Andrew spent most of his childhood in the pro-slavery state of Missouri. However, just like his father, he was against slavery, and when civil war raged in various parts of America, he allied with the anti-slavery groups on both accounts. He was also nominated as the state legislator for Kansas. Having learnt the tricks of medicine from his father, the grim experiences during the war and the loss of his kids in the ensuing epidemic, led him to question the practices followed by physicians of that time. He set about determining more rational methods of treatment, which focussed on the disease rather than curing the symptoms. His pioneer work on how regulating the musculoskeletal system can help the body become more immune to diseases, led to the development of a new system in treatment, called ‘Osteopathy’. He faced severe criticism for his theories initially, but as he started curing more and more patients with his unconventional methods, his popularity soared, and many people became interested in learning his methods. Thus he conceived the idea of building a school for teaching and training people in osteopathy. His children were few among his first students at the ‘American School of Osteopathy’ located in Kirksville, Missouri. Taylor was the author of many books based on osteopathy, including his autobiography