IPL Question #4: "Emperor" Andrew Jackson

Question:

Name the Louisiana politician that refused an offer to become an emperor.

Answer:

Greetings from the Internet Public Library!

Thank you for your question about a Louisiana politician refusing an offer to become an emperor.

I discovered that Commodore Jesse D. Elliott, Commandant of the Boston Navy Yard was a great admirer of President Andrew Jackson. President Jackson was well known and well admired for winning the battle of New Orleans in Louisiana in 1815. In 1845, Elliot, while in Palestine, procured the sarcophagus of a Roman Emperor. He wanted to give it to President Jackson for his burial. Jackson declined the offer, stating that it would not fit the democratic values of the United States.

I found out that Andrew Jackson was the politician by doing a Google search on “Louisiana emperor” and found a website that answered trivia questions and suggested Andrew Jackson was the answer. This website is as follows:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_Louisiana_politician_turned_down_the_offer_of_emperor

I will provide a shortened link, or TinyURL, to this website as well, since this link is so long. Some email clients break long URLs or web addresses up into separate lines, breaking the link. The TinyURL is as follows:

http://tinyurl.com/2aa8ta

I began my search from here to confirm this information about Andrew Jackson. I first used Google Book Search. Google Book Search has thousands of books electronically scanned and available for searching, including many academic texts that can give much more information on an individual than might be available in a regular encyclopedia article.

To get to Google Book Search, go to the following URL:

http://books.google.com/

Once there, I searched for “Andrew Jackson Emperor.” One of the first books available is called Andrew Jackson: Symbol for an Age by John William Ward, and confirms the information about Jackson’s potential Emperor’s sarcophagus on pages 115-116. Much of the text is available online via Google Book Search at the following URL:

http://books.google.com/books?id=ekUyi3FoSMIC&pg=PA116&dq=andrew+jackson+emperor+elliott&ei=4ERPR8PqJYiUtgPg-YEB&sig=0RGERwJYAWlAMHuWI_KIKnPBllg

Here is a TinyURL for convenience:

http://tinyurl.com/2bvw9g

If you would like the entire text of Andrew Jackson: Symbol for an Age, there are two copies at the East Baton Rouge Library. They are currently checked out but should be available soon. To access the East Baton Rouge Library’s website, please click the following link:

http://www.ebr.lib.la.us/

From there, click on “Library Catalog” on the far left menu, and then click on “Login to Catalog.”

From there, click on “Search Entire Collection- All Locations.”

In the search bar, type the title of the book: Andrew Jackson: Symbol for an Age. From there, you will get current information on whether either of the two copies of the book has been turned in.

More information about Jackson’s decline to have an emperor’s burial is available in the book Andrew Jackson and Early Tennessee History by Samuel Gordon Heiskell and John Sevier. I found this book by again using Google Book Search. I searched for “Andrew Jackson emperor Elliott.” Beginning at the end of page 686, this book even quotes Jackson’s written decline of the sarcophagus to Elliott. You can read the letter and more of the book at the following link:

http://books.google.com/books?id=LPqZ80I8pfgC&pg=PA686&dq=andrew+jackson+emperor+elliott&ei=8UdPR8Mvn7i2A67OrewG#PPA686,M1

Here is a TinyURL for convenience:

http://tinyurl.com/39ycft

This information is again confirmed in another biography of Andrew Jackson that I also found as I searched for “Andrew Jackson emperor Elliott” on Google Book Search. This book is Life and Times of Andrew Jackson: Soldier—statesman—president by A. S. Coylar. The following link is to page 808, which discusses our topic:

http://books.google.com/books?id=IH0EAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA808&dq=andrew+jackson+emperor+elliott&ei=NklPR4izJo_-sQP9h_0w

A TinyURL:

http://tinyurl.com/25yewf

If you still have more questions regarding Andrew Jackson’s decline of emperorship, please write us back. We’re happy to help!

Thanks for visiting the IPL!

My Take: The patron mentioned that the purpose for her question was because she heard it as a trivia question. I'm actually a fan of pub quizzes and trivia games, and have been a longtime fan since college. Questions are sometimes worded a little differently to make the question tricky, and I think this was a case of that. I was kind of worried maybe there was another politician who was involved in Louisiana that really was offered a technical position as emperor, but couldn't find any information on this, and I have to think this is what the trivia question meant. Again, I wish there was some way to hear back from the patron, to verify this is what she meant, but I can't, and hope this is satisfactory, knowing I did my best.