NOTES

ABBREVIATIONS USED

AMVB	The Autobiography of Martin Van Buren
AAK	Autobiography of Amos Kendall
Heiskell, AJETH, I-III	S. G. Heiskell, Andrew Jackson and Early Tennessee History
Correspondence, I–VI	Correspondence of Andrew Jackson
EDT, I and II	Pauline Wilcox Burke, Emily Donelson of Tennessee
FPB	Elbert B. Smith, Francis Preston Blair
James, TLOAJ	Marquis James, The Life of Andrew Jackson
LOC	The Library of Congress
Memoirs of JQA, VIII–IX	The Memoirs of John Quincy Adams
Messages, II	Richardson, comp., Messages and Papers of the Presidents
PHC, IV–VIII	The Papers of Henry Clay
PJCC, X–XIII, XXI	The Papers of John C. Calhoun
Papers, I–VI	The Papers of Andrew Jackson
Parton, Life, I–III	James Parton, Life of Andrew Jackson
Remini, Jackson, I–III	Robert V. Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Course of American (I) Empire, (II) Freedom, (III) Democracy
TGPP	William M. Goldsmith, The Growth of Presidential Power: A Documented History, I–II
TPA	John F. Marszalek, The Petticoat Affair: Manners, Mutiny, and Sex in Andrew Jackson’s White House

Epigraphs

  1 “The darker the night the bolder the lion” Theodore Roosevelt and Edmund Heller, Life-Histories of African Game Animals (New York, 1914), I, 173.

  2 “I was born for a storm” Heiskell, AJETH, III, 166. The quotation is found in a letter from James A. Hamilton to Martin Van Buren. “I have just left the General,” Hamilton wrote. “He said this to me [and] this makes me well. I was born for a storm and a calm does not suit me.”

Prologue: With the Feelings of a Father

  1 on the second floor Jackson’s work and living space, including his office—the Lincoln Bedroom in the current White House—his study, and his small bedroom suite were all on the second floor, as were the Donelsons’ rooms and the most commonly used family sitting rooms. (William Seale, The President’s House: A History [Washington, D.C., 1986], I, 182–84.)

  2 the White House Emily Donelson used the term in her correspondence; see Emily Donelson to Mary Donelson Coffee, March 27, 1829, Andrew Jackson Donelson Papers, LOC. According to the Office of the Curator at the White House, “The term ‘White House’ was used as early as May 19, 1809, by Henry Dearborn, a member of President Jefferson’s Cabinet, as a synonym for the Presidency itself. It was used by the Baltimore Whig on November 22, 1810, and a British Minister was using the term in the spring of 1811.” In 1813, Daniel Webster, then a congressman, used the term in his letters, further suggesting the name was in circulation in official circles. (Unpublished document, “Origin of the Name ‘White House,’ ” Office of the Curator, the White House, 1984; see also Frank Freidel and William Pencak, eds., The White House: The First Two Hundred Years [Boston: 1994], 23–24.) I am also grateful to the White House Curator’s Office for kindly giving me a tour of the second floor.

  3 in the flickering light of candles and oil lamps Seale, President’s House, I, 173–74. The lamps were fueled largely by lard oil. (William Seale, The White House: The History of An American Idea [Washington, D.C., 1992], 85–86.)

  4 was furious and full of fight Parton, Life, III, 460–63. Jackson also made his views clear to General Winfield Scott at a meeting at the White House on November 4, 1832. President Jackson, Scott recalled, “adverted to the certainty that South Carolina would very soon be out of the Union—either by nullification or secession.” Jackson, Scott said, was “patriotically resolved to stand his ground—The Union must and shall be preserved.” (Winfield Scott, Memoirs of Lieut.-General Scott, LL.D [Freeport, New York, 1970], 234–35.) Jackson’s passion on the question can also be found in his correspondence. See, for instance: Papers, VI, 476–77; Correspondence, V, 2–24; 28–31; 44–46; 56.

  5 Four hundred and fifty miles This is the distance as the crow flies from Washington, D.C., to Charleston, South Carolina.

  6 radicals were raising an army Richard E. Ellis, The Union at Risk: Jacksonian Democracy, States’ Rights, and the Nullification Crisis (New York, 1987), and two books by William W. Freehling, Prelude to Civil War: The Nullification Controversy in South Carolina, 1816–1836 (New York, 1966) and Road to Disunion: Secessionists at Bay, 1776–1854 (New York, 1990), are excellent sources on the nullification crisis (in Road to Disunion, see especially 253–86), as is Freehling’s The Nullification Era: A Documentary Record (New York, 1967). See also Carol Bleser, ed., Secret and Sacred: The Diaries of James Henry Hammond, a Southern Slaveholder (New York, 1988); Chauncey Samuel Boucher, The Nullification Controversy in South Carolina (Chicago, 1916); Richard J. Calhoun, ed., Witness to Sorrow: The Antebellum Autobiography of William J. Grayson (Columbia, S.C., 1990), 109–51; Drew Gilpin Faust, James Henry Hammond and the Old South: A Design for Mastery (Baton Rouge, La., 1985); Daniel Feller, The Jacksonian Promise: America, 1815–1840 (Baltimore, 1995), 162–68; Cicero W. Harris, The Sectional Struggle: An Account of the Troubles Between the North and the South, from the Earliest Times to the Close of the Civil War, First Part(Philadelphia, 1902); David Franklin Houston, A Critical Study of Nullification in South Carolina (Gloucester, Mass., 1968); Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848 (New York, 2007), 395–410; Theodore D. Jervey, Robert Y. Hayne and His Times (New York, 1909); Edward Payson Powell, Nullification and Secession: A History of the Six Attempts During the First Century of the Republic (New York, 1898); Charles S. Sydnor, The Development of Southern Sectionalism, 1819–1848 (Baton Rouge, La., 1948); Sean Wilentz, The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln (New York, 2005); Major L. Wilson, Space, Time and Freedom: The Quest for Nationality and the Irrepressible Conflict, 1815–1861(Westport, Conn., 1974), 73–93. Wilson wrote: “Liberty and the Union were inseparable goods, in [Jackson’s] view, and the security of the one necessarily involved the preservation of the other’s.” (84). The editions of Niles’ Weekly Register from the period are instructive, too. The Register, founded by Hezekiah Niles, was an early nonpartisan newsweekly that was published from 1811 until 1849. In those years, wrote W. H. Earle, “it was the principal window through which many Americans looked out on their own country and the world. The scope of the work was immense, its circulation was large (the largest in the United States, by some accounts), and its influence was reflected in generous compliments from such readers of the publication as John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson.” (W. H. Earle, “Niles’ Register, 1811–1849: Window on the World,” Journal of the War of 1812 and the Era 1800 to 1840 1 [Fall 1996], http://www.nisc.com/factsheets/NR_Window.htm.)

  7 the first step, Jackson believed, toward secession In 1828, the South Carolina legislature had published its Exposition and Protest against the tariff. “Secretly authored by Vice President John C. Calhoun, the exposition argued the right of a sovereign state to declare null and void any federal law that the state deemed unconstitutional,” writes Daniel Feller. “Calhoun conceived nullification as a peaceable check upon the national government’s abuse of its powers. But his doctrine invited naked state defiance of federal authority, leading perhaps to secession (the withdrawal of the state from the Union) and even civil war” (Feller, Jacksonian Promise, 162). In the opinion of Daniel Walker Howe, “Taken as a whole, the South Carolina Exposition is an impressive argument on behalf of an unworkable proposition. (In an America where nullification prevailed, there might be scores of federal statutes whose operation was suspended in various states, while each awaited resolution in an endless succession of constitutional conventions.)” (Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 398.) In The Rise of American Democracy, Sean Wilentz writes: “The only cure for majority despotism, Calhoun argued, was to recognize the undivided sovereignty of the individual states that, he asserted, was anterior to the Constitution. Just as the federal government could annul any state law ruled binding, so aggrieved states could void, within their borders, any federal law they deemed unconstitutional.… Calhoun would always insist nullification was not secession, which was literally true. But in seizing on the theory of original state sovereignty, he offered a theoretical justification for both nullification and secession” (Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 320).

  8 “I expect soon to hear” Correspondence, V, 3. The quotation is from a January 13, 1833, letter to Vice President–elect Martin Van Buren.

  9 musing about arresting Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 2; Parton, Life, III, 447, 474. As noted below, Missouri senator Thomas Hart Benton also provides evidence that such a threat was in the air, quoting an exchange between Henry Clay and Delaware senator John M. Clayton: Clay’s “friend from Delaware [Mr. John M. Clayton] said to [Clay] one day—these South Carolinians act very badly, but they are good fellows, and it is a pity to let Jackson hang them” (Thomas Hart Benton, Thirty Years’ View; or, A History of the Working of the American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850 [New York, 1871], 1, 342).

10 stood six foot one Reda C. Goff, “A Physical Profile of Andrew Jackson,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 28 (Fall 1969), 303–4.

11 Over a midday glass of whiskey Parton, Life, III, 462.

12 pounded a table Ibid.

13 “By the God of Heaven” Ibid.

14 “When everything is ready” AAK, 631.

15 “It is nothing more nor less” Ellis, Union at Risk, 93. Italics in quotations reflect emphasis in the original throughout unless otherwise noted.

16 “the dissolution of the American confederacy” Richard Wellesley [Marquis Wellesley] to Sir Henry Halford, February 23, 1833, Halford Manuscripts, Record Office for Leicestershire.

17 Dispatching troops and a warship Parton, Life, III, 460–61. General Winfield Scott was to lead them. (Scott, Memoirs, 235.)

18 earned him the nicknames “Old Hickory” Parton, Life, I, 373–86.

19 “Nothing but blood will satisfy the old scoundrel” P. M. Butler to James H. Hammond, December 18, 1832, James H. Hammond Papers, LOC. Barnwell’s report is cited in the text of Butler’s letter to Hammond.

20 the immediate issue was money Ellis, Union at Risk, 41–46; Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 47–48; Parton, Life, III, 433–34.

21 ultimately about slavery Ellis, Union at Risk, 189–98, is an intelligent and measured account of the links between nullification, states’ rights, and slavery. Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 134–76, is also cogent and convincing. Ellis’s conclusion: “In short, in certain very important ways the nullification crisis marked the beginning of a new era. For a definite result of the crisis was the emergence of a forceful and determined pro-slavery interest in politics, better organized and more articulate than any other group that had risen to the defense of the peculiar institution. There are strong constitutional and ideological ties between the nullifiers and their supporters in 1832–33 and the fireaters of 1860–61 since both groups advocated states’ rights as a device to protect the rights of minorities”—in this case, the minority was the slaveholding class. “More so than any other event that occurred in the half-century or so following the adoption of the United States Constitution, the nullification crisis created the concepts and some of the political conditions that eventually led to the Civil War” (Ellis, Union at Risk, 198). See also Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 127–28, 256–59.

22 “the peculiar domestic institution” John C. Calhoun, Union and Liberty: The Political Philosophy of John C. Calhoun (Indianapolis, Ind., 1992), 525. Contemporaries recognized slavery’s centrality. “The truth can no longer be disguised that the peculiar domestic institution of the Southern States … has placed them … in opposite relation to the rest of the Union,” said Calhoun (PJCC, XI, 229).

23 “I am prepared any day” Ellis, Union at Risk, 78–79.

24 It was rumored that excited radicals Parton, Life, III, 459.; see also AAK, 631.

25 readers of the Columbia Telescope Niles’ Weekly Register 43 (September 29, 1832), 78. xviii “I will meet” Correspondence, V, 3.

26 he would do what it took AAK, 635. Kendall wrote: “In his military campaigns he never submitted a decision to a vote in a council of war. He asked the opinion of each member on the case presented, dismissed them, and they knew not what was to be done until his order was issued. He never took a vote in his Cabinet. Questions were submitted and discussed; but, when it came to decision, ‘he took the responsibility.’ Nor was he so proud or self-conceited as to be above seeking information from any one whom he thought capable of giving it, and no President ever had a greater number or more faithful counselors; but, when it came to action, it was still, ‘I take the responsibility’ ” (ibid.).

27 “I have been Tossed” Papers, V, 115. There are several interesting psychological studies of Jackson that explore the connections between his early years and the man (and the leader) he became. See, for instance: Hendrik Booraem, Young Hickory: The Making of Andrew Jackson (Dallas, 2001); Andrew Burstein, The Passions of Andrew Jackson (New York, 2003); James C. Curtis, Andrew Jackson and the Search for Vindication (Boston, 1976); and Michael Paul Rogin, Fathers and Children: Andrew Jackson and the Subjugation of the American Indian (New York, 1975). I by no means agree with all of these authors’ conclusions, but their arguments repay consideration.

28 “one great family” Papers, VI, 476.

29 “I feel in the depths of my soul” Correspondence, V, 27.

30 “I call upon you in the language of truth” For the conclusion of the proclamation, see Edward Livingston Papers, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

31 hailed by Harry Truman Margaret Truman, ed., Where the Buck Stops: The Personal and Private Writings of Harry S. Truman (New York, 1989), 5–6.

32 expanded the powers of the presidency My analysis of the significance of Jackson’s presidency owes much to the following sources: Donald B. Cole, The Presidency of Andrew Jackson (Lawrence, Kansas, 1993); Richard B. Latner, The Presidency of Andrew Jackson: White House Politics, 1829–1837 (Athens, Ga., 1979); and Remini, Jackson, II and III, among others.

There is much healthy and interesting debate about whether Jackson was the first “modern” president. Here, for instance, is Remini on Jackson as he left the White House in 1837: “More than anything else, most commentators agreed, Andrew Jackson had created a new presidential style. To be sure, not everyone liked or admired his style, but they admitted its unique character. To his friends, the Jacksonian presidential style reflected and embodied the popular will, and this identification with the Democracy meant that the President could assume a more appropriate position in a modern society, namely head of state and leader of the nation. Furthermore, to support the President in achieving his program and to help him implement his vision of the future, a party organization grounded in Jeffersonian republicanism had been established on a mass basis and committed to the doctrine that the people shall rule.

“None of the previous Presidents acted upon, much less articulated, the notion that the President was elected by the people of the entire nation. Andrew Jackson established that contention. None previously claimed that the President was ‘more representative of the national will than the Congress.’ Old Hickory did. None argued the superiority of a particular branch of the federal government. None tried to substitute his opinion for that of Congress, except where constitutionality was involved. Jackson did it regularly—or at least where he believed the public good required it. He is, therefore, the first modern President in American history, the first to conceive himself as the head of a democracy” (Remini, Jackson, III, 412). Rogin wrote: “[Jackson’s] internal improvements and Bank vetoes, his nullification proclamation, and his removal of government deposits from the U.S. Bank all asserted unprecedented executive prerogatives and anew theory of political representation. The legislature represented elite interests; the executive embodied the popular will. This doctrine infused life into the nascently bureaucratic federal executive, the informal group of presidential advisers, and the specialized party apparatus. Jackson was the first modern President” (Rogin, Fathers and Children, 267). Cole offers a more measured view: “Many of [Jackson’s] policies looked toward modern America—especially his expansion of foreign commerce, his Indian removal, his administrative reform, and the creation of a patronage system and the Democratic party. In addition, Jackson pointed the way toward the modern presidency by relying on informal advisers, using the press, dramatizing politics, and appealing to the people. He took advantage of the veto and other powers of the chief executive as no president had before.

“Yet to say that he transformed the presidency or became the first modern president is stretching the point” (Cole, Presidency of Andrew Jackson, 274). Dr. Cole’s argument is nuanced and thought-provoking, and I am grateful to him for discussing these matters with me. I believe, however, that Jackson’s was the presidency that set the pattern for all successive ones (if the president were willing and able to follow Jackson’s pattern), and was the first one that we would recognize as a White House like those of our own time.

