The Age of Andrew Jackson

There are many important men that have made great contributions to the history of North America. There have also been many heroes and leaders that the American public has looked to for answers and comfort. On March 15, 1767 a man by the name of Andrew Jackson was born in North Carolina (State Library). There are many different positions this young man encountered as he lived his life for America. Growing up his father was not part of his life because he had experienced an accidental death before he was born. His mother was a reluctant woman who raised him and his two brothers in the home of her sister. She was a strong independent woman who was the mother of a man who would one day be known as president.

When Andrew Jackson was nine years old, the Declaration of Independence was signed. As a young boy he was interested in the army and knew he wanted to be in the leadership position one day. His brothers were also part of the army which made his desire to join more prevalent. At the age of thirteen he joined the Continental Army as a courier. A courier is basically someone who either is a messenger or a person of the army who carries secret weapons or information. This was a great way for him to begin he journey as part of America. Unfortunately his brothers were both killed for different reasons during the Revolutionary war. Andrew Jackson was capture and taken in as a prisoner of war by the British army. He was mistreated by a certain officer and actually held a grudge against this man until his death. At the age of 16, he felt that life began to seem pointless when he returned from the war to only be stricken with the news of his mother’s deathly illness. His mother became ill while working as a nurse on a prisoner ship. After her death he was considered an orphan and he had to live with relatives. Andrew Jackson began his professional career by teaching, but soon fell in love with the idea of practicing law. He went to Salisbury in North Carolina to study law and was admitted into the North Carolina Bar during 1787. Shortly after that he moved to Nashville, TN, which was still a part of North Carolina’s Western District, to begin his career as a prosecuting officer of the Superior Court. While living in Nashville he stayed in the home of the Donelson family. Later he married the daughter of the Donelson family who had previously been married to an abuser named Louis Robards. The daughter’s name was Rachel Donelson. Jackson and Rachel get married on the way to Mississippi to get her away from Robards. When Jackson married Rachel she was not officially divorced from Robards. When everyone found out about this they began to talk bad about her. Soon Jackson found out that everyone was criticizing his new wife and challenged them to duels in which he usually won by shooting them. In June 1796 Tennessee was separated from North Carolina and admitted to the Union as the sixteenth state. Jackson was then elected the new state's first congressman. The following year the Tennessee legislature elected him a U.S. senator, but he held his senatorial seat for only one session before resigning. After his resignation Jackson came home and served for six years as a judge on the Tennessee Supreme Court.

Jackson’s military career continued in 1802 when he was elected major general of the Tennessee militia. Ten years later Tennessee Governor Willie Blount gave him the rank of major general of U.S. forces. In 1814, after several devastating campaigns against Native Americans in the Creek War, he was finally promoted to major general in the regular army. The War of 1812 was the foundation of Jackson’s heroism. The reasoning for this was because of the defeat of the British at the Battle of New Orleans. This is when he was given the nickname “Old Hickory”. His troops were known for being tough as hickory and so this name tagged along with him from this battle on.

In 1824 Andrew Jackson ran for president. This election was considered unique because the presidency had to be decided by the House of Representatives. He did not have enough electoral votes to win the presidency alone. Jackson had three opponents. They were John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and William H. Crawford. In the beginning Jackson seemed to have the presidency won. He had 153,000 votes, Adams had 148,000, Crawford had 47,000, and Clay had 40,000. One of these men, Adams, was worried about Jackson becoming president. He felt that Jackson did not have adequate education and was not ready to hold the office. Jackson soon felt that he was betrayed by Adams and Clay. Clay was named John Quincy Adam’s Secretary of State which was thought of as a pay off for his votes. The act of Adams appointing Clay the Secretary of State after being elected president, was soon to be known as the Corrupt Bargain. Because of this, Adams became the man with the most votes