Tough Guy — Andrew Jackson and the Battle for the South

Tough Guy — Andrew Jackson and the Battle for the South

Tough Guy — Andrew Jackson and the Battle for the South
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 6 to 8
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	5.58

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		clout, iron-hard, roughhewn, squabble, tight-lipped, unyielding, largely, tradesman, bayou, hostility, uncertain, disband, jumble, military, cede, incident
	content words:		Andrew Jackson, Revolutionary War, Continental Army, Tennessee Supreme Court, Louisiana Purchase, New Orleans, Native American, In Alabama, Red Sticks, Creek Nation

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Tough Guy — Andrew Jackson and the Battle for the South
By Toni Lee Robinson

¹     Andrew Jackson had to be tough right from the start. He never knew his father. A few weeks before Andrew was born, his father was killed in an accident. Andrew's mother Elizabeth worked hard to raise him and his two older brothers.

²     Andrew Jackson was ten years old as the Revolutionary War began. At thirteen, he worked as a courier in the Continental Army. He was captured by the enemy. As a prisoner, Jackson was ordered to clean a British officer's boots. He refused. Enraged, the officer raised his sword and struck the boy with it. The blade sliced his cheek open and cut his hand to the bone. All his life, Jackson bore the scars from this incident.

³     Andrew's brother Robert was also a prisoner of war. While in the hands of the British, both the brothers were struck by smallpox, a deadly disease. Robert died shortly after the two were freed. Andrew's mother caught the disease from her sons and died. His oldest brother had been killed early in the war. At fourteen, Andrew Jackson was alone in the world. His anger toward the British hardened into hatred.

⁴     Though he was an orphan, the young Jackson made a life for himself. First, he tried working as a tradesman. Finally, he settled on the study of law. Later, he was elected to Congress for the new state of Tennessee. He moved on to serve as a Tennessee Supreme Court judge. In 1802 he became major general of the state's militia.

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