32 Major Facts about Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was the 7th U.S. President

Known as the “people’s president”, Andrew Jackson’s (1767-1845) rugged and somewhat brash nature, revolutionized America’s political environment. During his presidential tenure from 1829 to 1837, Americans witnessed some of the most divisive political landscapes ever known in American history. It was also around his era that people’s interest in American politics spiked up.

The article below contains interesting facts about Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United States:

1. It is commonly held that Andrew Jackson was born on his uncle (James Crawford)’s plantation in Lancaster County, South Carolina. He was born on March 15, 1767, in a region called Waxhaw.
2. His birthplace, Waxhaw, makes him the first president of the United States to be born west of the Appalachians.
3. Due to the dispute at the time over the location of the Waxhaw region, both South Carolina and North Carolina often refer to Andrew Jackson as theirs. Jackson did settle this difference by stating that South Carolina was, in fact, his home state. But the verdict is still out on this one. It is for this reason why Jackson remains the only U.S. president in history to not have an exact home state of birth.
4. Andrew Jackson grew up in stark poverty. His single mother struggled to make ends meet to feed both Andrew Jackson and his older brothers.
5. In the space of just under two years, Andrew Jackson lost two older brothers and his mother. His life was certainly one full of misery. After he was orphaned at 14, the young Jackson went into the care of his uncles.
6. He holds the title of being the first Tennessee U.S. Representative. Another very influential work that he did for the people of Tennessee was to feature prominently during the drafting process of the Tennessee Constitution.
7. His go-to-political strategy was to get high crowd appeal. He achieved this by maligning the opposition and painting them as corrupt and inept.
8. Often times, his system of governance has been referred to as “Jaksonian Democracy”.
9. Prior to his presidency, Andrew Jackson was a household name. As a very famous and well-respected military man among the voters, it was really surprising to see him not elected in his first try at the presidency in 1824.
10. With the exclusion of the infamous Aaron Burr–Alexander Hamilton duel, Andrew Jackson definitely holds the second most infamous duel in American history. He was undeniably a very controversial and argumentative man, often violent in some cases.
11. Jackson once dueled with Charles Dickinson, killing him right on the spot. The confusion stemmed over Dickinson’s publication of an article that berated and attacked Jackson’s personality and life. In the duel, Jackson suffered a non-threatening injury. The bullet that was fired from Dickinson’s gun sat in Jackson’s chest, never to be taken out for the rest of his life.
12. While held captive by British forces in 1781, Andrew Jackson stubbornly refused to shine the boots of one of the British officers. The officer was incensed and struck him across the face and arm with his sword. The wound may have healed but the scars of his bitter encounter with British forces was a constant reminder of their cruelty. As a result, a seed of hatred of Great Britain was sown in the heart of Jackson.
13. Andrew Jackson tagged himself as the friend of the common man. He was someone who claimed to purge the system from what he termed as the corrupt aristocrats.
    

    A statement made by Andrew Jackson to his then Vice President Martin Van Buren. Subsequently, Jackson vetoed the Re-charter bill of the Bank in 1832.

