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Creator
Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845
Call number
MssCol 23877
Physical description
.76 linear feet (4 volumes)
Preferred Citation

Andrew Jackson and William B. Lewis correspondence, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library

Sponsor
Digitization was made possible by a lead gift from The Polonsky Foundation.
Repository
Manuscripts and Archives Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.
The entirety of this collection has been digitized and is available online.

Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) was a soldier, politician, and seventh President of the United States. William Berkeley Lewis (1784-1866) of Tennessee was Andrew Jackson's friend and political advisor. The Andrew Jackson and William B. Lewis correspondence, 1806-1864, is an artificial collection consisting of their letters, 1814-1845; correspondence of the two men with other prominent individuals; and a few miscellaneous documents, chiefly military returns signed by or relating to Jackson, 1813-1814. The bulk of the Jackson-Lewis letters are written by Jackson to Lewis, spanning Jackson's military and political careers and retirement at The Hermitage. Lewis's letters to Jackson are Lewis's own copies.

Biographical/historical information

Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) was a soldier, politician, and seventh President of the United States. He gained national fame during the War of 1812 as a major general in the Tennessee militia and later in the U.S. Army. Jackson was a U.S. representative and senator from Tennessee, military governor of Florida in 1821, and U. S. president from 1829 to 1837. He married Rachel Donelson in 1794, and resided at The Hermitage, a plantation near Nashville, Tennessee.

William Berkeley Lewis (1784-1866) of Tennessee was Andrew Jackson's friend and political advisor. He served as quartermaster under Jackson during the Creek War and War of 1812, and was a member of the "Kitchen Cabinet” in the Jackson administration, holding considerable influence until Jackson's second term. In 1830 Jackson appointed Lewis as Second Auditor of the Treasury, a position he lost in the Polk administration.

Scope and arrangement

The Andrew Jackson and William B. Lewis correspondence, 1806-1864, is an artificial collection consisting of their letters, 1814-1845; correspondence of the two men with other prominent individuals; and a few miscellaneous documents, chiefly military returns signed by or relating to Jackson, 1813-1814. The bulk of the Jackson-Lewis letters are written by Jackson to Lewis, spanning Jackson's military and political careers and retirement at The Hermitage. Lewis's letters to Jackson are Lewis's own copies.

The letters of both men concern American politics and government, with occasional sharing of personal and family news. Lewis's later correspondence pertains to the loss of his Treasury Department job, and historical details concerning Jackson’s life and career.

Arrangement

Items are in chronological order.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Donated by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1899 as part of the Ford collection, and purchase, 1946

Processing information

Compiled by Archives Unit, 2016

Compiled by Archives Unit, 2016.

Related Material

Forms part of Ford collection

Using the collection

Location

Manuscripts and Archives Division
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328

Alternative form available

A calendar of the Jackson-Lewis letters is published in the Bulletin of The New York Public Library, Volume IV, No. 9 (September 1900), pp. 292-320. Some letters are fully transcribed in the same volume, No. 5 (May 1900), pp. 154-162, and No. 6 (June 1900), pp. 188-198, as identified in the calendar.