Brief chronology of the westward expansion era -- Presidents and vice-presidents before the Civil War -- Prologue : the empire for liberty -- Thomas Jefferson : he sees the elephant -- Andrew Jackson : Old Hickory at the Bend -- John Chapman : apples and angels -- David Crockett : comedian and martyr, his life and death -- Sam Houston : the president who loved to dance -- James K. Polk : Young Hickory keeps a diary -- Winfield Scott : Old Fuss and Feathers goes to the mountain -- Kit Carson : taking Boone's Trace to the Pacific -- Nicholas Trist : the search for a father voice -- Epilogue : John Quincy Adams : Old Man Eloquent.