How Did Henry Clay Cross The Mississippi

Journal of Private Detective Andrew Jahns

February 24th, 1837
The news of the murder of the late President Andrew Jackson has just come across my desk, and I must say that I am quite shocked. With only a few days until the end of his term, it was an odd time for him to be assassinated. After thinking about it however, he amassed a considerable number of enemies throughout his political career, and there are a number of people with clear motive for this murder. My initial thoughts are that this murder was the work of Jackson’s long time political rival, Henry Clay.

February 26th, 1837 I met with the Washington D.C. Chief of Police yesterday, and he handed me the satchel that was buried near the crime scene. The items found inside this satchel
After a brief period of meticulous contemplation, I believe that this message is intended to read, “cross the Mississippi,” as in the Mississippi River. I believe this is a reference to Henry Clay’s American System, which was an economic system calling for the auction of western lands in order to finance education and pay off government debt. Clay’s system was intended to spur economic development, decrease reliance on imports, and tie together the different sections of the country. Clay promoted the westward movement in order to unite our country, therefore encouraging people to, “cross the Mississippi.” A Copy of The Globe, dated Tuesday December 7, 1830 was also found inside the satchel. The Globe was a pro-Jackson newspaper edited by Frank Preston Blair. The date is also significant as it was just before Jackson relocated the Cherokee tribe. This copy of The Globe points to a new suspect named John Ross, who was the chief of the Cherokee nation. He was clearly irate about being kicked of his tribes land, which would give him good reason to conspire against Jackson. The following clue was a pass to the supreme court which again points to John Ross as he attended the Supreme Court's hearing in which they ruled that the Cherokee people had the rights to their lands and that Georgia couldn’t relocate them. This was a big win for Ross and his people until Jackson decided to go against the Supreme Court's ruling
Jackson’s political rivals had every reason to want him dead, so much so that John C. Calhoun and Henry Clay decided to co-conspire and attempt to pluck the thorn from their side which was President Andrew Jackson. Henry Clay’s political ally and head of the 2nd National Bank, Nicholas Biddle, caught wind of the plan from Clay and was eager to join as he resented Jackson for shutting down the bank. The three planned out the murder, but none of them wanted to risk their careers by getting their hands dirty. They could have easily hired a gunman, but they needed someone they could trust so they recruited Chief John Ross, who was more than willing to put a few bullets in Jackson after being forced to march the trail of tears with his disappointed people. Then, on February 22nd, 1837, the plan was put into action as John Ross approached President Andrew Jackson from behind and when he was close enough, shot him five times through the chest. After he was sure Jackson was dead, Ross buried the satchel full of the foursomes sentiments regarding Jackson, so as to signify his official