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Andrew Jackson (1767-1845)

Andrew Jackson was born on the 15th March 1767 in Waxhaw, South Carolina. His parents as well as his two brothers died before he was aged 16. Jackson grew up at his Uncle’s house, a wealthy and influential slaveholder. Jackson felt himself drawn towards the military forces at a quite early age. During the revolutionary war he found himself been taken prisoner in the battle of Hanging Rock. Jackson was totally engaged in his thirst for adventure and therefore happened to settle within a new founded housing scheme of log cabins. There he took up the studies of jurisprudence and became a lawyer at the age of 20.

As time passed by the small housing scheme developed into the stronghold of country music – Nashville, Tennessee. It should be mentioned that in former days Nashville still belonged to the territory of North Carolina. It was also in Nashville where Jackson met his future wife, Rachel Robards. As the foundation of the state Tennessee was put forward and its constitution was being drafted Jackson obtained a key position. He very quickly rose to be a leading character in the new state Tennessee. In 1796 Jackson was elected a member of Congress for the state Tennessee.

Shortly afterwards he resigned from the Congress to make a fortune by growing cotton. In 1789 he was appointed high court judge of Tennessee and in 1802 General Major of the Tennessean militia. At the time Jackson already was a very successful businessman, land speculator and slave trader and was already searching for a possibility to become involved in politics for the benefit of his state.

The British-American war of 1812 gave Jackson the opportunity to prove as a Commander Colonel of the Tennessean militia. During the course of the war Jackson grew very famous throughout the whole nation. The victory over the British forces at January 8th 1815 made Jackson a national hero and from then on he would be called “Old Hickory”. In 1819 he led his troops towards Florida and wrested it away from the Spanish. In addition to this victory he became Governor of Florida in 1921.

In 1823 Jackson accepted being elected Senator and in the following year led a campaign, as one of five candidates for the election of the President of the USA, which he lost against John Quincy Adams. Adams was accused of corruption by Jackson supporters and his government was persistently and successfully worn down. A well organised and new democratic party made it possible for Jackson to finally be elected President of the United States of America.

Jackson was known as the advocate of the working class and proved himself as amazingly effective and very popular amongst the crowd. One of his first official duties was the replacement of long serving bureaucrats, mostly aristocrats, with bourgeois members of his party, how Jackson called it. At national level Jackson fought for rights of the individual states and in contrast to this searched to put through an even stronger centralisation. In 1832 Jackson was re-elected, even though even some of his own supporters shared the opinion that his financial policy was a disaster. To carry through his measures he dismissed two established civil servants of the department of finance, having refused to follow Jackson’s decisions relating to his financial policies. As a consequence in 1843 the Senate for the first time in its history passed a resolution officially reprimanding the President for dictatorial and unconstitutional behaviour. In 1837 Jackson, still a very popular President, retired from his duties.

Andrew Jackson returned to Nashville, applied himself to his grounds, and enjoyed the silence of his plantation, where he died on the 8th June 1845. His domicile, a big manor house, known as “The Hermitage”, can stile be visited today.

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Local Heroes

Published:

January 16, 2005

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