Democracy and Andrew Jackson

The seventh president of the United States, Andrew Jackson, was born on March 17, 1767 in Waxhaw, South Carolina. Growing up, he was educated in an “old field school” in South Carolina and at the age of 13, joined the army as a courier boy. After the American Revolutionary War, Jackson found himself as an orphan. Both of Jackson’s brothers and mother had either succumbed to death during the war or illnesses that they could not overcome, leaving Jackson at the age of 14 to live with relatives. After studying law in North Carolina, Jackson was admitted to the bar in 1787 and practiced until he became solicitor for present day Tennessee. In 1788 he moved to Nashville and became a prominent lawyer. After the Panic of 1795, which ended the prospering business boom after the American Revolution, Jackson was left with his land, naming it The Hermitage. Jackson lived as a cotton planter with a handful of slaves, in-between the business of his political endeavors. After marrying Rachel Donelson in 1791, they would later remarry in 1794 after finding that her first marriage to someone else was not legally ended. This would later be ammunition to his opposition who claimed Rachel to be a bigamist and him a wife stealer.

Henry Clay of Kentucky, John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, and William H. Crawford of Georgia were the opponents that Jackson faced. Each of those three candidates were experienced politicians while Jackson was referred to as just an “army man”. Jackson supporters often refer to the election of 1824 as “The Stolen Election.” While Jackson swept the polls with the popular vote, he did not win the electoral vote. This resulted in the election being chosen by the House of Representatives. Jackson was defeated to his rival Jo...

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... States. With all of his accomplishments and great achievements Andrew Jackson will be known as responsible for the rise of democracy in the U.S. If Andrew Jackson was not elected as president, our nation could be significantly different than the one we know today.

Works Cited

"American President: Andrew Jackson: A Life in Brief." Miller Center of Public Affairs. Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, 2011. Web. 03 Apr. 2011.

"Andrew Jackson : Good, Evil & The Presidency . Andrew Jackson: A Life . The Defender of the Union | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Red Hill Productions and Community Television of Southern California, 2007. Web. 03 Apr. 2011.

Reynolds, David S. Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson. New York: Harper Perennial, 2009. Print.

Van, Deusen Glyndon G. The Jacksonian Era, 1828-1848. New York: Harper, 1959. Print.