The first “log cabin” president of the United States of America and the 7th President of the USA, Andrew Jackson is one of the most famous Presidents of the country.
In this article titled Andrew Jackson facts for kids, we are going to take a look at his life and achievements. Albeit, we are also going to touch on the dark sides of Andrew Jackson as well.
Ready? Let’s start!
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids: 1-5 | Birth and Parents
1. Andrew Jackson was born to Andrew Hutchinson Jackson and Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson.
2. He was born on March 15 in the year 1767.
3. The place where he was born was Waxhaws region of Carolinas.
4. Andrew Hutchinson Jackson and Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson were Scots-Irish colonists.
5. The parents of Andrew Jackson emigrated to the Carolinas in 1765. They were originally from present day Northern Ireland.
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids: 6-10 | Parents of Andrew Jackson
6. Andrew Jackson’s father Andrew Hutchinson Jackson was born in a place known as Carrickfergus in County Antrim, which in modern times is located in Northern Ireland.
7. Andrew Hutchinson Jackson was born in the year 1738.
8. The particular village in which Andrew Jackson’s father and mother lived was known as the Boneybefore. This village was also in the County Antrim.
9. It is believed that when the parents of Andrew Jackson emigrated to the Northern America, they most likely landed in Philadelphia.
10. In order to reach Waxhaws’ Scots-Irish community, they traveled overland through Appalachian Mountains.
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids: 11-15 | Death of Jackson’s Father
11. When Andrew Hutchinson Jackson and Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson came to North America, they already had two children.
12. The two children were Hugh, who was born in 1763 and Robert, who was born in 1764.
13. Both Hugh and Robert also arrived at North America along with their parents.
14. When Andrew Hutchinson Jackson was only 29 years old, he died of a logging accident when he was clearing the land.
15. Three weeks after Andrew Hutchinson Jackson died, his third son – Andrew Jackson was born.
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids: 16-20 | Where Was Andrew Actually Born?
16. The actions that Elizabeth took immediately after her husband’s death are not very clear. So, the exact birthplace of Andrew Jackson is not really clear.
17. The problem was that Waxhaws was straddling between North Carolina and South Carolina when the Jackson’s moved in. That area was so remote that official survey of the border between North and South Carolina was not conducted yet.
18. Andrew Jackson however claimed in a letter he wrote in 1824 that he was born in South Carolina’s Lancaster County. The exact place was a plantation that James Crawford (uncle of Andrew Jackson) owned.
19. In all likelihood Andrew Jackson claimed South Carolina as his birth place because the state was considering removal of ‘Tariff of 1824’. Andrew Jackson was strongly against the tariff.
20. Somewhere in the mid-1850’s a set of evidences came out which suggested that he was probably born in North Carolina in the home of some other uncle.
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids: 21-34 | British Invasion and Jackson Becomes Orphan
21. The Battle of Stono Ferry (during American Revolutionary War) that was fought on June 20, 1779 left Hugh (the eldest brother of Andrew) exhausted because of the heat and he died.
22. Later in 1780-1781, the British invaded the Carolinas. This is when Jackson’ mother encourage Andrew and his elder brother Robert to attend drills held by local militia.
23. Both brothers fought against the British in the Battle of Hanging Rock (a battle of the American Revolutionary War) that took place on August 6, 1780. Later, the British captured both Andrew and Robert in 1781.
24. While in captivity, a British officer asked Andrew to shine his boots. Andrew refused.
25. Because of the refusal, the British officer took his saber and hit Andrew, leaving scars on his head and his left hand.
26. Even Robert, the elder brother of Andrew was hit by a sword because even he refused to follow the command of the British.
27. Both Andrew and his brother were held captive and thrown into prison. Both of them starved in Prison and both of them contracted small pox.
28. Later, their mother Elizabeth managed to get both the boys out of prison. While returning home (which was 40 miles away), torrential rains caught them off guard.
29. The rain worsened the effects of small pox and within two days after arriving home, Robert died.
30. Elizabeth took care of Andrew and brought him back to health despite the fact that Andrew was also in mortal danger.
31. Elizabeth then decided to volunteer as a nurse at Charleston harbor aboard a British ship. She wanted to nurse the American prisoners of war who were struck by a cholera outbreak.
