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Description:
Believe it or not, the Battle of Orleans wasn't the time Drew Brees and the Saints finally won their Super Bowl. It was an actual battle, with an actual general at the helm—Andrew Jackson. He was a military hero and more… and he threw very few interceptions to boot.
Transcript
- 00:08
The Life and Legacy of Andrew Jackson --
- 00:10
He's Not Just the Guy on the $20 Bill.
- 00:13
You may have heard the expression, "Jack of all trades"...
- 00:16
...referring to someone with a wide variety of skills.
- 00:19
History books are filled with individuals who could be called "Jacks of all trades".
Full Transcript
- 00:25
Andrew Jackson, a guy with little formal education...
- 00:29
...managed to become a lawyer, judge, soldier, land owner and merchant...
- 00:32
...and, oh yeah, in his free time, the seventh President of the U. S. A.
- 00:37
Let's find out a little more about this "Jackson" of All Trades...
- 00:40
...and why he earned a place on our currency.
- 00:43
Jackson's military career began at the age of thirteen, when he joined a local militia.
- 00:48
During the Revolutionary War, he was captured and ultimately lost his entire family...
- 00:52
...which didn't make him too crazy about the British.
- 00:58
But did that keep Jackson down?
- 01:01
Not at all. Instead, it motivated him to go to law school.
- 01:05
After working in frontier law...
- 01:07
...the new state of Tennessee elected him to the U.S. House of Representatives...
- 01:11
...and later appointed him to be a judge in the Tennessee Supreme Court.
- 01:16
Guess he was doing okay financially around this time...
- 01:18
...'cause he built a sweet plantation near Nashville called The Hermitage.
- 01:22
By the time the War of 1812 rolled around,
- 01:25
Jackson was a general in the Tennessee militia.
- 01:28
His toughness, admired by his men, earned him the nickname, "Old Hickory"...
- 01:34
...and later helped him defeat Indian tribes in The Creek War...
- 01:37
...as well as rout British forces in New Orleans,
- 01:41
which sealed his status as a national hero.
- 01:46
Jackson found time to meet, fall in love with, and marry Rachel Donelson.
- 01:51
But there was one tiny problem...
- 01:54
...she already had a husband.
- 01:57
That pesky issue of bigamy kept coming up...
- 02:01
...but didn't stop Jackson from running for President in 1824.
- 02:05
Although he won the popular vote, the House chose John Quincy Adams as the winner...
- 02:09
...but Jackson's supporters labeled the win a "corrupt bargain,"
- 02:15
which led to a Jackson victory in 1828.
- 02:19
Too bad Rachel wasn't around for much of it.
- 02:25
Having once killed a man in a duel over his wife's honor...
- 02:29
...Jackson was quick to blame his wife's death on the attacks on her character.
- 02:34
So, what kind of President was "Old Hickory"?
- 02:38
Like most Presidents, he had good days and bad.
- 02:41
Though supportive of states' rights...
- 02:45
...he rejected their right to nullify federal laws.
- 02:51
He abolished the national bank...
- 02:54
...but expanded the spoils system, giving government jobs to supporters.
- 03:01
The biggest controversy during Jackson's Presidency...
- 03:04
...was his handling of the Native American population.
- 03:09
Like many white people, Jackson favored removing Indian tribes to land west of the Mississippi.
- 03:14
He relocated more than 90,000 Indians...
- 03:17
...which resulted in the deaths of over 4,000 Cherokees on the Trail of Tears.
- 03:22
Even though he was re-elected in 1832...
- 03:25
...Jackson's presidency was forever tainted.
- 03:31
After surviving the first assassination attempt of a sitting President...
- 03:36
...Jackson retired to The Hermitage in 1837...
- 03:39
...where he died at the age of 78.
- 03:42
At least that's what the history books tell us.
- 03:44
We don't think there's any truth to the rumor that he started a little singing group...
- 03:47
...but you never can tell.
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