Andrew Jackson

? Born: 1767, Died: 1845

? President from 1829 to 1837

? Was a Democrat

? Was a lawyer and a soldier before being elected President

By defeating the Creek Nation in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and leading the

Americans to victory at New Orleans, Andrew Jackson gained most of his fame in the war of 1812, before he became president of the United States.

In the election of 1828, Jackson gained most of his votes from the new frontier states. People left out of the expanding economy loved Jackson. He promised “ equal protection and equal benefits” to everyone. During Jackson’s first term, the spirit equality spread throughout American politics. Jackson stood strongly on the issue of states rights, though no one really knew why.

Settlers wanted the federal government to relocate the Native Americans living in the Southeast and to force them to leave their land and move west of the Mississippi. Congress responded by passing the Indian Removal Act in 1830. Jackson sent federal officials to negotiate treaties with the Indians of the Southeast. Most accepted payment for their lands and agreed to move. In 1834, congress created Indian Territory, an area in present day Oklahoma, for the Native Americans from the Southeast. The Cherokee Nation refused to give up its land. President Jackson supported Georgia’s effort to remove the Cherokee.

Jackson and the Bank

For many years, Jackson had accused the Bank of the United States as being an organization of wealthy Easterners, and that ordinary citizens had no control over them. Nicholas Biddle, the banks president, represented everything that Jackson disliked. In 1832, Jackson’s opponents gave the chance for him to take action against the bank. Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, both friends of Biddle, planned to use the bank to defeat Jackson in the 1882 election. But, their plan failed. Jackson was reelected, and received 55% of the popular vote.

The First Democratic Convention

Jackson and his supporters worked to make the political system more democratic. They abandoned the unpopular caucus system. In the system, major political candidates were chosen by committees made up of members of congress. This system was replaced with nominating conventions. Delegates from the states selected the party’s presidential candidate. Democrats held their first convention in 1832 in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Jackson era was very important to the United States. During Jackson’s terms in office, the struggle for political rights took shape. Without this era, the women’s rights movements and the black rights movement probably never would have taken place.