Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/504

 486 ANDREW JACKSON ately fond of athletic sports, in which he was excelled by no one of his years. IIo was not addicted to books, and his education was lim- ited, though it is said his mother wished to train him for the pulpit. At an early age he took up arms, and was a witness of the defeat of Sumter at Hanging Rock in 1780. He had previously seen the dead and wounded of the Waxhaw militia, after the massacre by Tarlc- ton, and had assisted his mother and his brother Robert in ministering to the wants of the disabled Americans. The two brothers were active whigs, and were captured by the enemy in 1781. The British commander or- dered Andrew to clean his boots, and on the boy's refusal struck him on the head and arm with his sword, inflicting two wounds. Robert, who displayed equal spirit, was knocked down and disabled. Imprisoned at Camden, Jackson was an eye-witness of the defeat of Gen. Greene at Hobkirk's Hill. While the brothers were suffering from the smallpox, in prison, their mother effected their exchange, and took them back to Waxhaw, where Robert died ; and it was many months before Andrew's health was restored. His mother then proceeded to Charleston to aid the imprisoned Americans, and soon died of ship fever. Left utterly destitute, Jackson had to labor hard for sub- sistence. He worked for a time in a saddler's shop kept by one of his relatives, and taught school. Before he had completed his 18th year he commenced the study of law at Salis- bury, N. 0., in the office of Mr. Spence McKay. He did not neglect his studies altogether, but paid more attention to horse racing, foot ra- cing, cock fighting, and similar amusements common at that time, than to the law. Finish- ing his studies in the office of Col. Stokes, he was licensed to practise before he had reached the age of 20. In 1788 he was appointed soli- citor or public prosecutor of the western dis- trict of North Carolina, embracing what is now the state of Tennessee. He arrived at Nashville in the autumn, and entered imme- diately upon an active career. His practice was large. He had to travel much, making 22 journeys in seven years between Nashville and Jonesborough, 280 m., always at the risk of his life, owing to the numbers and hostility of the Indians. In the summer of 1791 he married Mrs. Rachel Robards, a daughter of Col. John Donelson of Virginia, one of the foun- ders of Tennessee. Her first husband was Mr. Lewis Robards of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Robards were boarding with Mrs. Donelson, then a widow, when Jackson arrived at Nash- ville, and took up his residence in the same family. In 1790-'91 Mr. Robards applied to the legislature of Virginia for an act prelimi- nary to a divorce, stating that his wife was liv- ing in adultery with Andrew Jackson. The act was passed, under it a jury was summoned late in 1793, and the court of Mercer co., Ky., declared the marriage between Lewis Robards and Rachel Robards dissolved. Jackson and Mrs. Robards believed the act passed by tlia legislature was itself a divorce, and they were married at Natchez two years before the action of the court. At the suggestion of their friend Judge Overton, who also was surprised to learn that the act of the legislature had not divorced Capt. Robards, they procured a license in Jan- uary, 1794, and had the ceremony performed again. When Gen. Jackson had become the chief of a great party, the circumstances of this marriage led to very serious misrepresenta- tions. Mr. Robards was prone to jealousy without cause, and Jackson was not the first man of whom he was jealous. His statement to the legislature of Virginia is believed to have been wholly unfounded. His relatives all sided with his wife, and never supposed her to be guilty of even an act of impropriety. In all his relations with women Jackson's conduct was singularly pure. Thomas II. Benton, who knew the parties intimately many years, says : "There was an innate, unvarying, self-acting delicacy in his intercourse with the female sex, including all womankind; and on that point my personal observation (and my opportunities for observation were both large and various) enables me to join in the declaration of the be- lief expressed by his earliest friend and most intimate associate, the late Judge Overton of Tennessee. The Roman general won an im- mortality of honor by one act of continence ; what praise is due to Jackson, whose whole life was continent ? I repeat, if he had been born in the time of Cromwell, he would have been a Puritan. Nothing could exceed his kindness and affection to Mrs. Jackson, always increas- ing in proportion as his elevation and culmina- ting fortunes drew cruel attacks upon her." Jackson became district attorney of Tennessee when that country was made a federal terri- tory ; and when the territory became a state, in 1796, he was a man of some wealth, owning much land. He was chosen one of the five members from Davidson co. of the convention which met at Knoxville, Jan. 11, 1796, to make a constitution for the new state, and he was appointed on the committee which drafted that instrument. In the autumn of 1796 he was elected to represent the state in the popu- lar branch of congress. He entered the house Dec. 6, 1796, when Washington was on the eve of retirement. Jackson belonged to the republican (afterward democratic) party, then forming under the lead of Thomas Jefferson, who had just been elected vice president. He was one of the twelve representatives who voted against the adoption of an address to President Washington, in reply to his last an- nual address to congress, as he could not con- scientiously approve of all the acts of the ad- ministration. His first speech was made on Dec. 29, in support of claims for services against the Indians. He pushed the question with his usual earnestness, speaking more than once, and succeeding in his purpose. During the session he voted in favor of laying taxes