US Presidents · 19th century

Andrew Jackson

1767–1845 · American

Democratic

In office: 1829–1837

Andrew Jackson, the 7th president, was the hero of the Battle of New Orleans and the first president from west of the Appalachians. A forceful populist, he destroyed the Second Bank of the United States, faced down South Carolina in the Nullification Crisis and signed the Indian Removal Act, which led to the forced expulsion of the southeastern nations, including the Trail of Tears.

How to spot them

▸'Old Hickory'; victor at the Battle of New Orleans (January 1815)
▸The 'Bank War'; the 'kitchen cabinet'; the spoils system
▸Indian Removal Act (1830) and the Trail of Tears
▸Face on the $20 bill; home, the Hermitage, near Nashville, Tennessee

In office

The Indian Removal Act (1830)

Authorised the removal of Native American nations east of the Mississippi to lands in the West

Veto of the recharter of the Second Bank of the United States (1832)

The centrepiece of the 'Bank War' against Nicholas Biddle's bank

The Nullification Crisis with South Carolina (1832–1833)

South Carolina declared federal tariffs void; he answered with the Force Bill

The Petticoat Affair over Peggy Eaton (1829–1831)

Social snubbing of the War Secretary's wife split his cabinet and helped Van Buren rise over Calhoun

The Specie Circular (1836)

Required gold or silver for purchases of public land; contributed to the Panic of 1837

Paying off the entire national debt (1835)

The only time the federal government has been debt-free

Quick-fire facts

•Born in the Waxhaws region on the North Carolina–South Carolina border; a prisoner of the British as a boy
•Killed Charles Dickinson in a duel in 1806
•Survived the first known assassination attempt on a US president (1835), when both of Richard Lawrence's pistols misfired
•Censured by the Senate in 1834; the censure was expunged in 1837
•Founding figure of the Democratic Party; the donkey symbol traces back to opponents calling him a 'jackass'
•His wife Rachel died in December 1828, before his inauguration, after attacks on their marriage during the campaign
•Won the popular vote in 1824 but lost the presidency to John Quincy Adams in the House

Drill it — 9 cards

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Sources

Miller Center, University of Virginia — Andrew Jackson
Jon Meacham — American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House