Hero or Villan
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson's Childhood
Andrew was born on March 15, 1767. The Revolutionary War ended Jackson's childhood and wiped out his remaining family. Andrew and his older brother Robert fought with American irregulars. When Jackson refused to shine one officer's boots, the officer struck him across the face with a saber, leaving everlasting scars. In 1781, they were captured and contracted smallpox, which caused Robert to die shortly after they were released. Andrew's mother also, fell ill and died. Young Andrew Jackson was left as an orphan and a harden veteran at age fifteen. Jackson made money by betting on horse racing and playing dice.
Andrew Jackson's military Career
Served as a major general in the War of 1812, commanded U.S. forces in a five-month campaign against the Creek Indians, allies of the British. After that campaign ended in a decisive American victory in the Battle of Tohopeka (or Horseshoe Bend) in Alabama in mid-1814, Jackson led American forces to victory over the British in the Battle of New Orleans(January 1815). Jackson became a war hero. In 1817, acting as commander of the army's southern district, Jackson ordered an invasion of Florida. After his forces captured Spanish posts at St. Mark's and Pensacola, he claimed the surrounding land for the United States. Many argued for Jackson's censure, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams defended the General Jackson's actions, and in the end they helped speed the American disagreements of Florida in 1821. Andrew Jackson overal was a great leader.
Andrew Jackson Becomes Persident
In 1828, Andrew Jackson won the election that was characterized to an unusual degree by negative personal attacks. He was the seventh President of the United States. Jackson and his wife were accused of adultery and claimed that Rachel had not been legally divorced from her first husband when she married Jackson. Shortly after Andrew's victory in 1828, the shy and pious Rachel died at the Hermitage; Jackson believed the negative attacks had hastened her death. The Jacksons did not have any children but were close to their nephews and nieces, and one niece, Emily Donelson, served as Jackson's hostess in the White House. Jackson was the nation's first frontier president, and his election marked a turning point in American politics, as the center of political power shifted from East to West,. "Old Hickory" was an undoubtedly strong personality, and his supporters and opponents would shape themselves into two emerging political parties: The pro-Jacksonites became the Democrats and the anti-Jacksonites.
Bank of The United States
A major battle between the two political parties involved the Bank of the United States. Andrew Jackson and his supporters opposed the bank, seeing it as a privileged institution and the enemy of the common people and only useful to the rich. In July, Jackson vetoed, charging that the bank constituted the "prostration of our Government to the advancement of the few at the expense of the many." Jackson won reelection easily over Clay, with more than 56 percent of the popular vote and five times more electoral votes.
Trial of Tears
Andrew Jackson took no action after Georgia claimed millions of acres of land that had been guaranteed to the Cherokee Indians under federal law, and he declined to enforce a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Georgia had no authority over NAtive Americans tribal lands. In 1835, the Cherokees signed a treaty giving up their land in exchange for territory west of Arkansas. In 1838 more than 15,000 Natives would head on foot along to what is known as the "Trial Of Tears"