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10 The Alamo: Symbol of Freedom

As for Crockett, he used his fame as a frontiersman to help boost his political career. In 1821, he was elected to the state legislature in Tennessee. Six years later he won election to the United States House of Representatives. There was no question that Crockett was a rising star in Congress . Many political insiders in Washington expect- ed Crockett to make a bid for the presidency. Crockett encouraged such talk. In 1834, he made secret plans to begin campaigning for the Whig Party nomination for the 1836 presidential election. One man who suspected Crockett’s plans was his old military commander, Andrew Jackson, now the president . A Democrat, Jackson won his first term in 1828 and had been reelected in 1832. Now, Jackson wanted his vice president, Martin Van Buren, to win the election of 1836 and take office as president. Van Buren would continue Jackson’s policies. Crockett had split with

Make Connections Davy Crockett once served under General

his old commander on many issues, including the Indian Removal Bill—a law that enabled the U.S. Army to push thousands of Indians off their lands so that those lands could be settled by white pioneers. Crockett had befriended many Indians during his

Andrew Jackson, but by the time Crockett was in Congress and Jackson was president, Crockett disliked his old commander so much that he would boast to other lawmakers: “Look at my neck and you will not find any collar with a label, ‘My Dog, Andrew Jackson.’”