Andrew Jackson

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Andrew Jackson

EARLY LIFE

Andrew Jackson was born to poor Irish immigrants on March 15, 1767, near Camden, South Carolina. His parents, Andrew and Elizabeth, and two older brothers, Hugh and Robert, had emigrated from northern Ireland in
1765. Jackson was named after his father who had died shortly before he was born and he spent his early life in the Waxhaw settlement located near the North and South Carolina border. His mother had hopes of him becoming a
Presbyterian minister, but young
Jackson’s pranks, cursing, and fighting quickly erased those hopes.
From 1778 to 1781, the American Revolutionary War had a devastating impact on Jackson’s life. When he
was thirteen, Jackson and his brothers joined the patriotic cause to fight the British. His oldest brother Hugh died of heat stroke following the Battle of Stono Ferry in 1779. In 1781, Jackson and his brother Robert were captured and both contracted smallpox in prison. Jackson’s mother arranged for their release in a prisoner exchange. Although Jackson eventually recovered, his brother died of smallpox. Jackson and his mother traveled to Charleston to aid in the war effort and she contracted cholera and died. By war’s end, Jackson was an orphan. He resided with members of his mother’s family, but soon went to Charleston and worked as a school teacher for a short period of time.
Jackson was known for his fierytemper, fearlessness, playful personality, and daring spirit.
At age seventeen, he moved to
Salisbury, North Carolina, where he
studied law. In 1787, after three
years of studying, Jackson received his license to practice law in North Carolina. To supplement his income, he also worked in small-town general stores. While living in North Carolina, Jackson gained a reputation for being charismatic, wild, and ambitious. He loved to dance,
entertain, gamble, and spent much of his free time with friends in taverns.
Soon after...