Andrew Jackson

He married Rachel Donelson, a married woman, whom he believed to have been divorced from her husband after separation. However, the divorce had never been completed, making their marriage invalid. After the divorce was officially completed, they remarried in 1794. They had no children of their own.

He adopted three sons, Theodore, an Indian orphan; Andrew Jackson Jr., the son of Rachel's brother Severn Donelson; and Lyncoya, a Creek Indian orphan. He also volunteered and became the guardian of eight other children.

Rachel died of a heart attack on December 22, 1828. He was grief-stricken and severely depressed by her death. He never remarried.

He was born on March 15, 1767, in Waxhaws border region between The Carolinas, to Andrew Jackson and Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson. He had two elder brothers, Hugh and Robert.

His parents were Scott-Irish colonists, who landed in Philadelphia when they immigrated to America in 1765. His father died in February 1767, three weeks before Andrew was born, in an accident. His mother died while nursing prisoners of war, after contracting cholera in 1781.

His eldest sibling, Hugh, died of heatstroke following the Battle of Stone Ferry in 1779. His brother Robert also died in 1781 after contracting smallpox. After being orphaned, he lived briefly with his extended family in Waxhaws.

He received his early education from private tutors and then attended the local school before studying law in Salisbury, North Carolina, in his late teens.

In 1787, after apprenticing with prominent lawyers for three years, he was granted license to practice and moved to Jonesborough.

In 1796, he was elected as a delegate to the Tennessee constitutional convention. He was elected as Tennessee’s U.S. Representative, after it achieved statehood.

In 1797, he was elected U.S. Senator as a Democratic-Republican, but he resigned within a year.

From 1798 to 1804, he served as the judge of the Tennessee Supreme Court.

In 1801, he was also appointed commander of the Tennessee militia, with the rank of colonel.

He served in the War of 1812 and his troops defeated the British in New Orleans under his leadership. After this military success, he was appointed Major General.

His work as an army commander was commendable and extraordinary. He became a national war hero after defeating the British in New Orleans. He was a strict officer but popular with his troops, which acquired him the popular nickname ‘Old Hickory’.

As the President of United States, his works were highly respected and admired by the citizens of America. One of his greatest feats as the president was his firm stand in the battle against the monopoly of the Second Bank of the United States. He was referred to as the first "citizen-president", representing the common man.