Who was Andrew Jackson?

He was an American general and the seventh president of the United States (1767 to 1845), famous for winning the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 and later for controversial policies including Indian removal.

Why is Andrew Jackson famous?

For his crushing victory over the British at New Orleans in 1815, which made him a national hero, and for a populist presidency that reshaped American politics.

What was the Battle of New Orleans?

In January 1815 Jackson's defenders destroyed an attacking British army for very light losses; it was fought just after the War of 1812's peace treaty was signed but before news of it arrived.

What was the Trail of Tears?

It was the forced removal of Native peoples, especially the Cherokee, from the South under Jackson's Indian Removal Act of 1830; thousands died on the journey west.

Was Andrew Jackson a good president?

It is heavily debated. Admirers cite his populism and defence of the Union; critics point to Indian removal, his ownership of enslaved people and his combative use of power.

Was Andrew Jackson the same as Stonewall Jackson?

No. Andrew Jackson was an earlier general and president; Stonewall Jackson was a Confederate general in the Civil War, a different man.

Andrew Jackson: the hero of New Orleans

Andrew Jackson won one of the most one-sided battles in American history and rode it to the White House. His victory at New Orleans in 1815 made him a national hero, but his record as a soldier and president is inseparable from the forced removal of Native peoples, a legacy Americans still argue over.

The Battle of New Orleans

In January 1815, at the end of the War of 1812, Jackson commanded a mixed force of regulars, militia, free black soldiers, Choctaw warriors and pirates¹ behind earthworks below New Orleans. A veteran British army attacked across open ground and was cut to pieces; the British lost around 2,000 men to a few dozen American casualties.² Unknown to either side, a peace treaty had already been signed in Europe², but the victory made Jackson the most famous man in America.

Hand-drawn 1815 battle plan with the Mississippi River, the American defensive line and British columns — A plan drawn in 1815 of the British attack on Jackson's line below New Orleans on 8 January 1815, with the American earthworks running from the Mississippi to the cypress swamp. Library of Congress. Public domain

Old Hickory

Tough to the point of legend, Jackson had earlier crushed the Creek at Horseshoe Bend in 1814² and campaigned in Florida. His fame carried him into politics as a champion of the common white man against the eastern elite, and in 1828 he was elected³ seventh president, remaking American politics around his new Democratic Party.

Oil portrait of an elderly Andrew Jackson with swept-back white hair and a dark cloak lined with red — Andrew Jackson as president, painted by his friend Ralph E. W. Earl around 1835. The portrait hangs in the White House. Public domain

Indian removal

His presidency's darkest act was the Indian Removal Act of 1830, under which the government forced tens of thousands of Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole⁴ from their homelands in the South. The Cherokee removal became known as the⁵ Trail of Tears, on which thousands died⁶. Jackson, himself a slaveholder², is remembered today as both a self-made national hero and the author of a policy widely judged an atrocity.

Map of the southern United States showing the land and water routes of the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma — The routes of the Trail of Tears, along which the Cherokee and other nations were forced west to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. Map by the US National Park Service. Public domain

See the battle that made him at New Orleans, or meet the other great American commanders.

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

Robert V. Remini, The Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson and America's First Military Victory (Viking, 1999). ↩
Miller Center, University of Virginia, “Andrew Jackson: Life Before the Presidency” ↩ a b c d
Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Andrew Jackson” ↩
Robert V. Remini, Andrew Jackson and His Indian Wars (Viking, 2001). ↩
Miller Center, University of Virginia, “Andrew Jackson: Domestic Affairs” ↩
National Park Service, Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, “History and Culture” ↩
World History Encyclopedia, “Andrew Jackson, Encyclopedia of World History”
Wikipedia, “Andrew Jackson, Wikipedia”

Andrew Jackson: the hero of New Orleans

At a glance

The Battle of New Orleans

Old Hickory

Indian removal

Sources and notes

Frequently asked questions

Hold the line at New Orleans