On the question of those who surrounded Jackson, the “Kitchen Cabinet” is a complicated issue in the study of Jackson’s presidency. I have drawn much from Richard B. Latner’s sensible and scholarly treatment of the question. The essence of his verdict: “Historians have traditionally claimed that the term [Kitchen Cabinet] originated during Jackson’s presidency as a label derisively applied by the opposition to a group of aides, mostly outside the cabinet, who specialized in political manipulation, wire-pulling, and patronage. It is generally implied that these men shared similar goals and worked closely together in achieving them. There exists, however, a suspicion that the Kitchen Cabinet was largely a figment of the opposition’s imagination.… While the Kitchen Cabinet certainly lacked the institutional self-identification, established rules of procedure, and regularized patterns of interaction associated with the cabinet, it was also something more than an organization with the limited political purpose and power of a national party committee. Rather, it most resembles the modern White House staff, a group of aides personally attached to the president and having his special trust.” (See Latner, Presidency of Andrew Jackson, 51–57.) I share Professor Latner’s conclusion and believe the Kitchen Cabinet is best understood as one of the stars, along with the family group, which moved in orbit around Jackson.

33 role they were assigned at Philadelphia Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 32–33.

34 “My Country, ’Tis of Thee” and “Amazing Grace” took root Marc McCutcheon, Everyday Life in the 1800s (Cincinnati, 1993), 300. When Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., finished The Age of Jackson in 1944, the penultimate year of the global war between democracy and dictatorship, he was drawn to a speech President Franklin D. Roosevelt had given at a Jackson Day dinner in Washington in January 1938. Jackson’s legacy, FDR said, was “his unending contribution to the vitality of our democracy. We look back on his amazing personality, we review his battles because the struggles he went through, the enemies he encountered, the defeats he suffered and the victories he won are part and parcel of the struggles, the enmities, the defeats and the victories of those who have lived in all the generations that have followed” (Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Age of Jackson [Boston, 1945], x).

35 take a bullet in a frontier gunfight Parton, Life, I, 386–98, is an engaging account of one of Jackson’s peacetime skirmishes.

36 to assault his own would-be assassin Parton, Life, III, 582–84. The episode took place on January 30, 1835, when an assailant attempted to shoot Jackson at the Capitol. “The President, the instant he comprehended the purpose of the man, rushed furiously at him with uplifted cane,” Parton reported (ibid., 582). The episode is treated more fully below.

37 imprisoning those who defied Matthew Warshauer, Andrew Jackson and the Politics of Martial Law: Nationalism, Civil Liberties, and Partisanship (Knoxville, 2006), 35–39.

38 a leading hostess was disturbed Louise Livingston Hunt, Memoir of Mrs. Edward Livingston, with Letters Hitherto Unpublished (New York, 1886), 52.

39 “wild man of the woods” Ibid.

40 stunned to find Jackson both elegant and charming Ibid., 53.

41 “Is this your backwoodsman?” Ibid. This happened all the time; people accustomed to hearing stories of the frontier Jackson were constantly being surprised by his bearing in person. Even his foes granted as much. Ohio senator Thomas Ewing was a John Quincy Adams man, but he was forced to acknowledge that Jackson, while perhaps not brilliant, was sociable and engaging, which is more than President Adams could grant about Jackson. In a letter to his wife about a White House dinner in December 1831, Ewing wrote: “I told you in a former letter that I had an invitation to dine with the President. I accordingly on Tuesday evening last repaired to the palace where I was received with much courtesy by the old chief.… I have already told you that the manners of the President are exceedingly fine. For a how dye-do salutation, or a sitting at table chit chat, I never met his superior. He is neither wise nor learned nor witty, but he converses with freedom and ease on light and ordinary topics.… He is exceedingly familiar though at the same time sufficiently dignified. Now and then, however, his want of general information will disclose itself, though not often. He gave me a seat … at his right hand. We had an excellent dinner—fine wine—Madeira of choice and very ancient vintage and some first-rate champagne. Enough to make one a Jackson man almost—not quite” (Donald J. Ratcliffe, “My Dinner with Andrew,” Timeline [October–November 1987], 53–54).

42 “there was more of the woman” Parton, Life, III, 602. The secretary is Nicholas Trist.

43 “He lived always in a crowd” Ibid., 596.

44 “I have scarcely ever known a man” AMVB, 403. Van Buren was impressed by Jackson’s encompassing notion of family: “I have scarcely ever known a man who placed a higher value upon the enjoyments of the family circle or who suffered more from interruptions of harmony in his own; feelings which are more striking in view of the fact … that not a drop of his own blood flowed in the veins of a single member of it.”

45 “She was a beautiful, accomplished” EDT, I, 172.

46 journalists Amos Kendall and Francis Preston Blair I depended on AAK as well as Donald B. Cole, A Jackson Man: Amos Kendall and the Rise of American Democracy (Baton Rouge, La., 2004). FPB and William E. Smith, The Francis Preston Blair Family in Politics (New York, 1933), were crucial.

47 A shrewd New York politician I found John Niven, Martin Van Buren: The Romantic Age of American Politics (New York, 1983), Ted Widmer, Martin Van Buren (New York, 2004), and AMVB essential to understanding the elusive eighth president.

48 to think of him as the “Old Lion” Poughkeepsie Journal and Eagle, June 28, 1845; “General Jackson,” Goshen Democrat and Whig, July 4, 1845. I am indebted to Matthew Warshauer for his guidance on this point.

49 “the lion of Tennessee” House of Representatives, Congressman Dickinson of Tennessee on the Fine on General Jackson, 28th Cong., 1st. Sess., Congressional Globe (6 January 1844), 13, appendix: 3. Also see Matthew Warshauer, “Contested Mourning: The New York Battle over Andrew Jackson’s Death,” New York History 87 (Winter 2006), 29–65.

50 Holmes’s lion is “the terror” Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes (Boston, 1908), 75–76.

51 “I for one do not despair of the Republic” Papers, VI, 477.

52 “My hopes of a long continuance” Allan Nevins, ed., The Diary of John Quincy Adams, 1794–1845 (New York, 1951), 434.

53 “I was born for a storm” Heiskell, AJETH, III, 166.

Chapter 1: Andy Will Fight His Way in the World

  1 “How triumphant!” Andrew Jackson Donelson to John Coffee, November 15, 1828, Andrew Jackson Donelson Papers, LOC.

  2 was known to serve guests whiskey EDT, II, 55–56; James, TLOAJ, 609. Strong drink and good wine were hallmarks of Jackson’s hospitality wherever he was, from Nashville to the White House to his summer retreats as president at the Rip Raps on Old Point Comfort. His friend General Daniel Smith was known to have one of the finer stills in the region (EDT, I, 76). The cellars at the Hermitage were a source of great pride and interest to Jackson. As noted below, when the house burned in 1834, he gloomily wrote: “I suppose all the wines in the cellar have been destroyed” (EDT, II, 71). Jackson’s traveling liquor case—a handsome artifact—is still in his study next to the room in which he died at the Hermitage in Nashville (Author observation).

  3 was sitting inside the house Papers, VI, 545–46.

  4 answering congratulatory messages Andrew Jackson to John Coffee, December 11, 1828, Andrew Jackson Papers, Scholarly Resources Collection, Reel 12, LOC. In this letter, Jackson laments the postelection “press of business.”

  5 friends in town were planning a ball Nashville Banner, December 16, 1828. The newspaper notice of the events tried to encourage an atmosphere of unity after the divisiveness of the campaign. “These are judicious arrangements,” the paper said of the dinner and the ball, “and we hope that a liberal and magnanimous spirit will characterize all the proceedings. The object is the manifest feelings of personal attachment to Andrew Jackson, on the part of those who have been in the habit of associating with him in the various relations of private life, as well as to pay him that respect which is due to the individual selected by the people as the chief magistrate of the nation.” Interestingly, the organizers were clearly worried that the Jackson or Adams forces might treat the day as yet another skirmish in the campaign—a sign of how vicious the 1828 race really was, and might still be, even though it had been decided. “In these testimonies, even those who preferred his competitor and were opposed to his election, may consistently and appropriately join,” the Banner went on. “As a neighbor and personal acquaintance, and as the elected President of the United States, he is entitled to marks of attention, even from such as were themselves desirous of retaining in office the present incumbent. Nor can it be either necessary or proper on such occasion for the zealous supporters of the General’s election, to indulge in acrimonious feelings towards the unsuccessful candidate or to recall any of the unpleasant emotions connected with the late bitter electoral contest. The battle has been fought and the triumph signal. Let us hope that the wounds unhappily inflicted will be permitted to heal.…”

  6 Led by a marshal Nashville Republican and State Gazette, December 16, 1828.

  7 drafted a letter Papers, VI, 545–46. The note, dated December 18 from the Hermitage, was written to Francis Preston Blair. Given the postscript reporting Rachel Jackson’s collapse (see below), it seems to have been composed on December 17, the day she was stricken (Papers, VI, 547); Jackson apparently dated it incorrectly on the seventeenth (which is understandable, given the crisis in the house) or waited until the next day to date it.

  8 “To the people, for the confidence reposed in me” Papers, VI, 545.

  9 went outside to his Tennessee fields Parton, Life, III, 154. Hannah, one of the Jacksons’ slaves, is the source for this detail.

10 The 1828 presidential campaign … had been vicious Remini, Jackson, II, 116–42; Parton, Life, III, 137–50; James, TLOAJ, 461–72. See also Robert V. Remini, The Election of Andrew Jackson (New York and Philadelphia, 1963), and Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., ed., The Election of 1828 and the Administration of Andrew Jackson (Philadelphia, 2003).

11 Adams was alleged to have Remini, Jackson, II, 133.

12 his wife a bigamist and his mother a whore Paul Johnson, The Birth of the Modern, 930–31. Johnson offers a useful summary of the less savory aspects of the 1828 campaign, citing the pro-Adams National Journal (“General Jackson’s mother was a Common Prostitute, brought to this country by British soldiers! She afterwards married a Mulatto Man, with whom she had several children, of which number General Jackson is one!”) (ibid., 930), and Charles Hammond’s A View of General Jackson’s Domestic Relations, which asked: “Ought a convicted adulteress and her paramour husband to be placed in the highest offices of this land?” (ibid., 931).

13 alleged atrocities Remini, Jackson, II, 122–24.

14 “Even Mrs. J. is not spared” “Letters from Andrew Jackson to R. K. Call,” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 29 (April 1921), 191.

15 “The floodgates of falsehood” William B. Lewis to John Coffee, July 27, 1828, Dyas Collection–John Coffee Papers, 1770–1917, Tennessee Historical Society War Memorial Building, Nashville, Tennessee. Papers housed at the Tennessee State Library and Archives.

16 Some Americans thought See, for instance, Elizabeth Parke Custis to Andrew Jackson, December 25, 1828, Andrew Jackson Donelson Papers, LOC. Among Jackson partisans there was much talk of the connection between the era of the Founding and the incoming administration. Writing to the man he saluted as “Respected Genl,” Patrick G. C. Nagle of Philadelphia told Jackson: “It has been my determination and has been a long time back to make you a pair of waterproof boots (in order to keep your feet dry and warm when walking the muddy streets of Washington in the winter season).” These were no ordinary boots, but symbols tying Jackson to another, earlier savior of the nation: the Marquis de Lafayette. “I have had the honor,” Nagle wrote, “of making a pair of the same kind for the nation’s guest, the great and good Lafayette” (Patrick G. C. Nagle to Andrew Jackson, November 18, 1828, Andrew Jackson Papers, Reel 72, LOC).

17 One Revolutionary War veteran, David Coons David Coons to Andrew Jackson, November 19, 1828, Andrew Jackson Papers, Reel 72, LOC. “Permit an anxious friend unknown to you but to whom you are not unknown, to introduce himself thus to your notice,” Coons’s letter begins. “I am an old man who in my youth stood forth at my country’s call, and have always cherished that affection for my country and her defending which I consider due from every man, I could wish the same for all. The object of my introducing myself thus, plainly, to your notice is this. Through motives of the purest friendship,” Coons wanted to advise Jackson of the “hard threats.” Closing the letter, Coons added: “I may be unnecessarily alarmed, yet I cannot consider it a trespass in giving you this caution.”

18 the draft of a speech “Speech [undelivered] for December 23 Celebration in Nashville,” Andrew Jackson Papers, Reel 36, LOC. The draft is in Andrew Jackson Donelson’s handwriting.

19 While Jackson was outside Parton, Life, III, 154. I have drawn on several different accounts of Rachel Jackson’s death to tell the story of her collapse, final hours, and funeral: Wise, Seven Decades, 113–17; Parton, Life, III, 154–64; James, TLOAJ, 478–82; Remini, Jackson, II, 150–55; EDT, I, 155–59.

20 collapsed in her sitting room, screaming in pain Parton, Life, III, 154.

21 “a black wench,” a “profligate woman” John William Ward, Andrew Jackson: Symbol for an Age (New York, 1953), 196. There is also a reference to Rachel as a “whore” in the correspondence of Henry Clay (PHC, IV, 553).

22 short and somewhat heavy Vincent Nolte, Fifty Years in Both Hemispheres (New York, 1854), 238–39. Here is Nolte’s acidic account of the Jacksons’ dancing together at a ball in New Orleans in 1815: “After supper we were treated to a most delicious pas de deux by the conqueror and his spouse.… To see these two figures, the General a long, haggard man, with limbs like a skeleton, and Madame la Generale, a short, fat dumpling, bobbing opposite each other like half-drunken Indians, to the wild melody of ‘Possum up de Gum Tree,’ and endeavoring to make a spring into the air, was very remarkable.…” I am grateful to Marsha Mullin, the chief curator of the Hermitage, for bringing this quotation to my attention.

23 melancholy and anxious “For four or five years the health of Mrs. Jackson had been precarious,” wrote Parton. “She had complained, occasionally, of an uneasy feeling about the region of the heart; and, during the late excitements, she had been subject to sharper pains and palpitation. The aspersions upon her character had wounded deeply her feelings and her pride. She was frequently found in tears” (Parton, Life, III, 154). According to Remini, “Rachel … had no taste for public life, and after what had been said about her in the campaign she shivered at the thought of what lay ahead.” She was, Remini added, suffering from “poor health and sagging spirits” (Remini, Jackson, II, 149).

24 “The enemies of the General” EDT, I, 154.

25 Rachel was devastated to overhear EDT, I, 157. There are different versions of the episode triggering Rachel Jackson’s death. Mary Donelson Wilcox, a child of Emily and Andrew Jackson Donelson, is the source for the version I have told. Another account holds that while she was shopping in Nashville for clothes to take to Washington, Rachel Jackson found a pamphlet defending her character and was crushed. This is possible, of course, but we know that Rachel was already aware of the charges from the letter (noted above) she wrote in July 1828: “the enemys of the Genls have dipt their arrows in wormwood and gall and sped them at me … to think that thirty years had passed in happy social friendship with society, knowing or thinking no ill to no one—as my judge will know …” (EDT, I, 154). See Remini, Jackson, II, 150, for an account of the pamphlet scene, as well as his note (tracing the story through Major Lewis down to John Spencer Bassett) on page 415 of that work.

26 “No, Emily,” Mrs. Jackson replied EDT, I, 157.

27 “Well, for Mr. Jackson’s sake” Parton, Life, III, 153.

28 Rachel was put to bed Ibid., 154.

29 Jackson rushed to his wife Ibid., 155.

30 sent for doctors James, TLOAJ, 478.

31 “P.S. Whilst writing” Papers, VI, 546.

32 “Do not, My beloved Husband” Papers, II, 361.

33 his candle burning low Ibid., 354.

34 “My heart is with you” Ibid., 487. The letter is dated December 14, 1813.

35 Jackson kept vigil Parton, Life, III, 156.

36 her flesh turning cold Ibid.; James, TLOAJ, 480; Remini, Jackson, II, 151.

37 “My mind is so disturbed” Papers, VII, 13.

