sin. He lamented:
For we know that the Law is spiritual,
but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.
For what I am doing, I do not understand;
for I am not practicing what I would like to do,
but I am doing the very thing I hate.
Romans 7:14-15
We are complicated folks, we humans. So are our heroes — and our villains. We do well to help our children understand that. We all have the potential both to fail miserably and to live up to our being created in the image of God. All of us, except Jesus, are a mix of the two. Praise God for His grace through Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul wrote this to his young ministry companion, Timothy:
It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
among whom I am foremost of all.
Yet for this reason I found mercy,
so that in me as the foremost,
Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience
as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God,
be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
1 Timothy 1:15-17