Who is Andrew Jackson?
Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States of America, was born on 15 March 1767 in Waxhaw, on the border of North and South Carolina, to the newly widowed Elizabeth Hutchinson. His parents were Scots-Irish immigrants who had come to farm the land in 1765 with sons Hugh and Robert. Growing up, Andrew Jackson was feisty and frequently got into fights. He learned to read in spite of a sporadic education. At age thirteen, Andrew became a courier for a regiment of the South Carolina militia in the Revolutionary War. Barely a teenager, Jackson was in several skirmishes with the British and British sympathizers. After Hugh was killed, Robert and Andrew were captured by the British. Both brothers contracted smallpox in prison. Their mother arranged for their release, but she also contracted the disease, and it proved fatal for her and Robert. Andrew recovered, but he was orphaned at age 14. To earn money, the young Andrew Jackson made saddles. He taught school for a period before
