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Andrew Jackson--Great US President or Mass Murderer?

© Lisa Perkins

Andrew Jackson was born on March 15, 1767 in a log cabin in Waxhaw, South Carolina. By August of 1780 at the tender age of 13, he was orphaned and was present at the Battle of Hanging Rock, where he served as a messenger for the local militia. In April of 1781, the British captured the young Jackson, along with his older brother. During his captivity, he was scarred permanently, giving him a hatred of the British that would stay with him for the remainder of his life. After his older brother died from smallpox, Jackson was released for fear he had the same dreaded and incurable disease. This capture would make him the only President to be a prisoner of war.

By the age of 20 in 1788 he was admitted to the bar and was named public prosecutor in the North Carolina territory in what would become Tennessee. After induction to statehood in 1769, he was its first US Representative in the House. In succeeding years, Jackson would become its senator (1979-1798) and one of its Supreme Court Judges (1798-1804).

Jackson fought in the War of 1812, where he earned the rank of major general of the militia and rose quickly to the rank of major general of the US Army. His forces won the battle of Talladega the following year.

By 1814, Jackson was ordered to stop the uprising of the Creek, which culminated into the battle of Horseshoe Bend in March. After claiming victory, Jackson forced the Creek to sign over 22 million acres of land (Southern Georgia and central Alabama).

In 1815, Jackson and his troops stormed the Seminoles in Pensacola, Florida partly because they were harboring fugitive slaves. During the Battle of New Orleans, he “routed” the British. By 1818, Jackson had captured Pensacola and forced the Seminole to sign over their land. While there, he executed Alexander Arbuthnot and Robert Ambruster (two British citizens) for providing weapons to the Seminole and provoking them to war. Although many demanded Jackson to be court-martialed (including John Clahoun, who would later serve as Jackson’s vice president), nothing was done. He was named Florida’s provisional governor after its acquisition from Spain.

By 1823, Jackson, now known as “Old Hickory,” was elected to the Senate. This was also the year the Supreme Court decided that Indians, although allowed to occupy lands, could not hold title to them.

Between 1814 and 1824, Andrew Jackson was key in negotiating nine out of eleven treaties (81%), which would utilmately take millions of acres of land from the Native American.

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