Andrew Jackson of his subordinates friends and enemies alike In the White House Jackson over came a domestic crisis with South Carolina over the nullification of federal laws drove Native American tribes farther west vetoed the federal bank charter to eliminate banking corruption and influenced the growth of the Democratic party that stimulated the revival of two-party politics Childhood and Youth Andrew Jackson was born on March 15 1767 in Waxhaw a settlement bordering North and South Carolina His parents were Andrew Jackson for whom he was named and Elizabeth Jackson The couple lived on a farm in the north of Ireland now Northern Ireland near Belfast Their first two sons Hugh and Robert were born in Ireland The family immigrated to North America in 1765 where the elder Jackson built a home in the forested region of the western Carolinas The hard pioneer life exhausted him and he died a few weeks before Andrew’s birth leaving Elizabeth to raise their three sons on her own 12
Early Life Drawing of the purported birthplace of Andrew Jackson in North Carolina Hulton Archive Getty Images 13
Early Life The fighting during rural frontier home Starting at age 8 Andrew attended school and learned the basic funda mentals but he showed little interest in his studies and had no desire to enter the clergy the American Revolution shifted to the South and inter rupted Jackson’s early education He was only 13 years old when the war swept into the Waxhaw region In May 1780 British raiders won a savage victory over the Waxhaw mili tia Andrew and his brother Robert helped their mother tend the wounded in the nearby church Their elder brother Hugh a volun teer in a colonial light-horse company had died after fighting in a battle a few months earlier Shortly after the Waxhaw slaughter Andrew and Robert picked up their muskets and joined the colonial militia at the Battle of Hanging Rock S C in August 1780 The two brothers worked in the Waxhaw militia primarily as mounted orderlies and messengers The next year Andrew and Robert fought in several backwoods skir mishes against the British In the spring of 1781 British soldiers captured the boys but failed to break their spirit When a British officer pointed to his muddied jackboots and commanded Andrew to clean them the boy 15
