Early Life
Arnold was born in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, on May 3, 1798. He moved with his parents to Knox County, Tennessee, in 1808. At the age of fourteen, he enlisted as a drummer boy in the War of 1812. During the war, he became horrified when General Andrew Jackson ordered a soldier court-martialed and shot for straggling, and developed a negative view of Jackson that he would retain for the rest of his life. After the war, he taught school in Knox and Grainger counties. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1822, and commenced practice in Knoxville, Tennessee.
In the mid-1820s, Arnold was one of the few Tennessee politicians who opposed the initiatives of Jackson. In 1825, he unsuccessfully ran for Congress against Jackson ally and three-term 2nd district incumbent John Cocke, losing by a vote of 4,770 to 3,343. When he again ran for the seat in 1827, he circulated a pamphlet in the 2nd district that assailed Jackson's character, and rehashed an oft-repeated accusation that Jackson was an adulterer. He was narrowly defeated by the pro-Jackson candidate, Pryor Lea, 3,688 votes to 3,316. In 1828, Arnold endorsed John Quincy Adams for president.
In 1829, Arnold again opposed Lea for the 2nd district seat, and was again narrowly defeated, 4,713 votes to 4,496. Arnold charged Lea with voter fraud, alleging that bribery and perjury had occurred, and suggesting that pro-Jackson state election officials had "prostituted and trampled under foot" the state's election laws. The House Committee on Elections dismissed his claim, however, citing lack of evidence.
Read more about this topic: Thomas Dickens Arnold
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