38 At one o’clock on Christmas Eve afternoon Parton, Life, III, 157. I drew on four detailed accounts of Rachel Jackson’s funeral: Wise, Seven Decades, 114–16; Parton, Life, III, 157–64; James, TLOAJ, 480–82; Remini, Jackson, II, 153–55.

39 The weather had been wet Parton, Life, III, 163.

40 led by Rachel’s minister Remini, Jackson, II, 153. “Every muscle of [Jackson’s] face was unmoved,” wrote Henry Wise, who was there, “steady as a rock, without a teardrop in his eye or a quaver in his voice.…” During the burial, Hannah came through the mourners and, Wise wrote, “tried to get into the grave with the coffin.… Her cries were agonizing: ‘Mistress, my best friend, my love, my life, is gone—I will go with her!’ ” Jackson waved off those who were trying to help Hannah up from the ground. “ ‘Let that faithful servant weep for her best friend and loved mistress; she has the right and cause to mourn for her loss, and her grief is sweet to me’ ” (Wise, Seven Decades, 115).

41 the one hundred fifty paces Author observation.

42 Devastated but determined Wise, Seven Decades, 116; Remini, Jackson, II, 154.

43 “I am now the President elect of the United States” Wise, Seven Decades, 116. Of Rachel’s death, Leonidas Polk wrote to his mother, Sarah Polk, on January 10, 1829: “This must have been a sad shock to him, especially as he had just been so highly honored, in defiance of the abuse heaped both on himself and her. And it must also teach him the frailty of human existence, and the necessity for being at any moment ready to resign it” (Leonidas Polk to Sarah Polk, January 10, 1829, Leonidas Polk Collection, The University of the South, University Archives and Special Collections, Sewanee).

44 to work through the president-elect’s correspondence “I receive at least one hundred letters a week,” Jackson told John Coffee during the transition, adding: “Was it not for the aid of Capt. A. J. Donelson I could not reply to half of what are necessary to be answered.” Andrew Jackson to John Coffee, December 11, 1828, Andrew Jackson Papers, Scholarly Resources Collection, Reel 12, LOC.

45 Emily was at once selfless and sharp-tongued Both volumes of Burke’s EDT are excellent on Emily.

46 Born on Monday, June 1, 1807 EDT, I, xi.

47 “All Donelsons in the female line” Ibid., xv.

48 On Sunday, January 18, 1829 Papers, VII, 3. See also EDT, I, 163.

49 the steamboat Pennsylvania Remini, Jackson, II, 157–58. See also EDT, I, 163.

50 “Whether I am ever to return or not” Papers, VII, 12.

51 “The active discharge of those duties” Nashville Republican and State Gazette, December 26, 1828.

52 bordered in black Ibid.

53 Referring to America, Livingston told the president-elect Papers, VII, 5–6.

54 passing through Louisville Mary Eastin to William Eastin, February 15, 1829, The Dillon and Polk Papers, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

55 “He was very much wearied” Ibid.

56 a blur of cannons, cheers, and tending to colds EDT, I, 163–64. For details of the journey, see also Nashville Republican and State Gazette, January 20, 1829; Frances Trollope, Domestic Manners of the Americans (Mineola, N.Y., 2003), 83–85.

57 “I scarcely” EDT, I, 164.

58 “You must not make yourself” Ibid.

59 Traveling to America from Ireland in 1765 Parton, Life, I, 46–47. For accounts of the Jackson family background, the journey to America, and the family situation awaiting them, see ibid., 36–58; James, TLOAJ, 3–6; Kendall, Life of Jackson, 9–13; Remini, Jackson, I, 2–4. I found Booraem’s Young Hickory the most detailed and measured account of Jackson’s early life.

60 “Waxhaw” came from the name of the tribe Parton, Life, I, 48–49; Remini, Jackson, I, 3. The area was also called the Waxhaw district or Waxhaw settlement, or sometimes simply “the Waxhaws.”

61 Parliament passed the Quartering Act See, for instance, Benson Bobrick, Angel in the Whirlwind: The Triumph of the American Revolution (New York, 1997), 69.

62 the Stamp Act Ibid., 74–82.

63 the Massachusetts legislature called for a colonial congress Richard M. Ketchum, ed., The American Heritage Book of the Revolution, 56–59.

64 “There ought to be no more New England men” Ibid., 58.

65 of “independent” means Booraem, Young Hickory, 2.

66 poorer than his in-laws Ibid., 2–3; Parton, Life, I, 49. Parton wrote this of the extended Jackson circle: “The members of this circle were not all equally poor. There is reason to believe that some of them brought to America sums of money which were considerable for that day, and sufficient to enable them to buy negroes as well as lands in the southern wilderness. But all accounts concur in this: that Andrew Jackson [Sr.] was very poor, both in Ireland and in America” (47).

67 moved his wife and two sons Ibid.; Booraem, Young Hickory, 9.

68 His wife was pregnant Ibid., 9–10.

69 a snowstorm James, TLOAJ, 9.

70 pallbearers drank so much Booraeam, Young Hickory, 10.

71 naming him Andrew after her late husband Ibid., 11.

72 under the roof of relatives Which roof is the keystone of the great Jackson birthplace debate between North Carolina and South Carolina. See Booraem, Young Hickory, 11–12; James, TLOAJ, 791–97 (an exhaustive survey of the competing claims); Parton, Life, I, 52–57; Remini, Jackson,I, 4–5.

73 the Crawfords were more affluent Booraem, Young Hickory, 16–17.

74 The Jacksons needed a home Ibid., 58.

75 “Mrs. Crawford was an invalid” Parton, Life, I, 57–58.

76 Jackson felt a certain inferiority to and distance from others Several biographers—James and Remini among them—tend to downplay the Jacksons’ “poor relation” status (James, TLOAJ, 10; Remini, Jackson, I, 6). My contention that he did feel like a dependent, with resulting implications, is based on Parton, who spent time in the neighborhood among descendants of Jackson’s contemporaries, and, as quoted below, on Mary Donelson Wilcox’s memories of Jackson’s own remarks on the question. Perhaps the most compelling evidence on this question is the fact that Jackson never returned to Waxhaw (discussed at greater length below) and observations made in a biography Jackson approved: John Reid and John Henry Eaton’s 1817 book, The Life of Andrew Jackson(University, Ala., 1974). After the deaths of his mother and his brothers, Jackson, according to Reid and Eaton, “was thus left alone in the wide world, without a human being with whom he could claim a near relationship …” (13). Describing Jackson’s ultimate decision to move to Tennessee after reading law in North Carolina, Reid and Eaton write that Jackson, “recollecting that he stood a solitary individual in life, without relations to aid him in the onset, when innumerable difficulties arise and retard success … determined to seek a new country. But for this, he might have again returned to his native state [South Carolina]; but the death of every relation he had, had wiped away all those recollections and circumstances which warp the mind to the place of its nativity” (14–15).

77 “His childish recollections” Heiskell, AJETH, III, 280. Mary Donelson Wilcox was born Mary Rachel but later changed her name to Mary Emily, and she published under the name of Mary Emily Donelson Wilcox. For the sake of clarity, in the text the child is referred to as “Mary Rachel” and the author as “Mary Donelson Wilcox.”

78 His mother took him and his brothers Booraem, Young Hickory, 18.

79 memorization of the Shorter Westminster Catechism Ibid., 20–21.

80 Most stories about the young Jackson I have drawn on Booraem, Young Hickory, 17–22; Parton, Life, I, 58–69; James, TLOAJ, 17–18; Remini, Jackson, I, 6–11.

81 Wrestling was a common pastime Parton, Life, I, 64.

82 “I could throw him three times out of four” Ibid. Drawing on his research, Parton observes this of the young Jackson: “To younger boys, who never questioned his mastery, he was a generous protector; there was nothing he would not do to defend them. His equals and superiors found him self-willed, somewhat overbearing, easily offended, very irascible, and, upon the whole, ‘difficult to get along with.’ One of them said, many years after, in the heat of controversy, that of all the boys he had ever known, Andrew Jackson was the only bully who was not also a coward.”

83 his friends packed extra powder Ibid.

84 “By God, if one of you laughs” Ibid.

85 “Mother, Andy will fight” Ibid., 75.

86 fits of rage so paralyzing …”slobbering” Ibid., 64; Remini, Jackson, I, 10.

87 His uncles and aunts apparently did not take a great deal of interest Or at least not enough interest to sustain Jackson’s gratitude later in life. After the Revolution, when he was at a low ebb, Jackson became more or less completely estranged from his Waxhaw connections. As Remini wrote: “His energies found release in a series of escapades that won … dismay from his relatives. Drinking, cockfighting, gambling, mischief-making, he seemed determined to go as far as possible in leading an ‘abandoned’ life. He was almost manic. His relatives took a decidedly dim view of his activities and probably thought him a ne’er-do-well headed for an early and unfortunate end. He was never particularly close to his surviving relatives, and his irresponsible behavior only alienated them further. A complete and permanent rupture eventually resulted” (Remini, Jackson, I, 27). My view is that the roots of this break probably extended back into Jackson’s much younger years, for it seems likely that any bonds formed between Jackson and his extended relations in peacetime and in childhood would have been strengthened, not severed, by the trauma of war and the loss of his mother. He simply appears not to have been a subject of much concern either before or after his mother’s death.

88 There was some money Parton, Life, I, 61–62. “It is possible,” Parton wrote of Elizabeth Jackson, “that her condition was not one of absolute dependence. The farm of her deceased husband may have been held, though not owned by her; and either let to a tenant, or worked on shares, may have yielded her a small income.… It is possible, too, that her relations in Ireland may have contributed something to her support. General Jackson had a distinct recollection of her receiving presents of linen from the old country …” (ibid., 61).

89 to send Jackson to schools Remini, Jackson, I, 6.

90 “the dead languages” Reid and Eaton, Life of Andrew Jackson, 10.

91 Edmund Burke took note Ketchum, ed., American Heritage Book of the Revolution, 9.

92 By 1778, the South was the focus of the war George F. Scheer and Hugh F. Rankin, Rebels and Redcoats (New York, 1957), 389–507, is a good account of the war in the South and the Revolution’s closing military phase. See also John Ferling, Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence (New York, 2007), 410–520; Kendall, Life of Andrew Jackson, 13–40; Bobrick, Angel in the Whirlwind, 392–495; Booraem, Young Hickory, 45–118.

93 Andrew’s brother Hugh Parton, Life, I, 69.

94 “of heat and fatigue” Ibid.

95 at the Battle of Stono Ferry, south of Charleston Ferling, Almost a Miracle, 387–88. 10 took Charleston on Friday, May 12, 1780 Booraem, Young Hickory, 48.

96 On Monday, May 29, at about three o’clock in the afternoon Scheer and Rankin, Rebels and Redcoats, 402.

97 roughly three hundred British troops Ferling, Almost a Miracle, 436.

98 It was a vicious massacre Scheer and Rankin, Rebels and Redcoats, 402. See also Booraem, Young Hickory, 48–49. Ferling’s description bears noting: “Whether on horseback or on foot, the [British] attackers swung their sabers, cutting men to pieces, overwhelming their stunned adversaries. Battlefields are horrid places, but this one was especially ghastly. Here were men with severed hands and limbs, crushed skulls, and breached arteries. Some men were decapitated by slashing cavalrymen. Others were trampled by maddened horses. The bellies of many were laid open by bayonets” (Ferling, Almost a Miracle, 436).

99 a rebel surgeon recalled Scheer and Rankin, Rebels and Redcoats, 402. The doctor’s name was Robert Brownfield, a surgeon with Colonel Abraham Buford. 11 Even after the survivors Ibid. “Only fifty-three of Buford’s men survived Tarleton’s bayonets and swords to be taken prisoner,” write Scheer and Rankin. “Tarleton’s loss was five killed, fourteen wounded” (ibid).

100 The meetinghouse was filled with casualties Parton, Life, I, 70.

101 “None of the men” Booraem, Young Hickory, 50.

102 the people of Waxhaw, like people throughout the colonies, were divided Booraem, Young Hickory, 88–91; Kendall, Life of Jackson, 42–45. Ferling wrote that boys such as Jackson “had been taught by their parents how the English had plundered their homeland and its inhabitants. Most backcountry rebels were Scotch-Irish who had seen America—and then American independence—as deliverance from a Great Britain they detested. Most also were Presbyterians who had always bridled at the requirement that they pay tithes to the Church of England, the established church in South Carolina.… Young Andy Jackson joined a partisan unit after helping his mother care for the mangled survivors of a Tory massacre, and observing that many survivors had three or four, or more, wounds” (Ferling, Almost a Miracle, 452–53).

103 As Jackson recalled it Reid and Eaton, Life of Andrew Jackson, 10.

104 in action at Carrickfergus Parton, Life, I, 37.

105 “Often she would spend” Reid and Eaton, Life of Andrew Jackson, 10.

106 a biography Jackson approved Jackson took an intense interest in Reid and Eaton’s book. See, for instance, Papers, IV, 4 and 47. Reid started it but died before it was finished; Jackson drafted Eaton to take on the task. “This has engrossed much of my time and thoughts,” Jackson wrote on June 23, 1816, “and I flatter myself by the pen of Major Eaton it will be completed in a manner to meet the expectations of the publick.… Major Eaton will exert his best talents, his industry and research will give to the publick a Just narrative of facts” (Papers, IV, 47). As Frank Owsley, the editor of the edition cited here, noted: “Much of Eaton’s writing was actually done at the Hermitage. It is almost certain that Jackson read and approved every line of the manuscript, probably as it was being written. Clearly this close supervision by Jackson makes the work the nearest approach to an autobiography of the General” (Reid and Eaton, Life of Andrew Jackson, viii).

107 Jackson saw firsthand the brutality Kendall, Life of Jackson, 43–45; Remini, Jackson, I, 19–20.

108 “Men hunted each other like beasts of prey” Kendall, Life of Jackson, 44–45. Kendall adds: “A Whig living in or near the Waxhaws, finding one of his friends murdered and mutilated, swore that he would never spare a Tory. He thenceforward made it his business to hunt and kill; and before the close of the war, sacrificed upward of twenty victims. ‘But,’ said General Jackson, ‘he was never a happy man afterward’ ” (45).

109 known as “Bloody Tarleton” Booraem, Young Hickory, 49.

110 once rode so close Remini, Jackson, I, 15. Here is Jackson’s complete recollection of the moment: “The Infantry as far as Cain creek, and Tarleton, passed thro the Waxhaw settlement to the Cotauba nation passing our dwelling but we were all hid out.Tarleton passed within a hundred yards of where I and a cousin Crawford, had concealed ourselves” (Papers, I, 5). 12 “I could have shot him” Ibid.

111 The boy soaked up the talk of war Kendall, Life of Jackson, 45; Booraem, Young Hickory, 52–58.

112 “Boys big enough to carry muskets” Kendall, Life of Jackson, 45.

113 In April 1781 Booraem, Young Hickory, 96.

114 A neighboring Tory alerted the redcoats Parton, Life, I, 88.

115 Andrew and Robert were surrounded Ibid.

116 The soldiers ransacked the house Ibid. Here is Parton’s full description of the scene, which included roughing up one of Jackson’s Crawford aunts and her baby: “Crockery, glass, and furniture, were dashed to pieces; beds emptied; the clothing of the family torn to rags; even the clothes of the infant that Mrs. Crawford carried in her arms were not spared.”

117 an imperious officer ordered Jackson Ibid.

118 “Sir,” he said Ibid., 89. For different renderings of this familiar Jacksonian tale, see also Bassett, Jackson, 10; Booraem, Young Hickory, 97–98; James, TLOAJ, 25–26; Remini, Jackson, I, 21.

119 “The sword point reached my head” Correspondence, VI, 253.

120 a British prison camp in Camden Booraem, Young Hickory, 98.

