Andrew jackson presidential biography questions and answers
Andrew Jackson
President of the United States from to
This article is about the seventh president of the United States. For other uses, see Andrew Jackson (disambiguation).
"President Jackson" redirects here. For the attack transport, see USS President Jackson.
For the class of attack transports, see President Jackson-class attack transport.
Andrew Jackson | |
|---|---|
Portrait c.&#; | |
| In office March 4, &#;– March 4, | |
| Vice President | |
| Preceded by | John Quincy Adams |
| Succeeded by | Martin Van Buren |
| In office March 4, &#;– October 14, | |
| Preceded by | John Williams |
| Succeeded by | Hugh Lawson White |
| In office September 26, &#;– April 1, | |
| Preceded by | William Cocke |
| Succeeded by | Daniel Smith |
| In office March 10, &#;– December 31, | |
| Appointed by | James Monroe |
| Preceded by | |
| Succeeded by | William Pope Duval(as Territorial Governor) |
| In office June &#;– June | |
| Appointed by | John Sevier |
| Preceded by | Howell Tatum |
| Succeeded by | John Overton |
| In office December 4, &#;– September 26, | |
| Preceded by | James White (Delegate from the Southwest Territory) |
| Succeeded by | William C.
C. Claiborne |
| Born | ()March 15, Waxhaw Settlement between North Carolina and South Carolina, British America |
| Died | June 8, () (aged&#;78) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Resting place | The Hermitage |
| Political party | Democratic (–) |
| Other political affiliations | |
| Spouse | Rachel Donelson &#; &#; (m.&#;; died&#;)&#; |
| Children | Andrew Jackson Jr., Lyncoya Jackson |
| Occupation | |
| Awards | |
| Signature | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch/service | United States Army |
| Rank | |
| Unit | South Carolina Militia (–81) Tennessee Militia (–) United States Army () |
| Battles/wars | |
Andrew Jackson (March 15, – June 8, ) was the seventh president of the United States, serving from to Before his presidency, he gained fame as a general in the U.S.
Army and served in both houses of the U.S. Congress. Sometimes praised as an advocate for working Americans and for preserving the union of states, his political philosophy became the basis for the Democratic Party.
Biography questions for kids to ask A: The Tennessee constitutional convention. Answer: New Orleans Answer: Democratic Party 6. Jackson met head-on the challenge of John C.Jackson has been criticized for his racist policies, particularly regarding Native Americans.
Jackson was born in the colonial Carolinas before the American Revolutionary War. He became a frontier lawyer and married Rachel Donelson Robards. He briefly served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, representing Tennessee.
After resigning, he served as a justice on the Tennessee Superior Court from until Jackson purchased a property later known as the Hermitage, becoming a wealthy planter who owned hundreds of African American slaves during his lifetime. In , he was appointed colonel of the Tennessee militia and was elected its commander.
Elementary biography questions Answer: The Hermitage. Learn the answers to all of these questions and more in our quizzes! A: First Seminole War. After studying law he was admitted to the what in ?He led troops during the Creek War of –, winning the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and negotiating the Treaty of Fort Jackson that required the indigenous Creek population to surrender vast tracts of present-day Alabama and Georgia. In the concurrent war against the British, Jackson's victory at the Battle of New Orleans in made him a national hero.
He later commanded U.S. forces in the First Seminole War, which led to the annexation of Florida from Spain. Jackson briefly served as Florida's first territorial governor before returning to the Senate. He ran for president in He won a plurality of the popular and electoral vote, but no candidate won the electoral majority.
With the help of Henry Clay, the House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams as president. Jackson's supporters alleged that there was a "corrupt bargain" between Adams and Clay and began creating a new political coalition that became the Democratic Party in the s.
Jackson ran again in , defeating Adams in a landslide despite issues such as his slave trading and his "irregular" marriage.
In , he signed the Indian Removal Act. This act, which has been described as ethnic cleansing, displaced tens of thousands of Native Americans from their ancestral homelands east of the Mississippi and resulted in thousands of deaths. Jackson faced a challenge to the integrity of the federal union when South Carolina threatened to nullify a high protective tariff set by the federal government.
He threatened the use of military force to enforce the tariff, but the crisis was defused when it was amended. In , he vetoed a bill by Congress to reauthorize the Second Bank of the United States, arguing that it was a corrupt institution. After a lengthy struggle, the Bank was dismantled. In , Jackson became the only president to pay off the national debt.
