Jackson, Andrew (1767-1845), was the first president born in a log cabin. Earlier presidents had come from well-to-do families. Jackson, the son of poor Scotch-Irish immigrants, became an orphan at at the age of 14. He grew up on the frontier of the Carolinas. He then moved to Tennessee, where he became a successful lawyer and landowner. Jackson won fame as a so-called “Indian fighter” against Indigenous (native) peoples and as a general in the War of 1812. He was nicknamed “Old Hickory” because of his toughness.
Jackson was a founder of the Democratic Party. He won election as President in 1828 partly because his party was so well organized throughout the nation. Jackson’s military fame also attracted many voters.
Jackson made the presidency a more powerful office, though still subject to the will of the people. As president, he disapproved of many actions by Congress and vetoed 12 bills, more than all previous presidents combined. Many of these bills sought to increase federal spending on domestic improvements. The Democrats believed that the states, not the national government, should pay for such projects. Jackson’s strong actions, particularly during disputes involving the Bank of the United States and the rights of states, won him much praise. He became known as a champion of the people.
The 20-year period after Jackson became president is often called the Age of Jackson. It has been described as the years of “the rise of the common man.” Under Jackson’s leadership, his followers tried to win reforms in the states. They demanded state regulation and inspection of banks. They fought for the right of workers to organize labor unions, and called for a 10-hour workday. They sought adoption of the secret ballot in elections. When Jackson was reelected president in 1832, he became the first president who had been nominated by a national political convention. Historians often use the term Jacksonian Democracy to describe the reforms and reform movements of the period from 1828 to 1850.
During Jackson’s presidency, the opening of land in the West sped up the westward movement. Wild speculation on land, roads, canals, and cotton led to a business depression in the late 1830’s. William Lloyd Garrison organized one of the first societies favoring an end to slavery. Peter Cooper built the first American steam locomotive used for passenger service, and Jackson became the first president to ride a train.
Early life
Boyhood and education.
Andrew Jackson was born on March 15, 1767, in either North Carolina or South Carolina—no one really knows which. Jackson believed he was born on the farm of his uncle, James Crawford, in Waxhaw settlement, South Carolina. The Crawford house stood on the west side of the road that formed the boundary between North Carolina and South Carolina at that time.
Jackson’s parents, Andrew and Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson, were a poor farm couple from Northern Ireland. They had sailed to America in 1765 with their first two sons, Hugh and Robert. The elder Jackson built a log cabin and started farming. He died in 1767, shortly before Andrew, their third child, was born. Mrs. Jackson and the boys moved into the log cabin home of the Crawfords. Jane Crawford was Mrs. Jackson’s sister.
The young Andrew had a quick temper. He grew up among people who were ready to fight at any time to defend their honor. This led him into many fights. Any boy who dared to play a practical joke on Andrew found himself challenged to a battle. A schoolmate later recalled that Andrew would “never give up,” even when another boy had him on the ground. Andrew attended school in the Waxhaw Presbyterian Church. His mother hoped he would become a minister.
At the age of 11, Andrew was sent to a nearby boarding school. He studied reading, writing, grammar, and geography. But sports and cockfighting occupied more of his time than did studying. He wrote a “Memorandum” on “How to feed a cock before you fight.”
The Revolutionary War.
In 1780, British troops invaded South Carolina. The 13-year-old Andrew and his brother Robert joined South Carolina’s mounted militia. Andrew served as an orderly in a battle in which one of his uncles, James Crawford, was wounded. Andrew’s brother Hugh had died after an earlier battle.
In April 1781, a British raiding party captured Andrew and Robert. The British commander wanted his boots cleaned, and ordered Andrew to scrub them. The boy refused, arguing that he had rights as a prisoner of war. The angry officer lashed out at Andrew with his sword, and the youth threw up his left hand to protect himself. The blade slashed Andrew’s hand to the bone and cut him badly on the head. He carried scars from the wounds for the rest of his life.
The British officer forced Andrew and Robert to march 40 miles (64 kilometers) to a military prison at Camden, South Carolina. The brothers caught smallpox there. In an exchange of prisoners, Elizabeth Jackson obtained the freedom of her sons. But Robert soon died of smallpox. Mrs. Jackson died a short time later, and Andrew became an orphan at the age of 14. “I felt utterly alone,” he later recalled.
