Andrew Jackson Timeline

Following the Fort Mims massacre, Jackson led Tennessee militia and allied Native American forces against the Red Stick faction of the Creek Nation, winning decisive victories at Talladega, Emuckfaw, Enotachopco Creek, and Horseshoe Bend, which forced the Treaty of Fort Jackson and massive land cessions.

Image source: Creek War

At Horseshoe Bend in present-day Alabama, Jackson's forces decisively defeated the Red Stick Creek warriors, killing hundreds and effectively ending the Creek War. The victory made Jackson a national hero and opened vast tracts of Native American land to American settlement.

Image source: Battle of Horseshoe Bend

Two weeks after the Treaty of Ghent ended the War of 1812, Jackson led a diverse force of soldiers, pirates, freedmen, and militia to a stunning victory over a much larger British army at New Orleans. With only about 70 American casualties versus over 2,000 British losses, Jackson became the most famous military hero in America since George Washington.

Image source: Battle of New Orleans

Ordered to pursue raiders into Spanish Florida, Jackson exceeded his instructions by capturing Pensacola and overthrowing the Spanish governor. The controversial campaign demonstrated Spain's inability to control Florida and helped pressure Spain into ceding the territory to the United States.

Image source: Seminole Wars

Jackson's movement transformed American politics, championing white male suffrage expansion, the spoils system, and populist rhetoric against elites. His legacy remains deeply contested today, celebrated by some for expanding democratic participation and condemned by others for his role in Native American removal and support of slavery.

Jackson retired to his Hermitage estate near Nashville, where he lived with his extended family, managed his plantation worked by over 100 enslaved people, advised Democratic politicians, and remained an influential elder statesman of his party.

Image source: The Hermitage (Nashville, Tennessee)

In retirement, Jackson lobbied vigorously for the annexation of Texas, helping persuade James K. Polk to run as an expansionist candidate in 1844. Texas was admitted to the Union in December 1845, months before Jackson's death.

Image source: Texas annexation

Andrew Jackson died at age 78 at the Hermitage, suffering from dropsy, tuberculosis, and the effects of numerous old wounds. He was buried beside his beloved Rachel in the garden of his estate, mourned nationally as one of America's most consequential presidents.

Running as the champion of the common man against incumbent John Quincy Adams, Jackson won a landslide victory in one of the dirtiest campaigns in history, marred by attacks on Rachel Jackson's marriage. Weeks after the election, Rachel died suddenly, which Jackson blamed on her attackers' slander.

Image source: 1828 United States presidential election

Washington society snubbed Peggy Eaton, wife of Secretary of War John Eaton, echoing slanders once aimed at Rachel Jackson. Jackson fiercely defended her, causing a rift in his cabinet led by Vice President Calhoun's wife. The affair contributed to the resignation of most of the cabinet in 1831.

Image source: Petticoat affair

Thousands of supporters flooded Washington for Jackson's inauguration, mobbing the White House reception afterward in a raucous celebration that damaged furniture and forced the new president to escape through a window. The scene symbolized the democratic populism of the Jacksonian era.

Image source: First inauguration of Andrew Jackson

Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act authorizing treaties to relocate eastern Native American tribes to lands west of the Mississippi River. Though framed as voluntary, it coerced tribes through fraud and intimidation, leading to the deaths of thousands during forced removals.

Image source: Indian Removal Act

Under pressure from the Jackson administration, the Choctaw Nation signed the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, ceding millions of acres in Mississippi in exchange for land in Indian Territory. The Choctaw became the first major tribe removed under the act, suffering great hardship along the way.

Image source: Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek

Nat Turner's slave rebellion in Virginia shocked the nation during Jackson's first term, intensifying Southern fears and hardening attitudes toward slavery. The administration's response included suppressing abolitionist literature in the mails, reflecting Jackson's pro-slavery stance.

Image source: Nat Turner's slave rebellion

The Supreme Court ruled that Georgia law had no jurisdiction over Cherokee lands. Famously, Jackson allegedly declined to enforce the decision, reportedly saying Chief Justice John Marshall had made his ruling, now let him enforce it, though the quote is disputed; the ruling went unenforced.

Image source: Worcester v. Georgia

During Jackson's presidency, Sauk leader Black Hawk crossed back into Illinois with his band, triggering conflict with American forces and militias. The brief war ended with Black Hawk's defeat and capture, accelerating Native American removal from the region.

Image source: Black Hawk War

Jackson vetoed Congress's bill rechartering the Second Bank of the United States, denouncing it as an unconstitutional monopoly favoring wealthy elites at the expense of ordinary citizens. The veto became the centerpiece of his 1832 reelection campaign and intensified the Bank War.

Image source: Second Bank of the United States

Jackson crushed Henry Clay in the 1832 election, winning 219 electoral votes to Clay's 49, with Martin Van Buren elected vice president. The result was interpreted as popular approval of his war on the bank and his defiant stand against nullification.

Image source: 1832 United States presidential election

South Carolina declared federal tariff laws null and void, threatening secession. Jackson responded forcefully, securing the Force Bill authorizing military enforcement while supporting a compromise tariff. The crisis ended peacefully but foreshadowed the sectional conflicts leading to the Civil War.

Image source: Nullification crisis

Frustrated when the bank's charter survived, Jackson ordered federal deposits withdrawn and redistributed to favored state banks, dubbed 'pet banks.' Treasury Secretary William Duane refused and was fired; Roger Taney carried out the order. The move destabilized the economy and contributed to the Panic of 1837.

Image source: Bank War

On his final day in office, Jackson granted diplomatic recognition to the independent Republic of Texas, which had won independence from Mexico at San Jacinto in 1836. Recognition set the stage for future debates over annexation and the expansion of slavery.

Jackson's handpicked successor Martin Van Buren won the 1836 election and continued Jacksonian policies. Within weeks of taking office, the nation plunged into the severe economic depression of the Panic of 1837, which critics blamed on Jackson's banking policies.

Image source: Martin Van Buren

Though it occurred largely after Jackson left office, the forced removal of the Cherokee was the direct consequence of his Indian removal policy and the Treaty of New Echota. Around 16,000 Cherokee were marched west, and roughly 4,000 died of starvation, exposure, and disease en route.

Image source: Trail of Tears