Presidential Profiles: Andrew Jackson (1829-1837)

Andrew Jackson was born on March 15, 1767 in the Waxhaw area, on North Carolina-South Carolina border. Born to obscure parents and orphaned in youth, he was the first "self-made man" and the first westerner to reach the White House. He fought as a boy in the Revolutionary War, studied law, and in 1788 moved west to Nashville. In 1791, he began living with Rachel Donelson Robards, whose husband had abandoned her. They were formally married after her divorce in 1794. Charges of adultery arising from the episode dogged Jackson's later political career.

After serving as Tennessee prosecutor, judge, congressman, and senator, he won fame as a major general in the War of 1812 with smashing victories against the Creek Indians in 1814 and the British at New Orleans in January 1815. n a confused, four-candidate presidential race in 1824, Jackson led the popular and electoral vote but lost in the House of Representatives, through the influence of Speaker Henry Clay, to John Quincy Adams. Jackson challenged Adams again in 1828 and defeated him in a campaign which centered on Jackson's image as a man of the people battling aristocracy and corruption. This election would prove to be contentious. Andrew Jackson would blame his opponent, John Quincy Adams, for the death of his wife, holding the verbal attacks made by Adams and his political allies responsible for her passing. On March 4, 1829, Andrew Jackson took the oath of office, the first president to take the oath on the east front portico of the U.S. Capitol. Annual salary was $25,000. He would serve 2 terms as president from 1829 to 1837. On March 4, 1837, Andrew Jackson's tenure as president would end. On March 4, 1837, he died at 78 years of age at the Hermitage in Nashville, Tennessee.


Andrew Jackson's Administration

First Lady: none - widowed before taking office

Vice Presidents:

John C. Calhoun (1829-1832)
Martin Van Buren (1833-1837)

Secretaries of State:

Martin Van Buren (1829-31)
Edward Livingston (1831-33)
Louis McLane (1833-34)
John Forsyth (1834-37)

Secretaries of the Treasury:

Samuel D. Ingham (1829-31)
Louis McLane (1831-33)
William J. Duane (1833)
Roger B. Taney (1833-34)
Levi Woodbury (1834-37)

Secretaries of War:

John H. Eaton (1829-31)
Lewis Cass (1831-36)

Attorneys General:

John M. Berrien (1829-31)
Roger B. Taney (1831-33)
Benjamin F. Butler (1833-37)

Postmasters General:

William T. Barry (1829-35)
Amos Kendall (1835-37)

Secretaries of the Navy:

John Branch (1829-31)
Levi Woodbury (1831-34)
Mahlon Dickerson (1834-37)

Inaugural Information

Eleventh Inaugural Ceremonies, March 4, 1829

Twelfth Inaugural Ceremonies, March 4, 1833

For more information on President Andrew Jackson, check out these resources...

Andrew Jackson, White House

American President: Andrew Jackson, Miller Center, University of Virginia

Andrew Jackson, POTUS, Internet Public Library

Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil, and the Presidency, PBS

The Hermitage: Home of Andrew Jackson


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