Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson Jr. (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American politician who was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. He was the first president to be a Democrat[1] and is on the twenty dollar bill. His nickname was "Old Hickory". He forced many Native Americans to leave their homeland so white people could live there, and many died and contracted diseases. This was called the Trail of Tears.
Andrew Jackson | |
---|---|
7th President of the United States | |
In office March 4, 1829 – March 4, 1837 | |
Vice President | John C. Calhoun (1829-1832) Martin Van Buren (1833-1837) |
Preceded by | John Quincy Adams |
Succeeded by | Martin Van Buren |
Military Governor of Florida | |
In office March 10, 1821 – December 31, 1821 | |
Appointed by | James Monroe |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | William Pope Duval |
United States Senator from Tennessee | |
In office March 4, 1823 – October 14, 1825 | |
Preceded by | John Williams |
Succeeded by | Hugh Lawson White |
In office September 26, 1797 – April 1, 1798 | |
Preceded by | William Cocke |
Succeeded by | Daniel Smith |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's at-large district | |
In office December 4, 1796 – September 26, 1797 | |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | William Claiborne |
Personal details | |
Born | Waxhaw settlements, Carolina, USA | March 15, 1767
Died | June 8, 1845 Nashville, Tennessee, USA | (aged 78)
Nationality | American |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Rachel Donelson Robards Jackson (niece Emily Donelson Jackson and daughter-in-law Sarah Yorke Jackson were first ladies) |
Children | Andrew Jackson III, Lyncoya Jackson, Theodore Jackson |
Parents | Andrew Jackson, Sr. (father) Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson (mother) |
Religion | Presbyterianism |
Early life
As a boy Andrew Jackson was a messenger for the Continental Army. The British caught him and mistreated him.
He was the first U.S. president who was not born into a rich family. He was not a rich man and did not have a college education. He moved to Tennessee and became a politician.
Military
During the War of 1812, he became a general and won the Battle of New Orleans which made him very famous. He joined the war because of childhood trauma that he had endured during the Revolutionary War; both his mother and his brother died during the war, and Jackson blamed the British and wanted to avenge his late loved ones.
Marriage
In 1791, he fell in love with Rachel Donelson Robards. They went through a marriage ceremony. However, the marriage was not legal because she had not been granted a divorce from her first husband. Therefore, they married legally three years later. They had no children, but they adopted several. He became rich and owned a large plantation.
Politics
In the 1790s Jackson was a member of the United States House of Representatives, the United States Senate, and the Supreme Court of Tennessee. In 1823 he returned to the Senate.
Andrew Jackson reorganized the Democratic Party and was its leader.
In 1828, he defeated John Quincy Adams in the Presidential Election of 1828, he became president on March 4, 1829, and four years later he was re-elected to a second term as president. In the Nullification Crisis of 1832-1833, South Carolina declared secession from the United States. Jackson threatened war, and then compromised.
In January 1835, Jackson was almost assassinated when an unemployed painter wanted to shoot him but both his guns jammed.[2] He is the first president to have had an attempted assassination.[2]
In 1830, Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act which allowed the U.S. government to violently force the Native Americans to move from their land and go west. Many Native Americans were killed and the path they walked to get to the west was called the Trail of Tears.
Andrew Jackson was against the national bank of the United States because he felt that banks and their banknotes were for rich and powerful people and did not serve the interests of the common man. The national bank expired during Jackson's presidency. Jackson chose not to continue the bank.
On March 4, 1837, Andrew Jackson finished his second term. After that, vice-president Martin Van Buren was elected president and continued many of the things Jackson did. Jackson was a big influence on other Democrats during the 1800s.
Legacy
Jackson's legacy among historians is mixed, going downhill, and heavily debated. Some have liked him because he was against aristocrats, bankers, businessmen, the British Empire, cities, and paper money, and in favor of ordinary country people. Some have disliked him for the same reasons and because he was in favor of war and against Indians.
Andrew Jackson Media
The Brave Boy of the Waxhaws, a lithograph published by Currier and Ives featuring a young Jackson defending himself against a British officer during the American Revolutionary War
An 1823 portrait of Rachel Jackson by Ralph Eleaser Whiteside Earl, how housed at The Hermitage in Nashville, Tennessee
Aaron and Hannah Jackson, two slaves owned by Jackson, photographed by Theodore Schleier in 1865, now housed at The Hermitage in Nashville
The Battle of New Orleans, a 1910 portrait by Edward Percy Moran depicting the Battle of New Orleans
An 1824 portrait of Jackson by Thomas Sully
1824 U.S. presidential election results in which Jackson received a plurality of Electoral College votes. Subsequently John Quincy Adams was elected the seventh president of the United States.
Engraving of President Jackson by A. H. Ritchie after painting by D. M. Carter (c. 1860)
Lithograph cartoon The Celeste-al Cabinet by Albert A. Hoffay, published by H. R. Robinson (1836). Illustrates Jackson's cabinet during the Petticoat Affair. "Celeste" is Margaret Eaton.
References
- ↑ President Andrew Jackson the First Democrat[dead link] at College Term Papers.com
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Andrew Jackson narrowly escapes assassination". History. Retrieved July 3, 2020.