Andrew jackson presidential biography questions and answers Eisenhower John F. After studying law he was admitted to the what in ? The Era Of Andrew Jacskon. Learn the answers to all of these questions and more in our quizzes!After leaving office, Jackson supported the presidencies of Martin Van Buren and James K. Polk, as well as the annexation of Texas. Jackson's legacy remains controversial, and opinions on his legacy are frequently polarized. Supporters characterize him as a defender of democracy and the U.S. Constitution, while critics point to his reputation as a demagogue who ignored the law when it suited him.
Scholarly rankings of U.S. presidents historically rated Jackson's presidency as above average. Since the late 20th century, his reputation declined, and in the 21st century his placement in rankings of presidents fell.
Early life and education
Andrew Jackson was born on March 15, , in the Waxhaws region of the Carolinas.
His parents were Scots-Irish colonists Andrew Jackson and Elizabeth Hutchinson, Presbyterians who had emigrated from Ulster, Ireland, in [1] Jackson's father was born in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, around , and his ancestors had crossed into Northern Ireland from Scotland after the Battle of the Boyne in Jackson had two older brothers who came with his parents from Ireland, Hugh (born ) and Robert (born ).
Elizabeth had a strong hatred of the British that she passed on to her sons.
Jackson's exact birthplace is unclear. Jackson's father died at the age of 29 in February , three weeks before his son Andrew was born. Afterwards, Elizabeth and her three sons moved in with her sister and brother-in-law, Jane and James Crawford.[6] Jackson later stated that he was born on the Crawford plantation, which is in Lancaster County, South Carolina, but second-hand evidence suggests that he might have been born at another uncle's home in North Carolina.[6]
When Jackson was young, Elizabeth thought he might become a minister and paid to have him schooled by a local clergyman.
He learned to read, write, and work with numbers, and was exposed to Greek and Latin, but he was too strong-willed and hot-tempered for the ministry.[6]
Revolutionary War
Jackson and his older brothers, Hugh and Robert, served on the Patriot side against British forces during the American Revolutionary War.
Hugh served under Colonel William Richardson Davie, dying from heat exhaustion after the Battle of Stono Ferry in June After anti-British sentiment intensified in the Southern Colonies following the Battle of Waxhaws in May , Elizabeth encouraged Andrew and Robert to participate in militia drills.
Biography questions for students: Answer: Old Hickory. Sample Question. A: General store. Fiercely jealous of his honor, he engaged in brawls, and in a duel killed a man who cast an unjustified slur on his wife Rachel.
They served as couriers,[12] and were present at the Battle of Hanging Rock in August
Andrew and Robert were captured in April when the British occupied the home of a Crawford relative. A British officer demanded to have his boots polished. Andrew refused, and the officer slashed him with a sword, leaving him with scars on his left hand and head.
Robert also refused and was struck a blow on the head. The brothers were taken to a prisoner-of-war camp in Camden, South Carolina, where they became malnourished and contracted smallpox. In late spring, the brothers were released to their mother in a prisoner exchange. Robert died two days after arriving home, but Elizabeth was able to nurse Andrew back to health.
Once he recovered, Elizabeth volunteered to nurse American prisoners of war housed in British prison ships in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. She contracted cholera and died soon afterwards. The war made Jackson an orphan at age 14[20] and increased his hatred for the values he associated with Britain, in particular aristocracy and political privilege.
Early career
Legal career and marriage
After the American Revolutionary War, Jackson worked as a saddler, briefly returned to school, and taught reading and writing to children.
In , he left the Waxhaws region for Salisbury, North Carolina, where he studied law under attorney Spruce Macay. He completed his training under John Stokes,[25] and was admitted to the North Carolina bar in September [26] Shortly thereafter, his friend John McNairy helped him get appointed as a prosecuting attorney in the Western District of North Carolina, which would later become the state of Tennessee.
While traveling to assume his new position, Jackson stopped in Jonesborough. While there, he bought his first slave, a woman who was around his age. He also fought his first duel, accusing another lawyer, Waightstill Avery, of impugning his character. The duel ended with both men firing in the air.
Jackson began his new career in the frontier town of Nashville in and quickly moved up in social status.
He became a protégé of William Blount, one of the most powerful men in the territory. Jackson was appointed attorney general of the Mero District in and judge-advocate for the militia the following year. He also got involved in land speculation, eventually forming a partnership with fellow lawyer John Overton.
Their partnership mainly dealt with claims made under a "land grab" act of that opened Cherokee and Chickasaw territory to North Carolina's white residents. Jackson also became a slave trader, transporting enslaved people for the interregional slave market between Nashville and the Natchez District of Spanish West Florida via the Mississippi River and the Natchez Trace.
