Andrew Jackson: Life, Presidency, and Legacy

Early Life and Military Rise

Andrew Jackson was born on March 15, 1767, in the backwoods of the Waxhaw area near the border of North and South Carolina. He was the third child of Andrew and Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson, who were of Scots-Irish descent. Jackson's father died in an accident three weeks before his birth, and his mother gave birth to Jackson while traveling from the burial site of her husband, making the exact location of his birth unknown.

At the young age of 13, Jackson joined the Continental Army as a courier, working for Colonel Davie, the patriots' commander. He began traveling with American soldiers, getting his first taste of military life by running errands and delivering messages. The Revolutionary War left Jackson bitter and an orphan at the tender age of 14. His oldest brother died of heat stroke, and his mother and another brother died from other diseases.

Over the next year and a half, Jackson was raised by one of his uncles, where he learned the trade of saddle making. In Salisbury, North Carolina, young Jackson began teaching but soon lost interest. He then began studying law for a few years until 1787, when he was admitted to the bar. Wanting to escape city life and practice law, he headed west to the western district of North Carolina, which is now Tennessee.

In Tennessee, Jackson built a legal practice on his own persona, entered into trading ventures, and began to obtain land. Not long after his arrival, he was appointed solicitor for the western district. Jackson met his wife Rachel Donelson before she was legally divorced from her previous husband, and they later married, a circumstance that would become crucial during his later run for the presidency. Jackson rose in politics, serving as a member of the convention that drafted the Tennessee Constitution. In 1796, he was elected as the sole member from the new state to the U.S. House of Representatives. The following year, when his political chief William Blount was expelled from the Senate, Jackson resigned and ran for the vacant seat to vindicate his party. He won but resigned again in 1798. From 1798 to 1804, he served notably as judge of the Tennessee superior court.

With his political career seemingly at an end, Jackson began to pursue military action. In 1801, he was appointed commander of the Tennessee militia with the rank of colonel. When the United States declared war on Great Britain in 1812, Jackson's force was ordered to New Orleans but received orders to disperse. Unwilling to leave his army behind in the hands of General Wilkinson, Jackson decided to bring his army back to Tennessee, earning him the nickname "Old Hickory" because he stood as firm as old hickory wood.

The Battle of New Orleans and War Hero Status

In March 1814, Jackson led his troops into the Battle of the Horseshoe Bend, where they defeated the "Red Stick" Creek Indians. For this accomplishment and his outstanding leadership, Jackson was elected major general and given command of his own southern frontier. After learning that the British were planning an attack on New Orleans to gain entry to America, Jackson was ordered to provide a defense.

On January 8, 1815, Jackson's 5,000 soldiers won a decisive victory at the Battle of New Orleans over 7,500 British troops. The British suffered 2,037 casualties: 291 dead (including three senior generals), 1,262 wounded, and 484 captured or missing. In contrast, the Americans had only 71 casualties: 13 dead, 39 wounded, and 19 missing. Although the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the war, had been signed two weeks earlier, Jackson was still deemed a war hero by the American public. This lopsided victory made Jackson a national celebrity and provided the political capital he would later use to rise to the presidency.

Jackson later retired from his military career after his final victory in the First Seminole War in Florida. He briefly took over the governorship of the newly added Florida territory, but this position was short-lived as Jackson decided that he wanted to pursue the presidency.

The Road to the Presidency

Jackson rode on a wave of popularity that almost took him into the presidency in the election of 1824. However, the vote was split among Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams, and William H. Crawford. When the election was decided in the House of Representatives, Clay threw his influence to Adams, and Adams became president instead. This result was deeply disappointing to Jackson and his supporters.

When Jackson took office after his 1828 election, many people in the East feared him. Thomas Jefferson once wrote, "I feel very much alarmed at the prospect of seeing General Jackson president. He is one of the most unfit men I know of for the place.… He is a dangerous man." Despite such remarks from established political figures, Jackson defeated Adams and the Republican Party in the election of 1828 with a stunning 178 to 83 electoral vote count.

Jackson's victory in 1828 came with significant assistance from political allies. Vice President John Calhoun helped bring Jackson the followers of William Crawford, and Martin Van Buren, along with the Albany Regency, swung liberal-controlled New York to Jackson. He secured support from a mass number of voters across the entire country, including Pennsylvania and the entire West and South. Jackson became the first President elected from west of the Appalachians and the oldest man to assume office during that time.

His victory was touched with grief when Rachel died from sickness on December 22, 1828, before his inauguration. He would remain President through a second term, easily winning against Republican Henry Clay in 1832.

Jackson's Presidency and Key Policies

Although Jackson did not have as much public office experience as his predecessors, he relied heavily on the ideas of political allies such as Secretary of State Martin Van Buren and Secretary of War John H. Eaton. However, Jackson chose not to confer with Cabinet members on administrative decisions. Instead, he formed a group of informal advisors, which included newspaper editors, friends from Tennessee, and his own nephew. This informal group became known as the "Kitchen Cabinet."

Jackson also implemented the spoils system, in which he appointed many government and public official positions to party supporters as a reward for their loyalty. This practice represented a departure from earlier administrations and transformed the nature of federal patronage.

Jackson faced significant issues during his presidency. One of the main two was the Second Bank of the United States, which Jackson vetoed because he felt that the bank was a monopoly that held back the average man. This veto reflected his populist stance against what he viewed as elite financial institutions.

The other major issue was the removal of Native Americans. Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830. He had no sympathy for Native Americans after his war encounters with them. The Indians were forced to abandon their homes and move west with lack of food and frigid weather. Many deaths occurred during this harsh migration, and the Cherokees named it the Trail of Tears, one of the most tragic episodes in American history.