After the American Revolution, Andrew found little to interest him in school. His grandfather, a merchant in northern Ireland, left him 300 pounds, a substantial amount of money. Andrew wasted the inheritance gambling on horse races and cockfights. In 1783, he taught school for a short time near Waxhaw.
Lawyer.
Jackson met Spruce Macay, a wealthy lawyer, in Salisbury, North Carolina, in 1784. He persuaded Macay to let him study law in his office. But he soon established a reputation as “the most roaring, rollicking, game-cocking, horse-racing, card-playing, mischievous fellow that ever lived in Salisbury,” according to an old-time resident of the town. Professional standards for lawyers were not high in those days, and Jackson was admitted to the bar in 1787.
In 1788, John McNairy, judge of the Cumberland superior court, appointed Jackson solicitor, or attorney general, for the region that now forms Tennessee. On his way to Nashville, Jackson stopped briefly at Jonesborough to take part in a civil suit. He accused the opposing lawyer, Waightstill Avery, of taking illegal fees, and challenged him to a duel. The argument ended with both men firing their pistols into the air.
Thousands of settlers had moved into Nashville after the Revolutionary War. Many refused to pay their bills and ignored the law. Jackson sent many debtors and other law violators to jail. His success as a public official brought him a large private law practice.
Jackson’s family.
Jackson lived in the Nashville boardinghouse of Mrs. John Donelson, a widow. He became attracted to her daughter, Rachel Donelson Robards (June 15, 1767-Dec. 22, 1828). The dark-eyed Robards was separated from her husband, Captain Lewis Robards, an army officer. After frequent quarrels with her husband, Rachel Robards moved to Natchez, Mississippi. She and Jackson believed that Lewis Robards had obtained a divorce. They were married in Natchez in August 1791. In December 1793, however, the couple learned that Robards had not been granted a divorce until September of that year. Jackson and his wife were remarried on Jan. 18, 1794, in Nashville. Historians disagree on the details surrounding the couple’s marriage. Some insist they never had married formally in 1791. The confusion surrounding their marriage and remarriage made the couple targets of gossip that troubled their lives for decades. 
The Jacksons had no children. In 1809, they adopted the four-day-old nephew of Mrs. Jackson. The boy’s mother had been in poor health. With Jackson’s permission, his adopted son took the name Andrew Jackson, Jr. (1809-1865). Mrs. Jackson’s brother, Samuel Donelson, died in 1805. The Jacksons also reared his two sons, John Donelson and Andrew Jackson Donelson. In 1819, Andrew Jackson Hutchings became a ward of the Jacksons. He was the son of John Hutchings, Mrs. Jackson’s nephew.
Business and politics.
In addition to practicing law, Jackson made money by selling land to new settlers. He bought land for as little as 10 cents an acre and later sold it for as much as $3 an acre. In 1796, he bought Hunter’s Hill, a plantation 13 miles (21 kilometers) from Nashville. In 1804, he purchased a plantation about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from Nashville. This plantation became known as the Hermitage.
Jackson served as a delegate to the state constitutional convention that prepared for Tennessee’s admission into the Union. There is a story that Jackson proposed the name “Tennessee” for the new state. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1796.
Jackson’s rough western frontier manners made him stand out among the representatives of eastern states in Congress. He made only two speeches during his three months in the House. Jackson was 1 of 12 representatives who voted against a resolution praising President George Washington’s administration. He criticized Washington’s policies regarding Indigenous groups and foreign countries.
Jackson was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1797. He took a leave of absence in April 1798. He went home, then resigned from the Senate. Jackson wanted to care for his personal affairs. He also felt that the pace of life in the capital, Philadelphia, was too slow.
Six months later, the Tennessee legislature elected Jackson as a justice of the state supreme court. He held that office for six years. In 1804, Jackson resigned the judgeship to devote full time to his private affairs. He had many debts, and his creditors were demanding payment. Jackson sold his Hunter’s Hill plantation and moved to the Hermitage. In 1805, he and John Hutchings established a general store at Clover Bottom, near the Hermitage. Jackson built a stable near the store and bought several race horses. He added to his income with fairly steady winnings on his horses.
Jackson’s hair-trigger temper involved him in a number of duels. But he killed a man in only one. His pistol duel in 1806 with Charles Dickinson, a lawyer, ended in Dickinson’s death. Jackson suffered a serious wound. Dickinson had accused Jackson of being a “worthless scoundrel, a poltroon, and a coward.” He also had made insulting remarks about Mrs. Jackson.
