Andrew Jackson's Life

Andrew Jackson was born on March 15, 1767 in a log cabin in the Waxhaw settlement of South Carolina, a few days after his father's death. He lived with his mother and two older brothers. He attended school enough to learn how to read. Jackson left home to fight in the Revolutionary War when he was 13; he was taken prisoner by a British officer. Shortly after he was released, his mother died. He practiced law in Salisbury, North Carolina and passed the bar exam. He traveled west with a group of pioneers and ended up in Tennessee where he married Rachel Donelson Robards in 1794; the first President to marry a divorced woman. They adopted a son in 1808. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1796 and served one year in the Senate as the first representative from Tennessee. He had to return home when his farm failed. In 1802 he was was elected major general of the Tennessee militia.  In 1814 he defeated the Creek Indians during the War of 1812; he was promoted to major general of the United States Army.  In 1815 he successfully fought off the British attack on New Orleans protecting the Louisiana Territory. Andrew Jackson was elected Governor of the new territory of Florida in 1821. He served two years and returned to his home in Tennessee where he was elected to the Senate. Jackson ran for President in 1824 but lost to John Quincy Adams. In 1829 he was elected President of the United States and served two terms. He returned to his home in Nashville where he lived until he died on June 8, 1845. Note: Andrew Jackson was President from 1829 through 1837 and the Vice Presidents were John Caldwell Calhoun and Martin Van Buren.