People expect a minister to set a good example Andrew did the opposite Elizabeth Jackson had her hands full managing the household so she could not closely supervise her three sons and her sister’s eight children As a result the children did largely as they pleased Andrew developed a wild and mischievous character and his stubborn streak and fiery temper went unrestrained He was constantly playing pranks and cursing even as a young boy Andrew was fiercely loyal to anyone who agreed with him but if anyone dared challenge him he was more than willing to fight Though he lost plenty of the fights he started he always jumped right back up ready to fight again The American Revolution Throughout Jackson’s childhood tensions were growing between Great Britain and its North American colonies During this time the British government banned settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains The government wanted to avoid the cost of defending the settlers from American Indians who resisted the colonists encroachment on their land This frustrated colonists many of whom were eager to move away from the crowded eastern colonies and establish new homesteads In addition Britain taxed the colonies heavily and the colonists were not allowed to have representatives in the British Parliament The government also tightly controlled trade in and out of the colonies which caused financial hardships for the colonists In response to these and other problems colonial leaders organized a Continental Congress in 1774 and again in 1775 to defend American colonists interests and rights The first fighting between British soldiers and colonial militiamen broke out in 1775 On July 4 1776 the Continental Congress approved and published the United States Declaration of Independence 12
As the colonial rebellion transformed into a full-blown war Jackson’s childhood drew to a close Not all American colonists supported the American Revolution 1775 1783 and independence from Britain In fact nearly half were undecided or neutral and 15 to 20 percent were Loyalists who supported British rule Some 40 to 45 percent were patriots who believed that Americans would be much better off under self-rule Loyalist sentiments were stronger in the Carolinas than in most of the other colonies because the wealthy plantation owners there had strong family financial and emotional ties to Great Britain But even in the Carolinas patriots were fairly well represented The Jacksons were among the Carolina patriots In 1779 Andrew’s brother Hugh joined the patriot soldiers and soon died in battle One year later Andrew and his brother Robert joined too In 1781 enemy soldiers captured them and a British officer struck Andrew causing severe injuries The brothers were dragged off to prison where they weakened under poor conditions and smallpox Elizabeth Jackson managed to get them home but Robert died within days Andrew survived only to lose his mother a few 13 While serving in the patriot army Jackson right was captured by British soldiers and received a sword cut when he refused to clean an enemy officer’s boots
months later She died of cholera while nursing her nephews on a British prison ship At the age of fourteen Andrew Jackson was an orphan I felt utterly alone he later recalled Jackson’s childhood experiences taught him several important lessons He learned that he could survive tragedy poverty and hardship He learned about the difficulty and also the importance of sacrifice in the cause of freedom And he developed a heavy grudge against the British He would never forget the misery his family his community and his country had suffered at British hands Tennessee Lawyer For the next few years in the newly established United States Jackson behaved like a wild teenager He drank and gambled He partied danced and played practical jokes He called no single place home instead bouncing from one relative or friend to another Intermittently he held paying jobs such as one at a saddler’s shop He did manage to finish school during this time and even worked as a country schoolteacher At the age of seventeen Jackson decided that a proper career was in order For a young man with no immediate family or fortune but plenty of intelligence ambition and speaking ability a law career was a good way to achieve a higher social and financial standing From 1784 to 1787 Jackson studied law as an apprentice to Spruce Macay a lawyer in Salisbury North Carolina After earning his law license Jackson accepted a job as a public prosecutor in the western district of North Carolina modern day Tennessee Jackson was touchy about his honor and in 1788 he participated in his first duel Dueling formal face-to-face battles between two combatants had become a customary way for 14
men to defend their honor if they felt insulted Rules governed these fights and an apology to the offended party could stop a duel Jackson wrote to a fellow lawyer who had insulted him in court challenging the lawyer to a duel When amans feelings charactor are injured the ought to Seek aspeedy redress Jackson wrote badly misspelling words as he was often known to do My charector you have Injured and further you have Insulted me in the presence of a court and a larg audianc Both men fired a shot but neither was hit Throughout 1788 Jackson several other attorneys and a group of settlers traveled slowly west toward the small frontier town of Nashville Along the way Jackson bought his first enslaved African American a woman named Nancy Jackson wanted to climb the social ladder and for white men owning a slave was a status symbol a display of money and power Almost immediately upon arriving in Nashville Jackson met a young woman named Rachel Donelson Robards She was the daughter of Nashville settlers John and Rachel Donelson and the wife of Lewis Robards The Robards lived with Rachel’s widowed mother when Jackson rented a cabin on Donelson’s property Rachel Donelson Robards 15
