Andrew Jackson

9 Pages 2200 Words

his twenty-first
birthday, the North Carolina legislature elected John McNairy, whom Jackson studied law with, appointed Jackson as public prosecutor. In 1788, Jackson continued practicing law in Jonesborough and Greeneville and also trained racehorses. While in Jonesborough, Jackson purchased his first African-American slave.
TENNESSEAN

While serving as a prosecutor in Nashville, he met Rachel Donelson Robards, wife of Lewis Robards. After
hearing that Lewis Robards had divorced Rachel, they supposedly married but no one has ever located any written record of the wedding. In 1791, they found that Lewis Robards had only initiated the divorce
proceedings and he had charged Rachel with bigamy. Andrew and Rachel re-married in Nashville in 1794.
Jackson made quite a name for himself in the world of politics by serving as a delegate to the Tennessee
Constitutional Convention in Knoxville where he helped draft a state
constitution and bill of rights. In 1796, Jackson lobbied Congress to approve Tennessee as the 16th U.S. state. Tennesseans elected him first member of the U.S. House of Representatives and he was selected as U.S. Senator from 1797 to 1798. Jackson also took a position as a circuit judge on Tennessee’s Superior Court. Jackson maintained a law practice in Nashville and established several commercial businesses such as general merchandise stores, whiskey distilleries, and boat making. From 1791 to 1804, he and Rachel lived at Hunter’s Hill, a 640-acre plantation worked by African-American slaves.
In 1802, the Tennessee militia elected him their Major General. By 1804, Jackson purchased a neighbor’s 425-acre farm, which he named “The Hermitage.” Soon after, Jackson quit his Superior Court judgeship to focus on The Hermitage. He and Rachel began a family at The Hermitage by taking in her nephew Andrew Jackson Donelson. In 1808, they adopted anoth...