32. While volunteering as a nurse Elizabeth contracted cholera and died of the same in November 1781.
33. After she died, she was buried in a grave that was not marked. At the time of her death, Andrew was only 14 years old. Her death left him as an orphan.
34. Andrew’s encounter with the British during his captivity and the death of his brother and mother later left him with a deep anti-British sentiment. He personally blamed the British for the death of his elder brother and mother.
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids: 35-45 | Education, Legal Career, Marriage
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids | Education
35. After the American Revolutionary War came to an end, Jackson started getting irregular education at local Waxhaw school.
36. Andrew never have cordial relationships with his extended family and hence, lived with other people many times.
37. In 1784, he left Waxhaws and went to Salisbury in North Carolina. There he studied law under Spruce Macay – an attorney.
38. He performed well in his law studies and in the year 1787, he was taken into the North Carolina bar.
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids | Legal Career
39. After entering the bar, he filled in for a position of a prosecutor in North Carolina’s Western District. He bagged the job with the help of one of his friends. The Western District later became the state of Tennessee.
40. In 1788, he moved the Nashville – a small frontier settlement. There he stayed occupied with suits of debt collection. He became insanely successful in that and started his own private practice.
41. Because of his success in such lawsuits, he became friends with many creditors and land owners.
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids | Marriage
42. When he moved to Nashville, he boarded with the widow of a local colonel called John Donelson. Her name was Rachel Stockly Donelson.
43. Rachel Stockly Donelson had a daughter named Rachel Donelson Robards. The young Rachel was married to Captain Lewis Robards.
44. Relationship between Rachel Robards and Lewis Robards was not healthy. They got separated in 1790.
45. After Andrew Jackson heard that Lewis Robards had obtained a divorce, he married Rachel. Unfortunately, the divorce was not finalized at that time.
46. Thus, the relationship between young Rachel and Andrew was invalid as it was bigamous.
47. After the divorce between Lewis and young Rachel was finalized, Andrew and Rachel remarried in year 1794.
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids: 48-62 | Land Speculation (Real Estate Purchase) and Public Career
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids | Real Estate Dealings
48. In 1794, Andrew Jackson entered into a partnership with John Overton. Overton was Andrew’s fellow lawyer.
49. The partnership dealt with claims for lands that were reserved for the Chickasaw and Cherokee (indigenous people) by treaty.
50. The partnership dealt with claims despite they were in the Indian country.
51. The transactions that the partnership between Jackson and Overton dealt with were mostly grant money that were given under 1783’s ‘Land Grab’ Act.
52. The act briefly opened up the Indian lands that were located on western side of the Appalachians (located within North Carolina) to be claimed by the residents of North Carolina.
53. Through these dealings, Jackson became one of the three original investors who eventually found Memphis, Tennessee in the year 1819.
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids | Public Career During Early Days
54. William Blount, one of the most powerful man in Nashville, took Andrew Jackson as his protégé when he arrived in Nashville.
55. Because of his connections, Jackson because the attorney general in the year 1791.
56. In 1796, Jackson was elected as a delegate to constitutional convention. The convention was charged with the task of drafting the state constitution for Tennessee.
57. Tennessee achieved its statehood in 1796, Jackson was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He was the first man to be elected from Tennessee.
58. In 1797, he declined reelection to the House of Representatives and returned home. However, as soon as he returned home, he was elected to US Senate in March 1797.
59. One year later, Jackson resigned from the post of the senator because he was not happy with the then President John Adams’ administration. He resigned without citing any formal reason.
60. When he returned home, he was elected as a judge for the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1798. In this new job he drew an annual salary of $600.
61. He stayed in the post of judge till 1804. However, in 1802, Jackson was also elected as Major General in the Tennessee militia.
62. He held that position of Major General when war broke out in 1812. That war paved the way to his fame as national hero.
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids: 63-75 | Jackson – a Planter, Merchant & a Slave Owner
63. Andrew Jackson made quite some money through his career which allowed him to prosper even further in terms of money.
64. In 1803 he built his home and the first ever general store in Tennessee’s Gallatin.
65. In the following year, i.e. in 1804, Jackson went on to acquire the famous Hermitage located in Davidson County near Nashville.
66. Hermitage was a plantation spanning over whopping 640 acres. Later, he added another 360 acres of land to the plantation, taking his total land asset at 1,050 acres.
