Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson expanded American democracy for white men and forced the removal of tens of thousands of Native Americans. Born on the Carolina frontier in 1767 to Scots-Irish immigrants, he was orphaned at fourteen; his mother and both brothers died during the Revolution, and a British officer slashed his hand and face when he refused to clean his boots. He read law, moved to Tennessee, became a planter, a slaveholder, a judge and a militia general. He destroyed the Red Stick Creek at Horseshoe Bend in 1814, and in January 1815 defeated a British assault at New Orleans with about seventy casualties against some two thousand — fought after the peace treaty was signed but before news arrived. It made him a national hero. He invaded Spanish Florida in 1818 without authorisation and executed two British subjects. He won the popular vote in 1824 and lost the presidency in the House, which he called a corrupt bargain, and returned in 1828 on a wave of newly enfranchised voters. As president he vetoed the recharter of the Second Bank of the United States and withdrew its deposits, faced down South Carolina's attempt to nullify a federal tariff, and paid off the national debt entirely — the only time it has happened. He signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830 and enforced it. The Cherokee won their case at the Supreme Court and were removed anyway; the Trail of Tears killed about four thousand of them. He introduced the spoils system, survived the first assassination attempt on a president, and died in 1845.

• Lived: 1767 CE – 1845 CE
• Nationality: American
• Roles: statesman, military_leader