States have persistently claimed the honor. In the famous proclamation
which he addressed to the South Carolina nullifiers in 1832 Jackson
referred to them as "fellow-citizens of my native state"; in his will
he spoke of himself as a South Carolinian; and in correspondence and
conversation he repeatedly declared that he was born on South Carolina
soil. 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. Jackson's earlier years,
nevertheless, contained little promise of his future distinction. He
grew up amidst a rough people whose tastes ran strongly to
horse-racing, cockfighting, and heavy drinking, and whose ideal of
excellence found expression in a readiness to fight upon any and all