The Gavelyte, May 1908

92 THE fiAVELY1'E, --------- ------ Andrew Jackson. PROF. W. R. MCCHES RY, PH. D. Andrew .Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, was horn of Scotch-Irish parPnts in the Waxhaw district, North Carolina, Mareh JS, 1767. His father had died previous to Andrew's birth and had lPft the family in a very impoverished conditio~. At thirteen years of aw·, .Jack~nn was a full-fledged fighter in our War for Independence. Captured hy a , British officer, he refused to blacken the English dignitary's boots, for whic-h he received blows on the arm and head from the sword of tlie enraged officer, whose scars he bore through life often exhibiting them with a keen sense of pride. Andrew being imprisoned for this disobedience contracted small-pox in the filthy pen from whose effects he was constitutionally weak thereafter, and for which he retained a vengef11l hatred for the British most of his life. Being of a stirring disposition and a lover of strenuous exercise, he di,~ not succeed at book learning. Though his love for sport!" seriously inter– fered with his study of Blackstone, nevertheleQs he was admitted at twenty years of age to the bar. He filled with vigor and success the following public positions of trust:- Publi~ Prosecutor of TennessPe requiring hor~e– back riding of 1000 miles a year. often at the risk of life; District Attorney of Tennessee; framer and drafter of the Tennessee S:,tate Constitution; mPm– ber of U. S. Congress; U. S. senator; Judge uf the supreme <'ourt of Ten– nessee requiring him to travel over the state annually on a salary of $600 a year; enlisted under Aaron Burr in his plam; for war with Spain, but soon suf"µecting Burr, he withdrew from his alliance; volunteer comm.ander of a corps in the Second War with England; during hi'l campaign in Tennessee on account of his endurancP and courage, he received the suhriquet of "Hickory" which a:,, agP advanced became "Old Hickory"; major-general in 1814; commander-in-C"hief of the southern division in 1815; nominated by the 1'ennesseP legislature for U.S. Senator and president in 1823; elected presidt>nt in 1828 and re-elPcted in 1832. His administration left the country neithPr wor:iP nor bettPr than the previous one. It was a series of quarrel~ with the senate, his cabinet, and the :;upreme court, in nearly all of which .Jackson's sentiments prl'.'vailed. The fiercest fight of hi~ time was ovPr thP ll. 8. bank. and for his action in this affair,