Andrew Jackson

Election of 1824This election is notable for being the only time since the passage of the Twelfth Amendment that the presidential election was thrown into the House of Representatives, as no candidate received a majority of the electoral vote. This is also the only Presidential Election in which the candidate receiving the most electoral votes did not become President (since a majority, not just a plurality, is required to win). It is also often said to be the first election in which the president did not win the popular vote, although the popular vote was not measured nationwide. At that time, several states did not conduct a popular vote, allowing their state legislature choose their electors. Source.

Election of 1828

The United States presidential election of 1828 featured a rematch between incumbent President John Quincy Adams and chief rival Andrew Jackson, who was now a candidate under the banner of the Democratic Party.Unlike the 1824 election, no other major candidates appeared in the race, allowing Jackson to consolidate a power base and easily win an electoral victory over Adams. Source.

Young Andrew Jackson• The Declaration of Independence was signed when young Andrew was nine years old and at thirteen he joined the Continental Army as a courier. The Revolution took a toll on the Jackson family. All three boys saw active service. His two brothers and his only sister died during the war. •One of Andrew's older brothers, Hugh, died after the Battle of Stono Ferry, South Carolina in 1779, and two years later Andrew and his other brother Robert were taken prisoner for a few weeks in April 1781. While they were captives a British officer ordered them to clean his boots. The boys refused, the officer struck them with his sword and Andrew's hand was cut to the bone. Because of his ill treatment Jackson harbored a bitter resentment towards the British until his death.•Both brothers contracted smallpox during their imprisonment and Robert was dead within days of their release. Later that year Betty Jackson went to Charleston to nurse American prisoners of war. Shortly after she arrived Mrs. Jackson fell ill with either ship fever or cholera and died. Andrew found himself an orphan and an only child at fourteen. Source.

Old HickoryHis service in the War of 1812 was conspicuous for its bravery and success. He was popular with his troops and was said to have been "tough as old hickory" wood on the battlefield, which gave him his nickname. The war, and particularly his command at the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815, made his national reputation. He was advanced in rank to General as a consequence.After that, his political rise was rapid.

He was elected to both houses of Congress and served on the state supreme court. He saw military service again in 1818 and campaigned in Florida against Spain, helping secure that territory for the United States. He subsequently was appointed territorial governor there. Source 1. Source 2.

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Duelin’ Andrew JacksonDue to the partisan nature of their work, politicians frequently received challenges -- as did newspaper editors and attorneys. As a young man, attorney Andrew Jackson, future president of the United States, earned a reputation as a formidable duelist. Jackson took part in around a hundred fights or duels.The most well-known of Jackson's duels occurred before he became President. This particular duel was with Charles Dickinson, who had made an offhand comment about Jackson's wife. Dickinson fired his pistol, slightly wounding Jackson. Jackson's weapon misfired -- which according to dueling rules counted as a shot. Technically, the duel should have ended there. But Jackson coldly pulled his hammer back again and fired, this time killing Dickinson. In the eyes of many, Jackson's behavior amounted to little more than murder. Source. Source 2.

1. Jackson was a strong supporter of the policy of Indian Removal, and he signed the Indian Removal Act into law in 1830. The Removal Act did not order the removal of any American Indians, but it authorized the president to negotiate treaties that would exchange tribal land in the east for western lands that had been acquired in the Louisiana Purchase.

2. Jackson favored relocating Native American tribes outside existing states primarily for national security reasons, since most American Indians had sided with the British in the Revolution and the War of 1812.

3. The state of Georgia became involved in a contentious jurisdictional dispute with the Cherokees, culminating in the 1832 Supreme Court decision (Worcester v. Georgia) that ruled that Georgia could not impose its laws upon Cherokee tribal lands.

4. However, Jackson had no intention of protecting the Cherokees from the state of Georgia. Source 2.

Indian Removal

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The Trail of TearsIn the spring and summer of 1838, more than 15,000 Cherokee were removed by the U.S. Army from their ancestral homelands in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. They were held in concentration camps through the summer and fall then forced to travel nearly 1,000 miles during an extremely harsh winter to Indian Territory in Oklahoma.

It is estimated that almost 4,000 died of hunger, dysentery, exposure and other causes during the trek. Members of the tribe call the forced evacuation of their homelands and the horrendous journey "Nunahi-Duna-Dlo-Hilu-I", which translates to "Trail Where They Cried". The infamous removal concept was later refined into the reservation idea. Source 1. Source 2.

To the Victor Go the SpoilsJackson is remembered for introducing the spoils system, or patronage, to American politics. Upon his election as President, a sizable number of people holding federal offices found that they had suddenly been replaced by supporters of Jackson who had worked to ensure his election. Jackson saw this system as promoting the growth of democracy, as more people were involved in politics. This practice has endured in political circles in the United States ever since. Additionally, Jackson pressured states to lower voting requirements to further the expansion of democracy. Source 1. Source 2.

Jackson’s WifeDuring the 1828 campaign the Adams camp charged Jackson and his wife with adultery. The claims grew out of naivete on the Jacksons' part. Rachel Donelson had a first, unhappy marriage with Lewis Robards. In 1790 the Kentucky legislature passed a resolution granting Robards permission to sue for divorce, though he did not do so at the time.Andrew and Rachel confused the permission to sue with an actual declaration of divorce. They married in 1791, not realizing Rachel was still legally married. Robards finally sued for divorce in 1793 citing Rachel's "adultery" with Jackson. The Jacksons remarried in 1794, but the embarrassing and often malicious gossip persisted. Rachel Jackson died a few weeks before her husband's inauguration and Jackson blamed her early death on stress caused by the public discussion of their supposed immorality during the campaign. Source.