67. Cotton was the main crop that was grown in that plantation. The crop was grown by the slaves that Andrew Jackson owned.
68. Andrew Jackson started his plantation business with 9 slaves. By 1820, Jackson owned 44 slaves and later slave count under his belt increased to 150. That made him an elite planter.
69. Apart from Hermitage, Andrew Jackson was also the co-owner of Halcyon plantation that was located in Mississippi’s Coahoma county.
70. The other owner of the Halcyon plantation was his son Andrew Jackson Jr. It is said that the Halcyon plantation had 51 slaves.
71. Historians estimate that throughout his lifetime, Andrew Jackson owned as many as 300 slaves.
72. Jackson had wooden or brick cabins built on the Hermitage plantation for the slaves. The living conditions for the slaves were pretty high compared to the standards that were prevalent during his times.
73. The slaves had to acquire their own food for which Jackson provided things like fishing lines, knives and guns.
74. Jackson would also, at times, give coins and monies to his slaves so that they could trade in the local market.
75. Jackson allowed whipping of his slaves in order to increase the productivity of the slaves or if they committed some grave offense.
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids: 76-80 | The Military Career
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids | The Beginning of the War of 1812
76. By the time it was 1812, United States found itself surrounded by international conflict. Though there were hostilities with France and Spain, those hostilities never took an ugly turn.
77. However, that was not the condition with Great Britain. The hostilities between United States and Great Britain spanned over many aspects.
78. One of the main reasons for such hostility was that Americans wanted more land, especially Florida and British Canada.
79. Florida was controlled by Spain. Spain was a European ally of the British.
80. In 1812 on June 1812, the US Congress through an official announcement, declared war on the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. This marked the beginning of the War of 1812.
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids | Jackson’s Military Endeavors
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids | War of 1812
81. When the war broke out Andrew Jackson was extremely enthusiastic about joining the war. He ended up sending a letter to Washington and offered 2,500 volunteer soldiers.
82. Washington did not respond for months and at the same time, United States military forces kept on facing humiliating and devastating defeats in various battlefields.
83. Jackson and his men were eventually summoned and from there, Jackson shot to fame.
84. He led a 5-month long campaign against the Creek Indians (referred to as the Red Sticks because of the war paint they used) who sided with the British.
85. Andrew Jackson led his men to a decisive victory against the Creek Indians or the Red Sticks at the Battle of Tohopeka (also known as the Battle of Horseshoe Bend).
86. The Battle of Horseshoe Bend started on March 27, 1814 and ended after a 5-hour long battle.
87. When Jackson led his men and fought the Creek Indians, Andrew held the rank of a General. After the victory and after forcing the Creek Indians to sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson, Jackson rose to the rank of Major General.
88. After that, the American forces led by Major General Andrew Jackson fought a battle with the British forces led by British army’s Major General Sir Edward Pakenham.
89. Jackson led the American forces to victory in this battle, which is known as the Battle of New Orleans. The battle took place on January 8, 1815.
90. Here is one of the most interesting things you should know about the Battle of New Orleans. The battle was fought after a peace treaty was already signed by United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
91. The peace treaty between United States and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was known as the Treaty of Ghent.
92. The Treaty of Ghent was a peace treaty that was signed on December 24, 1814 by the two parties involved in war. The treaty was signed in Ghent, United Netherlands (which is now known as Belgium).
93. Unfortunately, the news of the treaty took a month to reach United States. The Battle of New Orleans was fought before the news could reach.
94. Not just the Battle of New Orleans, there was another battle that was fought on January 12, 1815. It was known as the Battle of Fort Bowyer. This particular battle was won by the British forces.
95. After the Battle of New Orleans, Jackson was elevated to the status of war hero in United States.
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids | Invasion of Florida
96. Jackson’s military endeavors did not end with the end of the War of 1812. In 1817, when he was the commander of the southern district of army, an invasion of Florida was ordered by Jackson.
97. The United States forces succeeded in capturing the Spanish posts at Pensacola and St. Mark’s.
98. Once the forces were captured by the US forces, Jackson went on to claim the surrounding lands.
99. Jackson’s actions were sudden and were not acceptable to Spain. Spain opposed to such actions vehemently. This caused some unrest back in United States as well.
100. Because of the actions of Jackson and because of the Spain’s opposition, Washington was engaged in a heated debate. Many people argued in the censure of Jackson.