Jackson the soldier
The War of 1812 gave Jackson new opportunities. He had been a major general in the Tennessee militia since 1802. When war with the United Kingdom began, he quickly offered his services to President James Madison.
For several months, Jackson and his 2,500 Tennessee militiamen awaited orders from the War Department. Finally, in January 1813, Governor Willie Blount of Tennessee directed him to reinforce American troops in New Orleans. After Jackson arrived in Natchez, Mississippi, on the way to New Orleans, he received orders from Secretary of War John Armstrong to demobilize his forces on the spot. Jackson was furious because the federal government had not provided pay, food, transportation, or medicine for his men. He refused to demobilize his army and led his men home through the 500 miles (800 kilometers) of wilderness. “He’s tough,” one soldier said of Jackson. “Tough as hickory,” came the reply. As a result, Jackson returned to Tennessee with his famous nickname, “Old Hickory.”
The Battle of Horseshoe Bend.
Jackson next took command of a volunteer force of 2,000 men in a campaign against a band of Indigenous Creek people. The Creek had killed several hundred settlers at Fort Mims in the Mississippi Territory (now Alabama). A serious shortage of supplies and food made military operations difficult for Jackson. He also had to put down two mutinies when some of his men threatened to desert.
The decisive battle of the campaign was fought on March 27, 1814. It took place near the Creek village on Horseshoe Bend of the Tallapoosa River, near present-day Alexander City. Jackson delayed his attack to allow some time for Creek women and children to cross the river to safety. Then his men wiped out most of the Creek force of about 1,000 warriors. “The carnage was dreadful,” Jackson wrote later. He dictated peace terms to the Creek, who gave up 23 million acres (9,310,000 hectares) of land in present-day Georgia and Alabama.
Glory at New Orleans.
The federal government commissioned Jackson a major general in the Regular Army. The army expected a British attack on New Orleans. Jackson was assigned to command U.S. forces along the southern coast.
Before moving on to New Orleans, Jackson asked permission to seize Pensacola in Spanish Florida. The British had been using the town as a military base. Orders failed to arrive, so Jackson took the responsibility. He captured the town in a quick campaign. The victory left him free to supervise the defense of New Orleans. Jackson arrived in the city on Dec. 1, 1814, and found the people almost defenseless. Though ill with dysentery, he set a furious pace in preparing to defend the city. Among other actions, Jackson proclaimed martial law. He even accepted the help of Jean Laffite and his pirates (see Laffite, Jean). Timely reinforcements from Kentucky and Tennessee increased his forces to about 5,000 men.
After several minor attacks, the British army of more than 8,000 men began its attack at dawn on Jan. 8, 1815. The British marched up in close columns against earthworks defended by Jackson’s artillery and riflemen. The attack ended in a terrible defeat for the British, who suffered 300 men killed, 1,250 wounded, and 500 captured. The American losses totaled only 14 men killed, 39 wounded, and 18 captured.
The victory made Jackson a national hero. But it had no effect on the peace treaty that had been signed two weeks earlier in Europe. Communications were so slow that Jackson had not learned about the treaty. See War of 1812.
Florida expedition.
Jackson returned to his plantation in Tennessee but remained in command of the army’s Southern Division. In December 1817, he received orders to lead an expedition to Florida. Determined Seminole warriors, some discontented Creek, and groups of escaped enslaved people and vagabonds had been raiding American settlements north of the Florida-Georgia border. Jackson defeated the Seminole and pursued them into northwest Florida.
Jackson’s campaign became an issue in American-Spanish relations. At the time of the campaign, the United States was negotiating for the acquisition of Florida from Spain. In 1821, two years after the United States acquired Florida, Jackson became provisional governor of the new territory. But he did not enjoy this post and served only four months.
Road to the presidency
Election of 1824.
Jackson’s military career had ended. At the age of 54, he was looking forward to the life of a country squire. But politicians began to talk of electing him president. They remembered him as the hero of the Battle of New Orleans. Jackson’s friends and newspapers in Nashville called for his nomination as president. In 1822, the Tennessee legislature nominated him to run for president in 1824. In 1823, the legislature elected him to the U.S. Senate.