121 “The prisoners were all dismounted” Correspondence, VI, 253.

122 “No attention whatever was paid” Papers, I, 7.

123 Robert was sick, very sick Ibid.

124 Robert on one horse and Mrs. Jackson on another Ibid.

125 a barefoot Andrew Ibid.

126 the British had taken his shoes and his coat Ibid.

127 “trudge” Ibid.

128 the weather turned against them Ibid.

129 “The fury” Ibid.

130 Two days later Robert died Ibid.

131 “During his confinement” Eaton and Reid, The Life of Andrew Jackson, 13.

132 Elizabeth nursed Andrew Ibid.

133 to care for two of her Crawford nephews Ibid. Jackson’s recollection is powerful in its sparseness: “As soon as my recovering health would permit, my mother hastened to Charleston to administer to the comfort of two of her nephews, Wm. and Jas Crawford then prisoners at this place. On her return She died about three miles from Charleston.”

134 buried in obscurity Parton, Life, I, 95.

135 Her clothes were all that came back to him Ibid.

136 He long sought the whereabouts of his mother’s grave Parton, Life, I, 95; Papers, V, 437–39; Papers, VI, 60–61.

137 a careful steward of such things See, for instance, Papers, VII, 12, in which Jackson arranges for Rachel’s tombstone. And he never forgot his mother’s tragic end. “As late in his life as during his presidency, he set on foot some inquiries respecting the place of [his mother’s] burial, with the design of having her sacred dust conveyed to the old church-yard at Waxhaw, where he wished to erect a monument in honor of both his parents,” writes Parton. “It was too late. No exact information could then be obtained, and the project was given up. No stone marks the burial-place either of his father, mother, or brothers” (Parton, Life, I, 95). There are now two monuments to Mrs. Jackson in Charleston, and she is thought to have been buried “in an unmarked grave somewhere north of the line of the 1780 earthworks that bisected the peninsula” (Seabrook Wilkinson, “Revolutionary Heroines: Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson,” Charleston Mercury, August 4, 2005).

138 in his last years he would spend hours in the garden Heiskell, AJETH, III, 686.

139 “many hardships” Papers, VI, 73.

140 In 1815, after his triumph Remini, Jackson, I, 11.

141 “Gentlemen, I wish she” Ibid.

142 “Andrew, if I should not see you again” Ibid.

143 spiraled downward and lashed out Parton, Life, I, 96; Remini, Jackson, I, 26–27.

144 “He once said he never remembered” Heiskell, AJETH, III, 280.

145 The Revolutionary War drew to a close American Heritage Book of the Revolution, 372–75.

146 Jackson got into a fight Papers, I, 7.

147 shuffle him off to another relative Ibid.

148 the cultivated precincts of Charleston Booraem, Young Hickory, 118–29; Parton, Life, I, 97–98; James, TLOAJ, 32–34; Remini, Jackson, I, 27.

149 the pleasures of the turf, of good tailors, and of the gaming tables Booraem, Young Hickory, 125–26.

150 “There can be little doubt” Lee, Biography of Andrew Jackson, 6.

151 he grew restless Parton, Life, I, 96–101; Remini, Jackson, I, 28.

152 he tried his hand at saddle making Parton, Life, I, 96–101.

153 Acknowledging the gift of a map Papers, VI, 354.

154 “juvenile companions” Ibid.

155 could quote Shakespeare Arda Walker, “The Educational Training and Views of Andrew Jackson,” The East Tennessee Historical Society’s Publications 16 (1944), 23. “In his writings,” Walker observes, “are numerous references to Shakespeare. Whether Jackson was cognizant of their source or not, he used such quotations as ‘Ides of March,’ ‘There is something rotten in the state of Denmark,’ ‘the die is cast.’ … These could have been acquired from the ‘stump’ in Tennessee.”

156 Plutarch Papers, V, 197–99. The full line: “a Judge ought to be like Caesar’s wife, ‘not only chaste, but unsuspected.’ ” An editor’s note explaining the allusion, which is from Lives, Caesar, section 10, is found on page 199. And, as noted below in my discussion of the possible influence some version of Lord Chesterfield’s Letters may have had on Jackson, I suspect Chesterfield could have been one source for the “Caesar’s wife” image.

157 Alexander Pope Papers, VI, 71–72. Writing of a friend, Jackson says: “I have no doubt but he is an honest man, who, in my estimation, is ‘the noblest work of god.’ ” The quotation is from Pope’s “Essay on Man,” which had entered the popular vernacular since its publication in the 1730s.

158 Elizabeth Jackson wanted her Andrew to be a minister Parton, Life, I, 61.

159 The service the Jacksons attended most likely started in midmorning William B. Bynum, “ ‘The Genuine Presbyterian Whine’: Presbyterian Worship in the Eighteenth Century,” Journal of Presbyterian History 74 (Fall 1996), 157–69. I have depended greatly on Mr. Bynum’s fine article as I have reconstructed the details of a typical Sunday for an observant Presbyterian in the time of Jackson’s youth, and I am grateful to Mr. Bynum for discussing these matters with me.

160 Church historians suspect Ibid., 157–58.

161 a break for lunch, then an afternoon version Ibid., 159–60.

162 fight the good fight See the Second Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy, chapter 4, verse 7: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”

163 He referred to political enemies as “Judases” Papers, VI, 29–30. Henry Clay came in for this particular attack after accepting the appointment as secretary of state when John Quincy Adams won the presidency in the House in 1825. In a letter dated February 14, 1825, Jackson wrote William B. Lewis: “Mr Clay has been offered the office of Sec of State … so you see the Judas of the West has closed the contract and will receive the thirty pieces of silver—his end will be the same.”

164 “Should the uncircumcised philistines send forth” Papers, VI, 357. The letter is dated July 9, 1827.

165 “And thine house and thine kingdom” II Samuel 4:7 (King James Version).

166 “preside over the destinies” Papers, V, 188.

167 Jackson said he read three chapters of the Bible every day Bassett, Jackson, 748.

168 the Shorter Westminster Catechism Booraem, Young Hickory, 20–21.

169 only a handful of years of formal education Walker, “The Educational Training and Views of Andrew Jackson,” 22.

170 When Harvard University bestowed an honorary degree Ibid., 28.

171 issued elegant Caesar-like proclamations to his troops See, for instance, Papers, II, 290–93.

172 read rather more than he is given credit for This is not to suggest Jackson was a secret scholar, but his library at the Hermitage is eclectic, and he was known, for instance, to give copies of Fénelon’s Telemachus as gifts, which is discussed at length in chapter 32, and he enjoyed early biographies of the Founding Fathers (Correspondence, III, 244). “Bibliography of Andrew Jackson’s Library” (unpublished), 2000. Jackson’s library is part of the collections at the Hermitage.

173 “I know human nature” Papers, IV, 380.

174 The Vicar of Wakefield Parton, Life, III, 604; see also Robert V. Remini, The Life of Andrew Jackson (New York, 1988), 6.

175 “The hero of this piece” Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield (New York, 1982), 31.

176 A favorite book was Jane Porter’s The Scottish Chiefs Papers, V, 163; Jane Porter, The Scottish Chiefs (New York, 1921). Porter’s tale is based on the life of the thirteenth-century Scottish independence hero.

177 murder his wife Porter, Scottish Chiefs, 25.

178 “I have always thought” Papers, V, 163.

179 published in 1809 Porter, Scottish Chiefs, viii.

180 “God is with me” Ibid., 35. Quoting a letter of Jackson’s to Andrew Donelson about Wallace, Remini writes that “the virtues Jackson ascribed to Wallace were precisely his own”—the “undaunted courage” and willingness to “brave any dangers, for the relief of his country or his friend” (Remini, Life of Andrew Jackson, 6). I believe that a close reading of The Scottish Chiefs itself suggests that Jackson’s connection to the novel went beyond seeing a heroic model in Wallace, though Jackson surely did. I think the parallels between the book and Jackson’s own reaction to his losses in life drew Jackson to the story in a way that engaged Jackson’s understandable anger and thirst for validation and vengeance, not just his equally understandable search for heroic literary role models.

Chapter 2: Follow Me and I’ll Save You Yet

  1 his license to practice law Papers, I, 10.

  2 “He was the most roaring” Bassett, Jackson, 12.

  3 When James Parton was researching his 1860 biography Parton, Life, I, 108–9.

  4 “What! Jackson up for President?” Ibid., 109.

  5 moved to Nashville in October 1788 Ibid., 115–24.

  6 took up residence as a boarder Ibid., 133.

  7 the patriarch, Colonel John Donelson For my account of the Donelsons’ background, I have drawn on Parton, Life, I, 126–33; Mary French Caldwell, General Jackson’s Lady (Kingsport, Tenn., 1936), 14–23; Heiskell, AJETH, I, 157–67.

  8 one of the prevailing stories Heiskell, AJETH, I, 159–65.

  9 his mysterious death Parton, Life, I, 133. “He was in the woods surveying, far from home,” wrote Parton. “Two young men who had been with him came along and found him near a creek, pierced by bullets; whether the bullets of the lurking savage or of the white robber was never known. It was only known that he met a violent death from some ambushed cowardly villains, white or red; his daughter Rachel always thought the former. She thought no Indians could kill her father, who knew their ways too well to be caught by them” (ibid.).

10 a beautiful young woman Caldwell, General Jackson’s Lady, 101.

11 when Rachel met Jackson in the autumn of 1788 Parton, Life, I, 133; James, TLOAJ, 53; Remini, Jackson, I, 41–42.

12 Rachel Donelson and Lewis Robards Caldwell, General Jackson’s Lady, 102.

13 Robards was a decade older Ibid., 101.

14 John Overton Parton, Life, I, 148.

15 one of her brothers went to Kentucky Ibid.

16 “gay and lively” Parton, Life, I, 133; Remini, Jackson, I, 42.

17 her husband decided he wanted a reconciliation Parton, Life, I, 148–49.

18 Robards soon grew jealous … exchanged words Ibid., 150.

19 “If I had such a wife” Mary Caroline Crawford, Romantic Days in the Early Republic (Boston, 1912), 215.

20 Jackson soon moved to another establishment Parton, Life, I, 150. 22 “take his wife” Ibid.

21 “haunt her” Ibid., 151.

22 The weight of the evidence I drew on four accounts of the marriage controversy to reach this conclusion: Remini, Jackson, I, 57–69; Burstein, Passions of Andrew Jackson, 241–48; John Buchanan, Jackson’s Way: Andrew Jackson and the People of the Western Waters (New York, 2001), 109–11; Matthew Warshauer, “A Review Essay on Burstein, The Passions of Andrew Jackson,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 62 (Winter 2003), 366–73. Since virtually all of the surviving sources about Rachel’s divorce were produced by Jackson partisans to answer later political charges about the complex circumstances of Rachel’s marriages, it is not surprising that Robards bears the overwhelming brunt of the blame for what was an unhappy situation for everyone concerned. Though Overton goes out of his way to make clear that Robards’s own family took Rachel’s side, Rachel did manage, from the early days of her marriage, to conduct herself in a way that fueled Robards’s jealousy. They were a mismatched pair, and both had happy second marriages. One of Rachel’s most admiring biographers, Mary French Caldwell, wrote: “Lewis Robards, after his marriage to Miss Winn, lived an apparently peaceful life. He prospered in material things, reared a family of splendid children, and held a respected place in the community. If his dark moods descended upon him, he was able either to control himself more thoroughly than he had done in earlier days, or to conceal his behavior more successfully” (Caldwell, General Jackson’s Lady, 161). Or perhaps his new wife gave him less cause for such behavior.

23 the moral climate had moved in a stricter direction Burstein, Passions of Andrew Jackson, 248.

24 a trip to Philadelphia Papers, II, 13.

25 “I have this moment recd. your letter” Ibid.

26 “I thank you for your admonition” Papers, IV, 62.

27 Just after dusk on a cold March day Lee, Biography of Andrew Jackson, 9–10. For another version of the story, see also Remini, Jackson, I, 45–46. 24 “The light of their fires” Lee, Biography of Andrew Jackson, 9.

28 “saving spirit and elastic mind” Ibid. It is unclear whether these words are Overton’s or Lee’s.

29 “Overton and his companion instantly cried” Ibid., 10.

30 In Knoxville in the autumn of 1803 For the Sevier story, I have drawn on Parton, Life, I, 163–64; James, TLOAJ, 92–94; Remini, Jackson, I, 117–24.

31 alluded to his own past “services” to the state This detail and the ensuing dialogue are drawn from the recollections of Colonel Isaac T. Avery of North Carolina, a son of Waightstill Avery, a lawyer under whom Jackson attempted to study and to whom Jackson issued his first challenge for a duel. (Parton, Life, I, 160–62.) The younger Colonel Avery wrote Parton a letter about the young Jackson that Parton quotes extensively, and that is the main source of details about the Sevier showdown for subsequent biographers.

32 “Services?” Parton, Life, I, 164.

33 “Great God!” Ibid.

34 “several shots were fired” Ibid.

35 “Sevier … unpardonable,” recalled the source Ibid.

36 an argument over a horse race The story of the Jackson-Dickinson duel is among the most often told incidents in Jackson’s life. I have relied on several different accounts for my brief retelling: see, for instance, Parton, Life, I, 267–306; James, TLOAJ, 113–18; Remini, Jackson, I, 136–43; Remini, Life of Andrew Jackson, 52–54. For documents relating to the argument and the duel, see Papers, II, 77–78; 79–82; 84–91; 96–109. (The horserace never took place. See Parton, Life, I, 268.)

37 also apparently included a slur against Rachel As the editors of Jackson’s Papers point out, there is no contemporary evidence in the Jackson-Dickinson correspondence that Rachel’s name entered into the matter (Papers, II, 78), but Sam Houston told James Parton that Dickinson “uttered offensive words respecting Mrs. Jackson in a tavern in Nashville, which were duly conveyed by some meddling parasite to General Jackson” (Parton, Life, I, 269).

38 “It will be in vain” Lee, Biography of Andrew Jackson, 21.

39 At seven o’clock on the morning of Friday, May 30, 1806 Papers, II, 99.

40 at twenty-four feet Ibid., 100.

41 Jackson let Dickinson shoot first Parton, Life, I, 296–97.

42 The trigger caught halfway Papers, II, 96; Parton, Life, I, 299.

43 as his boot filled with blood Parton, Life, I, 300.

44 the wound complicated his health for decades Goff, “A Physical Profile of Andrew Jackson,” 306–8.

45 “If he had shot me through the brain” Lee, Biography of Andrew Jackson, 21.

46 Jackson’s “gallantry and enterprise” Ibid., 8.

47 As a judge of the Tennessee Superior Court Parton, Life, I, 227–39.

48 Jackson was riding circuit Lee, Biography of Andrew Jackson, 15. My telling is largely drawn from Lee’s, but I also drew on Parton, Life, I, 228–29, and Remini, Jackson, 115–16.

49 “Now, surrender, you infernal villain” Parton, Life, I, 229.

50 “firm advance and formidable look” Lee, Biography of Andrew Jackson, 16.

51 He dropped his guns Ibid.

52 “I will surrender to you” Ibid.

53 “When danger rears its head” Papers, III, 105.

54 Aaron Burr’s hosts Burstein, Passions of Andrew Jackson, 71–72. Burstein closely examines the Burr conspiracy and Jackson’s role (ibid., 71–85).

55 preparing a force in the event of war Remini, Jackson, I, 147.

56 Jackson agreed Ibid., 147–48.

57 “when the government and constituted authorities” Ibid., 148.

58 possibility of seizing New Orleans Ibid., 150.

59 wrote several officials Ibid., 151.

60 “I fear there is something rotten” Burstein, Passions of Andrew Jackson, 74.

61 Burr was acquitted in 1807 Remini, Jackson, I, 158.

62 “He loves his country” Bassett, Jackson, 78.