101. John Quincy Adams – the then Secretary of State took side of Jackson and defended his actions. This eventually led to speedy acquisition of Florida by the United States in 1821.
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids: 102-112 | Jackson’s Failed First Presidential Run
102. By 1821, Jackson’s popularity was skyrocketing and it was suggested that he runs for the office of President.
103. Initially, Jackson did not show any interest in running for Presidency. However, his boosters managed to garner enough support to get him a seat in the U.S. Senate and also a nomination for the Presidential elections.
104. After that, a 5-way race ensued in which the popular vote was won by Jackson.
105. Unfortunately, not a single candidate managed to get clear majority in the electoral votes. This happened for the first time in the history.
106. There were three leading candidates for the post of the President and they were Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams and H. Crawford (Secretary of Treasury).
107. The House of Representatives was given the task of deciding who would become the President.
108. H. Crawford went out of the race because he suffered a stroke and became seriously ill.
109. This left two major candidates in the race – Jackson and Adams. Unfortunately, Henry Clay (Speaker of the House) – who also ran for the office and bagged the 4th position in the race – gave his support to Adams.
110. This support allowed Adams to win the Presidential elections and Adams went on to make Clay the Secretary of State.
111. The supporters of Andrew Jackson called it a ‘corrupt bargain’ but gained nothing out of the noise the made. Adams became the President.
112. Jackson on the other hand, decided to resign from the Senate and did so.
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids: 113-132 | Jackson Becomes the President
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids | Early Preparations and Big Support
113. After Adams was elected as President, the opposition went against him almost immediately. Adams wanted United States to get involved into the independence quest of Panama. This did not go down well.
114. In October 1824, Jackson’s nomination for Presidential elections was filed by the Tennessee legislature. It was the first time ever in the history of United States that the nomination was filed 3 years before the actual elections.
115. The truth is that the supporters of Jackson actually started their campaigning right from 1824 when Adams won the Presidential election.
116. One of the key points that the critics of Adams (that is the supporters of Jackson) picked up to campaign for Jackson and against Adams was that Adams’ policies were geared towards dangerous expansion of the Federal powers.
117. Such rhetoric by Jackson’s supporters found great support from big names like Martin Van Buren – a New York Senator (the person who supported H. Crawford in 1824 Presidential election), Calhoun (the then Vice President).
118. Calhoun was strictly against certain agendas of President Adams and hence, sided with Jackson.
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids | Personal Abuses Hurled
119. During those days, Presidential election campaigns were personal by nature. As a result, the opposing groups used to hurl personal abuses. It wasn’t any different in case of Jackson and Adams.
120. As per the prevailing customs, the Presidential candidates never went for campaigning personally. Their followers used to organize all the campaigns.
121. As part of his campaign, President Adams’ supporters threw a set of abuses at Jackson. One of such abuses was ‘Jackson’s mother was a common prostitute’.
122. Adams’ supporters also called Jackson’s father as ‘mulatto man’.
123. The abuses didn’t end there. Adams’ supporters published a pamphlets’ series by the name Coffin Handbills in which they published Jackson’s orders at New Orleans to execute soldiers.
124. Some other pamphlet accused Jackson of cannibalism accusing that he engaged in eating the bodies of those American Indians that were killed in the battlefield.
125. Yet another accusation was that of labelling Andrew Jackson as a slave trader who engaged in slave trading activities and moving them below the standards of slaveholder behaviors.
126. Adams’ supporters even took Jackson’s wife Rachel in their radar and accused her of bigamy (with reference to the marriage hiccup she had in terms of divorce with her first husband).
127. Jackson’s supporters also didn’t hold back. They blamed Adams of providing a young girl to serve as a prostitute to the Russian Emperor Alexander I. Yes, Adams was a minister to Emperor Alexander I.
128. They also said that Adams used to keep a billiards table at White House for which he charged the government of United States.
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids | Death of Rachel
129. Jackson’s wife Rachel couldn’t really take the stress during the election campaigns and she underwent extreme physical stress as well when the election seasons were on.
130. According to Andrew Jackson, Rachel experienced extreme pain on her left breast, arm and shoulder.
131. Rachel struggled with the physical condition for three days straight from 19th December to 21st December 1828 and eventually died on December 22, 1828.
