Andrew Jackson's 7th President

“Peace, above all things, is to be desired, but blood must sometimes be spilled to obtain it on equable and lasting terms.” Words of the famous 7th president, Andrew Jackson. During his time in office he made decisions that affected the history of the world forever. Jackson was a man of respect and independence. He made a way for himself in his early years that led to him becoming a well-known American general. Being a well-known general led him to run for president and eventually impacting the United States in ways that still remain around today.

Jackson was the son of an Irish immigrant who lived in the frontier regions of South Carolina and Tennessee. He grew up with only a mother because his dad died due to multiple injuries lifting heavy

From this war he was made a major general and was given responsibility to take care of New Orleans. This also started his military reputation and his path to fame. This led to the battle of New Orleans, which was the main British attack. The British attacked three times and they were driven out three times. At the end, the British had 20 times more casualties than the Americas had. Jackson became a national hero (Freidel, 5). By 1815, Jackson was known as Old Hickory by his soldiers because they knew he “possessed immense determination and an iron will that made him master of any situation” (Viola, 13). Which was the driving force behind all of his success. In Jackson’s time as general, he was part of the Burr conspiracy, which almost ruined his entire military career. Aaron Burr was the vice-president for President Thomas Jefferson. Burr said he had a plan to make the Spanish go to the Southwest, away from the American frontier. However, Jackson was a nationalist and did not care for international law. Therefore, Jackson turned down Burr’s plan. If Jackson had agreed, it would have made him “suffer political disgrace” (Viola, 39). Burr said he had permission for his plan from the President Thomas Jefferson when he did not. Burr was arrested and tried for treason and Jackson testified on his behalf. “Jackson was too patriotic an American to have been part of a treasonous conspiracy” (Viola, 40). Jackson

He believed the people should have the power to elect their president. Jackson also surrounded himself with people who supported him. He had replaced the “corrupt bargain” with the “spoils system” in doing this. During his during term he did not do much, but in the reelection his beliefs about the Second Bank of the United States was the main point that determined who would be the next president. Jackson won with flying colors and he was onto his second term. After he was re-elected, Jackson’s vice president disagreed with Jackson that South Carolina could have the power to secede from the Union. “President Jackson was a strong believer in the states’ rights to determine their own laws. He did not, however, believe that the states had the right to threaten the existence of the Union” (Osinski, 77) This led to the resignation of Vice President Calhoun. Being the first vice president to resign from office (biography.com). Since Jackson was now without a vice president, he chooses Martin Van Buren to be his next vice president. In the midst of the entire vice president problem, Jackson was involved with the Eaton affair, which made people start to question his decisions. Jackson appointed John N. Eaton as his secretary of war. This bothered most people in the nation as well the government because Eaton married a woman whose husband died at sea. The problem was there was a rumor that