63 promised to “act the part of a father” Papers, II, 392.

64 In the cold winter Remini, Jackson, I, 171.

65 2,071 in all Ibid., 173.

66 five hundred miles later, at Natchez Ibid., 174–75.

67 150 of Jackson’s men were sick, 56 could not sit up Ibid., 179.

68 “They abandon us in a strange country” Correspondence, I, 295. The letter was to William Blount, dated March 15, 1813.

69 “They had sacrificed domestic comforts” Lee, Biography of Andrew Jackson, 28. For the exchange between Hogg and Jackson, I have relied on Lee’s account.

70 his men watched this tall, determined figure For accounts of the Natchez-to-Nashville journey and its significance for Jackson and his reputation, see Parton, Life, I, 373–86; James, TLOAJ, 148–50; Remini, Jackson, I, 178–80. Remini quotes the Nashville Whig’s declaration, “Long will their General live in the memory of his volunteers of West Tennessee for his benevolence, humane, and fatherly treatment to his soldiers; if gratitude and love can reward him, General Jackson has them.” On the theme of fatherhood, Remini adds: “At the age of forty-six Jackson had become a father figure, protector of his men as well as guardian of the people of the frontier. Henceforth Jackson nurtured that image, speaking and acting in accordance with its recognized and required characteristics” (Remini, Jackson, I, 180).

71 “I led them into the field” Papers, II, 393.

72 “And as long as I have friends or credit” Ibid., 386.

73 they were calling him “Old Hickory” Parton, Life, I, 382.

74 a friend of Jackson’s in Nashville quarreled with Jesse Benton Ibid., 386–90.

75 that he would whip Thomas Benton Ibid., 390.

76 crossed on Saturday, September 4, 1813 Ibid. 391–95, covers the action well, and I am indebted to his telling for the details that follow. For Thomas Benton’s account of the skirmish, see Thomas Hart Benton to the Public, Papers, II, 425–27.

77 his riding whip in his hand Parton, Life, I, 391.

78 brandishing his whip Ibid., 393.

79 “Now, you damned rascal” Ibid.

80 bled through two mattresses Ibid., 394.

81 “I’ll keep my arm” Ibid.

82 while Rachel was still nursing Remini, Andrew Jackson, I, 187–223. I am indebted to Remini’s telling for my account.

83 influenced by Tecumseh Ibid., 188.

84 as a historian of Alabama Ibid., 190. The historian to whom Remini refers is Albert J. Pickett.

85 settlers who had themselves attacked Ibid., 189.

86 Red Sticks Ibid., 188.

87 They sent for Jackson Ibid., 190.

88 “We shot them like dogs” Ibid., 193.

89 “We found as many” Ibid.

90 “We have retaliated” Ibid.

91 three fifths of modern-day Alabama Sean Wilentz, Andrew Jackson (New York, 2005), 26.

92 Madrid (and London) were “arming” Ibid., 27–28.

93 threatened Pensacola Remini, Jackson, I, 237. The Pensacola episode is covered on pages 239–45.

94 toward New Orleans Parton, Life, II, 11–343, covers the whole of Jackson’s New Orleans experience and its aftermath.

95 imposed martial law For Jackson’s defense of the action, see Papers, III, 312–14. Warshauer, Andrew Jackson and the Politics of Martial Law, is an incisive, thorough critique of Jackson’s actions and the subsequent controversy.

96 defying a writ of habeas corpus Warshauer, Andrew Jackson and the Politics of Martial Law, 2.

97 Lincoln would cite Abraham Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings, 1859–1865 (New York: Library of America, 1989), 454–63. In addition to invoking Jackson directly, Lincoln’s justification echoed Jackson’s. Lincoln: “I concede that the class of arrest complained of can be constitutional only when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require them; and I insist that in such cases they are constitutional wherever the public safety does require them” (ibid., 459). Jackson: “Whenever the invaluable rights which we enjoy under our own happy constitution are threatened by invasion, privileges the most dear, and which, in ordinary times, ought to be regarded as the most sacred, may be required to be infringed for their security. At such a crisis, we have only to determine whether we will suspend, for a time, the exercise of the latter, that we may secure the permanent enjoyment of the former. Is it wise, in such a moment, to sacrifice the spirit of the laws to the letter, and by adhering too strictly to the letter, lose the substance forever, in order that we may, for an instant, preserve the shadow?” (Papers, III, 313).

98 he was fined Warshauer, Andrew Jackson and the Politics of Martial Law, 2–3.

99 he was at a party “Memoirs of Mrs. Eliza Williams Chotard Gould,” Maria B. Campbell Private Collection.

100 “The dancing was over” Ibid.

101 from a balcony overlooking Bourbon Street Ibid.

102 Jackson “expressed his regret” Ibid.

103 climactic battle on Sunday, January 8, 1815 Parton, Life, II, 186–222. See also Papers, III, 233–34.

104 after the war had ended H. W. Brands, Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times (New York, 2005), 275.

105 The British lost nearly three hundred men Ward, Andrew Jackson, 220. Ward’s statistics come from the official American and British reports printed in Arsène Lacarrière Latour’s Historical Memoir of the War in West Florida and Louisiana in 1814–1815, with an Atlas. Parton puts the number of British dead at 700, with 1400 wounded and 500 taken prisoner, and American dead at 8, with 13 wounded (Parton, Life, II, 209).

106 “It appears that the unerring hand of providence” Papers, III, 258.

107 as the cannon smoke lifted Wilentz, Andrew Jackson, 32.

108 “the slaughter was shocking” Ibid.

109 hidden beneath their fallen comrades’ red coats Ibid.

110 “I never had” Ibid.

111 “It is Him we intend to praise” Reid and Eaton, Life of Andrew Jackson, 406–7.

112 “The attention and honors paid to the General” Parton, Life, II, 595. Her amazement at the glory that came to her husband was evident as early as a March 5, 1815, letter in which she described the “splendor,” the “brilliant assemblage,” the “magnificence of the supper,” and the “ornaments of the room” of a Washington’s birthday banquet at which an image of Jackson was given equal play (Papers, III, 297–98).

113 “The Lord has promised” Parton, Life, II, 595.

114 “I wish your carriage well repaired” Papers, III, 114.

115 arranged Rachel’s wardrobe “Memoirs of Mrs. Eliza Williams Chotard Gould,” Maria B. Campbell Private Collection.

116 “Bring with you my sash” Papers, III, 190.

117 “I knew from the first how wrong it was” Papers, VI, 20–21. The letter is written from Washington on January 27, 1825.

118 “His health is not good” Ibid., 21.

119 Watching her husband playing EDT, I, 30–31.

120 “He would have given his life for a child” Ibid., 30.

121 the Jacksons had taken charge Mark R. Cheathem, Old Hickory’s Nephew: The Political and Private Struggles of Andrew Jackson Donelson (Baton Rouge, La., 2007), 10. EDT, I, 29–81, is good on Andrew and Emily’s background, as is “Biographical Sketch of Andrew Jackson Donelson” by Pauline Wilcox Burke, Andrew Jackson Donelson Papers, LOC. For Andrew in particular, see also Cheathem, Old Hickory’s Nephew; Robert Beeler Satterfield, Andrew Jackson Donelson: Jackson’s Confidant and Political Heir (Bowling Green, Ky., 2000), 234; Charles Faulkner Bryan, Jr., “The Prodigal Nephew: Andrew Jackson Donelson and the Eaton Affair,” The East Tennessee Historical Society’s Publications 50 (1978), 92–112.

122 when a well-off planter Cheathem, Old Hickory’s Nephew, 10.

123 Rachel’s brother Severn Donelson’s wife had twin boys Papers, II, 218.

124 “The sensibility of our beloved son” Papers, II, 353–54.

125 found a small boy, Lyncoya, on the battlefield Papers, II, 444; see also Papers, II, 494–95.

126 “for” Andrew junior as a playmate Papers, II, 444.

127 “Keep Lyncoya in the house” Ibid., 516.

128 dying of illness in 1828 Remini, Jackson, I, 144; see also Papers, II, 414.

129 General Daniel Smith Walter T. Durham, Daniel Smith: Frontier Statesman (Gallatin, Tenn., 1976), is an excellent account of Smith’s life.

130 Jackson had helped her elope EDT, I, 25.

131 built a house named Rock Castle “Biographical Sketch of Andrew Jackson Donelson” by Pauline Wilcox Burke, Andrew Jackson Donelson Papers, LOC. Burke wrote in Emily Donelson of Tennessee: “It was the first stone house in this section and for a number of years the most pretentious” (EDT, I, 19).

132 continued his battles against the Indian tribes Remini, Jackson, I, 341–50.

133 between 1816 and 1820 Wilentz, Andrew Jackson, 36.

134 escaping to a fort occupied by blacks Remini, Jackson, I, 344; see also Wilentz, Andrew Jackson, 36–37.

135 another American general, Edmund Pendleton Gaines Remini, Jackson, I, 345.

136 The Seminoles declined to leave Ibid., 345–46.

137 dated Sunday, December 28, 1817 Ibid., 348–49.

138 the executions of two British subjects Ibid., 358–59.

139 claimed he had authorization Ibid., 348.

140 In Monroe’s Cabinet Ibid., 366–67.

141 In the House of Representatives Ibid., 372–73.

142 a congressional probe failed Ibid., 374.

143 The diary of a young woman from South Carolina Julia Ann M. Conner Travel Journal, September 3, 1827, Conner Family Papers, South Carolina Historical Society, Charleston. In another unpublished recollection, William R. Galt of Virginia, who was ten years old at the time, recorded his memories of a stay at the Hermitage in 1828 with his father. Galt remembered being at the house when news came that a critical state had voted for Jackson (election returns came in piecemeal then), prompting the large company to cheer. “General, we must drink your health on this glorious news!” it was said, and they adjourned to a mahogany sideboard for a toast. Mrs. Jackson struck the young Galt most forcibly. Dressed plainly and, to the boy, “rather an elderly lady, but still retaining traces of her former beauty,” she appeared genuine and unaffected. “Children know good people by instinct, and I was devoted to Mrs. Jackson,” Galt recalled (“Recollections of the Hermitage in 1828,” William R. Galt, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond).

144 “venerable, dignified, fine-looking man” Julia Ann M. Conner Travel Journal, September 3, 1827, Conner Family Papers, South Carolina Historical Society, Charleston.

145 Rachel led her guests into the drawing room Ibid.

146 “pronounced with much solemnity” Ibid.

147 The brace of pistols Lafayette had given to Washington Ibid.

148 “The manners of the General” Ibid.

149 Jackson “stood at my side” Ibid.

150 “The General is at peace” Papers, III, 327.

151 “His temper was placable as well as irascible” Benton, Thirty Years’ View, 737.

152 “The character of his mind” Ibid. 38 “No man” Parton, Life, I, 113.

153 “He was a firm believer” Benton, Thirty Years’ View, 737.

154 called a cool calculator Wise, Seven Decades, 117. “No man was cooler in his calculations than he was,” Wise said of Jackson. “He would sometimes seem to fight most rashly, but no one ever knew him to fight at all unless there was a stake up worth fighting for.”

155 “My Philosophy is almost worn out” Papers, VI, 494.

156 Control over how one appeared For an excellent discussion of these issues, see C. Dallett Hemphill, Bowing to Necessities: A History of Manners in America, 1620–1860 (New York, 1999), especially 65–103.

157 “What makes the gentleman?” Parton, Life, I, 66.

158 as a schoolboy, George Washington David McCullough, 1776 (New York, 2005), 44–45.

159 one hundred and ten Charles Moore, ed., George Washington’s Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation (Boston and New York, 1926), ix–xv, is a thorough history of the maxims that came down to Washington.

160 General Daniel Smith … advised young men in his family Durham, Daniel Smith: Frontier Statesman, 262. See David Roberts, ed., Lord Chesterfield’s Letters (New York, 1992), for Chesterfield himself.

161 Jackson, who believed in self-mastery For a general exploration of the idea, see Hemphill, Bowing to Necessities, 81.

162 “You cannot have forgotten” Papers, VI, 190–91. The letter was to Richard Keith Call.

Chapter 3: A Marriage, a Defeat, and a Victory

  1 “Emily, it is hoped” EDT, I, 114. The observation by Catherine Martin, Emily’s sister, was written on the back of an August 1824 letter of Emily’s.

  2 Educated at West Point Cheathem, Old Hickory’s Nephew, 13–24.

  3 Andrew Donelson delivered a July Fourth oration Ibid., 112–13; Satterfield, Andrew Jackson Donelson, 13.

  4 According to family tradition EDT, I, 108–9.

  5 her log schoolhouse on Lebanon Road Ibid., 70–71.

  6 known as “the Mansion” in the family Ibid., 34.

  7 Donelson happened across Ibid., 71.

  8 “On the way” Ibid.

  9 “Present me affectionately to Miss E.” Papers, V, 340. Jackson also referred to Emily as “your little girl” in correspondence (EDT, I, 101).

10 “I sincerely thank you” Papers, V, 388.

11 “I hold no correspondence” Ibid., 389.

12 To be with Jackson probably meant a move to Washington EDT, I, 109. Burke’s rendering of the Donelson courtship is the only surviving account of the sequence of events that led to their marriage that I have been able to locate.

13 “Romance was not a stranger” Ibid., 110.

14 Jackson gave them a large tract Papers, V, 311.

15 the Reverend William Hume Ibid., 117.

16 outside Harrodsburg, Kentucky Emily Donelson to her sister, December 23, 1824, Andrew Jackson Donelson Papers, LOC.

17 “The tongue snapped” Ibid.

18 “a splendid ball” Ibid.

19 on to Washington Papers, V, 453. In a letter to Major Lewis dated December 8, 1824, Jackson wrote: “I reached this city yesterday morning at 11 o’clock, all in good health, after a continued travel of 28 days without resting one day.”

20 Emily watched Lafayette and Jackson Emily Donelson to her sister, December 23, 1824, Andrew Jackson Donelson Papers, LOC.

21 “crowded with company” Ibid.

22 “boarding at an excellent house” Ibid.

23 “We are very comfortably” Emily Donelson to Mary Donelson, December 13, 1824, Mrs. John Lawrence Merritt Collection.

24 at the more fashionable Episcopal church Papers, V, 456.

25 “Much visiting in the grandest Circles” EDT, I, 134–35.

26 plays such as Virginius … and The Village Lawyer Papers, VI, 19.

27 “The extravagance is in dressing” EDT, I, 128–29.

28 There was John C. Calhoun I drew on PJCC; Merrill D. Peterson, The Great Triumvirate: Webster, Clay, and Calhoun (New York, 1987); Charles M. Wiltse, John C. Calhoun: Nationalist, 1782–1828 (I), and Nullifier, 1829–1839 (II) (New York, 1944, 1949); Margaret L. Coit, John C. Calhoun: American Portrait (Boston, 1950); Gerald M. Capers, John C. Calhoun, Opportunist: A Reappraisal (Gainesville, Fla., 1960).

29 Henry Clay of Kentucky I drew on PHC; Peterson, Great Triumvirate; and Robert V. Remini, Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union (New York, 1991).

30 There was John Quincy Adams I drew on Paul C. Nagel, John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life (New York, 1997); Leonard L. Richards, The Life and Times of Congressman John Quincy Adams (New York, 1986); Samuel Flagg Bemis, John Quincy Adams and the Union (New York, 1956); David McCullough, John Adams (New York, 2001); and Jack Shepherd, The Adams Chronicles: Four Generations of Greatness (Boston, 1975).

31 By 1828, nearly all states Sean Wilentz, “Property and Power: Suffrage Reform in the United States, 1787–1860,” in Voting and the Spirit of Democracy: Essays on the History of Voting and Voting Rights in America, ed. Donald W. Rogers (Urbana and Chicago, 1992), 32–33. See also Florence Weston, The Presidential Election of 1828 (Philadelphia, 1974), 1–3.

