Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States, serving from 1829 to 1837. Born in 1767 in the frontier settlement of the Waxhaws in South Carolina, Jackson moved to Salisbury, North Carolina in 1784 and received his license to practice law in 1787, beginning his practice in North Carolina's Western District in Washington County (now a part of Tennessee). In October 1788, he moved to Nashville, where he met his wife Rachel. After serving as the major general of the Tennessee militia for twenty years and earning recognition as a military leader in the War of 1812, Jackson was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1823 and to the presidency in 1828. After serving two terms as president, Jackson returned to the Hermitage, his Nashville home, in early 1837. Eight years later, in 1845, Jackson died at his home at the age of 78.

Felix Grundy was born on September 11, 1777 in Berkeley County, Virginia. He was admitted to the Kentucky state bar in 1797 and began practicing in Bardstown. Grundy served in the Kentucky Constitutional Convention in 1799 and went on to serve as a member of the State House of Representatives from 1800 to 1805. He was chosen as Judge of the Kentucky Supreme Court in 1806 and was promoted to Chief Justice in 1807. He soon resigned and moved to Nashville, where he resumed his legal practice before serving in the U.S. House of Representatives (1811-1814) and in the Tennessee House of Representatives (1819-1825). Grundy was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1833 to fill the vacancy caused by John Eaton's resignation. He resigned in 1838 to accept a Cabinet position was appointed Attorney General in July of the same year. He resigned in December of 1839, having been elected to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by Ephraim Foster's resignation. Grundy's eligibility was questioned on the grounds that he had been serving as Attorney General at the time of his election, but he was re-elected and served until his death in Nashville, Tennessee on December 19, 1840.