14. He considered the Second Bank of the United States an inept and corrupt institution. As a result, the bank was shut down during his term in office.
15. The single most important pre-presidency accomplishment that made him famous with the voters was his triumph in the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Aside from this, he served courageously during the First Seminole War (1817-18). The war helped the U.S. effectively annex Florida.
16. He fully paid off all the national debt of the United States. This made him the only president in the history of the United States to ever accomplish such feat.
17. Andrew Jackson was the first president in the history of the United States to have his life threatened by an assassin. This threat came on 30th January 1835 in the vicinity of the U.S. Capitol, Washington D.C. The president survived, unscathed. The perpetrator was a mentally unstable man called Richard Lawrence. Jackson himself charged at Richard and disarmed him with his cane. That certainly taught Richard a life lesson. Never mess with an old military commander!
18. Jackson was a big hater of paper money. He considered it detrimental to the average American. He believed that due to paper money financial speculators were able to game the system and buy large parcels of land. His hatred for paper money is probably one of the many reasons why the economy was in shambles when he left office in 1837. The mess he created had to be cleaned up by his vice president and later 8th U.S. President Martin Van Buren.
19. Guess which U.S. president appointed Supreme Court Justice Roger Taney – the very justice who presided over the Dred Scott case of March 1857. The president was none other than Andrew Jackson. And in order to get his nomination approved, Jackson bulldozed his way through the nomination and appointment process. Little did anyone know that Justice Roger Taney would go on to issue a decision (the Dred Scott decision) that would foreshadow the brutal American Civil War. Justice Taney’s ruling took away U.S. citizenship from all African Americans. The ruling also made it unconstitutional for the federal government to ban slavery in any territory of the United States of America. The South Carolina impasse, and then Justice Roger Taney… it’s as if Andrew Jackson set the U.S. up for the Civil War.
20. Did you know that Andrew Jackson’s opponents from the Republican Party humorously called him “King Andrew the first”? His opponents considered him a very autocratic president, none like ever seen in the previous six administrations. Regardless of their campaigns against Jackson, “Jacksonians” (supporters of Andrew Jackson) and the Democratic Party pushed Martin Van Buren to victory in the 1836 presidential election.
21. He backed and mentored long-standing allies and members of the Democratic Party. Famous of among them were Martin Van Buren (Eight U.S. President) and James K. Polk (Eleventh U.S. President) during their presidencies.
22. Post his presidency, he consistently called on the U.S. to annex Texas. In the end, this dream of his came materialized. Texas was admitted into the Union on February 19, 1846. And the annexation was completed during the presidency of James K. Polk – a politician Andrew Jackson mentored.
23. Historians largely hold him responsible for the “spoils system” in American democracy. The system has been described as a time when there were massive division and brutal political campaigns.
24. Jackson’s Indian Removal Act of 1830 spelled doom, misery, and death for many Native Americans. The Cherokee Tribe suffered the biggest casualty of those policies. Ultimately it resulted in the forced removal of approximately 15,000 Native Americans from their homes. About 5,000 perished from hunger and diseases (i.e. during the Trail of Tears).
25. He did not support the abolitionist movement. Why would he? He was a slave owner himself. There have been claims that he treated his slaves a bit nicer than other plantations, but for someone who owned about 300 slaves at the time of his death, nothing much can be said.
26. He bullied and threatened South Carolina into not seceding from the Union. By so doing he kept the Union together. South Carolina was mainly aggrieved over the issue of federal tariffs.
27. The Land Grab Act of 1783 paved the way for Andrew Jackson, as well as numerous other North Carolinians, to acquire large swaths of land west of the Appalachians. This made Jackson part of the first people that established Memphis, Tennessee.
28. In order to tip a local election result in his favor, Jackson gave incriminating documents about John Sevier to his home state Tennessee. The documents showed several fraudulent deals that Sevier had engaged in. As a result of the backlash that came the way of Sevier, Jackson won the election, becoming the major general of the Tennessee militia.
29. The massive Hermitage plantation in Tennessee was owned by Andrew Jackson. Like most plantations in 18th or 19th century America, Jackson’s Hermitage was littered with slaves. Black men, women and children slaved under quite inhumane conditions.
30. Not only did he dislike Great Britain, but Jackson also had a deep disliking for Spain. This was due to Spain’s ever-presence in Spanish Florida and Texas. The Tennessee-born politician wanted the United States to act fast and drive Spain out of those territories.
31. As a result of his fierce attitude and propensity to plunge into fights and duels, Andrew Jackson earned the nickname, “Old Hickory”.
    

    Andrew Jackson’s farewell quote

32. On June 8, 1845, Andrew Jackson died at his home in Nashville, Tennessee. The cause of his death was lead poisoning. Over the years, lead from the bullet that was lodged in chest (during his duel with Charles Dickinson) seeped into his bloodstream. He was 78 at the time of his death. The former general and president of the U.S. was buried at his estate, The Hermitage, Nashville, Tennessee.