32 a surge in eligible voters Weston, The Presidential Election of 1828, 3.

33 Turnout rose from 27 percent Susan B. Carter, ed., Historical Statistics of the United States, Earliest Times to the Present (New York, 2006), V, 165.

34 The men who gathered in Philadelphia I owe much of my discussion of the Jacksonian journey from republicanism to democratic thought to Robert V. Remini, The Legacy of Andrew Jackson: Essays on Democracy, Indian Removal, and Slavery (Baton Rouge, La., 1988), 7–21. I also learned much from Latner, Presidency of Andrew Jackson; Feller, Jacksonian Promise, 160–84; and Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy.

35 best articulated by James Madison and Alexander Hamilton See, for instance, James Madison, Writings (New York, 1999), 160–365; Ralph Ketcham, James Madison: A Biography (Charlottesville, Va., 1990); and Garry Wills, James Madison (New York, 2002).

36 congressional caucuses on Capitol Hill James Sterling Young, The Washington Community, 1800–1828 (New York, 1966), 113–17; see also Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 246–47.

37 could not see how “killing” Weston, Presidential Election of 1828, 18.

38 “certainly the basest, meanest” Papers, VI, 243.

39 Clay, not surprisingly, decided to support Adams Remini, Henry Clay, 251–72, covers the episode well. See also Nagel, John Quincy Adams, 291–98, and Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 254–57.

40 “It shows the want of principle” Papers, VI, 20.

41 Five days later Remini, Jackson, II, 98.

42 “the Judas of the West” Papers, VI, 29–30. The letter to Lewis is dated February 14, 1825.

43 “If at this early period” Ibid., 37. The letter to Lewis is dated February 20, 1825. The scene of Jackson greeting Adams (see below) predates the revelation of the precise terms of what Jackson and his supporters would call the “corrupt bargain” with Clay—that is, the evening party at the White House occurred on February 9, the day of the presidential balloting in Congress. But we know from Jackson’s letters that he understood forces in Washington were working against his election. “It was stated to me yesterday,” he told Lewis on January 11, “that if I was elected, it would be against the whole Cabinet influence, combined with that of the speaker” (Papers, VI, 15). So while Jackson’s grace on the night of the ninth came without his knowing the specific detail of Clay’s appointment, Jackson did well understand that he, the people’s choice, had been done in by some backstage maneuvering.

44 “terrible place” Ibid., 21.

45 had struck a deal It is much more likely that Adams and Clay were politically stupid rather than politically corrupt. Here is Remini on the question: “Was there a corrupt bargain between Clay and Adams? Probably not, although absolute proof does not exist and most likely never will” (Remini, Henry Clay, 270). Clay had said he would support Adams in mid-December, and though the two met on January 9, 1825, it is unlikely that a quid pro quo was discussed. “During the weeks leading up to the House vote, Adams and his lieutenants had given what they discreetly called ‘assurances’ to various potential supporters in Congress,” wrote Wilentz. “Among the least questionable of these understandings was reached with Clay. Both Adams and Clay were too sophisticated to strike any explicit bargain, either during their private meeting on January 9 or at any other time. None was needed. Clay brought with him congressional influence, charm and geographical balance, all things that the New Englander required” (Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 255).

46 Jackson appeared at a party Parton, Life, III, 68–69.

47 “by himself” Ibid., 69. Parton’s source for the White House scene and commentary is S. G. Goodrich.

48 “How do you do, Mr. Adams?” Ibid.

49 “Very well, sir” Ibid.

50 “It was curious to see” Ibid.

51 “You have, by your dignity” Papers, VI, 56.

52 the boarding bill Ibid., 35.

53 “Genl. Jackson’s friends” Charles M. Wiltse, ed., The Papers of Daniel Webster. Series One: Correspondence, 1824 (Hanover, N.H., 1974), I, 235.

54 “I have great confidence” Correspondence, III, 412.

55 the railroad was hardly more Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 562–63.

56 workforce more than tripled Historical Statistics of the United States, Earliest Times to the Present, II, 110.

57 iron wage earners Ibid.

58 Immigration … rose steadily Historical Statistics of the United States, Earliest Times to the Present, I, 541.

59 steamship travel began Ibid., 526.

60 published his Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World James Turner, ed., David Walker’s Appeal (Baltimore, 1993). The full title of the essay is Appeal, In Four Articles: Together with a Preamble to the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America.

61 were “the most degraded” Ibid., 21.

62 If an “attempt” Ibid., 45–46.

63 “Now, I ask you” Ibid., 46.

64 there were slave disturbances Historical Statistics of the United States, Earliest Times to the Present, II, 385.

65 laws prohibiting teaching slaves to read Ibid., 390.

66 Moral Physiology Feller, Jacksonian Promise, 154. See also Richard William Leopold, Robert Dale Owen: A Biography (Cambridge, Mass., 1940).

67 Oberlin College … was founded Historical Statistics of the United States, Earliest Times to the Present, I, 5.

68 the American Journal of Science and Arts explored George H. Daniels, American Science in the Age of Jackson (Tuscaloosa, Ala., 1968), 38–39.

69 “scientists” were distinct Ibid., 38.

70 liberal arts colleges were founded Historical Statistics of the United States, Earliest Times to the Present, II, 875.

71 Evangelical fervor was a constant force Feller, Jacksonian Promise, 95–117, is a terrific discussion of the issue. See also Jon Butler, Awash in a Sea of Faith: Christianizing the American People (Cambridge, Mass., 1990); Nathan O. Hatch, The Democratization of American Christianity(New Haven, 1989); Mark A. Noll, ed., Religion and American Politics, from the Colonial Period to the 1980s (New York, 1990); Martin E. Marty, Pilgrims in Their Own Land: 500 Years of Religion in America (New York, 1984); Conrad Cherry, ed., God’s New Israel: Religious Interpretations of American Destiny (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1998), 113–45; Mark A. Noll, A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada (Grand Rapids, Mich., 1992), 219–44; William Martin, With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America (New York, 1996), 3–6; Jon Butler, Grant Wacker, and Randall Balmer, Religion in American Life: A Short History (New York, 247), 182–257.

72 Joseph Smith believed he was told Richard Lyman Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York, 2005), 31–57.

73 “There is no country in the world” Feller, Jacksonian Promise, 95.

74 For eight days in Cincinnati Ibid., 104–6. See also J. J. Haley, Debates That Made History: The Story of Alexander Campbell’s Debates with Rev. John Walker, Rev. W. L. McCalla, Mr. Robert Owen, Bishop Purcell and Rev. Nathan L. Rice (St. Louis, 1920), 57–115.

75 Frances Trollope, a writer and mother Trollope, Domestic Manners of the Americans, 112–16.

76 “All this I think” Ibid., 90.

77 In domestic politics For the ensuing summary of the political surround and its personalities, I drew on: Howe, What Hath God Wrought; Peterson, Great Triumvirate; Weston, Presidential Election of 1828; Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy; Remini, Election of Andrew Jackson; Papers, V and VI.

78 the familiar divisions since the Founding Woodrow Wilson, Division and Reunion: 1829–1889 (New York, 1961), 25–35, is a crisp summary written by the future president in 1898. For details on the Jefferson-Hamilton and Republican-Federalist divide, see Dumas Malone, Jefferson and the Rights of Man (Boston, 1951), 420–77; Malone, Jefferson and the Ordeal of Liberty (Boston, 1962), 380–506. Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton (New York, 2004), is also excellent on the politics of the early Republic, as is McCullough, John Adams, and John Ferling, Adams vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800 (New York, 2004).

79 a hodgepodge of competing political and regional interests Wilson, Division and Reunion, 30–31.

80 Monroe ran unopposed Harry Ammon, James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity (Charlottesville, Va., 1990), 366–95, covers the ideal and the reality of “the Era of Good Feelings.” Only one presidential elector had chosen to oppose Monroe’s reelection. As Ammon wrote of American politics in 1820–21: “Every sign indicated that party warfare on the national scene had ceased—by 1819 every New England state except Massachusetts was controlled by the Republicans, and in Congress there was only a handful of Federalists, who ordinarily supported the administration with more fidelity than many Republicans. The presidential election of 1820 with its lone dissident elector seemed to be the final proof, as Monroe commented in his second inaugural address, that powerful forces had drawn the people together in a lasting unity of sentiment” (ibid., 378). 48 the rise of democracy Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, is an engaging and exhaustive examination of the course of American politics from Jefferson to Lincoln.

81 an energetic president TGPP, I, 369–78; 438–50.

82 when “measures otherwise unconstitutional” Ibid., xx.

83 Jackson won 56 percent of the popular vote Remini, Election of Andrew Jackson, 187–88.

84 “The Hickory is a tall” FPB, 27.

85 “mortifying and sickening” PHC, VII, 515–16.

86 “no greater calamity” Ibid., 536.

87 “since we were a free people” Ibid.

88 There were reports that Jackson was sick Wiltse, ed., The Papers of Daniel Webster, II, 394. This was something of a running theme in Webster’s mind. On February 5, 1829, he wrote his brother: “Gen Jackson will be here, in a day or two. I am of the opinion his health is very feeble, and that there is not much chance of his lasting long” (ibid., 395–96).

89 “On Wednesday morning” Louisa Catherine Adams to Charles Francis Adams, February 1, 1829, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

90 “The rumour of Genl. J’s death” Wiltse, ed., The Papers of Daniel Webster, II, 394.

91 Jackson, however, arrived safely in Washington on Wednesday, February 11 Edwin A. Miles, “The First People’s Inaugural—1829,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 37 (Fall 1978), 296.

92 He was not entirely well Emily Donelson to Mary Donelson Coffee, March 27, 1829, Andrew Jackson Donelson Papers, LOC.

93 “a very bad cough” Ibid.

94 Cannon fire and a marching band Miles, “The First People’s Inaugural—1829,” 296.

95 Alfred Mordecai, a West Point contemporary Sarah Agnes Wallace, ed., “Opening Days of Jackson’s Presidency as Seen in Private Letters,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 9 (December 1950), 367. Mordecai was class of 1823.

96 through his window Ibid., 368.

97 “a plain carriage drawn” Ibid.

98 “demigod and Hero” Ibid.

99 “What a spectacle must this present” Ibid.

100 Once in the capital Memoirs of JQA, VIII, 101–3, is an interesting account of Jackson’s first days in Washington from the lonely perspective of the defeated President Adams.

101 center of a swirl of office seekers … at John Gadsby’s National Hotel Parton, Life, III, 167.

102 “motley host of greedy expectants” PHC, VII, 626.

103 “My health was so bad” Emily Donelson to Mary Donelson Coffee, March 27, 1829, Andrew Jackson Donelson Papers, LOC.

104 “Owing to the death” Ibid.

105 Andrew Donelson and William Lewis were busy Satterfield, Andrew Jackson Donelson, 20.

106 Donelson noted how Jackson W. M. Polk, Leonidas Polk, Bishop and General (New York, 1893), I, 69.

107 Jackson’s Cabinet choices Cole, The Presidency of Andrew Jackson, 27–29.

108 struck many as underwhelming Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, II, 19–25.

109 Kendall personified much For my portrait of Kendall, I am indebted to AAK and to Cole, A Jackson Man.

110 At a wedding party AAK, 279.

111 They formed, Webster said, “a numerous” Wiltse, ed., Papers of Daniel Webster, II, 399.

112 “always goes through everything ‘like a hero’ ” Emily Donelson to Mary Donelson Coffee, March 27, 1829, Andrew Jackson Donelson Papers, LOC.

113 In interviews between the president-elect and visitors seeking a job Daily National Intelligencer, April 18, 1829. The writer, who signed his account “Aristides,” was describing a “visit to the Hermitage” after the election, but Jackson carried his air of formality to Washington with him as well.

114 “Citizens who visit the President” Ibid.

115 went shopping with Mary Eastin EDT, I, 165–66.

116 splurged on expensive cologne, soap, jewelry Ibid.

117 East Front of the Capitol Parton, Life, III, 169.

118 unseasonably frigid Wiltse, ed., Papers of Daniel Webster, II, 404.

119 “There has not been” Ibid.

120 the chilly spell broke Ibid., 406. “On the Portico, in the open air, (the day is very warm and pleasant) [Jackson] read his Inaugural, and took the oath,” Webster wrote to his sister on March 4.

121 Recording some “small gossiping anecdotes” Diary of John Quincy Adams, February 19, 1829, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

122 “When he comes” Wiltse, ed., Papers of Daniel Webster, II, 388.

Chapter 4: You Know Best, My Dear

  1 “He seems to have been” Leonidas Polk to William Polk, November 5, 1828, Leonidas Polk Collection: The University of the South, University Archives and Special Collections, Sewanee. A future bishop of Louisiana and Confederate general, Polk was a good observer of the Washington scene, noting that his perch at the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria “enables me to hear most of the things of interest that pass” (Leonidas Polk to William Polk, June 18, 1829, Leonidas Polk Collection, The University of the South, University Archives and Special Collections, Sewanee).

  2 “scarcely able to sit up” Gaillard Hunt, ed., The First Forty Years of Washington in the Family Letters of Margaret Bayard Smith (New York, 1965), 257.

  3 belongings were being boxed Ibid., 297.

  4 a crisis of corruption Jackson’s correspondence is replete with examples of his conviction that elites were hijacking the government from the people. “The eighteen-twenties were a decade of discontent, born in depression, streaked with suffering and panic, shaken by bursts of violence and threats of rebellion” (Schlesinger, Age of Jackson, 30). For Jackson’s political philosophy, see Feller, Jacksonian Promise, 160–84; Richard Hofstadter, The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It (New York, 1948), 59–86; and Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 240–329.

  5 Presided over by Nicholas Biddle Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 364–67. Robert V. Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Bank War (New York, 1967), 15–48, is a good overview; see also Thomas Payne Govan, Nicholas Biddle: Nationalist and Public Banker, 1786–1844 (Chicago, 1959), which is essentially a brief for Biddle.

  6 the state’s cotton and rice planters Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 7–176, brilliantly covers the background and emergence of the crisis.

  7 An early test of federal authority Freehling, Road to Disunion, 254–60.

  8 “duty to guard against insubordination” Ibid., 254.

  9 the time may be at hand Ibid., 257.

10 raised duties from 33 percent Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 138–39.

11 “with the most melancholy feelings” PJCC, XI, 24.

12 “revolutionary” talk Ibid., 47.

13 Pickens denied that he was thinking Ibid., 46–47.

14 “the greatest question” Lucy Maddox, Removals: Nineteenth-Century American Literature and the Politics of Indian Affairs (New York, 1991), 15.

15 an 1833 book entitled Indian Wars of the West Ibid., 19–20.

16 advocates of removal “see the race” Ibid., 20.

17 “Without religion” Henry Whiting Warner and Theodore Frelinghuysen, An Inquiry into the Moral and Religious Character of the American Government (New York, 1838), 133.

18 called for the formation of “a Christian Party” Joseph L. Blau, “ ‘The Christian Party in Politics,’ ” The Review of Religion 11 (November 1946), 18–35.

19 sought to impose a narrower religious agenda Charles I. Foster, An Errand of Mercy: The Evangelical United Front, 1790–1837 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1960), 54–60, 179–207, and 230–33, is good on these issues of Christian engagement in political life. See also Bertram Wyatt-Brown, “Prelude to Abolitionism: Sabbatarian Politics and the Rise of the Second Party System,” Journal of American History 58 (June 1971), 316–41.

20 Ely wrote Jackson to pass along Papers, VII, 20–22.

21 that “no Christian ruler” Ibid., 21–22.

22 did not travel on Sundays Ibid., 22.

23 more anticlerical than antireligious I am indebted to Daniel Feller for this insight. See Feller, “Rediscovering Jacksonian America,” in The State of U.S. History, edited by Melvyn Stokes (New York, 2002), 81.

24 “the American System” Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 242.

