Andrew Jackson (U.S. President)
Andrew Jackson
Education
Military
Andrew Jackson (b. on March 15, 1767, in the Waxhaws Region of the Carolinas) was the 7th president of the United States. He served from 1829 to 1837. He died on June 8, 1845, at the age of 78.[1]
Jackson was a member of the Democratic-Republican Party before founding the Democratic Party. His vice presidents were John C. Calhoun (1829-1832) and Martin Van Buren (1833-1837).[2]Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name cannot be a simple integer. Use a descriptive title
Jackson was president during the Black Hawk War (1832) and the Second Seminole War (1835-1842).
Prior to serving as president, Jackson was an attorney and was the first person elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee. He led U.S. troops during the War of 1812 and in the Battle of New Orleans in 1815.[3]
Biography
Timeline of life events
Below is an abbreviated outline of Jackson's personal, professional, and political career:[2][1]
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Before the presidency
Andrew Jackson was born on March 15, 1767, in the Waxhaws region on the border of North Carolina and South Carolina. He studied law as an apprentice in Salisbury, North Carolina, and was admitted to the bar in 1787. In 1788, he moved to Tennessee. In 1796, he served as a member of the convention which established the Tennessee Constitution and was elected as Tennessee's first representative in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1797, he was elected to the U.S. Senate but resigned after eight months.[2][1]
In 1797 he acquired a cotton plantation, known as the Hermitage, in Davidson County, Tennessee, where he kept African-American slaves. From 1798-1804, Jackson served as a circuit judge on the Tennessee superior court. In 1802, he was appointed to serve as the major general of the Tennessee militia. In 1812, Jackson served as a major general and led U.S. troops to victories in many battles. After these successes, Jackson was promoted to major general of the U.S. Army. In 1815, Jackson led U.S. forces in the Battle of New Orleans, emerging victorious. Jackson served as commander of the Army's southern division during the First Seminole War and eventually overthrew West Florida Governor José Masot. In 1821, Jackson served as the military governor of Florida for several months.[2][1]
In 1824, he ran for president unsuccessfully against John Quincy Adams, who was elected president by the U.S. House of Representatives after no candidate won a clear majority of the electoral college votes. Of the 270 electoral votes, Jackson received 99, Adams received 84, William H. Crawford received 41, and Henry Clay received 37. Popular votes were counted for the first time in this election.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name cannot be a simple integer. Use a descriptive title Jackson won the popular vote with 153,544 votes to Adams' 108,740, though Adams was elected president by the House of Representatives, which Jackson referred to as a corrupt agreement, also known as the Corrupt Bargain.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name cannot be a simple integer. Use a descriptive titleCite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name cannot be a simple integer. Use a descriptive title
Jackson won the presidency in the 1828 election against John Quincy Adams. Jackson received 178 electoral college votes, with a popular vote total of 647,286. Adams received 83 electoral college votes and captured 508,064 popular votes.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name cannot be a simple integer. Use a descriptive title
Presidency
After assuming the office of the presidency, Jackson set a new precedent by using his veto power as a matter of policy, as previous presidents only vetoed bills they deemed unconstitutional. Because the House in 1824 elected Adams president despite Jackson winning the popular vote, Jackson and his supporters proposed the idea of abolishing the electoral college. Jackson also replaced many incumbent officeholders including bureau chiefs, land and custom officers, attorneys, and federal marshals with his own supporters, eventually to become known as the spoils system.[4][2] Those who supported and opposed Jackson emerged as two new political parties. Jackson supporters became the Democratic Party and those opposing Jackson were known as the Whig Party.[2][1]
Jackson was reelected in 1832, where he defeated Henry Clay in a vote of 687,502 to 530,189. Jackson received 219 electoral college votes to Clay's 49. John Floyd and William Writ carried 11 and 7, respectively.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name cannot be a simple integer. Use a descriptive title During his second term, he was the first target of a presidential assassination attempt on January 30, 1835, though the attempt failed. History.com recounts the event as follows: "Richard Lawrence, an unemployed house painter, approached Jackson ... but his gun misfired. Jackson confronted his attacker, clubbing Lawrence several times with his walking cane. During the scuffle, Lawrence managed to pull out a second loaded pistol and pulled the trigger, but it also misfired... It was later determined that the odds of both guns misfiring during the assassination attempt were one in 125,000."[2][5]
In 1832, the charter of the Bank of the United States was to expire, and Jackson and his supporters opposed the bank. Whigs, headed by Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, led the argument in favor of the bank's recharter. Jackson vetoed the recharter of the bank, saying, that the bank constituted the “prostration of our Government to the advancement of the few at the expense of the many.”[2][1]
In 1830, Jackson had signed the Indian Removal Act, which gave him authority to make treaties with Native American tribes resulting in their displacement. When Georgia violated a treaty and claimed nine million of acres of land that had, under federal law, been guaranteed to the Cherokee Indians, Jackson did not act. He also did not enforce a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Georgia had no authority over the tribal lands. In 1835, the Cherokee Indians signed a treaty giving up their land. In 1838, this resulted in the Trail of Tears, where the Cherokees relocated to territory west of Arkansas, causing the death of thousands.[2][1]
Jackson was succeeded by Martin van Buren, who won the presidential election in 1836.
