Andrew Jackson was born on March 15, 1767, near the border between North and South Carolina. His father, also named Andrew Jackson, died the year he was born. He was raised against the backdrop of the American Revolution. In fact, it robbed him of his mother, Elizabeth Hutchinson, who died of cholera contracted while nursing injured soldiers, and his two brothers, Hugh, who died in battle, and Robert, who died from smallpox that he contracted while a prisoner of war. Jackson was only fourteen years old when he was left on his own to be raised by two different uncles.

Jackson learned to read at a very young age and received a fairly good education. However, when he inherited a large sum of money upon the death of his grandfather in Ireland, he quickly wasted it on gambling and alcohol. Broke at fifteen, he chose to go back to school and became a lawyer in 1787.