Jackson, now a dignified country gentleman, impressed Washington society. Representative Daniel Webster of Massachusetts commented in 1824 that “General Jackson’s manners are more presidential than those of any of the candidates.” Yet Jackson faced stiff opposition in the election of 1824. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams regarded himself as the logical man to succeed President James Monroe. Representative Henry Clay of Kentucky hoped to be elected by winning the vote of the West. A congressional caucus nominated Secretary of the Treasury William H. Crawford for president. Each of the four candidates headed segments of the same party, the Democratic-Republican Party.
Jackson proved the popular favorite. He won 99 electoral votes, Adams received 84, and other candidates received 78 votes. But no candidate had a majority, so the election went to the House of Representatives, which voted by states. Clay threw his support to Adams, who won the presidency with the votes of 13 states. Seven states supported Jackson. Five days later, Adams named Clay as his secretary of state. The enraged Jackson and his supporters charged that the two men had made a “corrupt bargain.” Adams denied Jackson’s charge, but Jackson never believed him. Nor did Jackson ever forgive Adams or Clay. In the following years, Jackson and his supporters did their best to embarrass Adams. See Adams, John Quincy (Adams’s administration (1825-1829)).
Jackson resigned from the Senate in 1825. He felt that his chances for winning the presidency in 1828 would be strengthened if he returned to private life.
Election of 1828.
The presidential campaign of 1828 was one of the bitterest in American history. It split the Democratic-Republican Party permanently. It was also the first in which all nominations were made by state legislatures and mass meetings instead of by congressional caucuses.
Adams sought reelection, with Secretary of the Treasury Richard Rush as his vice presidential candidate. His supporters came to be known as National Republicans. Adams’s opponents nominated Jackson for president. As his running mate, they named John C. Calhoun, who had served as vice president under Adams. Jackson’s supporters continued to call themselves Republicans or Democratic-Republicans. Historians trace the origin of the modern Democratic Party to this section of the Democratic-Republican Party. See Democratic Party.
Jackson fortunately gained the support of Martin Van Buren, a skilled and powerful New York politician. Van Buren persuaded key Southern politicians to rally behind Jackson. These leaders followed Van Buren partly because they felt his support for the idea of states’ rights would allow for compromise on the question of whether slavery should be expanded. Van Buren also knew the importance of campaign tactics that took advantage of Jackson’s military fame. The confusion surrounding Jackson’s marriage to Rachel Robards also became a campaign issue. Critics characterized it as scandalous. Some charged that Jackson had stolen Robards from her husband.
Jackson won a sweeping victory, with 178 electoral votes to 83 for Adams. Jackson received 642,553 popular votes to 500,897 for Adams. Crowds gathered at the Hermitage to congratulate Jackson. “I am filled with gratitude,” he said. “Still, my mind is depressed.” This remark referred to the political attacks on his wife.
Mrs. Jackson disliked public life. She preferred the comfort of her own room, with her Bible and a few close friends. On Dec. 22, 1828, she had a heart attack and died. She was buried in the garden of the Hermitage. Jackson remained convinced that the various slanders of the campaign led to his wife’s death.
Jackson’s first administration (1829-1833)
When Jackson arrived in Washington, D.C., for his inauguration, he was still bitter at the politicians who had attacked his wife. He refused to call on President Adams.
The sun shone brightly on Jackson as he walked to the Capitol, followed by a huge crowd. The tall, lean Jackson stood straight as a soldier at the age of 61. His blue eyes shone from a face wrinkled with age and illness. He had suffered tuberculosis and coughed almost all the time. He also had many severe headaches.
“The Federal Constitution must be obeyed, state rights preserved, our national debt must be paid, direct taxes and loans avoided, and the Federal Union preserved,” Jackson said in his inaugural address. “These are the objects I have in view, and regardless of all consequences will carry into effect.”
Hundreds of cheering admirers rushed to shake Jackson’s hand. Slowly he made his way down to unpaved Pennsylvania Avenue, mounted his horse, and headed for the White House. Carriages, wagons, and thousands of people on foot followed close behind. The throng swarmed into the White House and eagerly grabbed the cakes, ice cream, and orange punch that had been prepared for Jackson’s reception. They stood on chairs, broke china, tore drapes, and even pushed the president aside. Jackson escaped through a window.
The spoils system.
