Page:Lives of the presidents in words of one syllable (1903).djvu/63

 he did for a while, then he went to the A-mer-i-can troops and took up arms. Ere he was eight-een years old he was at work on law books, and he stuck to them till he was at the Bar.

In 1796 An-drew Jack-son was sent to Con-gress from Ten-nes-see, where he had gone to live. This was in the last year of Wash-ing-ton's last term. He did so well there that the next year he was sent to the Sen-ate. Then he was made a Judge.

While in Con-gress there were times when Jack-son's hot blood was too much for him. Jef-fer-son said that when there were things An-drew Jack-son did not like, he would get up to speak and then choke with rage so that he could not say a word.

He gave up his judge-ship and bought and sold land, kept the red men off the war path, took a wife, rode up and down the land, made strong foes and strong friends. He held high rank in the Ten-nes-see troops, and when war with Great Brit-ain broke out, in 1812, he was made head of all for-ces in the south-west.

When, at last, An-drew Jack-son found that he was face to face with the Brit-ish foe in front of New Or-leans, Jan. 1815, he felt glad in his heart, and made up his mind to win or die. It has been said that "no oth-er man could have saved New Or-leans."

It was a fierce fight, but it was short, and the A-mer-i-cans won.

Tales are told of Jack-son's warm heart. There is one of a kind thing he did when the fights with the red foe were on. A dead In-di-an moth-er had her young babe in her arms. Some one said, "Why save him? His folks