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in his late teens he read law for about two years, and he became an outstanding young lawyer in
Tennessee. Fiercely jealous of his honor, he engaged in brawls, and in a duel killed a man who
cast an unjustified slur on his wife Rachel. A major general in the War of 1812, Jackson became a
national hero when he defeated the British at New Orleans. The Masonic record of Brother Jackson
has not been located though there is no doubt he was a Mason. He appears to have been a member
of St. Tammany Lodge No. 29, Nashville, Tennessee, as early as 1800. The lodge name was later
changed to Harmony Lodge No. 1 on November 1, 1800. Brother Jackson is officially listed as a
member in the Lodge Returns to the Grand Lodge of Tennessee for 1805. Very active in
Freemasonry, Brother Jackson was a Grand Master of Masons in Tennessee, serving from October
1822 until October 1824. Jackson served two terms as President from 1829 until 1837. He died on
June 8, 1845 at the Hermitage near Nashville, Tennessee.

James K. Polk, Eleventh U.S. President, 1845-1849: James K. Polk was born in Mecklenburg
County, North Carolina, on November 2, 1795. Studious and industrious, Polk was graduated with
honors in 1818 from the University of North Carolina. As a young lawyer he entered politics,
served in the Tennessee legislature, and became a friend of Andrew Jackson. Brother Polk was
initiated in Columbia Lodge No. 31 on June 5, 1820 located in Columbia, Tennessee. He would
be passed and raised in this lodge though the actual dates are unknown. In 1825 he was exalted a
Royal Arch Mason in LaFayette Chapter No. 4 located in Columbia. Polk would serve as the
Governor of Tennessee from 1839 through 1841 prior to his election as President of the United
States. He would serve one term as President from 1845 to 1849. He left office in poor health and
died a few months later on June 15, 1849 in Nashville, Tennessee.

James A. Buchanan, Fifteenth U.S. President, 1857-1861: Born in Cove Gap near Mercersburg,
Pennsylvania into a well-to-do Pennsylvania family on April 23, 1791, James A. Buchanan, a
graduate of Dickinson College, was gifted as a debater and learned in the law. Tall, stately, and
stiffly formal, he was the only President who never married. Brother Buchanan was initiated on
December 11, 1816, passed and raised in Lancaster Lodge No. 43 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He
served as Master of his lodge from 1822 to 1823. In 1824, he was appointed District Deputy Grand
Master for the Counties of Lancaster, Lebanon and York. His tenure as President was fraught with
controversy surrounding the issues of states’ rights and slavery. Inaugurated in 1857, Buchanan
retired from the Presidency after one term in office and returned to Lancaster, Pennsylvania where
he died on June 1, 1868.

Andrew Johnson, Seventeenth U.S. President, 1865-1869: Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, on
December 29, 1808, Johnson grew up in poverty. He was apprenticed to a tailor as a boy, but ran
away. He opened a tailor shop in Greeneville, Tennessee, married Eliza McCardle, and participated
in debates at the local academy. Entering politics, he became an adept stump speaker, championing
the common man. Johnson became a Mason in 1851 when he was initiated, passed, and raised in
Greenville Lodge No. 119 located at Greenville, Tennessee. Following the assassination of
Abraham Lincoln in 1865, the Presidency fell upon Vice-President Johnson, an old-fashioned
southern Jacksonian Democrat. Although an honest and honorable man, Andrew Johnson was one
of the most unfortunate of Presidents. Arrayed against him were the Radical Republicans in
Congress, brilliantly led and ruthless in their tactics. In 1867, the House of Representatives voted
eleven articles of impeachment against him. He was tried by the Senate in the spring of 1868 and
acquitted by one vote. While serving as President, he received the Scottish Rite degrees during

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