Jackson was a restless and enterprising man, embarking in many schemes for the accumulation of fortune, not usually resorted to by professional men, or men engaged in public matters.  In business he was cautious.  He was a remarkable judge of human character, and rarely gave his confidence to untried men.  Notwithstanding the impetuosity of his nature, upon occasion he could be as cool and as calculating as a Yankee.  The result was, that though he had many partners in the various pursuits he at different times resorted to, he rarely had any pecuniary difficulty with any of them.  He was in the habit of trading with the low country, that is, with the inhabitants of Mississippi and Louisiana.

Many will remember the charge brought against him pending his candidacy for the Presidency, of having been, in early life, a negro-trader, or dealer in slaves.  This charge was strictly true, though abundantly disproved by the oaths of some, and even by the certificate of his principal partner.  Jackson had a small store, or trading establishment, at Bruinsburgh, near the mouth of the Bayou Pierre, in Claiborne County, Mississippi.  It was at this point he received the negroes, purchased by his partner at Nashville, and sold them to the planters of the neighborhood.  Sometimes, when the price was better, or the sales were quicker, he carried them to Louisiana.  This, however, he soon declined; because, under the laws of Louisiana, he was obliged to guarantee the health and character of the slave he sold.

On one occasion he sold an unsound negro to a planter in the parish of West Feliciana, and, upon his guarantee, was sued and held to bail to answer.  In this case he was compelled to refund the purchase-money, with damages.  He went back upon his partner, and compelled him to share the loss.  This caused a breach between them, which was never healed.  This is the only instance which ever came to my knowledge of strife with a partner.  He was close to his interest, and spared no means to protect it.

It was during the period of his commercial enterprise in Mississippi that he formed the acquaintance of the Green family.  This family was among the very first Americans who settled in the State.  Thomas M. Green and Abner Green were young men at the time, though both were men of family.  To both of them Jackson, at different times, sold negroes, and the writer now has bills of sale for negroes sold to Abner Green, in the handwriting of Jackson, bearing his signature, written, as it always was, in large and bold characters, extending quite half across the sheet.  At this store, which stood immediately upon the bank of the Mississippi, there was a race-track, for quarter-races, (a sport Jackson was then very fond of,) and many an anecdote was rife, forty years ago, in the neighborhood, of the skill of the old hero in pitting a cock or turning a quarter-horse.