While boarding at the home of Rachel Stockly Donelson, the widow of John Donelson, Jackson became acquainted with their daughter, Rachel Donelson Robards.
The younger Rachel was in an unhappy marriage with Captain Lewis Robards, and the two were separated by After the separation, Jackson and Rachel became romantically involved,[39] living together as husband and wife. Robards petitioned for divorce, which was granted in on the basis of Rachel's infidelity. The couple legally married in January [42] In , they acquired their first plantation, Hunter's Hill, on acres (&#;ha) of land near Nashville.[44]
Early public career
Jackson became a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, the dominant party in Tennessee.
He was elected as a delegate to the Tennessee constitutional convention in When Tennessee achieved statehood that year, he was elected to be its U.S. representative. In Congress, Jackson argued against the Jay Treaty, criticized George Washington for allegedly removing Democratic-Republicans from public office, and joined several other Democratic-Republican congressmen in voting against a resolution of thanks for Washington.
He advocated for the right of Tennesseans to militarily oppose Native American interests.[47] The state legislature elected him to be a U.S. senator in , but he resigned after serving only six months.
In the spring of , Governor John Sevier appointed Jackson to be a judge of the Tennessee Superior Court.
In , he also became major general, or commander, of the Tennessee militia, a position that was determined by a vote of the militia's officers. The vote was tied between Jackson and Sevier, a popular Revolutionary War veteran and former governor, but the governor, Archibald Roane, broke the tie in Jackson's favor. Jackson later accused Sevier of fraud and bribery.[50] Sevier responded by impugning Rachel's honor, resulting in a shootout on a public street.
Soon afterwards, they met to duel, but parted without having fired at each other.
Planting career and slavery
Main article: Andrew Jackson and slavery
Further information: Andrew Jackson and the slave trade in the United States
Jackson resigned his judgeship in He had almost gone bankrupt when the land and mercantile speculations he had made on the basis of promissory notes fell apart in the wake of an earlier financial panic.
He had to sell Hunter's Hill, as well as 25, acres (10,&#;ha) of land he bought for speculation and bought a smaller acre (&#;ha) plantation near Nashville that he would call the Hermitage. He focused on recovering from his losses by becoming a successful planter and merchant. The Hermitage grew to 1, acres (&#;ha), making it one of the largest cotton-growing plantations in the state.
Like most planters in the Southern United States, Jackson used slave labor.
In , Jackson had nine African American slaves; by , he had over ; and by his death in , he had over [57] Over his lifetime, he owned a total of slaves.[58] Jackson subscribed to the paternalistic idea of slavery, which claimed that slave ownership was morally acceptable as long as slaves were treated with humanity and their basic needs were cared for.
In practice, slaves were treated as a form of wealth whose productivity needed to be protected. Jackson directed harsh punishment for slaves who disobeyed or ran away.[61] For example, in an advertisement to recover a runaway slave, he offered "ten dollars extra, for every hundred lashes any person will give him" up to three hundred lashes—a number that would likely have been deadly.[61][62] Over time, his accumulation of wealth in both slaves and land placed him among the elite families of Tennessee.
Duel with Dickinson and adventure with Burr
In May , Jackson fought a duel with Charles Dickinson.
Their dispute started over payments for a forfeited horse race, escalating for six months until they agreed to the duel. Dickinson fired first. The bullet hit Jackson in the chest, but shattered against his breastbone.[65] He returned fire and killed Dickinson. The killing tarnished Jackson's reputation.
Later that year, Jackson became involved in former vice president Aaron Burr's plan to conquer Spanish Florida and drive the Spanish from Texas.
Burr, who was touring what was then the Western United States after mortally wounding Alexander Hamilton in a duel, stayed with the Jacksons at the Hermitage in He eventually persuaded Jackson to join his adventure. In October , Jackson wrote James Winchester that the United States "can conquer not only [Florida], but all Spanish North America".
He informed the Tennessee militia that it should be ready to march at a moment's notice "when the government and constituted authority of our country require it", and agreed to provide boats and provisions for the expedition. Jackson sent a letter to President Thomas Jefferson telling him that Tennessee was ready to defend the nation's honor.[70]
Jackson also expressed uncertainty about the enterprise.
He warned the Governor of Louisiana William Claiborne and Tennessee Senator Daniel Smith that some of the people involved in the adventure might be intending to break away from the United States. In December, Jefferson ordered Burr to be arrested for treason. Jackson, safe from arrest because of his extensive paper trail, organized the militia to capture the conspirators.