“The people expect reform,” Jackson told Martin Van Buren, who became his secretary of state. “They shall not be disappointed; but it must be judiciously done, and upon principle.” He wanted to destroy what seemed to him a monopoly of federal offices by wealthy individuals. He also intended to clear out incompetents in these offices.
Jackson rewarded many of his supporters with government jobs. This practice, which had long been used in state politics, was known as the spoils system. Jackson has often been described as a “spoilsman,” but his replacement of Adams’s supporters has been exaggerated. He replaced about 920 out of about 11,000 federal employees during his first 18 months in office, or about 9 percent. He removed less than 20 percent during his entire administration. Jackson believed that no federal employee should have a lifetime “right” to his or her job. He felt that his system of replacing workers made the government more democratic by allowing more people a chance to work for it. See Spoils system.
Political turmoil forced Jackson to limit regular Cabinet meetings during his first years in office. He relied on advice from loyal Cabinet members he consulted individually and from influential friends. Critics objected to Jackson’s reliance on this unofficial “Kitchen Cabinet” (see Kitchen Cabinet).
Life in the White House.
Before Mrs. Jackson died, she had expressed the wish that her niece, Emily Donelson, should manage the White House for the president. Mrs. Donelson’s husband, Andrew Jackson Donelson, became the president’s private secretary. At various times, Mrs. Sarah Yorke Jackson, the wife of Jackson’s adopted son, served as White House hostess. 
The north portico of the White House was built during Jackson’s administration. The government spent more than $50,000 to redecorate the mansion.
The president lived well and entertained a great deal. Fancy foods were served, but he usually preferred a simple diet of rice, bread, vegetables, milk, and wine. Jackson kept his race horses in the White House stables. He entered them in races under his secretary’s name. He enjoyed horseback riding for recreation.
Split with Calhoun.
An argument over Peggy O’Neale Eaton caused a split in Jackson’s family and in his Cabinet. Mrs. Eaton, the wife of Secretary of War John H. Eaton, was the daughter of an innkeeper and the widow of a naval officer, who, according to rumor, had committed suicide because of his wife’s unfaithfulness. The wives of several Cabinet members, led by Mrs. John Calhoun, refused to accept her into Washington society. The Donelsons returned to Tennessee for six months rather than accept Mrs. Eaton in the Executive Mansion. See O’Neale, Peggy.
Jackson associated the gossip against Mrs. Eaton with the political attacks against his own wife. He also regarded the affair as an attempt by Calhoun to gain power for himself. A break between the two men developed, and soon involved members of the Cabinet. Supporting Calhoun were Secretary of the Treasury Samuel D. Ingham, Attorney General John M. Berrien, and Secretary of the Navy John Branch.
In 1831, Eaton and Van Buren resigned in order to give Jackson a free hand in reorganizing his Cabinet. The other Cabinet members felt obliged to follow their example. Jackson then appointed anti-Calhoun men as successors to Ingham, Berrien, and Branch.
Another dispute completed the split between Jackson and Calhoun. It ended Calhoun’s hopes of succeeding Jackson in the presidency. Early in 1828, Congress had passed a law that increased tariff rates on foreign manufactured goods. Calhoun complained that the law hurt his native state of South Carolina. He secretly wrote the South Carolina Exposition. In this document, Calhoun claimed that a state could nullify (reject) any law passed by Congress which the state believed had violated the Constitution. Some supporters of nullification hoped to get Jackson on their side. They invited him to a dinner celebrating Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, on April 13, 1830. Jackson stood up to make a toast, raised his glass, looked at Calhoun, and solemnly declared: “Our Federal Union: It must be preserved.” The stunned audience stood in silence. Then Calhoun proposed a toast: “The Union, next to our liberty, most dear.”
The Bank of the United States.
Jackson’s fight against the Bank of the United States became the major issue of his first administration. In 1816, Congress had granted the bank a 20-year charter. The bank had authority over the currency system. It could stop state banks from issuing too much paper money. The Bank of the United States could also prevent state banks from making loans without enough security. State banks in the South and West were usually freer in extending credit and loans than the more conservative Eastern banks. Western and Southern farmers who could not get new loans or renew old ones denounced the Bank of the United States for restricting the power of local banks.
