An unemployed house painter named Richard Lawrence fired two guns at Jackson in Washington, D.C. in February 1835, as Jackson was leaving the funeral service of former U.S. Congressman Warren R. Davis. Jackson chased his assailant with his cane and made sure that Lawrence was apprehended.

Lawrence was a mentally ill man who sometimes believed that he was the King of England. He had tried to kill his sister before and had threatened others. Lawrence was deemed insane and never brought to trial.