Talk:Rachel Jackson

First Lady

Rachel was never first lady of the United States. If you look at the dates of her death and Andrew's presidency, you can see that it is patently impossible. She died before his inauguration (many speculate because the election was so hard on her). Her niece and her daughter in-law served as Jackson's first lady for his two terms, respectively. As such, I have removed the references to her as a legitimate "first lady." --Rvanarsdale (talk) 03:00, 20 March 2014 (UTC)

Buried?

Anybody know where Rachel was buried, and if she remained there after Jackson's death? --BizMgr (talk) 04:26, 18 January 2009 (UTC)

reply --- she is buried at Hermitage, in the garden. Pres. Jackson is also buried there. The name of their home was Hermitage, and now the city of Hermitage, just outside of Nashville. There is also a small plot of other families members, and one ex-slave. Pres and Mrs. Jackson's gravesite is like a small gazebo. How do I know? I was just there last week!65.165.95.211 (talk) 07:26, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

try and double check for grammatical and spelling errors there are numerous amounts throughout this article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.50.59.56 (talk) 16:09, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

External links modified

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Rachel Donelson Jackson

Current wikipedia posting does not list Samuel Donelson as the brother of Rachel Donelson Jackson. 71.217.177.207 (talk) 23:35, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

Suggestion: 3 things missing from lede

Three facts that make Rachel Jackson notable appear to be missing from the lede (and could be more fully described in the article).

1. The circumstances of her elopement and marriage to Andrew Jackson were a national political issue in the 1828 U.S. presidential election.
2. Rachel died in 1828, of an apparent heart attack, after her husband's election and before his inauguration as president.
3. Pres. Jackson continually blamed Rachel Jackson's death on his political enemies.

It might be a good idea to contrast competing narratives of the marriage:

• the pro-Jackson account of a virtuous Protestant couple who married in good faith and with the purest of motives, and whose unwitting bigamy never actually harmed Rachel's estranged first husband,
• vs. the anti-Jackson account of a sex scandal involving Rachel as a serial adulterer in an illegitimate, Spanish Catholic marriage to the rash, violent Jackson.

Neither of these versions is trustworthy but both are historically significant.

• Finally, introduce more recent and balanced narratives supported by evidence and presented by qualified historians.

The timing of Rachel's death has perhaps lent too much credence to her alleged innocence. Pres. Jackson's high standing among U.S. presidents and as the claimed founder of the Democratic Party has also tended to dampen motivations for exploring the facts behind this political scandal until relatively recently. Now that we've entered the Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson phase of his historical reputation, we should be on guard against choosing the worst possible interpretation of his behavior in his private life. As historian Ann Toplovich has written, social customs in the Old Southwest, and the way laws changed as borders moved and states were admitted to the Union, had more than a little to do with all this. — ℜob C. alias ALAROB 20:42, 30 August 2025 (UTC)