His old power to win men to him must
have been as strong as ever, for it is recorded that he had only
to enter a political meeting--no matter whose--for the crowd to
cheer him and shout for him to "give them a talk."
This adulation of Sevier still annoyed a few men who had
ambitions of their own. Among these was Andrew Jackson, who had
come to Jonesborough in 1788, just after the collapse of the
State of Franklin. He was twenty-one at that time, and he is said
to have entered Jonesborough riding a fine racer and leading
another, with a pack of hunting dogs baying or nosing along after
him. A court record dated May 12, 1788, avers that "Andrew
Jackson, Esq. came into Court and produced a licence as an
Attorney With A Certificate sufficiently Attested of his Taking
the Oath Necessary to said office and Was admitted to Practiss as
an Attorney in the County Courts." Jackson made no history in old
Watauga during that year. Next year he moved to Nashville, and
one year later, when the Superior Court was established (1790),
he became prosecuting attorney.
The feud between Jackson and Sevier began about the time that
Tennessee entered the Union. Jackson, then twenty-nine, was
defeated for the post of Major General of the Militia through the
influence which Sevier exercised against him, and it seems that
Jackson never forgave this opposition to his ambitions.
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