He testified before a grand jury in , implying that it was Burr's associate James Wilkinson who was guilty of treason, not Burr. Burr was acquitted of the charges.[73]
Military career
War of
Creek War
Further information: Creek War
On June 18, , the United States declared war on the United Kingdom, launching the War of Though the war was primarily caused by maritime issues, it provided white American settlers on the southern frontier the opportunity to overcome Native American resistance to settlement, undermine British support of the Native American tribes,[76] and pry Florida from the Spanish Empire.
Jackson immediately offered to raise volunteers for the war, but he was not called to duty until after the United States military was repeatedly defeated in the American Northwest.
After these defeats, in January , Jackson enlisted over 2, volunteers, who were ordered to head to New Orleans to defend against a British attack.[79][80][82] When his forces arrived at Natchez, they were ordered to halt by General Wilkinson, the commander at New Orleans and the man Jackson accused of treason after the Burr adventure.
A little later, Jackson received a letter from the Secretary of War, John Armstrong, stating that his volunteers were not needed, and that they were to hand over any supplies to Wilkinson and disband.[84] Jackson refused to disband his troops; instead, he led them on the difficult march back to Nashville, earning the nickname "Hickory" (later "Old Hickory") for his toughness.
After returning to Nashville, Jackson and one of his colonels, John Coffee, got into a street brawl over honor with the brothers Jesse and Thomas Hart Benton.
Nobody was killed, but Jackson received a gunshot in the shoulder that nearly killed him.
Jackson had not fully recovered from his wounds when Governor Willie Blount called out the militia in September following the August Fort Mims Massacre. The Red Sticks, a Creek Confederacy faction that had allied with Tecumseh, a Shawnee chief who was fighting with the British against the United States, killed about militia men and civilians at Fort Mims in retaliation for an ambush by American militia at Burnt Corn Creek.
Jackson's objective was to destroy the Red Sticks.
He headed south from Fayetteville, Tennessee, in October with 2, militia, establishing Fort Strother as his supply base. He sent his cavalry under General Coffee ahead of the main force, destroying Red Stick villages and capturing supplies.[91] Coffee defeated a band of Red Sticks at the Battle of Tallushatchee on November 3, and Jackson defeated another band later that month at the Battle of Talladega.
By January , the expiration of enlistments and desertion had reduced Jackson's force by about 1, volunteers, but he continued the offensive.
The Red Sticks counterattacked at the Battles of Emuckfaw and Enotachopo Creek. Jackson repelled them but was forced to withdraw to Fort Strother. Jackson's army was reinforced by further recruitment and the addition of a regular army unit, the 39th U.S. Infantry Regiment. The combined force of 3, men—including Cherokee, Choctaw, and Creek allies—attacked a Red Stick fort at Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River, which was manned by about 1, men.
The Red Sticks were overwhelmed and massacred. Almost all their warriors were killed, and nearly women and children were taken prisoner and distributed to Jackson's Native American allies. The victory broke the power of the Red Sticks. Jackson continued his scorched-earth campaign of burning villages, destroying supplies, and starving Red Stick women and children.[] The campaign ended when William Weatherford, the Red Stick leader, surrendered, although some Red Sticks fled to East Florida.
On June 8, Jackson was appointed a brigadier general in the United States Army, and 10 days later was made a brevetmajor general with command of the Seventh Military District, which included Tennessee, Louisiana, the Mississippi Territory, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy.
With President James Madison's approval, Jackson imposed the Treaty of Fort Jackson. The treaty required all Creek, including those who had remained allies, to surrender 23,, acres (9,,&#;ha) of land to the United States.
Jackson then turned his attention to the British and Spanish. He moved his forces to Mobile, Alabama, in August, accused the Spanish governor of West Florida, Mateo González Manrique, of arming the Red Sticks, and threatened to attack.
The governor responded by inviting the British to land at Pensacola to defend it, which violated Spanish neutrality.
Biography questions to ask A: Seminole and Creek Indians. What country was his family from? When Jackson appeared hostile toward it, the Bank threw its power against him. Questions: 12 Attempts: Last updated: Mar 21,The British attempted to capture Mobile, but their invasion fleet was repulsed at Fort Bowyer. Jackson then invaded Florida, defeating the Spanish and British forces at the Battle of Pensacola on November 7. Afterwards, the Spanish surrendered, and the British withdrew. Weeks later, Jackson learned that the British were planning an attack on New Orleans, which was the gateway to the Lower Mississippi River and control of the American West.
He evacuated Pensacola, strengthened the garrison at Mobile, and led his troops to New Orleans.