GROUP OPPOSES REMOVAL OF JACKSON STATUE FROM LAFAYETTE SQUARE
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On March 26, 1923, the Washington Times reports members of the South Carolina Society* voiced opposition to "the removal of the statue of Andrew Jackson from its place in Lafayette Square."
The opposition was expressed at the annual banquet of the society held at Wardman Park Hotel** the previous evening.
Speeches were given by Col. Wade H. Cooper, Congressman Roland B. Mahaney of New York, and Congressman Morrison of Indiana.
JFK+50 NOTE
There has always been some question about Andrew Jackson's birthplace. Was it in present day North Carolina or South Carolina? According to many sources, AJ was born in the Waxhaws settlement of the colonial Carolinas.
The Hermitage website, however, gives Lancaster, South Carolina as the 7th POTUS's birthplace. The members of the South Carolina Society must have agreed. Despite his Carolina roots, Andrew Jackson would migrate to Nashville, Tennessee where he built his home, The Hermitage.
Andrew Jackson is one of 3 POTUS claimed by the Volunteer State, the others being James K. Polk & Andrew Johnson although none of the three were born in Tennessee.
*South Carolina Society is a social & benevolent organization established in Charleston in 1737 by Huguenots who were mostly artisans & small merchants. In 1804, SCS built a hall on Meeting Street in Charleston.
**The Wardman Park Hotel opened in 1918, an 8 story red brick building with 1200 rooms & 625 baths, the largest hotel at the time in Washington, D.C.
SOURCES
"Childhood, Spark from the Start," Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, www.thehermitage.com/
"Jackson Statue Removal Opposed By S.C. Society," The Washington Times, March 26, 1923, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
