Video: 'Andrew Jackson - Good Evil & The Presidency - PBS Documentary'

(Tuesday, June 8, 1845, 6:00 p.m. local time) — Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States (1829-1837), died today at The Hermitage, his plantation in Nashville, Tennessee, of chronic tuberculosis, dropsy, and heart failure. He was 78.

Before his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses of the U.S. Congress.

His political philosophy became the basis for the Democratic Party.

Jackson’s legacy is controversial: he has been praised as an advocate for working Americans and preserving the union of states, and criticized for his racist policies, particularly towards Native Americans.