:focal(370x230:371x231)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/06/5e/065ebbd0-d426-4d77-99ae-cc5de8644368/assassination_attempt_on_jackson_cropped_cropped.jpg)
Andrew Jackson was exiting the U.S. Capitol’s East Portico when the English-born Lawrence stepped forward from behind a pillar, pulled a derringer single-shot pistol from his jacket, and fired at the president.
Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
On January 30, 1835, unemployed house painter Richard Lawrence tried to change the course of history with an attempt to assassinate then-President Andrew Jackson.
That cold and dreary Friday, Jackson had been attending a funeral in Washington, D.C. for South Carolina Representative Warren Davis. Using a walking cane to support his frail frame, Jackson was just exiting the U.S. Capitol’s East Portico when the English-born Lawrence stepped forward from behind a pillar. He pulled a derringer single-shot pistol from his jacket and fired at the president—but though the cap fired, the bullet failed to discharge. So Lawrence pulled out a second pistol and—as Jackson rushed at the would-be assassin with his cane—pulled the trigger again. It was another misfire.
At that point, Navy Lieutenant Thomas Gedney tackled Lawrence to the floor, while other spectators including Tennessee Congressman Davy Crockett—an eventual legendary frontiersman who later died at the Alamo—helped subdue him. It’s said that Jackson (who was 67 years old at the time) hit Lawrence a few times with his cane before being rushed to the White House. It was the first known assassination attempt on a U.S. president.
Although Lawrence was said to be mild-mannered, those familiar with the house painter said that he had grown increasingly delusional in recent years. Not only did Lawrence believe that the U.S. government owed him a large sum of money, but he was also convinced that he was the rightful king of England—with only “King Andrew” standing in his way.
The months following Jackson’s attempted assassination played out like a political drama. Was it a conspiracy? Had someone hired a hitman to take out the president?
The Jackson Assassination Attempt: Why would a house painter try to kill a president?
Jackson wasn’t without enemies. Nearing the seventh year of his two-term presidency, this lawyer from Tennessee by way of South Carolina was known for his fiery temper. He even had a bullet still lodged in his chest, resulting from a duel with attorney Charles Dickinson, whom he had killed in the contest nearly 30 years earlier.
Still, Jackson believed the attack was politically motivated, and that rival politician George Poindexter—whose home Lawrence had painted in 1834—was behind the attempted assassination. Others suspected Jackson’s former vice president, John C. Calhoun, who had defected to Jackson’s political opponents and who days before the attempt had said that Jackson was “a Caesar who ought to have a Brutus,” referring to one of Roman general Julius Caesar’s main assassins.
Despite the conspiracy theories, Lawrence was found not guilty by reason of insanity at his trial in April 1835 after just five minutes of jury deliberation.
Lawrence’s two pistols were examined and found to be loaded correctly and functioning properly. A small arms consulting expert later calculated the odds of both guns failing to be 125,000 to 1.
Despite Jackson’s narrow escape, it would take years for the federal government to prioritize presidential protection. It took the assassinations of three sitting U.S. presidents (Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield and William McKinley) before the government made safeguarding the president a full-time national priority.
