The Jacksonian Democracy and the Men Behind It
The Jacksonian Democracy and the Men Behind It
Although Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren held the same views, their mind set and expectations for themselves were from different ends of the spectrum. Andrew Jackson was born on March 15, 1767 in a log cabin on the boundary line between North Carolina and South Carolina. Jackson's father died before he was born leaving Jackson and his family to move in with relatives. Throughout Jackson's childhood he caused trouble and hated schoolwork, in fact many jokes are made about Jackson's horrible spelling. He was said to sometimes spell the same word three different ways in the same document. At the age of sixteen Andrew Jackson was left an orphan due to the Revolutionary War, Jackson himself had been captured during the war. After the war Jackson studied the law to become a lawyer in Nashville. While in Nashville Jackson fell in love with a woman, Rachel, whom was already married. Soon, however, Jackson learned that her husband divorced her, without thinking Jackson proposed to Rachel and they were married in 1791. Two years later they learned that the divorce was never legal, therefore neither was there marriage. They quickly married again, but the mistake caused a scandal, and people were always talking about them behind their backs, which angered Jackson profoundly, and lead him to always be challenging others and giving and receiving many duels. Jackson was always trying to defend his wife.
In 1796 Jackson's political career begins when he helps to write the Tennessee state constitution. He was later elected as Tennessee's first representative to Congress. From 1798 to 1804 he was a judge of the Supreme Court of Tennessee and a Major-General of the Tennessee militia. Jackson spent a year in the Senate and while there was thought of as a backwoodsman. It was said that "Andrew Jackson was a spokesman for the common people-the backbone of the new nation" (Quackenbush 19). Jackson's malitia was called to action during the War of 1812. They stayed outside of Natchez for four weeks before being sent home. As Jackson was marching home to Nashville one solider is quoted as saying "look at him, he's as tough as a hickory branch" and that is how Jackson came to be known as "Old Hickory." That was...