Andrew Jackson was born in 1767. He would become the 7th United States President but the struggle to get there wouldn’t be an easy one.

Born in the Carolinas, there has been an ongoing discussion of whether he was truly a native of South Carolina, which is the common and universal belief or if he was in fact a native of North Carolina. His career was primarily built from his later Tennessee roots but the Carolinas like to lay claims to his birth.

His father died before he was born. As a teenager during the American Revolutionary War, he would take a job as a courier. Andrew and his brother Robert would eventually spend time in prison as a prisoner of war. They were near starving when their mother finally arranged for their release. Still, it would be too late for the young Robert. He contracted small pox and died soon after their release.

Scars from being a POW were left on Andrew Jackson throughout his life. He grew to hate, if not truly despise the British. He also had physical scars from disobedience while a prisoner. Jackson’s entire family would eventually die because of war-related problems during the war.

Andrew Jackson became a Commander of the America forces in the 1815 Battle of New Orleans. He began to build his career as a Tennessean soon after. He became the first congressman from Tennessee in the late 1790s and then became a U.S. Senator in 1797. He would resign from the senate but go on to become the 7th President of the United States.

Andrew Jackson was the last U.S. President who was a veteran of the American Revolution. He was the second president to have been a prisoner of war and he would be remembered as the president who paid the federal debts.

Andrew Jackson was president from 1829 until 1837. While he was president, he paid off all of the bills owed by the country. He died in 1845.