Andrew Jackson rose from humble backcountry origins to become a famous military hero and the seventh president of the United States. Many
Americans, especially those of the western frontier, honored him as an
example of the new, self-made American. Others viewed him as a military leader who used unnecessary brutality and as a president who exceeded his authority and divided his political party.
Youth during the American Revolution
Jackson’s parents emigrated to the backwoods of South Carolina from
northern Ireland in 1765, and Andrew’s father died a few days before his
birth. Jackson, who was born on March 15, 1767, was a reckless and
quick-tempered boy. He attended some local schools, and could read and
write, but he was less educated than any of the U.S. presidents before
him.
The American Revolution (1775–83; the war for independence
from Great Britain) overshadowed Jackson’s youth. In 1779, the
thirteen-year-old Andrew and his brother enlisted in the army and were
soon captured by the British. During their captivity, both brothers
caught smallpox, an infectious disease. The British released them, and
they walked 40 miles home, barefoot and coatless. Two days after they
arrived, Andrew’s brother died. His mother died soon after. At fourteen,
Jackson was alone. The hatred he felt for the British remained with him for life.
A young lawyer
After a somewhat wild youth, Jackson decided
to study law. Admitted to the bar (licensed to
practice law) in 1787, he set out for Tennessee
to serve as a prosecuting attorney. He was soon
appointed attorney general. Financial successes
allowed him to begin building a plantation and
to purchase slaves to work on it. He served in
the Tennessee state legislature, then briefly as a
U.S. senator, and later served six years as a judge
in the Tennessee Superior Court.
Jackson married a divorced woman, Rachel
Donelson Robard, in 1794, and was a devoted
husband. In 1806, a man insulted Rachel’s
honor. Jackson challenged him to a duel and
killed him.
Military career
Jackson began his military career as commander
of a group of Tennessee volunteers in the War of
1812 (a conflict between England and the United States over trade issues). In this role, he destroyed a large part of the population of the
Creek Indians in Mississippi Territory who had been involved in skirmishes with U.S. troops. Promoted into the regular army, Jackson led a
large force against the British at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. He
triumphed in the battle and emerged as the war’s greatest hero.
Three years later, Jackson invaded Florida, which at the time was a
Spanish territory, in pursuit of Seminole Indians resisting relocation to
Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). Thus began the first of the
Seminole Wars (1817–18). Many of Jackson’s actions in Florida were
questionable. He ordered the execution of two British subjects suspected
of aiding the Indians, and his brutal conduct toward Indians earned him
a reputation among journalists and politicians as a tyrant and a murderer. But after his campaign, Spain ceded Florida to the United States,
which greatly pleased many Americans. Jackson’s popularity as a nononsense military leader grew.
For a short period in 1821, Jackson served as governor of the Florida
Territory. He resigned when the Tennessee legislature chose him for the U.S. Senate. Two years later, he stepped down to make his first bid for
the presidency.
Lost election of 1824
In the 1824 election, different factions of the Democratic-Republican
Party ran for president. Jackson won the highest number of popular and
electoral votes (votes cast by the electoral college, made up of members
chosen by each state to elect a president), but he did not have the majority of electoral votes required by the Constitution. Therefore, it was up
to the House of Representatives to select a president. When it chose
John Quincy Adams (1767–1848; served 1825–29), Jackson was convinced that the election had been fixed. For the next four years, Jackson’s
supporters made things difficult for the Adams administration, opposing
many of its initiatives.
Jackson ran for president again in 1828. In this campaign, his supporters emerged as the new “Jacksonian” Democratic Party. Supporters
of Adams were called National Republicans, later to become the Whig
Party. Jackson won an overwhelming victory.
The presidency
Jackson’s first term was marked by a conflict between him and his vice
president, John C. Calhoun (1782–1850) over the issue of nullification,
which held that if a state objects to a federal law, it has the right to block
the law’s enforcement. (See Nullification Controversy.) Calhoun’s
home state of South Carolina attempted to nullify the tariffs (taxes on
imports and exports) of 1828 and 1829; Jackson reacted by calling for
military action against South Carolina. It took a compromise tariff to
avoid confrontation.
As president, Jackson continued to try to take Indian land, as he had
done in the military. He promoted the Indian Removal Act, which was
passed by Congress in 1830. The act called for the forced march of thousands of American Indians from their native lands in the Southeast along
the “Trail of Tears” into Indian Territory, causing great suffering and
death.
Jackson’s second term as president was dominated by his campaign
to abolish the national bank system, which he felt gave too much power
to the federal government and favored the Northeast over the South and West. He forced the removal of federal deposits from the Second Bank
of the United States and distributed them among a favored group of state
banks. Senate members protested, declaring the president’s actions unconstitutional, but he would not budge on the issue. In his last months
in office, a national financial crisis resulted from these drastic measures.
His critics began to call him “King Andrew,” because they believed he
had taken more power than the Constitution allowed a president.
After his presidency, Jackson retired to his estate in Tennessee, the
Hermitage, but remained a powerful force in the Democratic Party. He died in 1845.