January 30: Assassination Attempt on Andrew Jackson

On this date in History .... 1835:

The first attempt to assassinate a United States President was tried against President Andrew Jackson.

 

Richard Lawrence discharged 2 separate pistols in the House chamber of the U.S. Congress during a funeral service honoring Rep. Warren Davis of So. Carolina. Both weapons misfired.  Jackson began beating Lawrence with his walking stick until members of Congress pulled Jackson off of him. 

 

 

Lawrence was subdued by other members of Congress, (including Congressman Davy Crockett), arrested, found to be insane & sent to a mental hospital.

Jackson was certain that Lawrence had been paid by political opponents to kill him but this was never proven. 

100 years later, the Smithsonian did a test-fire on the guns used by Lawrence and determined that the odds of BOTH guns misfiring was 1 in 125,000.

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