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→Religion
===Religion===
===Religion===
Jackson attended a Presbyterian church from time to time, and his wife was a devout Baptist. Jackson had little sympathy for religion in the political sphere, unlike many of his opponents (the Anti-Masons and [[Whigs]]), who were building political coalitions using religious voting blocs during the [[Second Great Awakening]]. For example, Jackson insisted that the mail be delivered on Sundays, much to the anger of the evangelicals.<ref>Adam Jortner, "Cholera, Christ, and Jackson: The Epidemic of 1832 and the Origins of Christian Politics in Antebellum America," ''Journal of the Early Republic,'' Volume 27, Number 2, Summer 2007, pp. 233-264 in [[Project MUSE]]</ref>
Jackson attended a Presbyterian church from time to time, and his wife was a devout Baptist. Jackson had little sympathy for religion in the political sphere, unlike many of his opponents (the Anti-Masons and [[Whigs]]), who were building political coalitions using religious voting blocs during the [[Second Great Awakening]]. For example, Jackson insisted that the mail be delivered on Sundays, much to the anger of the evangelicals.<ref>Adam Jortner, "Cholera, Christ, and Jackson: The Epidemic of 1832 and the Origins of Christian Politics in Antebellum America," ''Journal of the Early Republic,'' Volume 27, Number 2, Summer 2007, pp. 233-264 in [[Project MUSE]]</ref>
After his presidency, Jackson became very serious about Christianity and returned to the rigid evangelical orthodoxy of his youth. Unlike many politicians of the period who, for ecumenical purposes, appealed to a theistic but not explicitly Christian God, Jackson professed Jesus Christ as his Redeemer, Lord, and Savior. To his son, Andrew Jr., he wrote in 1834: "I nightly offer up my prayers to the Throne of Grace for the health and safety of you all, and that we ought all to rely with confidence on the promises of our dear Redeemer, and give Him our hearts. This is all He requires and all that we can do, and if we sincerely do this, we are sure of salvation through His atonement."<ref>Robert V. Remini, "Andrew Jackson: The Course of American Democracy, 1833-1845," 184. </ref> That same year, he sent a letter of condolence to the family of his friend General Coffee, who had recently died. He admonished that they "Rely on our dear Saviour. He will be father to the fatherless and husband to the widow. Trust in the mercy and goodness of Christ, and always be ready to say with heartfelt resignation, "may the Lord's will be done."<ref>Robert V. Remini, "Andrew Jackson: The Course of American Democracy, 1833-1845," 91.</ref>
As he neared the time of his death, Jackson entertained no fears about the afterlife because he believed that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus secured to him eternal life. After Ralph Earl died in 1838, Jackson wrote that "I must soon follow him, and hope to meet him and those friends who have gone before me in the realms of bliss through the mediation of a dear Redeemer, Jesus Christ."<ref>Robert V. Remini, "Andrew Jackson: The Course of American Democracy, 1833-1845," 448.</ref> Jackson's Last Will and Testimony of 1845 beautifully expressed confidence in the Gospel:
''Sir, I am in the hands of a merciful God. I have full confidence in his goodness and mercy. My lamp of life is nearly out, and the last glimmer has come. I am ready to depart when called. The Bible is true. I have tried to conform to its spirit as near as possible. Upon that Sacred Volume I rest my hope for eternal salvation, through the merits and blood of our blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. First, I bequeath my body to the dust whence it comes, and my soul to God who gave it, hoping for a happy immortality through the atoning merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world.
''<ref>Cyrus Townsend Brady, "The True Andrew Jackson," 381.</ref>
Shortly before his death, Jackson expressed his confidence in Jesus unequivocally. "When I have Suffered sufficiently," the former president uttered, "the Lord will then take me to himself—but what are all my sufferings compared to those of the blessed Savior, who died upon that cursed tree for me? Mine are nothing."<ref>Cyrus Townsend Brady, "The True Andrew Jackson," 379.</ref>
==Presidential campaigns==
==Presidential campaigns==