Jackson disliked the bank for economic as well as political reasons. He thought the law that had created the bank was unconstitutional. Jackson favored a “hard money” policy. That is, he believed currency would be more reliable if paper money was based strictly on specie, or gold and silver. Jackson called the bank a monopoly and said its vast powers threatened the government. The bank had meddled in politics and its political supporters, including Senators Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, opposed Jackson.
In 1832, Congress passed a bill rechartering the bank. This recharter, however, came four years early. Jackson interpreted it as a direct attack on his reelection campaign and charged that the bank’s president, Nicholas Biddle, was misusing bank funds to support Clay. Jackson vetoed the recharter bill. This action drew strong criticism from Biddle. Biddle’s congressional supporters tried to override the president’s veto, but failed. See Bank of the United States; Biddle, Nicholas.
Election of 1832
was a milestone in American political history. For the first time, national political conventions chose the candidates for president. Before this time, the candidates had been nominated by state legislatures, mass meetings, or congressional caucuses.
In December 1831, Jackson’s opponents nominated Henry Clay for president. They chose John Sergeant, head of the legal staff of the Bank of the United States, for vice President. Jackson’s supporters also met in Baltimore, in May 1832. The delegates nominated Jackson for president and Martin Van Buren for vice president.
The fight to recharter the Bank of the United States became the chief issue of the 1832 presidential campaign. Jackson won an overwhelming victory.
The nullification crisis.
In 1832, Congress passed another high-tariff act. On November 24, South Carolina declared the tariff laws of 1828 and 1832 null and void. It threatened to secede, or leave the Union, if the government tried to collect duties at Charleston.
Jackson and Senator Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina reacted to the crisis in opposite ways. Hayne resigned from the U.S. Senate and won election as governor of South Carolina. On Dec. 10, 1832, Jackson ordered troops and warships to be concentrated near Charleston. “The laws of the United States must be executed,” he proclaimed. “I have no discretionary power on the subject. … Disunion by armed force is treason.” Hayne vowed to defend his state’s sovereignty or die “beneath its ruins.” On December 28, Calhoun resigned the vice presidency and took over Hayne’s Senate seat.
Upon Jackson’s demand, Congress then passed a force bill. This law authorized him to use the armed forces to collect tariffs (see Force bill). At the same time, Senator Henry Clay pushed through a compromise tariff bill that reduced all tariffs for 10 years. South Carolina withdrew its nullification of the tariff laws, but declared the force law null and void. This step did not settle the nullification issue. The controversy rose several times in later years. Jackson’s stand against nullification angered states’ rights supporters in his party and strengthened the opposition in the South. See Nullification.
Jackson’s second administration (1833-1837)
The bank issue.
Jackson properly interpreted his reelection as public approval of his bank policy. He ordered Secretary of the Treasury Louis McLane to remove the government’s deposits from the Bank of the United States and place them in state banks. Both McLane and his successor, William J. Duane, refused to carry out Jackson’s order. Duane had been appointed even though Jackson knew that he opposed the president’s bank policy. Jackson had thought that he could influence Duane.
After Duane refused to act, Jackson named Roger B. Taney to the office. Taney carried out the order. In 1834, however, the Senate rejected Jackson’s nomination of Taney. This was the first time a Cabinet nominee had been rejected. See Taney, Roger B.
The withdrawal of the government’s funds reduced the powers of the national bank. In 1836, it became the Bank of the United States of Pennsylvania.
In 1834, the United States Senate voted to criticize Jackson’s bank policy. Through the years, this vote has been called a censure. But the vote did not mention the word censure. In 1837, Jackson’s allies won control of the Senate, and revoked the 1834 resolution.
The money surplus.
The dispute over the Bank of the United States occurred during a period of heavy speculation in land, the opening of the West, and increased foreign trade. The government was receiving more money from tariffs and the sale of public land than it was spending. On Jan. 8, 1835, Jackson paid off the final installment of the national debt. He was the only president ever to do so. Congress provided that any surplus above $5 million should be divided among the states in 1837 as a loan. But a depression struck in 1837 before the money from the government could be distributed to all the states. The prospect of more money in circulation had encouraged speculation. Many states spent recklessly on huge public construction programs. Hundreds of “wildcat banks” issued their own money (see Wildcat bank).
