Andrew Jackson facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Andrew Jackson


7th President of the United States
In office March 4, 1829 – March 3, 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	(1767-03-15)March 15, 1767 Waxhaws area of South Carolina, USA
Died	June 8, 1845(1845-06-08) (aged 78) The Hermitage, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Political party	Democratic
Spouses	Widowed. Rachel Donelson Robards Jackson (niece Emily Donelson Jackson and daughter-in-law Sarah Yorke Jackson were first ladies)

Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) became a General in the War of 1812 and was considered to be a war hero. He became the seventh President of the United States of America. He was the first Democrat and is on the Twenty Dollar Bill.

Early life
Marriage
Military career
Politics
Legacy
Death
Interesting facts about Andrew Jackson
Images for kids
See also

Early life

Andrew Jackson was born on March 15, 1767, in the Waxhaws region of the Carolinas. His parents were Scots-Irish colonists Andrew Jackson and his wife Elizabeth Hutchinson, Presbyterians who had emigrated from Ulster, Ireland, two years earlier.

As a young boy, Jackson was easily offended and was considered something of a bully. He was, however, said to have taken a group of younger and weaker boys under his wing and been very kind to them.

During the revolutionary war, young Andrew Jackson refused to shine the muddy boots of a British officer and received a saber cut across his hand and forehead. These marks stayed with him forever.

Andrew became an orphan at age 14. He blamed the British personally for the loss of his brothers and mother.

He was not a rich man and did not have a college education. He moved to Tennessee and became a politician.

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.

Military career

In 1801, he was appointed colonel of the Tennessee militia and was elected its commander the following year.

He led troops during the Creek War of 1813–1814, winning the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. The subsequent Treaty of Fort Jackson required the Creek surrender of vast lands in present-day Alabama and Georgia.

In the concurrent war against the British, Jackson's victory in 1815 at the Battle of New Orleans made him a national hero.

Jackson then led U.S. forces in the First Seminole War, which led to the annexation of Florida from Spain.

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 the 1800s he commanded the Tennessee Militia and fought Indians. During the War of 1812 he became a general and won the Battle of New Orleans which made him very famous. 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 1832 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. He is the first president to have had an attempted assassination.

During his Presidency, he 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. 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 slavery, and against Indians.

Death

The tomb of Andrew and Rachel Jackson located at The Hermitage

Jackson's age and illness eventually overcame him. On June 8, 1845, he was surrounded by family and friends at his deathbed. Jackson, startled by their sobbing, said, "What is the matter with my dear children? Have I alarmed you? Oh, do not cry. Be good children and we will all meet in Heaven."

He died immediately after at the age of 78 of heart failure.

In his will, Jackson left his entire estate to Andrew Jackson Jr. except for specifically enumerated items that were left to various friends and family members.

Interesting facts about Andrew Jackson

He was known as the “people's president”.
He is featured on the $20 bill.
He became a war hero during the War of 1812 when he defeated the British at the Battle of New Orleans.
He was the target of the first attempted presidential assassination on January 30, 1835.
He's regarded as the founder of the modern Democratic Party.
During his presidency he oversaw the removal of around 45,000 Native Americans from their ancestral homes so that European settlers could live there. This resulted in the Trail of Tears.
He was in favor of slavery.
He killed a man in a duel.
His nickname was "Old Hickory"

Images for kids

Young Jackson Refusing to Clean Major Coffin's Boots (1876 lithograph)
General Andrew Jackson as pictured in Harper's Magazine, Vol 28, "War with the Creek Indians", page 605, 1864
General Andrew Jackson by John Wesley Jarvis, c. 1819
The Battle of New Orleans. General Andrew Jackson stands on the parapet of his defenses as his troops repulse attacking Highlanders, by painter Edward Percy Moran in 1910.
Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans, painted by Thomas Sully in 1845 from an earlier portrait he had completed from life in 1824
Trial of Robert Ambrister during the Seminole War. Ambrister was one of two British subjects executed by General Jackson. (1848)
Teracotta bust of General Jackson by William Rush, 1819
Jackson in 1824, painted by Thomas Sully
President Andrew Jackson New York: Ritchie & Co. (1860)
Jackson's Indian Removal Act and subsequent treaties resulted in the forced removal of the major tribes of the Southeast from their traditional territories, many along the Trail of Tears.
Portrait of Jackson by Earl, 1830
William C. Rives, Jackson's Minister to France, successfully negotiated a reparations treaty with France in 1831.
1833 Democratic cartoon shows Jackson destroying the "Devil's Bank"
Richard Lawrence's attempt on Jackson's life, as depicted in an 1835 etching
USS Porpoise, a brig ship laid down in 1835 and launched in May 1836; used in the U.S. Exploring Expedition
A New York newspaper blamed the Panic of 1837 on Andrew Jackson, depicted in spectacles and top hat.
Mezzotint after a Daguerreotype of Jackson by Mathew Brady, April 15, 1845
Tennessee Gentleman, portrait of Jackson, c. 1831, from the collection of The Hermitage
Andrew Jackson as Grand Master of Tennessee, 1822
Equestrian statue of Jackson, Jackson County Courthouse, Kansas City, Missouri, commissioned by Judge Harry S. Truman
Jackson portrait on obverse $20 bill