Jeep hesitates when shifting to 2nd

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo
around 200,000 miles
6 cylinder

When I try to accelerate from a stop, my jeep tends to hesitate or "hang" in 1st gear. It works fine when shifting to other gears and usually happens only when I first start it up that day, every so often it will happen after it has already warmed up. Also, when it does finally shift it sounds like it "slams" into gear even if I'm not putting alot of pressure on the pedal.

If someone could give me some suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.