Jackson was far from infallible, even in matters closely
touching his own career. But the preponderance of evidence on the
point lies decidedly with South Carolina.
No one, at all events, can deny to the Waxhaw settlement an honored
place in American history. There the father of John C. Calhoun first
made his home. There the Revolutionary general, Andrew Pickens, met
and married Rebecca Calhoun. There grew up the eminent North
Carolinian Governor and diplomat, William R. Davie. There William H.
Crawford lived as a boy. And there Jackson dwelt until early manhood.
For the times, young Andrew was well brought up. His mother was a
woman of strong character, who cherished for her last-born the desire
that he should become a Presbyterian clergyman. The uncle with whom he
lived was a serious-minded man who by his industry had won means ample
for the comfortable subsistence of his enlarged household. When he was
old enough, the boy worked for his living, but no harder than the
frontier boys of that day usually worked; and while his advantages
were only such as a backwoods community afforded, they were at least
as great as those of most boys similarly situated, and they were far
superior to those of the youthful Lincoln.
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