Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before his presidency, he rose to fame as a U.S. Army general and served in both houses of the U.S. Congress. His political philosophy became the basis for the rise of Jacksonian democracy. Jackson's legacy is controversial: he has been praised as an advocate for working Americans and preserving the union of states, and criticized for his racist policies, particularly towards Native Americans. He is also credited with co-founding the Democratic Party alongside Martin Van Buren.
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 1798 until 1804. Jackson purchased a plantation later known as the Hermitage, becoming a wealthy planter who profited off the forced labor of hundreds of enslaved African Americans during his lifetime. In 1801, he was appointed colonel of the Tennessee militia and was elected its commander.