25 the sales of public lands Daniel Feller, The Public Lands in Jacksonian Politics (Madison, Wis., 1984), is an excellent examination of these issues.

26 debt was dangerous Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Bank War, 20.

27 well-armed pirates stormed the Attentive Washington National Journal, March 17, 1829. See also ibid., March 27, 28, and 31, 1829.

28 Told of the Attentive incident Papers, VII, 97. The date was March 16, 1829.

29 “These atrocities” Ibid.

30 the USS Natchez, an eighteen-gun sloop of war Ibid.

31 “The dictates of humanity” Ibid., 99.

32 sunlight poured down on the city Wiltse, ed., Papers of Daniel Webster, II, 406. For detailed accounts of the inauguration, see Parton, Life, III, 169–70; James, TLOAJ, 493–95; Remini, Jackson, II, 173–77.

33 It was, Emily reported home, “by far” Emily Donelson to Mary Donelson, March 27, 1829, Andrew Jackson Donelson Papers, LOC.

34 Jackson left Gadsby’s Hotel Remini, Jackson, II, 173–74.

35 “the Servant” Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 293.

36 “There, there, that is he” Ibid. Remini, Jackson, II, 175, also quotes this account of Mrs. Smith’s.

37 “not a ragged mob” Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 293.

38 “It is beautiful!” Ibid., 294.

39 went inside to the Senate chamber Remini, Jackson, II, 174.

40 where the president pro tempore Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, II, 12.

41 at his Fort Hill estate Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 158–59.

42 the South Carolina Exposition and Protest Calhoun, Union and Liberty, 313–65. Though commonly referred to as the Exposition and Protest, the tract is actually two documents: the Exposition enumerates the state’s grievances against the tariff system, while the Protest lists the General Assembly of South Carolina’s formal resolutions. Calhoun titled the draft of the Exposition as “Rough Draft of What Is Called the South Carolina Exposition”; no draft of the Protest in his writing still exists (ibid., 311–12). See also PJCC, X, 442–43.

43 “the absurd and wicked doctrines” Correspondence, V, 75.

44 “We cannot and ought not” Freehling, ed., The Nullification Era, 206.

45 kept his authorship of the 1828 document secret Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 154–59; George Dangerfield, The Awakening of American Nationalism, 1815–1828 (New York, 1965), 284–87.

46 He believed that Ellis, Union at Risk, 53–54, is a strong summary of Calhoun’s political position, ambitions, and motives at this time.

47 Emily, who had watched Remini, Jackson, II, 174, reports that the “invited ladies” were in the gallery with the members of the House.

48 “one dense mass of living beings” Emily Donelson to Mary Donelson Coffee, March 27, 1829, Andrew Jackson Donelson Papers, LOC.

49 “Thousands and thousands of people” Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 290–91.

50 he bowed to the people Ibid., 291.

51 “the shout that rent the air” Ibid., 294.

52 Cannons boomed Ibid., 291.

53 the sounds of the salute Ibid.

54 “the spirit of electioneering” Clement Eaton, ed., The Leaven of Democracy: The Growth of the Democratic Spirit in the Time of Jackson (New York, 1963), 49.

55 “The large masses act in politics” Douglas T. Miller, ed., The Nature of Jacksonian America (New York, 1972), 121. The quotation is from the work of Francis J. Grund, a German who wrote Aristocracy in America.

56 “It would seem to me” Messages, II, 1000.

57 “Internal improvement” Ibid.

58 a promise of “reform” Ibid., 1001.

59 “unfaithful” and “incompetent” Ibid.

60 “on the goodness of that Power” Ibid.

61 He bowed once more Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 294.

62 took the oath … kissed a Bible Ibid., 291.

63 mounted a white horse Remini, Jackson, II, 176.

64 “Country men, farmers, gentlemen” Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 294.

65 Jackson had refused to call on Memoirs of JQA, VIII, 97, 99–102.

66 had moved out the night before Ibid., 102–4.

67 learned of the moment of the transfer of power Benjamin Perley Poore, Perley’s Reminiscences of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis (Philadelphia, 1886), 94.

68 a crowd trashing the White House This is one of the most oft-told tales in the Jackson canon. See, for instance: Parton, Life, III, 170–71; James, TLOAJ, 494–95; Remini, Jackson, II, 177–79; Edwin A. Miles, “The First People’s Inaugural—1829,” 293–307.

69 “No arrangements had been made” Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 295.

70 “The Majesty of the People” Ibid.

71 “Here was the corpulent epicure” Miles, “The First People’s Inaugural—1829,” 305.

72 “Orange punch” Ibid., 305–6.

73 The cost of the destruction Remini, Jackson, II, 178.

74 In a long letter to her sister EDT, I, 177–79.

75 “After the inauguration” Ibid., 177.

76 “The crowd” Ibid.

77 “the reign of King Mob” Miles, “The First People’s Inaugural—1829,” 305.

78 gown of amber satin EDT, I, 171.

79 James A. Hamilton … recalled being struck Hamilton, Reminiscences, 68.

80 “Tired as he was that night” EDT, I, 171.

81 a small dinner Coit, John C. Calhoun, 198; see also Poore, Perley’s Reminiscences of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis, 95.

82 Calhoun was one of his companions Coit, John C. Calhoun, 198.

83 he and Mrs. Calhoun joined Emily and Andrew Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, II, 13.

84 the assembly hall Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 210, calls Carusi’s a “large elegant assembly room.”

85 at C and Eleventh streets Miles, “The First People’s Inaugural—1829,” 307. The dance floor was “tastefully and appropriately” decorated. (Miles’s sources were the United States Telegraph of March 9, 1829, and the New York Enquirer of March 10, 1829.) It had been advertised in advance as a “splendid ball” (Washington Telegraph, February 24, 1829); tickets were five dollars each, and organizers promised that “Police officers will be stationed at every necessary point to preserve the most rigid order” (Washington Telegraph, March 3, 1829).

86 Calhoun was the central figure Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, II, 15.

87 was about three months pregnant Emily delivered her second child on August 31, 1829.

88 “You know best, my dear” Laura Carter Holloway, The Ladies of the White House (New York, Cincinnati and Chicago, 1870), 335.

89 a place where Jackson sat in a rocking chair Jessie Benton Frémont, Souvenirs of My Time (Boston, 1887), 88–90.

90 liked to “keep me by him” Ibid., 88.

91 hope to be excused Ibid.

92 “restless and fretful” Wharton, Social Life in the Early Republic, 262.

93 “Madam, you dance with the grace” Holloway, The Ladies of the White House, 336.

94 “Why, Major” Parton, Life, III, 180.

95 “Eaton was altogether” Amos Kendall to Francis Preston Blair, March 7, 1829, Blair and Lee Family Papers, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

96 Born in Halifax County “Eaton, John Henry (1790–1856),” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress,http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=E000024.

97 served in the War of 1812 Lorman A. Ratner, Andrew Jackson and His Tennessee Lieutenants (Westpoint, Conn., 1997), 84.

98 married Myra Lewis Ibid.

99 Eaton stepped in Remini, Jackson, I, 323–24.

100 served as a U.S. senator “Eaton, John Henry (1790–1856),” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress,http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=E000024.

101 defended Jackson in the Washington debate Arda S. Walker, “John Henry Eaton, Apostate,” East Tennessee Historical Society’s Publications 24 (1952), 27.

102 and he wrote TPA, 14. See also Robert P. Hay “The Case for Andrew Jackson in 1824: Eaton’s ‘Wyoming Letters,’ ” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 29 (Summer 1970), 139–51.

103 the daughter of a Washington innkeeper Ibid., 22.

104 lived at the O’Neales’ TPA, 22–23.

105 In the years before their wedding Amos Kendall to Francis Preston Blair, March 7, 1829, Blair and Lee Family Papers, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

106 “there has been a good deal of discontent” Emily Donelson to Mary Donelson Coffee, March 27, 1829, Andrew Jackson Donelson Papers, LOC.

107 “Her form, of medium height” Queena Pollack, Peggy Eaton: Democracy’s Mistress (New York, 1931), 81. Pollack’s book is an admiring portrait and spirited defense of Margaret Eaton.

108 Her first husband, John Timberlake TPA, 42–44. See also Parton, Life, III, 185.

109 despondent over her unfaithfulness Pollack, Peggy Eaton, 75.

110 alleged to have become pregnant TPA, 93–94.

111 She reportedly passed a man Papers, VII, 102. See also Pollack, Peggy Eaton, 89–90.

112 pregnant by Eaton Margaret Eaton, The Autobiography of Peggy Eaton (New York, 1932), 80.

113 said to have registered TPA, 79.

114 “I suppose I must have been” Ibid., 5.

115 “I was a lively girl” Ibid., 11.

116 “The fact is” Ibid., 14.

117 “It must be remembered” Ibid., 24.

118 “Just let a little common sense” Ibid., 34.

119 “Why, yes, Major” Parton, Life, III, 185.

120 When Eaton said Ibid.

121 “Well, your marrying her” Ibid.

122 “I will sink or swim” Hamilton, Reminiscences, 102.

123 “The ladies here” Emily Donelson to Mary Donelson Coffee, March 27, 1829, Andrew Jackson Donelson Papers, LOC.

124 “The whole will be traced” Correspondence, IV, 227.

125 “It is odd enough” Poore, Perley’s Reminiscences of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis, 125.

126 “trivial Things” Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock (New York, 1902), 13.

Chapter 5: Ladies’ Wars Are Always Fierce and Hot

  1 Frightened by a spate of sickness Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, I, 340–41.

  2 the year before Ibid., 343.

  3 had given up their Georgetown mansion Ibid., 343.

  4 Oakly (later known as Dumbarton Oaks) Ibid., 269. The Calhouns had bought the house, which sits high atop Rock Creek, in 1823.

  5 the Calhouns took lodgings PJCC, XI, 435.

  6 well known and high toned Washington Evening Star, February 18, 1884.

  7 came to pay a call My version of the Eatons’ call at the Calhouns is drawn from several sources. See Coit, John C. Calhoun, 198–99; Eaton, Autobiography of Peggy Eaton, 54–55; Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, II, 28–29; and TPA, 53–54. In a public letter published on September 15, 1831, John Eaton claimed that the Calhouns made the first social overture, calling on the Eatons while the Eatons were honeymooning. In her Autobiography, Margaret goes on at some length about this, asserting that her father showed a “foolish gratification” at the visit and that a nurse then attending her sister knew and recognized Floride. Calhoun explicitly denied this, and my guess is that the Calhouns’ version of events is probably the truth of the matter: an early visit from the secretary of war and his wife to the vice president and his wife, which would have been customary since the vice president was the higher ranking official, makes more sense. See Eaton, Autobiography of Peggy Eaton, 54–55.

  8 “You could not fail to love and appreciate” Wharton, Social Life in the Early Republic, 192. The friend was Mrs. William Seaton.

  9 Diminutive but powerful This is a common verdict about Mrs. Calhoun’s nature. See, for instance, TPA, 54, and Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, II, 28.

10 “suspicious and fault-finding temper” Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, II, 164.

11 Each summer her family had climbed into a beautiful coach Coit, John C. Calhoun, 32.

12 after a quarrel Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, II, 164.

13 “As to the suspicion” Ibid.

14 had long been “the cause” Ibid.

15 felt a disparity Coit, John C. Calhoun, 198. A more personal biographer than Wiltse, Coit writes of Calhoun: “He was not under the control of his wife. No one ever controlled John C. Calhoun. But neither did anyone, least of all her husband, control Floride Bonneau Calhoun.”

16 the vice president was out PJCC, XI, 476.

17 the servant had failed Ibid.

18 “She of course treated them” Ibid.

19 “The relation which Mrs. Eaton bore” Ibid.

20 She made her decision overnight Ibid.

21 his scholarly interests Nevins, ed., Diary of John Quincy Adams, xiii.

22 “much scandalized” Diary of John Quincy Adams, February 26, 1829, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

23 the vice president “forsooth was” John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, April 28, 1830, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

24 Floride gave “public notice” Ibid.

25 “War is declared” Louisa Catherine Adams to Charles Francis Adams, January 24, 1830, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

26 his first evening in Washington Remini, Jackson, II, 192–93.

27 just one candle burning AMVB, 232. 72 thought Jackson’s health “poor” Ibid.

28 “The cast of the Cabinet” Ibid., 340.

29 “partook largely of this feeling” Ibid., 341.

30 Small in stature Widmer, Martin Van Buren, 2.

31 son of a tavern keeper “Life Before the Presidency,” American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/vanburen/essays/biography/2.

32 guests included Alexander Hamilton Ibid.

33 A careful dresser Widmer, Martin Van Buren, 28.

34 “the planters of the South” Ibid., 56.

35 “You might as well” Martin Van Buren to C. C. Camberling, December 17, 1828, Martin Van Buren Papers, LOC.

36 cutting his arm Parton, Life, III, 63–64. See also Goff, “A Physical Profile of Andrew Jackson,” 307–8.

37 “a calamitous event” Bernard Mayo, ed., “Henry Clay, Patron and Idol of White Sulphur Springs: His Letters to James Caldwell,” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 55 (October, 1947), 306. 73 Jackson himself to be “feeble” Ibid.

38 “We must never forget” PHC, VIII, 87–88.

39 “Disguise it as we may” Richard B. Latner, “The Eaton Affair Reconsidered,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 36 (Fall 1977), 334.

40 “A display there” David R. Williams to Martin Van Buren, November 17, 1829, Martin Van Buren Papers, LOC.

41 James Parton looked back Parton, Life, III, 287.

42 “If I had a tit for every one of these pigs” Correspondence, IV, 21.

43 Jackson’s interpretation of the Eaton affair The best summary of the historical debate over the political causes and effects of the Eaton affair is found in Latner, “The Eaton Affair Reconsidered,” 330–51, and Professor Latner was kind enough to discuss the matter with me. Jackson believed Margaret a good woman, but he also knew that the battle was as much about the mammon of office, salary, influence, and political control as it was about the sexual morality of Margaret Eaton. When Eaton’s appointment to the Cabinet had been announced, a delegation of rival Tennessee congressmen—the state was riven with feuding political factions, and Jackson and Eaton represented just one of several—tried to stop it, infuriating Jackson, who ascribed their hostility to the fact that Eaton would now control patronage in the expansive War Department. Always vigilant for any hint that Clay, his rival from the West, might be meddling, Jackson decided that the anti-Eaton party was being encouraged by the departing Clay and his allies. For the strongest pro-Calhoun, anti–Van Buren case, see Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, II; for the strongest anti-Calhoun, pro–Van Buren case, see, unsurprisingly, AMVB.

44 Cultural interpretations of the Eaton affair Kirsten Wood, “ ‘One Woman So Dangerous to Public Morals’: Gender and Power in the Eaton Affair,” Journal of the Early Republic 17 (Summer 1997), 237–75; Catherine Allgor, Parlor Politics: In Which the Ladies of Washington Help Build a City and a Government (Charlottesville, Va., 274), 198–238; and Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 335–42.

45 “sink with honor to my grave” Correspondence, IV, 31.

46 Jackson heard allegations Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Bank War, 49–50.

47 John McLean … wrote Nicholas Biddle Nicholas Biddle, The Correspondence of Nicholas Biddle, Dealing with National Affairs, 1807–1844 (Boston, 1919), 63–64. The letter from McLean to Biddle was dated January 5, 1829 (ibid., 63).

48 Even if, he said, “the impression” Ibid., 64.

49 In naming directors, Biddle told McLean Ibid., 70. Biddle’s reply was dated January 11, 1829.

50 “Being friendly to the Bank myself” Ibid., 64.

51 Born in Vermont in 1781 For my portrait of Evarts and his work, I drew on: John Andrew, From Revivals to Removal (Athens, Ga., 1992); Evarts Family Papers, Beinecke Library, Yale University; and E. C. Tracy, Memoir of the Life of Jeremiah Evarts(Whitefish, Mont., 2007).

