Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. He rose to fame as a U.S. Army general and served in both houses of the U.S. Congress. His political philosophy, which dominated his presidency, became the basis for the rise of Jacksonian democracy. His legacy is controversial: being praised as an advocate for white working Americans and preserving the union of states, and criticized for his racist policies, particularly towards Native Americans. Born in the colonial Carolinas before the American Revolutionary War, Jackson became a frontier lawyer, married Rachel Donelson, and briefly represented Tennessee in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. After resigning, he served as a Tennessee Superior Court justice from 1798 to 1804. He founded The Hermitage and became a wealthy planter who profited from the forced labor of hundreds of enslaved African Americans. As commander of the Tennessee militia, he led troops in the Creek War of 1813–1814, winning the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and negotiating the Treaty of Fort Jackson, which forced the indigenous Creek to cede vast tracts of the present day states of Alabama and Georgia. In the concurrent war against the British, Jackson's victory at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 made him a national hero. He later commanded United States forces during the First Seminole War; his campaign was one of the factors that prompted Spain to negotiate the cession of Florida to the United States. Jackson briefly served as Florida's first territorial governor before returning to the Senate. He ran for president in 1824, winning a plurality of the popular and electoral vote. Because no candidate secured the electoral majority, the House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams with the support of Henry Clay, who later joined Adams's cabinet. Jackson's supporters, who alleged that Adams and Clay had formed a "corrupt bargain", created a new political coalition that would become the Democratic Party. Jackson ran again in 1828, defeating Adams in a landslide victory despite issues such as his slave trading and "irregular" marriage. In 1830, he signed the Indian Removal Act. This act, which has been described as ethnic cleansing, displaced tens of thousands of Native Americans from their ancestral homelands east of the Mississippi River. It resulted in thousands of deaths in what has become known as the Trail of Tears. Jackson faced a challenge to the integrity of the federal union when South Carolina threatened to nullify a high protective tariff set by the federal government. He threatened the use of military force to enforce the tariff, but the crisis was defused when it was amended. In 1832, he vetoed a bill by Congress to reauthorize the Second Bank of the United States, viewing the Bank as a branch of government run by the elite. After a lengthy struggle, the Bank was dismantled. In 1835, Jackson became the only U.S. president to pay off the national debt. After leaving office, he supported the presidencies of Martin Van Buren and James K. Polk, as well as the annexation of Texas. Opinions about Jackson are often polarized. Supporters characterize him as a defender of democracy and the U.S. Constitution, while critics point to his reputation as a demagogue who ignored the law when it suited him. Scholarly rankings of U.S. presidents historically placed Jackson high in the ranking of presidents. However, in the late 20th century his reputation declined, and in the 21st century his ranking has fallen.