Old Hickory in Your Face

This stamp honors Andrew Jackson. It is sometimes called the “Black Jack”. The Black comes from the color of the stamp and the Jack from his last name Jackson.

Andrew Jackson was born in 1767 near the border between the Carolinas.  His father died shortly before Andrew was born, and his mother died of cholera when he was 14.

Jackson became a lawyer on the Tennessee frontier. He was appointed commander of the Tennessee militia by the time he was 34. He became a hero in the War of 1812 after soundly defeating the British in New Orleans. His troops said he was “tough as old hickory” wood, thus earning his nickname, Old Hickory.

Jackson’s actions in seizing Florida during the First Seminole War were instrumental in Spain’s ceding the land to the United States.

Jackson was nominated for President in the 1824 race, but he lost to John Quincy Adams in a decision made by the House of Representatives. However, he defeated Adams in 1828 and was reelected in 1832.

It was not until 18 years after his death that he was honored on a U.S. postage stamp – the 2c “Black Jack” shown here.

Cataloging the 1866 Andrew Jackson 2c

Even though this stamp wasn’t issued until 1863, it’s normally included in the same set, or series, that began in 1861.

It was produced to fill the need for a changed postal rate for newspapers, magazines, and local deliveries. Sometimes it was cut in half and used as a 1c stamp when there were shortages on the Franklin stamp at a given post office. Such stamps (other issues were used this way as well) are known as bisects.

There are five varieties of the Jackson stamp, mostly due to different grills being applied. Grills were a waffle pattern pressed into the stamp to prevent people from washing off the cancelation and illegally reusing the postage.

The Minimalist Catalog combines all of these into one item known as USC 12.

Andrew Jackson 2c Statistics
Date Used	Designer	Printing	Number
7/1/1863	James Macdonough	National Bank Note Company	256,566,000