Andrew Jackson
Seventh president of the United States, who signed the Indian Removal Act that led to the "Trail of Tears."
Life
Frontier boyhood
Jackson came from a poor family on the South Carolina frontier and fought in the War of Independence at thirteen. He later became a lawyer, planter and slaveholder in Tennessee, and his victory over the British army at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 made him a national hero.
New Orleans
Elected president in 1828, he cast himself as "the representative of the common man," broadened the electorate and laid the foundations of the Democratic Party; he clashed with Congress and vetoed the recharter of the Second Bank of the United States.
Indian Removal
In 1830 he signed the Indian Removal Act, forcing the Indigenous peoples of the Southeast to move west of the Mississippi. He ignored a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Cherokee, and the forced removal, carried out after he left office, led to the "Trail of Tears." He died in 1845.
Legacy
Jackson ushered in "Jacksonian democracy," broadening the political participation of ordinary white men; at the same time he was a slaveholder and a chief driver of the forced removal of American Indians, and opinions of him are polarized.
Did you know? His portrait appears on the US twenty-dollar bill, and whether to replace it has long been debated.
Key dates
- 1815Battle of New Orleans
- 1829Inaugurated as president
- 1830Signed the Indian Removal Act
- 1832Vetoed the recharter of the Bank of the United States
- 1837Left office
- 1845Died