By 1836, most banks had only 1 gold dollar in reserve for every 10 or 12 paper dollars in circulation. As a result, the value of money dropped steadily. Inflation became so serious that Jackson hastened to act before the boom crumbled. On July 11, 1836, he issued his Specie Circular. It directed government agents to accept only gold and silver in payment for public lands. This order shocked the West because speculators there had been buying land with “cheap” paper money. The circular helped end speculation in land. But prices, interest rates, and wages continued to rise. The inflation of money, overexpansion of business, and overinvestment in public improvements brought on a depression that struck shortly before Jackson left office. This business slump became known as the Panic of 1837. See Van Buren, Martin (The Panic of 1837).
Indigenous peoples.
As a soldier, Jackson had fought against Indigenous people, then commonly called Indians. After the War of 1812, he helped negotiate important treaties with them, and greatly influenced the government’s policy toward them. Most modern historians believe Jackson did not hate Indigenous people, but he believed that the government should treat them as wards of the nation and not as members of independent foreign powers. He doubted that Indigenous and white people could live together. He therefore favored moving the Indigenous people in the East to the West.
In 1828, Georgia passed laws that gave the Indigenous Cherokee people no legal protection if the state seized their lands. The Cherokee protested that the federal government had guaranteed them this land by treaty. They claimed that a state could not nullify a federal contract. In this controversy, Jackson did not support the rights of the federal government as he had done in the nullification crisis. Instead, he told the Cherokee that he “had no power to oppose the exercise of sovereignty of any state over all who may be within its limits.” Alabama and Mississippi seized the lands of the Choctaw and Chickasaw. The Cherokee then took their own case to the Georgia supreme court. Eventually the case, Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, reached the Supreme Court of the United States, which dismissed the Cherokee suit in 1831. But in a later case, Worcester v. Georgia (1832), the court ruled that the federal government had exclusive jurisdiction over Indigenous lands.
Jackson’s supporters in Congress helped win approval of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The act called for the removal of the Indigenous groups east of the Mississippi River and their relocation on land west of that river. Within the next several years, almost all Indigenous groups east of the river—including the Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw—had signed treaties to move west of the Mississippi. Thousands of Indigenous people, cheated out of their land, died during the forced migration. Most of the Seminole refused to move. From 1835 to 1842, they fought U.S. troops in Florida. By the time the fighting ended, most of the Seminole had surrendered or been captured, and had been sent to the West. 
Foreign affairs.
After the American Revolution, the United Kingdom had prohibited American ships from trading in the British West Indies, a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea under British control. In 1830, Jackson offered to open American ports to the British if Americans received equal trading rights in the West Indies. The United Kingdom accepted the offer.
Jackson achieved another success when he persuaded France to pay its long-standing “spoliation,” or plundering, claims. French ships had attacked American shipping during the Napoleonic Wars of the early 1800’s. In 1831, France agreed to pay for the damages in six annual installments. But France failed to make the first payment. Jackson then asked Congress to increase military expenditures. France was angered by Jackson’s action and recalled its minister. In 1836, Jackson announced that France had paid four installments with interest. The two nations then resumed diplomatic relations.
Slavery and Texas.
During this period, the admission of any state into the Union was linked with the slavery controversy. A new chapter in the dispute developed in 1831 when William Lloyd Garrison began publishing The Liberator, an antislavery newspaper (see Abolition movement). In 1835, Texas revolted against Mexico. Americans believed that an independent Texas would soon be annexed to the United States, with its area divided into several states. Such a move would affect the balance between the North and South. This balance had been maintained since Missouri joined the Union in 1821 (see Missouri Compromise). Antislavery forces opposed the admission of Texas, or even the recognition of an independent Texas.
Jackson had long felt that Texas should be part of the United States. But he hesitated to recognize Texas, fearing that recognition would damage Martin Van Buren’s chances for the presidency in 1836. Later, Van Buren’s election opened the way for Jackson to act. Jackson used his last day as president to establish diplomatic relations with the Republic of Texas. See Texas (History).
Later years
After seeing his friend Martin Van Buren sworn in as president, Jackson returned to the Hermitage. White-haired and sick with tuberculosis and dropsy, Jackson still stood erect. He rode horseback in the mornings and watched over his cotton fields. He continued his interest in national politics and supported Van Buren’s unsuccessful bid for reelection in 1840. In 1844, Jackson supported fellow Democrat James K. Polk, who won.
Jackson died on June 8, 1845. He was buried beside his wife in the garden of the Hermitage.
