Andrew Jackson was an American soldier and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837.

Before being elected to the presidency, Jackson gained fame as a general in the United States Army and served in both houses of the U.S. Congress. He also served as a justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court from 1798 until 1804.

His parents were Scots-Irish colonists Andrew Jackson and his wife Elizabeth Hutchinson, Presbyterians who had emigrated from Ulster, present day Northern Ireland, two years prior to his birth.

When young Andrew refused to clean the boots of a British officer, the officer slashed at the youth with his sword, leaving scars on his left hand and head. His brother Robert also refused to do as commanded and was struck with the sword. The two brothers were held as prisoners, contracted smallpox, and nearly starved to death in captivity.

During the Revolutionary War, Jackson's eldest brother, Hugh, died from heat exhaustion after the Battle of Stono Ferry on June 20, 1779. His other brother, Robert, died from smallpox he caught while imprisoned by the British. His mother died from cholera which she contracted while nursing American prisoners of war aboard two British ships. Andrew became an orphan at age 14. He blamed the British personally for the loss of his brothers and mother.

On 8 January 1815, a British force of 8,000 under General Edward Pakenham attacked Jackson's defenses in New Orleans but failed to take the fortifications on the East Bank. The British suffered high casualties, including 291 dead, 1,262 wounded and 484 captured or missing, whereas American casualties were 13 dead, 39 wounded and 19 missing. The Battle of New Orleans was hailed as a great victory across the United States, making Jackson a national hero and eventually propelling him to the presidency.

He summarily ordered the execution of six members of the militia who had attempted to leave. Their deaths were not well publicized until the Coffin Handbills were circulated during his 1828 presidential campaign.

After resigning from the army in 1821, Jackson briefly served as the first territorial Governor of Florida before returning to Tennessee.

The city of Memphis was founded on May 22, 1819 (incorporated December 19, 1826), by John Overton, James Winchester and Andrew Jackson. They named it after the ancient capital of Egypt on the Nile River.

He ran for president in 1824, winning a plurality of the popular and electoral vote. However, as no candidate won an electoral majority, the House of Representatives held a contingent election under the terms of the Twelfth Amendment. John Quincy Adams emerged victorious after securing the endorsement of Henry Clay. In reaction to the alleged "corrupt bargain" between Adams and Clay and the ambitious agenda of President Adams, Jackson's supporters founded the Democratic Party.