The following is a timeline of important events that took place during Jackson's presidency:[6]
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Post-presidency
Jackson left office in 1837 and died at his home, the Hermitage, in June of 1845.[2]
Personal
Jackson married Rachel Donelson Robards, who was still married to Captain Lewis Robards at the time. The couple was legally married in 1794, though the press often accused Rachel of bigamy. They never had biological children, but adopted three sons, two of which were twin infant orphans Jackson found during the Creek War.[2]
Jackson loved to gamble, especially wagering on horse races. He gambled on cards, dice, and cockfights. He had gambled away all of his grandfather's inheritance when he was a teenager.[7]
Jackson's cause of death was lead poisoning from two bullets which had been lodged in his chest for years.[2] One bullet was from a duel with Charles Dickinson, who had called Jackson a "worthless scoundrel, a paltroon and a coward” in an 1806 newspaper. Dickinson struck Jackson near the heart. Jackson survived and fatally fired on Dickinson.[7]
President Trump and Andrew Jackson
In January 2017, President Donald Trump hung a portrait of Jackson in the Oval Office and visited Jackson's tomb in Nashville. Trump said Jackson was "an amazing figure in American history — very unique so many ways."[8] A historian at McGill University and author of Avenging the People: Andrew Jackson, the Rule of Law, and the American Nation, said, "Trump is the first president to so openly admire and point to Jackson as a model, and to borrow so clearly and explicitly from the language of Jacksonian ‘democracy.’ It has been more common for 20th century presidents to model themselves on recent leaders whom they personally knew."[9]
Elections
1824 presidential election
In 1824, John Quincy Adams was elected president by the U.S. House of Representatives after no candidate won a majority of the electoral votes, though Jackson won the popular vote.
| U.S. presidential election, 1824 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Electoral votes | |
| Democratic-Republican |  John Quincy Adams |
31% | 108,740 | 84 | |
| Democratic-Republican | Andrew Jackson | 43.8% | 153,544 | 99 | |
| Democratic-Republican | William H. Crawford | 11.7% | 40,856 | 41 | |
| Democratic-Republican | Henry Clay | 13.6% | 47,531 | 37 | |
| Total Votes | 350,671 | 261 | |||
| Election results via: 1824 official election results |
1828 presidential election
In 1828, Andrew Jackson defeated John Quincy Adams in the general election for the United States presidency.
| U.S. presidential election, 1828 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Electoral votes | |
| Democratic | Andrew Jackson |
56% | 647,286 | 178 | |
| National Republican | John Quincy Adams | 44% | 508,064 | 83 | |
| Total Votes | 1,155,350 | 261 | |||
| Election results via: 1828 official election results |
1832 presidential election
In 1832, Jackson won re-election to the presidency against Henry Clay.
John Floyd is represented in the chart as having 0 votes because the number of votes he received is unknown.
| U.S. presidential election, 1832 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Electoral votes | |
| Democratic | Andrew Jackson Incumbent |
52.1% | 687,502 | 219 | |
| National Republican | Henry Clay | 40.2% | 530,189 | 49 | |
| Independent | John Floyd | 0% | 0 | 11 | |
| Anti-Masonic | William Writ | 7.7% | 101,051 | 7 | |
| Total Votes | 1,318,742 | 286 | |||
| Election results via: 1832 official election results |
State of the Union addresses
Every year in office, the president of the United States addresses Congress on the present state of affairs as well as the administration's goals for the coming year.[10] Following are transcripts from Jackson's State of the Nation addresses.
- December 8, 1829
- December 6, 1830
- December 6, 1831
- December 4, 1832
- December 3, 1833
- December 1, 1834
- December 7, 1835
- December 5, 1836
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 History, "Andrew Jackson," accessed July 4, 2018
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Biography.com, "Andrew Jackson," accessed May 30, 2018
- ↑ William Joseph Snelling, "A Brief and Impartial History of the Life and Actions of Andrew Jackson: page 8," accessed June 2, 2018
- ↑ Miller Center, "Andrew Jackson Domestic Affairs," accessed uly 4, 2018
- ↑ History, "Andrew Jackson narrowly escapes assassination," accessed July 4, 2018
- ↑ Presidential Power, "Andrew Jackson Timeline," accessed June 2, 2018
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 History, "10 Things You May Not Know About Andrew Jackson," accessed June 2, 2018
- ↑ The Hill, "Trump hangs portrait of Andrew Jackson in Oval Office," accessed June 2, 2018
- ↑ Politifact, "What's up with Donald Trump and Andrew Jackson?" accessed June 2, 2018
- ↑ Congressional Research Service, "The President’s State of the Union Address: Tradition, Function, and Policy Implications," January 24, 2014
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by John Quincy Adams (Democratic-Republican) |
President of the United States 1829-1837 |
Succeeded by Martin Van Buren (D) |
