Andrew Jackson: A Captivating Guide to the Man Who Served as the Seventh President of the United States

By Captivating History

Explore the Captivating Life of Andrew Jackson

When Jackson left the White House after two presidential terms, he had achieved a rare feat: he left office with even more popularity than when he first entered it. His reputation as a strong president and a "champion of working-class democracy" has nevertheless been viewed through a more nuanced lens in recent years. 

In 2016, President Barack Obama decided to replace Andrew Jackson's visage on the front of the $20 bill with a portrait of abolitionist Harriet Tubman. Meanwhile, current President Donald Trump has repeatedly drawn parallels between himself and Jackson via his infamous Twitter account and public speeches. He even put a portrait of Jackson in the Oval Office and visited his tomb in Nashville shortly after being sworn in. 

The present day is thus an apt time for a look into Jackson's divisive life and legacy and that is what this captivating book offers.

Some of the topics covered in this book include:

- The War Orphan

- The Gentleman

- The Scarlet Woman

- The Congressman

- Supreme Court Justice and Major General

- Old Hickory

- Sharp Knife

- War Hero

- Expansion

- Presidential Candidate

- A Tumultuous Presidency

- Jacksonian Reform

- Retirement

- And much more!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Captivating History
• Release date: Jul 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393298380

Book preview

Chapter 1 – The War Orphan

On March 15, 1767, Andrew Jackson was born in the Waxhaws region on the border of North and South Carolina. His father (who was also named Andrew Jackson) and his mother (Elizabeth Hutchinson) had sailed from the eastern coast of Ireland only two years earlier, exchanging Irish poverty for the opportunity for a new and better life in America. Their new home had clean water from the Waxhaw Creek, various small game animals like turkey and deer, friendly Native Americans (the Catawba Indians), and familiar faces who had also made the same migration. 

The Jacksons had help and assistance from Elizabeth’s sisters and their families, but they had little money and no land to their name. They settled on less fertile land around Twelve Mile Creek. After laboring for two years on the unyielding red clay and building a small log house for his family, Jackson’s father died abruptly in March 1767. The cause of his death remains unknown. Elizabeth was pregnant at the time with their third child, who would be named after the father he never knew.

Elizabeth moved in with her sister Jane Crawford after her husband’s funeral, abandoning the farm her husband had attempted to cultivate. There, she worked as a housekeeper and nurse to her sister, who was in ill health. She had hoped that her third son would become a peaceful and learned Presbyterian minister, but his disposition soon proved to be wildly unsuitable for such a career.

Even as a child, Jackson possessed a red-hot temper. It was often coupled with shocking language that frightened everyone in the vicinity. Jackson would even pretend to explode in rage on occasion, since he knew that most people would acquiesce to his wishes rather than risk further provocation. He received a partial education at a local academy and then at a school operated by a Presbyterian minister. There, he learned how to read and write and studied Latin. He was not exposed to history, political science, mathematics, literature, or science at this time.

He grew up with several chips on his shoulder. Apart from being fatherless, he also had to live with the Crawfords as a poor and dependent relative. If any other peer attempted to take advantage of his perceived inferiorities, however, Jackson was sure to demonstrate that he was no easy target. He was known to be daring, brave, overbearing, and ready to rise to any challenge. Robert Remini, one of his biographers, recalls an early childhood incident that evokes his temperament. A few boys had once given him a loaded gun and dared him to fire it (with the hopes of seeing the bully fall to the ground due to the discharge). Jackson was sent sprawling backwards by the recoil, but none of them dared to laugh. They had all taken his threat to heart: "if one of you laughs, I’ll kill