Rachel Jackson was raised on the frontier. Her early life took place in a backwoods environment, where there were few comforts or opportunities to be educated. Yet this life proved more hospitable and dignified than did her later life as the wife of a military hero and politician. She was often the object of gossip and slander (statements meant to damage a person's reputation).

Rachel and Andrew Jackson (1767-1845; see entry in volume 1) were married in Tennessee in 1791 after learning that Rachel's first husband, Lewis Robards, had divorced her. Two years later it was discovered that Robards had filed for divorce in Kentucky but had not followed through on minor legal proceedings. He promptly renewed his divorce claim upon learning that Rachel had remarried, claiming that she had committed adultery (relations with someone other than a spouse). The divorce was granted on those grounds.

The mistake...