132. She died after her husband Andrew Jackson own the Presidential election. Her death was 3 weeks after Jackson won the Presidential elections and 10 weeks before Jackson took the charge as President in the office.
131. Jackson held the notion that her death was caused by the abuses that were hurled towards her by Adams’ supporters.
132. Rachel’s burial took place on the Christmas eve and her grave was at the Hermitage.
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Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids: 133-148 | Important Aspects of Jackson’s Presidency
133. The 1828 Presidential election became the turning point of United States’ political history because Jackson was the first ever person to be elected from the area that lay west of the Appalachians.
134. It was also important because the initiative of putting Jackson as a Presidential candidate and organizing his campaigns actually came from the West.
135. As Jackson won the election, it showed the center of the political power in the US actually shifted to the West from the East.
136. The thing that was very important in that election was that Jackson won the election by appealing to the mass voters instead of taking support from famous and recognized political organization.
137. Jackson is considered as the Father of Modern Presidency.
138. The Jacksonian organization (basically Jackson’s supporters) took advantage of the rising democratic sentiment.
139. The Jacksonian organization managed to portray the Presidential candidate as the symbol or manifestation or personification of Democracy.
140. The irony was that before becoming the President, Jackson was actually far from Democracy and that he was actually associated to Tennessee’s conservative political faction for 30 years.
141. Even weird, when the West was amid the financial crisis that started in 1819, he strongly opposed the legislation that intended to give relief to the debtors.
142. Jackson was, since the time of George Washington, the first President of the United States who had absolutely no knowledge of how foreign policies are conducted or formulated.
143. He, just like George Washington had no long apprenticeship in what is called the public life.
144. He never had big plans for dealing with problems that might arise in the future. He dealt with each problem as and when the showed up.
145. He made it extremely clear that he was the ‘Master of his own administration’. In the role of President, Jackson behave exactly the same way he behaved when he was the commander.
146. Because of his decisive nature and strong will, his political opponents often dubbed him as “King Andrew I”.
147. The people who often aided him with policy making and decision making were an informal group of politicians and newspaper editors (who actually helped him in winning the election).
148. This informal group of newspaper editors and the politicians were known as ‘Kitchen Cabinet’.
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids: 149-160 | Jackson’s Accomplishments as President
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids | Electoral College and Spoils System
149. Jackson was not really happy about the election results of 1824 in which he lost to John Quincy Adams. He strongly believed that people of United States should have the power of electing the President and the Vice President.
150. He proposed the abolition of Electoral College but it never happened.
151. Jackson also started campaigning against corruption and gave birth to what is known as the ‘Spoils System’ in which he replaced the incumbent officeholders with his supporters.
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids | The Fight with Second Bank of the United States
152. The greatest thing that Jackson most likely achieved as a President was to get into a battle with the Second Bank of the United States and winning it.
153. Theoretically, the Second Bank of the United States was a private organization but in reality, it was a monopoly business that was sponsored by the government.
154. According to Jackson, the Second Bank was an elitist institution that was corrupt and was engaged in paper money manipulation. He also believed that the bank had too much power in the economy.
155. The charter of the Second Bank of the United States was to expire in the year 1832.
156. Presidential re-election was due in 1832 and Jackson’s opponent Henry Clay decided to make it a central point in the election campaigns. He propagated the idea that the Second Bank played a very important role in the strong economy of the US.
157. Henry Clay, along with his supporters, managed to pass a bill through the US Congress for re-chartering the Second Bank.
158. This was not acceptable to President Jackson and he vetoed the re-charter bill in July 1832. The reason he cited was “advancement of few at the expense of the many.”
159. American people supported the view of President Jackson and he won the Presidential re-election against Clay by 56% of the popular vote and almost 5 times the total electoral vote.
160. There were feeble attempts to re-charter the Second Bank during the second term of President Jackson but that never turned out to be fruitful. The institution finally closed completely in 1836.
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids | South Carolina Crisis
161. In 1832, John C. Calhoun emerged as the other major opponent of Jackson for the post of President. Calhoun was Jackson’s Vice President during his first term as President.
162. In 1828 and 1832 federal tariffs were passed. The state of South Carolina believed that the tariffs were in favor of Northern manufacturers at the expense of South Carolina.
