Andrew Jackson:
Andrew Jackson was born in 1767 in the Waxhaw region between North Carolina and South Carolina. Jackson was elected as the seventh president of the United States in 1828. Known as the âpeople's president,â Jackson destroyed the Second Bank of the United States, founded the Democratic Party, supported individual liberty, and instituted policies that resulted in the forced migration of Native Americans. Jackson was the first president to invite the public to attend the inauguration ball at the White House, which quickly earned him popularity. The crowd was so large that furniture and dishes were broken in the process of everyone trying to catch a glimpse of the new president. The event earned Jackson the nickname âKing Mob.â
Although Jackson lacked Military experience, he was appointed a major general of the Tennessee militia in 1802. During the War of 1812, he led the U.S troops on a five-month campaign against the British allied Creek Indians, who had massacred hundreds of settlers at Fort Mims in present-day Alabama. The campaign came to an end with Jacksonâs victory at the Battle of the Horseshoe Bend in March 1814, which resulted in the killing of 800 warriors and the eventual achievement by the United States of 20 million acres of land in present-day Georgia and Alabama. After this military success, the U.S promoted Jackson to major general. Without specific instructions, Jackson led his forces into the Spanish territory of Florida and captured the outpost of Pensacola in November 1814, before pursuing British troops to New Orleans. Following weeks of skirmishes in December 1814, the two sides clashed on January 8th, 1815. Although outnumbered the nearly two-to-one, Jackson led 5,000 soldiers to an unexpected victory over the British in the battle of New Orleans, the last major engagement of the War of 1812.
Daniel Webster:
Daniel Webster, on January 18th, 1782, in Salisbury, New Hampshire was born. Webster was the ninth of 10 children of Ebenezer Webster, a veteran of the American Revolution, farmer, and a tavern keeper. As Webster grew older, he attended classes at the various houses where the schoolmaster boarded in succession around the township. At 14, he spent part of a year at Phillips Exeter Academy, and at 15, he entered Dartmouth College, where he excelled at public speaking. In 1807, he married Grace Fletcher, a clergymanâs daughter, and soon became a prominent member of the thriving seaportâs distinguished bar. Webster identified his own interests with those of the Portsmouth shipowners, and merchants who had been prospering through trade with Great Britain and France, despite the occasional seizures of American ships by both warring powers. The Portsmouth businessmen objected to the federal government's effort to retaliate by limiting and even stopping overseas commerce, and, as their spokesman, Webster denounced the Jefferson administrationâs embargo as unconstitutional; he also opposed the declaration of war against Great Britain in 1812.
That same year he was elected to the national house of representatives as a member of the conservative pro-British Federalist Party, they favored a strong, centralized government and encouragement of commerce. He was twice re-elected in 1814 and 1816. In congress, he resisted the passage of practically all war measures, including a conscription bill, which was voted down. Against conscription he took an extreme states-rights position, even hinting at nullification of federal laws when he said the state governments had a solemn duty to âinterpose between their citizens and arbitrary power.â In 1816, Webster moved with his wife and two children to the more metropolis part of Boston. Soon after, he represented the cityâs leading businessmen in the law courts and, from 1823 to 1827, again in the national House of Representatives. He went on to become one of the most highly paid lawyers in the entire country.
