The ambitious 21 year old set out to cultivate the imposing bearing of a "gentleman". This entailed, in those days in the South, responding to any grave insult with a challenge to a duel (if the offender was considered a gentleman too), or otherwise with whipping or caning.
Indeed Jackson was, that first year, on the dueling ground for reasons unknown. A small crowd of onlookers followed the fiery young
lawyer from a courtroom in Jonesborough to a
nearby meadow, where Jackson and his opponent, Attorney Waightstill
Avery, squared off -- and a duel began.
Crack! A pistol shot rang out.
Crack! Another shot.
When the smoke cleared, both men still stood, unharmed. Each dueler, it seems, had fired wildly into the air, a tactic that they both had agreed to earlier. Moments later, the two adversaries shook hands.
There were two settled areas in the Western District, the Eastern settlements, around Jonesborough and Knoxville, and the Western section around Nashville.
This is where Jackson lived in Jonesborough. It is known as the Taylor House. It was located two miles west of Jonesborough but has been moved into town.
Below is an illustration of Jonesborough today.
Jackson practiced law for the next 7 years with extraordinary energy in what was to become Nashville in the western part of the district. He also married Rachel Donelson Robards, the estranged wife of an abusive husband.
Jackson once threatened the husband's life for implying he (Jackson) was dishonoring his wife. Later, Robards went to Kentucky and was thought to have divorced Rachel. Jackson and Rachel were married for two years before finding that the marriage was invalid. They discovered the truth when the divorce did occur, and promptly married a second time.
Despite the circumstances, Jackson was marrying into a very prominent family, and they seemed very much in love during their life together. Although the Jacksons had no children, they adopted Rachel's infant nephew, who became Andrew Jackson, Jr. They also raised three other nephews of Rachel's, as well as a Native American boy whose parents had been killed in Jackson's campaign against the Creek nation in 1814.
Here is Jackson's first residence in the area.
Jackson's hot temper involved him in a number of feuds and duels. Many of them were caused by remarks made about his marriage. The duel with Charles Dickinson in 1806 stands out as an example of Jackson's characteristic refusal even to acknowledge the possibility of defeat. Jackson let his opponent fire first, because Dickinson was a faster and better shot. Allowing himself time to take deliberate aim, Jackson planned to kill his man with a single bullet, even "if he had shot me through the brain." Thus, Jackson took a bullet in the chest and, without flinching, calmly killed his man.
Jackson was also involved in a brawl with politician Thomas Hart Benton and his brother Jesse Benton. Jackson was shot twice in the shoulder and arm by Jesse and was seriously wounded. However, in later years, Jackson and Thomas Hart Benton became close political allies.
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Tennessee was allotted one delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, and in 1796 Jackson was elected to the office.
After one year in the House, Jackson was elected to fill out an unexpired term in the U.S. Senate, the other chamber of the Congress of the United States. He served from September 1797 to April 1798 and then retired to private life.
In Tennessee, Jackson was appointed judge of the state superior court. He held the judgeship from 1798 to 1804. His decisions were said to be "short, untechnical, unlearned, sometimes ungrammatical, and generally right".
Jackson was the first president elected from the “West,” having made his home in the wilds of Tennessee. The state was less than a decade old when Jackson purchased The Hermitage property near Nashville in 1804. Over the next four decades, the land was transformed into a successful plantation with a beautiful Greek Revival mansion as its centerpiece. 
The years from 1804 to 1812 were happy ones for both Jackson and his wife. He devoted his energies to improving his plantation, the Hermitage, and breeding racehorses.
Jackson owned 20 slaves but was said to be a kind master. Eventually he owned more than 100 slaves.
Next--General Jackson