163. Not happy with the tariffs, South Carolina went forward with a resolution in which they declared the tariffs to be null and void within South Carolina. South Carolina even threatened secession.
164. Calhoun supported South Carolina and even supported the notion that states could, at their will, secede from the Union.
165. Andrew Jackson definitely believed that the tariffs were actually too high but still threatened to make use of federal forces to enforce the same on South Carolina by force.
166. Calhoun strongly protested this and became the first US Vice President to resign. He resigned on December 28, 1832.
167. Eventually, a Compromise Tariff bill was passed on March 1, 1833 along with a Force Bill.
168. The Compromise Tariff bill reduced the tariff rates and the Force bill gave President Jackson the power to enforce Federal Law.
169. South Carolina canceled the nullification ordinance after the Compromise Tariff bill was passed. This took care of the South Carolina crisis.
170. Even though South Carolina accepted the new tariffs, it showed defiance by nullifying the Force bill.
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Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids: 170-187 | Jackson’s Controversial Decisions and Blunders as President
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids | The Trail of Tears
171. Though Jackson was considered as “People’s President”, his tenure was tainted by some controversial decisions. The most troubling of all was his dealing with the Native Americans.
172. The worst thing he did was the signing and implementation of the infamous Indian Removal Act of 1830.
173. That act gave him powers of negotiating with and signing treaties with tribal people resulting in the displacement of the tribal people in territory west of river Mississippi in exchange of their ancestral homelands.
174. Jackson became popular in how he dealt with South Carolina but he did nothing when Georgia went forward violating a federal treaty and seizing 9 million acres of land that was guaranteed to the Cherokee tribe.
175. The case went to Supreme Court of USA and it was ruled that Georgia had no rights of seizing their lands, Georgia did not listen and neither did Jackson do anything to enforce the Supreme Court ruling on Georgia.
176. Surprisingly, President Jackson went on to broker a deal in 1835 with the Cherokees in which the Cherokees would vacate their land and take a territory located in the west of the Arkansas.
177. Three years later in 1838 when Jackson was no longer the President, the Cherokees were rounded up and forced to leave the place.
178. 15000 of the tribal people embarked on a journey westward. They moved mostly by foot and the journey became known as Trail of Tears.
179. The Cherokees were forced to move during the winters when it was cold and wet.
180. Nearly a quarter of the Cherokees died during the journey because of illness, starvation and exposure.
Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids | Dred Scott Decision
181. Roger Taney – a supporter of Jackson – was nominated to the US Supreme Court by Jackson.
182. The nomination was simply rejected by the Senate in 1835.
183. After John Marshall – the Chief Justice died, Roger Taney was re-nominated by Jackson and it was approved in the next year.
184. After Taney became the Chief Justice, he went on with a very bad decision known as the Dred Scott Decision.
185. According to the Dred Scott Decision, African Americans had no legal standing for filing a suit simply because they weren’t the citizens of the United States.
186. As if the Dred Scott Decision was not enough, Taney went on to give a ruling where he said that the Federal government had absolutely no authority to forbid slavery in the territories of U.S.
187. Unfortunate for Taney, while he was still the Chief Justice of Supreme Court, he had to swear in Abraham Lincoln as the President of United States. It was Lincoln who eventually abolished slavery in USA.
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Andrew Jackson Facts for Kids: 188-200 | Some Fascinating Facts about Jackson
188. Jackson was the only President in the history of United States who managed to pay off the national debt completely. He achieved the feat in 1835. No other US President (before or after Jackson) managed to achieve this.
189. In 1824 Presidential elections when Jackson ran for the post, the one-party Era of Good Feelings came to an end and the Democratic-Republican party broke down into the Democratic party that supported Andrew Jackson and the National Republicans that opposed Jackson and supported Adams.
190. During his feud with the Second Bank of the United States, Jackson took a series of steps those were considered as expansion of the executive power of Jackson. As a result of this, those who opposed such power expansion came together to form the Whig Party and called Jackson “King Andrew I”.
191. The Whig Party was named after English Whigs who went on opposing the British Monarchy in the 17th century.
192. In 1836 Presidential election, the Whig Party lost to Martin Van Buren who was the successor of Jackson. However, Jackson left Buren with an economy that was about to go into depression.
193. According to Jackson, paper money was bad because it allowed speculators to buy vast amounts of land and drive the prices of the land artificially high.
