Andrew Jackson, the 7th president of the United States, had a complicated relationship with the British:

Capture during the American Revolutionary War
At age 13, Jackson joined the fight against the British in the Carolinas. His oldest brother, Hugh, died of heat stroke following the Battle of Stono Ferry in 1779. Additionally, both Andrew and Robert contracted smallpox in prison and were gravely ill when their mother arranged for their release in a prisoner exchange. Shortly after their release, Robert succumbed to the illness and died. Jackson survived. In 1781, he and his brother Robert were captured by the British. Jackson claims that a British officer slashed his face with a sword after Jackson refused to polish the officer's boots. This incident left Jackson with a lasting hatred of the British.

Despite his illustrious career, Jackson remains one of the most controversial figures in American history over one issue alone—the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This monumental law would affect history like no other. Essentially, it was developed for the purpose of moving Native American tribes from east of the Mississippi River to lands in the West.

In the final Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Jackson and his men succeeded in killing more than 900 Red Sticks. With his victory, "the power of the Red Sticks was irreparably broken", Jackson, for his part, emerged from the battle as a war hero.

In what would become known as the Trail of Tears, the Cherokees were marched from the Carolinas all the way to modern-day Oklahoma.

Their journey was a tragic one: clothing was inadequate, rations were stolen, wagons and other vehicles were insufficient, the winter was bitterly cold, and disease was rampant", Native Americans forever remembered the event as one of tragedy and loss. To this day, many tribes despise Andrew Jackson for his decision to remove their ancestors from their homes. To them, he was an Indian hater.

But the bloodshed didn't end there. The future president fought in many of the battles and wars that occurred as America was settled. He participated in 103 duels, mostly to defend the honor of his wife.

On May 30, 1806, Charles Dickinson, an attorney from Nashville, TN, and Andrew Jackson engaged in a duel on the Jeff Burr farm. The quarrel between the two men began as comments were made by Dickinson about Jackson’s wife, Rachel. Part of the argument also related to Dickinson accusing Jackson of cheating on a horse bet. Rachel’s first husband, Lewis Robards, petitioned for a divorce, accusing Rachel of desertion and living in sin with Jackson. After the insult to Rachel and a public statement in which Dickinson called Jackson a worthless scoundrel and coward, Jackson challenged Dickinson to a duel.

At the age of 67, he brutally beat a man who tried to assassinate him and then erected a statue of himself at the scene of the incident. Threatening to decapitate the vice president he didn't like anyway would have suited his character quite well.

Andrew Jackson is reported to have said the below to Calhoun, his own vice pesident, in regards to Calhoun's supporting the idea that South Carolina should consider secession from the United States.

-"John Calhoun, if you secede from my nation I will secede your head from the rest of your body."

"I have only two regrets: I didn't shoot Henry Clay and I didn't hang John C. Calhoun."
(Andrew Jackson when asked if he had any regrets.)

Jackson had to weigh whether to kill the national bank because of his constitutional opposition to it and his fear that the bank was an engine of aristocracy. He also had to decide how he was going to challenge the precedent of its constitutionality as decided by previous congresses and presidents, and the Supreme Court.

Andrew Jackson was a slave owner who owned hundreds of enslaved people throughout his life.

Jackson purchased his first enslaved person in 1788 and owned over 300 people at the height of his family's ownership. At the time of his death in 1845, he owned around 150 slaves.