Andrew Jackson (#7)

Andrew Jackson (1767–1845) was a self-made man from the Carolina backcountry who rose to become a war hero and the seventh president of the United States (1829–1837). His victory at the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815 — technically fought after the War of 1812 had officially ended — made him a national legend. His presidency defined a new era of American populist democracy, expanding voting rights for white men and shifting political power away from the Eastern elite.

Jackson's legacy is deeply contested. He forcibly displaced tens of thousands of Native Americans through the Indian Removal Act of 1830, resulting in the Trail of Tears — the deadly forced march of the Cherokee and other nations to Oklahoma. He dismantled the Second Bank of the United States, triggering economic instability. He also faced down South Carolina's attempt to nullify federal law, asserting federal supremacy with unusual forcefulness. Jackson was the founder of the modern Democratic Party and remains one of America's most powerful — and most troubling — presidents.