Andrew Jackson, 7th American President

Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) was the seventh President of the United States (1829-1837). Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (1814), and the British at the Battle of New Orleans (1815). A polarizing figure who dominated the Second Party System in the 1820s and 1830s, as president he destroyed the national bank and relocated most Indian tribes from the Southeast to west of the Mississippi River. His enthusiastic followers created the modern Democratic Party. The 1830-1850 period later became known as the era of Jacksonian democracy. Jackson supported a small and limited federal government. He strengthened the power of the presidency, which he saw as spokesman for the entire population. Jackson was nicknamed Old Hickory because of his toughness and aggressive personality; he fought in duels, some fatal to his opponents. On January 30, 1835, what is believed to be the first attempt to kill a sitting President of the United States. Richard Lawrence, an unemployed housepainter, aimed a pistol at Jackson, which misfired. Lawrence pulled out a second pistol, which also misfired. On the last day of his presidency, Jackson admitted that he had but two regrets, that he had been unable to shoot Henry Clay or to hang John C. Calhoun. He died at The Hermitage on June 8, 1845, at the age of 78, of chronic tuberculosis, dropsy, and heart failure. Jackson's portrait appears on the United States twenty-dollar bill. He has appeared on $5, $10, $50, and $10, 000 bills in the past, as well as a Confederate $1, 000 bill

Picture No

10800918

Media ID

47598241

Size

2572px x 3520px (2.4MB)

Credit

©Photo Researchers / Mary Evans Picture Library

Source

Photo Researchers