Ralph K. Andrist

Andrew Jackson - war hero and spokesman for the frontier, the first president from west of the Alleghenies, the first born in a log cabin - fought his way to the White House. Once there, he stood for the rights of common citizens, founded the Democratic Party, expanded the powers of the presidency, paid off the national debt, and postponed civil war by prevailing against the advocates of states' rights. He also owned a number of slaves on his Tennessee plantation and sponsored the Indian Removal Act, resulting in the brutal relocation of thousands of Native Americans to what is now Oklahoma. Here is his story.