Memorable Quotations from Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) was the 7th president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Jackson helped to draft the Tennessee constitution and in 1796 was elected to the Congress. In the War of 1812 he routed the Creek at Horseshoe Bend in March 1814, was made a major general, and resolutely defeated experienced British troops at New Orleans on January 8, 1815. In 1818 he directed retaliation against the Seminoles in Florida and seized Pensacola, involving America in severe trouble with Spain and Britain. The demeanor of Old Hickory, as he was named, delighted the people of the West. He was the highest hero of his time and became associated with enlarged popular participation in government. This so-called Jacksonian democracy almost won him the presidency in 1824, but the election ended in the House of Representatives, with a win for John Quincy Adams. Jackson was elected president in 1828 and brought a strong element of individualism to Washington. His Kitchen Cabinet was influential, and the spoils system ripened. Jackson and Vice President John C. Calhoun clashed on nullification, and Calhoun resigned in 1832. Jackson's battle against the Bank of the United States was an essential issue in the election of 1832, in which he defeated Henry Clay. He then shifted federal assets from the bank to selected state, or "pet," banks. In 1836 he issued the Specie Circular, which said that all public lands must be paid for in specie and which hurried the Panic of 1837.