History remembers Andrew Jackson primarily for his defeat of the British at the 1815 Battle of New Orleans. He is also known for his ruthless treatment of native Americans.

Born in a log cabin in South Carolina, Jackson became a Tennessee lawyer in 1790. The following year he married Rachel Robards, a Nashville, Tennessee, cotton planter's daughter. Robards had already been married once before. When she married Jackson she believed her divorce had been finalized; she was mistaken. Jackson had to remarry her after the divorce officially went through. Jackson's political opponents later insinuated that Rachel was a bigamist. Hot-tempered Jackson challenged one of them to a duel with pistols. Jackson killed his opponent. Jackson himself was seriously wounded and would go to his grave with a bullet lodged in his lung.

Jackson dealt with anyone who stood in his way in similar fashion. At the 1814 Battle of the Horseshoe in Alabama Territory, Jackson and his militia army killed over 800 Creek warriors. They "shot them down like dogs," according to one eyewitness. He went on to attack several defenseless Creek villages, killing women and children, and burning everything in his path. When the nearby Seminole tribe sought refuge in Spanish-held Florida, Jackson and his men followed and killed a great many of them.

In 1832, when the Black Hawk faction of the Sauk and Mesquakie Nations resisted removal to the West, Jackson dispatched the U.S. Army to punish them. Although Black Hawk and his followers tried repeatedly to surrender, Jackson had the army pursue and defeat them.

Jackson then used the full might of the army to forcibly remove almost all of the Southern native Americans from east of the Mississippi. He moved them to "Indian Territory" - what is now Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. In 1837, Jackson ordered the removal of the Cherokee despite a U.S. Supreme Court injunction against it. The forced march to Indian Territory was 1300 kilometres (over 800 miles). It became known as The Trail of Tears. One in four of those on the route died along the way.

After his second presidential term Jackson retired to his Tennessee plantation. He would live for eight more years, tormented by his old wounds and tuberculosis. He died in 1845.