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Andrew Jackson,
SEVENTH President of the United States, was born of Irish parents, at Waxaw, S.C., March 15, 1767. When fourteen years of age, he joined the revolutionary army, with his brother, and was soon after, with his brother and several others, taken prisoner by the British, and treated with great severity. In a short time his brother died, and in 1783 his mother was taken away, leaving him without kindred in the country of his birth. His mother had destined him for the ministry, and he pursued his studies with that view till he was eighteen years of age, when he commenced the study of the law, under the direction of Spruce M'Cay, Esq., and finished under the tuition of Col. John Stokes.
In 1788, he removed to Tennessee, and commenced the practice of law at Nashville, in which he was quite successful, and, in 1791, was appointed attorney-general for the district. In 1796, he was chosen a member of the convention for framing a constitution for the State; and the same year elected representative to Congress. In 1797, he became a member of the United States Senate, which office he resigned the following year, and soon after was appointed judge of the supreme court of the State, and major-general of the Tennessee militia.
In 1812, he took command of 2,500 Tennessee volunteers; and continued in the service of the country during the war with Great Britain, until its close at New Orleans, January 8, 1815. Afterwards he commanded an expedition against the Seminoles, and was appointed governor of Florida in 1821. In 1822, he was again elected a member of the United States Senate.
In 1828, General Jackson was elected President of the United States, to which high office he was again elected in 1832. His popularity during his administration was great and uninterrupted. After the close of his second term, General Jackson issued a valedictory address to the people of the United States, and withdrew wholly from public life, to his residence in Tennessee, where he died on the 8th of June, 1845, aged 78 years. Men will accord to him the merit of possessing great energy and strength of will, remarkable military skill, and warm patriotism, whatever opinion may be entertained of the wisdom of his policy while in official stations.