194. Because of such belief, Jackson ended up issuing a Specie Circular in the month of July in 1836 in which it was dictated that payments for lands are to be made in gold and silver.
195. That caused the problem. The demand for gold and silver increased and the banks failed to keep up with the increase in demand.
196. Because of the Specie Circular, which was an executive order, banks collapsed, prices declined, businesses failed and unemployment was rampant. This condition persisted for the entire tenure of President Martin Van Buren.
197. Andrew Jackson became the first sitting President of the United States on whom an assassination attempt was carried out.
198. The attempt to assassinate Jackson took place on January 30, 1835 just outside the United States Capitol.
199. Jackson was leaving from the memorial service of a congressman when Richard Lawrence an unemployed house painter emerged out from the crowd, pulled out a single-shot gold pistol, pointed it to Jackson and fired. Fortunately, the gun failed.
200. As the gun failed, Lawrence pulled out another pistol but that too misfired. Jackson was infuriated and he hit the person with his cane. The bystanders then managed to subdue Lawrence.
201. Lawrence was an English-born. He believed that he was the heir to the British throne and that the US government owed a lot of money to him. He was declared insane by the court and was institutionalized.
202. Prior to the assassination attempt, Jackson also because the first ever US President who was attacked physically. The perpetrator in this case of Robert B. Rudolph, who was in US Navy and was removed by Jackson on charges of embezzlement.
203. Jackson on May 6, 1833 went to Fredericksburg, Virginia by sailing on USS Cygnet in order to lay the cornerstone on a monument located near the grave of George Washington’s mother Mary Ball Washington. During the sail, USS Cygnet made a stopover near Alexandria.
204. That is where Rudolph appeared and struck the President and ran away. Many members of Andrew Jackson’s party chased Rudolph. Jackson eventually did not press any charges against Rudolph.
205. Two new states were included in the union during the Presidency of Jackson. Those two states were Arkansas (15th June, 1836) and Michigan (26th January, 1837).
206. Though Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830 that eventually led to the Trail of Tears, Jackson actually adopted two sons who were Indians. Jackson was also pretty friendly with several Indians.
207. Many historians claim that Andrew Jackson was involved in anywhere between 5 and 100 duels. He actually killed a person in a duel in 1806.
208. In 1806, a person named Charles Dickinson insulted the future President publicly through a newspaper by calling him “a worthless scoundrel, a poltroon and a coward.”
209. The dispute started out of a horse-racing bet. Infuriated by those insults, Jackson challenged Dickinson in a duel. At that time Dickinson was the best shot in whole of Tennessee.
210. At the command, Dickinson took the first shot at Jackson and lodged a bullet in Jackson’s chest. The bullet missed Jackson’s heart by barely an inch. Despite his wounds, Jackson stayed put and fired at Dickinson (who, according to the rules, had to stand still) that killed him.
211. The bullet in Jackson’s chest was so close to the heart that it could not be removed. He carried around the bullet in his chest for the rest of his life.
212. Not just that bullet, there was another bullet that was lodged in his body, which was also a result of a subsequent duel.
213. Jackson was a big gambler. He gambled on just about anything including cockfights, cards, dice etc. However, he was very passionate about horse racing and gambled mostly on that.
214. Jackson’s portrait appears on $20 bills today. Not just that, his portrait also appeared on $5, $10, $50 and $10,000 bills. That’s not the end, his portrait appeared in Confederate $1000 bills. This is pretty ironic because he opposed paper bills and led to the Panic of 1837 (the economic meltdown that his successor had to deal with).
215. Before Jackson became the President and was General in armed forces, he was given a nickname – “Old Hickory”. His troops used to say that he was as tough as an old Hickory tree, which has strong and deep roots.
216. Jackson, in 1835, received a giant cheddar wheel weighing 1400 pounds. The cheese wheel was kept in the lobby of White House for two years.
217. In 1837, before Jackson left the White House, he arranged a reception and allowed the general public to eat the cheddar wheel. Needless to say, the building kept stinking for days after that.
218. Jackson eventually died at the age of 78 on June 8, 1845. He returned to Hermitage after completing his second term in White House.
219. The cause of his death was lead poisoning caused by the two bullets that remained lodged in his body for several years.
220. Jackson was buried at the Hermitage plantation garden right next to his beloved wife Rachel.
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12