1835 Andrew Jackson - Enlisting Young Boys in the Navy

In the early 19th century, US Navy ships allowed boys as young as 13 aboard in service at a rate of one boy for every two guns the ship carried. This was not unique to America, the Royal Navy allowed boys on ships as young as eight. In 1834, Senator Samuel Southard from New Jersey wanted to expand the program by formalizing it with a Congressional Act. Southard, the former Secretary of the Navy under President James Monroe proposed such a bill in 1834 and it caught the attention of both President Andrew Jackson and his Secretary of the Navy Honorable Mahlon Dickerson. Secretary Dickerson urged Congress to reconsider the proposal to not only prepare young men for the navy, but also get boys out from "leading lives of idleness and vice". Jackson, who began his military career at age 13, shared the Secretary's sentiment and words in his 1835 State of the Union address.

You may have heard the story of Andrew Jackson as a prisoner during the Revolutionary war refused to clean mud from a British commander's boot, but did you know that at age 13, he joined the South Carolina Militia and participated in the assault on the British post of Hanging Rock under Colonel Davie. As an orphan, Jackson had a propensity for pranks, cursing and fighting, so it's no surprise that he would view the military as a great opportunity for wander less boys. Senator Southard had a much different childhood then Jackson - he attended a classical school, graduated from Princeton.  Southard was a teacher and a respected lawyer appointed to the New Jersey Supreme Court before being appointed to the US Senate. Nevertheless, these two men agreed that enlisting boys into the navy was a win-win situation.  In 1834, Southard proposed a Bill To Provide for the enlistment of Boys for the Naval Service.  The bill read as following 

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of the Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that it shall be lawful to enlist boys for the navy, with the consent of their parents or guardians, not being under thirteen, nor over eighteen years of age, to serve until they shall arrive at the age of twenty-one years; and so much of an act, entitled "An act to amend the act entitled An act to amend the act authorizing the employment of an additional naval "force",  approved, fifteenth May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, as is inconsistent with the provisions of his act, shall be, and is hereby repealed."

I do not know if Secretary Dickerson's Report on the Navy influenced Jackson, or whether Jackson influenced the report, but in the annual report on the Navy in 1835, Dickerson urged Congress to reconsider the Southard's proposal.  He wrote that, "Every year the importance of this measure becomes more apparent. Able seamen are much wanted, while there are boys enough in our cities, leading lives of idleness and vice, for want of employment, who, if thus enlisted, under judicious regulations, would, in a few years, afford us a sufficient corps of able seamen to man our navy, and, in the meantime, render services to their country worth their pay." In his 1835 State of the Union Address, Jackson brought to the attention of Congress, the Secretary's recommendation regarding the enlistment of boys.  Jackson suggested that such a proposal would establish "a nursery of skillful and able-bodied seamen" and furnish us with ample resources for any urgent needs that can be anticipated.

"As a means of strengthening this national arm I also recommend to your particular attention the propriety of the suggestion which attracted the consideration of Congress at its last session, respecting the enlistment of boys at a suitable age in the service. In this manner a nursery of skillful and able-bodied seamen can be established, which will be of the greatest importance. Next to the capacity to put afloat and arm the requisite number of ships is the possession of the means to man them efficiently, and nothing seems better calculated to aid this object than the measure proposed. As an auxiliary to the advantages derived from our extensive commercial marine, it would furnish us with a resource ample enough for all the exigencies which can be anticipated. Considering the state of our resources, it can not be doubted that whatever provision the liberality and wisdom of Congress may now adopt with a view to the perfect organization of this branch of our service will meet the approbation of all classes of our citizens."

The bill was finally approved by Congress on March 2nd, 1837. As read the bill made it "lawful to enlist boys for the navy, with the consent of their parents or guardians, not being under the age of thirteen, nor over eighteen years of age, to serve until they shall arrive at the age of twenty-one years". Because of concern that the young boys would be subject to hardship on the ships, the Navy established school ships at the principal naval yards. The program that also has been referred to as the Navy Apprentice System continued for the next 50 years. Not everyone agreed with the Secretary of the Navy or the bill.  In 1835, Reverend ASA Bullard of the Massachusetts Sabbath School society published a letter that agreed with the Secretary that "there are boys enough in our cities, leading lives of idleness and vice for want of employment, but he disagreed with the solution.  Rather than enlist in the navy, the author would have those that "will plow about our streets for midnight plunder" attend their Sabbath schools and become "children of the light".  

References

Presidency.ucsb.edu. 2020. Seventh Annual Message | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: <https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/seventh-annual-message-2> [Accessed 9 December 2020].

History.navy.mil. 2020. Annual Report Of The Secretary Of The Navy - 1835. [online] Available at: <https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/a/secnav-reports/annual-report-secretary-navy-1835.html> [Accessed 9 December 2020].

1846. The Public Statutes At Large Of The United States Of America. Charles C. Little and James Brown, p.153.

Bullard, R., 1835. The Sabbath School Visiter, Volumes 3-4. Massachusetts Sabbath School Society, p.65.

En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Samuel L. Southard. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_L._Southard> [Accessed 9 December 2020].

Home of Heroes. 2020. Andrew Jackson | Home Of Heroes. [online] Available at: <https://homeofheroes.com/heroes-stories/american-revolutionary-war/andrew-jackson/> [Accessed 9 December 2020].

Memory.loc.gov. 2020. A Century Of Lawmaking For A New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents And Debates, 1774 - 1875. [online] Available at: <https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsb&fileName=015/llsb015.db&recNum=327> [Accessed 9 December 2020].

Civilwarnavy.com. 2020. The Navy Apprentice System, 1837-1875. [online] Available at: <https://civilwarnavy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/The-Navy-Apprentice-System-1837-1875_Ron-Field.pdf> [Accessed 9 December 2020].