Andrew Jackson was born on March 15, 1767, in the Waxhaws region, on the border between North and South Carolina. In 1812, war broke out between the United States and Great Britain . His leadership in that conflict earned Jackson national fame as a military hero. He became the nation's seventh president (1829-1837). During the invasion of the western Carolinas in 1780-1781, British soldiers took young Andrew Jackson prisoner. When Jackson refused to shine an officer's boots, the officer struck him in the face with a cutlass, leaving lasting scars. Jackson studied law in his late teens and gained admission to the North Carolina Bar in 1787. In 1796, Jackson joined a convention charged with drafting the new Tennessee state constitution and became the first man to be elected to the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee. Although he declined to seek re-election and returned home in March 1797, he was almost immediately elected to the United States Senate. Jackson resigned a year later and was elected judge of the Tennessee Superior Court. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay He was later chosen to lead the state militia, a position he retained when war with Great Britain broke out in 1812. Andrew Jackson, who served as a major general in the War of 1812, commanded U.S. forces in a campaign of five months against the Creek Indians, allies of the English. In Alabama, in mid-1814, Jackson led American forces to victory over the British at the Battle of New Orleans (January 1815). His victory, which occurred after the official end of the War of 1812 but before news of the Treaty of Ghent reached Washington, elevated Jackson to the status of a national war hero. In 1817, as commander of the Army's Southern District, Jackson ordered the invasion of Florida. After his forces captured Spanish posts at St. Mark's and Pensacola, he claimed the surrounding territory for the United States. By 1824 his supporters had gathered enough support to secure him a nomination and a seat in the United States Senate. In a five-way race, Jackson won the popular vote, but for the first time in history no candidate received a majority of the electoral votes. Jackson and his wife were accused of adultery on the grounds that Rachel was not legally divorced from her first husband when she married Jackson. Although Jackson supported states' rights in principle, he faced the issue head-on in his battle against the South Carolina legislature, led by the formidable Senator John C. Calhoun. In 1832, South Carolina adopted a resolution declaring the federal tariffs passed in 1828 and 1832 null and void and prohibiting their enforcement within state lines. Violence seemed imminent, but South Carolina backed down, and Jackson earned credit for preserving the Union in its greatest moment of crisis to that date. In 1835, the Cherokee signed a treaty giving up their land in exchange for territory west of Arkansas, where in 1838 some 15,000 would walk the so-called Trail of Tears. In the 1836 election, Jackson's chosen successor, Martin Van Buren, defeated the Whig candidate William Henry Harrison, and Old Hickory left the White House even more popular than when he entered it. In conclusion, Andrew Jackson had served in the War of 1812 and had also run for president. He had also fought in New Orleans with Great Britain, he was the commander of the southern district.