Andrew Jackson. (1767-1845) Who was he? Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of the United States. He may have been the seventh president, but he was first in many other ways. Andrew Jackson’s administration was often called the “era of the common man.” Andrew Jackson was truly the man of the people. Although Andrew Jackson didn’t make the right decision every time, he certainly helped people in a time of need. In this essay I will explain many details of the Jackson era, starting with birth, including the spoils system and the bank of the United States
Andrew Jackson was born on March 15th, 1767, to Elizabeth and Andrew Jackson, the son of Irish immigrants, in Waxhaw, South Carolina. No one could have imagined the story …show more content…
He built a legal practice, entered into trading ventures and began to acquire land and slaves. After arriving at the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson also took up with Rachel Donelson Robards, a member of a prominent Nashville family, her father, John Donelson, a founder of Nashville. Rachel was married at the time she and Andrew met, but was separated from her husband. In 1791, Jackson and Donelson began living together as man and wife, they formally married in 1794 after Rachel had procured a divorce from her husband in Kentucky. This eventually came back to haunt Andrew Jackson when he began his campaigns for presidency. His opponents had charged him with bigamy. Although, Jacksons defenders had claimed that they had believed that Rachel had already been divorced when they married. From the beginning, Andrew and Rachel, were what many had considered a perfect love match. Jackson’s rise in Tennessee politics was meteoric, attesting to his strength of character. In 1795, he was a delegate to the state constitutional convention. He was Tennessee’s first congressman, then he became a senator. He gave up his senate post after a year, for a job closer to home. His new job was as the judge of Tennessee’s superior court. In 1802 Jackson challenged, then Governor John Sevier for election as the major general in command of the states militia. Sevier was the states leading politician. Jackson beat him for the generalship, but the …show more content…
He was determined to settle things between the states and the Indian tribes. During the campaign, Andrew Jackson had charged Adams clan with fraud for working against his election. As president, Jackson removed many officials, claiming to be eradicating the corruption. By the time Jackson had become president, Indians had been largely erased or removed from the northeastern states. Andrew Jackson was friendly with many Indian tribes, he even took home an Indian Orphan to raise as his adopted son. Indian removal was important to Jackson. He gave the Indians an alternative solution, submit to state authority or emigrate beyond Mississippi. Generally, the treaties promised adequate pay to the Indians for land and goods. It also was said to have promised safe transportation to the west. When Jackson took office, the leading controversy concerned the American System of policies. As a senator, Jackson had backed the system. Not long after, the Eaton affair began, Jackson was already starting to become estranged from Calhoun over a Washington scandal. Jackson’s secretary of war, John Henry Eaton married Margaret O’Neale, the daughter of a hotelier. A woman whose first husband had died under suspicious circumstances, not long before her marriage to Eaton. Rumor was told to have said that her husband committed suicide after he found out about her and Eaton. Cabinet wives had shunned her. But, through the