52 the college was suffused Andrew, From Revivals to Removal, 17–19.

53 “In whatever sphere” Ibid., 14.

54 referred to as “religious enthusiasts” Correspondence, IV, 483.

55 “Gentlemen, do what you please” Parton, Life, III, 641.

56 “My dear, if I were to do it now” Ibid., 101.

57 “I have not seen” Andrew, From Revivals to Removal, 179.

58 watched the stirrings of nullification Papers, VI, 476.

59 “There is nothing that I shudder at more” Ibid.

60 “The South Carolinians get nothing” Amos Kendall to Francis Preston Blair, March 7, 1829, Blair and Lee Family Papers, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

61 “Some foundation there must be” Louisa Catherine Adams to John Quincy Adams, September 27, 1829, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

62 “Clay and his minions” Correspondence, IV, 15.

63 “these satellites of Clay” Ibid., 31.

64 “we must submit” PJCC, XI, 17.

65 said to be “not friendly” Ibid., 31.

66 states’ rights elements in South Carolina Latner, “The Eaton Affair Reconsidered,” 347.

67 “Eaton and others” Ibid.

68 troubled Calhoun Ibid.

69 “To please Uncle” Emily Donelson to Mary Donelson Coffee, March 27, 1829, Andrew Jackson Donelson Papers, LOC.

70 “I think if Eaton” Ibid.

71 he had been Donelson’s chaperone Cheathem, Old Hickory’s Nephew, 15.

72 “I think as Uncle wanted” Emily Donelson to Mary Donelson Coffee, March 27, 1829, Andrew Jackson Donelson Papers, LOC.

73 women such as Floride Allgor, Parlor Politics, 202.

74 “I am prepared” Wood, “ ‘One Woman So Dangerous to Public Morals’: Gender and Power in the Eaton Affair,” 252.

75 speak of Emily as “a poor, silly thing” Heiskell, AJETH, III, 330.

76 “I was quite as independent” Ibid.

77 “For God knows” James Hamilton, Jr., to Martin Van Buren, July 16, 1829, Martin Van Buren Papers, LOC.

78 At Gadsby’s Hotel one morning Papers, VII, 102. See also Pollack, Peggy Eaton, 89–90.

79 “Mrs. Eaton brushed by me” Ibid. Ely’s report is secondhand—as were so many of the stories told of Margaret Eaton.

80 “I’ve just returned from Mr. Clay’s” Edward Bates to Julia Bates, December 4, 18[29], Edward Bates Papers, Virginia Historical Society.

81 “hard-featured” Ibid.

82 “Of course, there is no getting along” Ibid.

83 On Sunday, March 8, 1829 Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 299.

84 The Smiths had come to Washington Ibid., v–vi.

85 Clay came to Washington Remini, Henry Clay, 59.

86 on the square between Pennsylvania Avenue Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 238.

87 “the patriot to the patriot” Ibid., 300.

88 Smith had served as an interim secretary of the Treasury Ibid., vi.

89 Clay had risen through the Congress “Clay, Henry (1777–1852),” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress,http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000482.

90 The weather outside Ibid., 300. “The weather without was gloomy, cold and cloudy,” wrote Mrs. Smith, “but the circle around our bright fire was not only cheerful but gay and witty.”

91 “The characters and administrations” Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 300.

92 the dishes were being cleared away Ibid.

93 “Your father … would not yield” Ibid.

94 late for Lucretia Ibid., 304. “Altogether,” Mrs. Smith concluded, “this day and evening have been the most interesting that have occurred this winter.”

95 “the greatest … apprehension” PHC, VIII, 8.

96 a big Washington wedding Diary of John Quincy Adams, February 22, 1830, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

97 By James Parton’s count Parton, Life, III, 207–8. For a breakdown of Jackson’s removals, see Carl R. Fish, “Removal of Officials by the Presidents of the United States,” Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1899, 2 vols. (Washington, 1900) 1, 84.

98 about 919, just under 10 percent Cole, Presidency of Andrew Jackson, 41.

99 a particularly high number Cole, A Jackson Man, 124.

100 “At that period” Parton, Life, III, 213.

101 “A large portion of the population” Memoirs of JQA, VIII, 149.

102 “They see nothing wrong” Register of Debates in Congress, 22nd Congress, 1st session, VIII, 1833, 1325.

103 “the Augean Stable” Wilentz, Andrew Jackson, 47.

104 a “struggle between the virtue” Ellis, Union at Risk, 18.

105 There was always graft In a revisionist view of what historians long called the Era of Good Feelings, Robert Remini argued that it would be more fitting to call the period after the War of 1812 “the Era of Corruption” (Remini, Jackson, II, 15). Quoting one visitor to Washington in the last months of President Monroe’s administration, Remini captured the prevailing view: “I did, before I came to this city, entertain a most exalted opinion of the high officers of gov’t; but since I have been here it has abated greatly. I find they are not, in reality, quite so good as other men” (ibid., 25). A devastating indictment, really: the Monroe and Adams administrations had more than their share of graft and contentious congressional investigations, and there was a flow of stories about how the Second Bank of the United States, a private institution whose wealth and influence derived from its near monopoly on federal deposits, kept key lawmakers and officials on retainer.

106 the postmaster of Albany, New York Poore, Perley’s Reminiscences of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis, 110–11.

107 “General Jackson, I have come here” Ibid.

108 “the next day Messrs. Van Buren” Ibid.

109 “I take the consequences” Ibid.

110 “The proscriptions from office continue” Memoirs of JQA, VIII, 144.

111 “During the reign of Bonaparte” PHC, VIII, 45.

112 “Is there any difference” Ibid.

113 voting down several nominees Parton, Life, III, 277.

114 “Let Congress go home” Ibid., 277–78.

115 “the vital center of action” Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House (New York, 2002), 120.

Chapter 6: A Busybody Presbyterian Clergyman

  1 “I was elected by the free voice of the people” Correspondence, IV, 21.

  2 “I was making a Cabinet for myself” Ibid.

  3 “I did not come here” Ibid.

  4 the same day the Calhouns TPA, 75.

  5 Ely sat down at his desk in Philadelphia Papers, VII, 101–5.

  6 “Christian Party in Politics” Ezra Stiles Ely, The Duty of Christian Freemen to Elect Christian Rulers (Philadelphia, 1828), 8.

  7 should join forces to keep “Pagans” Ibid., 11.

  8 “Every ruler should be” Ibid., 4.

  9 dating back to Jackson’s days when he had business interests Papers, VI, 545.

10 added his own warm exchange Ely, Duty of Christian Freemen, 30–32.

11 “Amongst the greatest blessings” Papers, VI, 358–59.

12 “All true Christians” Ibid., 358.

13 a quotation from the American Sunday School Union Ely, Duty of Christian Freemen, 18.

14 to end the federal delivery of mail on Sundays Schlesinger, Age of Jackson, 136–40. See also Foster, Errand of Mercy.

15 “We have always viewed it” Andrew, From Revivals to Removal, 56.

16 one of the more intriguing politicians of the time Mark O. Hatfield, with the Senate Historical Offices, Vice Presidents of the United States, 1789–1993 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1997), 121–31. I am indebted to Hatfield’s work for the description of Johnson’s life and career.

17 “It is not the legitimate province” Schlesinger, Age of Jackson, 139. In her Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism (New York, 2004), Susan Jacoby points out that there was ultimately a reduction in Sunday mail delivery, but “for non-religious reasons, after the 1844 invention of the telegraph provided a more efficient form of business communication” (ibid., 80).

18 “The advance of the human race” House Report on Sunday Mails, Report of House of Representatives, 21st Congress, 1st session, 262. The report also made this point: “Why have the petitioners confined their prayer to the mails? Why have they not requested that the government be required to suspend all its executive functions on that day? Why do they not require us to enact that our ships shall not sail; that our armies shall not march; that officers of justice shall not seize the suspected or guard the convicted? They seem to forget that government is as necessary on Sunday as on any other day of the week. The spirit of evil does not rest on that day. It is the government, ever active in its functions, which enables us all, even the petitioners, to worship in our churches in peace” (ibid., 261).

19 a “busybody Presbyterian clergyman” Memoirs of JQA, VIII, 184.

20 a faithful supporter of Rachel Jackson’s Papers, VII, 101.

21 “recommended the appointment of Major Eaton” Correspondence, IV, 50.

22 the Reverend John N. Campbell TPA, 93–95. There is also an interesting, if adoring, sketch of Campbell in the history of the church he ultimately came to lead in Albany, New York. See J. McClusky Blayney, History of the First Presbyterian Church of Albany, N.Y. (Albany, 1877), 31–36. See also Alfred Nevin, ed., Encyclopedia of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (Philadelphia, 1884), 123. There is some very interesting detail about Campbell to be found in another volume: “He was genial, and often jovial, in his intercourse, and was almost sure to be a commanding spirit in any social circle into which he was thrown. He had mingled much with the world, and, with his uncommon natural shrewdness, was an adept in the knowledge of human nature. He saw both clearly and quickly; and when his mind was once made up on any subject, though he could still consider and appreciate adverse evidence, he was not very likely to yield his first conviction” (Presbyterian Reunion: A Memorial Volume, 1837–1871 [New York, 1870], 167–68).

23 Mrs. Eaton was “a woman of ill fame” Papers, VII, 101.

24 a “sad catalogue” Ibid., 103.

25 He reported a rumor Ibid., 102–3.

26 brought Rachel Jackson into the conversation Ibid., 101.

27 “Need I apologize” Ibid., 104.

28 began drily enough Ibid., 113.

29 disposing, he believed, of each “slander” Ibid., 113–18, is the full text of the letter.

30 from the 101st Psalm Isaac Watts, The Psalms of David, Imitated in the Language of the New Testament (Philadelphia, 1828), 165.

Chapter 7: My White and Red Children

  1 the president’s correspondence was filled Papers, VII, 695–96.

  2 this cold Monday Diary of John Quincy Adams, March 23, 1829, Adams Family Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society. 91 the federal government’s policy Papers, VII, 112–13.

  3 a grim two-century-old story As noted below in the Bibliography, I found the following works essential to understanding both the history of the United States’ treatment of the Indians and of Jackson’s role in it: William L. Anderson, ed., Cherokee Removal: Before and After (Athens, Ga., 1991); Stuart Banner, How the Indians Lost Their Land: Law and Power on the Frontier (Cambridge, Mass., 2005); Grant Foreman, Indian Removal: The Emigration of the Five Civilized Tribes of Indians (Norman, Okla., 1972); William G. McLoughlin, Cherokee Renascence in the New Republic (Princeton, N.J., 1992); William G. McLoughlin, with Walter H. Conser, Jr., and Virginia Duffy McLoughlin, The Cherokee Ghost Dance: Essays on the Southeastern Indians, 1789–1861(Macon, Ga., 1984); Jill Norgren, The Cherokee Cases: Two Landmark Federal Decisions in the Fight for Sovereignty (Norman, Okla., 2004); Francis Paul Prucha, The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians, 2 vols. in 1 (Lincoln, Neb., 1995); Francis Paul Prucha, The Indians in American Society: From the Revolutionary War to the Present(Berkeley, Calif., 1985); Francis Paul Prucha, “Andrew Jackson’s Indian Policy: A Reassessment,” Journal of American History 56 (December 1969), 527–39; Ronald N. Satz, American Indian Policy in the Jacksonian Era (Lincoln, Neb., 1974); Anthony F. C. Wallace, Jefferson and the Indians: The Tragic Fate of the First Americans (Cambridge, Mass., 1999); Anthony F. C. Wallace, The Long, Bitter Trail: Andrew Jackson and the Indians (New York, 1993); Thurman Wilkins, Cherokee Tragedy: The Ridge Family and the Decimation of a People, 2d ed., rev. (Norman, Okla., 1986); Mary E. Young, “Indian Removal and Land Allotment: The Civilized Tribes and Jacksonian Justice,” American Historical Review 64 (October 1958), 31–45.

The shifting scholarly and biographical view of Jackson and the Indians is intriguing, and says a good deal about the Indians’ ambiguous place in the imaginations of many white Americans. The first major work on Jackson, James Parton’s trilogy, published in the 1860s, accepted removal as a sad but necessary historical development. “The philanthropic feelings of the country were aroused. The letter of many treaties was shown to be against the measure. The peaceful Society of Friends opposed it. A volume of the leading speeches in opposition to the removal was widely circulated. The opinions of great lawyers were adverse to it. It was, indeed, one of those wise and humane measures by which great good is done and great evil prevented, but which cause much immediate misery, and much grievous individual wrong. It was painful to contemplate the sad remnant of tribes that had been the original proprietors of the soil, leaving the narrow residue of their heritage, and taking up a long and weary march for strange and distant hunting-grounds. More painful it would have been to see those unfortunate tribes hemmed in on every side by hostile settlers, preyed upon by the white man’s cupidity, the white man’s vices, and the white man’s diseases, until they perished from the face of the earth. Doomed to perish they are. But no one, I presume, has now any doubt that General Jackson’s policy of removal, which he carried out cautiously, but unrelentingly, and not always without stratagem and management, has caused the inevitable process of extinction to go on with less anguish and less demoralization to the whites than if the Indians had been suffered to remain in the States of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. To this part of the policy of General Jackson, praise little qualified can be justly awarded. The ‘irrevocable logic of events’ first decreed and then justified the removal of the Indians. Nor need we, at this late date, revive the sad details of a measure which, hard and cruel as it was then thought, is now universally felt to have been as kind as it was necessary” (Parton, Life, III, 279–80). In The Age of Jackson, published in 1945, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., barely addresses the topic, but other historians were already at work on recovering and reconstructing the story of removal from the perspective of the Indians and as a fundamental part of Jackson’s life and legacy. See, for instance, William Graham Sumner, Andrew Jackson (Boston, 1899), 220–29. A good historiographical survey is Regan A. Lutz, “West of Eden: The Historiography of the Trail of Tears,” Ph.D. diss., University of Toledo, 1995.

  4 anxious for more land Wallace, The Long, Bitter Trail, 5.

  5 to grow cotton Ibid., 6–11.

  6 A white man had been murdered Papers, VII, 113.

  7 “Friends and Brothers, listen” Ibid., 112.

  8 Jackson was hardly the first Norgren wrote: “A backward glance at history shows that Jackson’s Indian policy recommendations did not constitute an abrupt departure from the policy direction taken by his predecessors, James Monroe (1816–1824) and John Quincy Adams (1824–1828). Monroe and the Senate had authorized the use of removal provisions in the 1817 treaty with the Cherokee and subsequent agreements, including the 1820 Treaty of Doak’s Stand with the Choctaw. Adams adopted ever harsher Indian policies and increasingly ignored binding obligations to them under international law. He ended his presidency by dispatching American soldiers to intimidate the Creek, whom he hoped to force to remove, and then by refusing to condemn Georgia’s jurisdiction legislation. During the Adams presidency Congress had seriously considered a removal bill. A continentalist, as President, Adams was not uncomfortable with policies of national expansion and empire” (Norgren, Cherokee Cases, 80–81). See also Feller, Jacksonian Promise, 179–83.

  9 can be traced at least to 1622 Prucha, Great Father, 13. The incident involved Indians led by Opechan-canough: “Soon after, in New England, the Pequot War of 1637 began formal conflicts between the Indians and the English. The Pequots, moving into the Connecticut River Valley, met Puritans migrating into the same region and posed a threat to the peaceful expansion of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Pequot harassment of the settlements brought war as the English attacked the hostile Indians in order to protect the nascent colony in Connecticut. Such conflicts set a pattern. A new surprise attack by Indians in Virginia in 1644, which killed five hundred whites, brought new reprisals, and Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676 had strong anti-Indian origins. In 1675–1676 King Philip’s War in New England furnished still another case of warfare instigated by the Indians in a desperate attempt to stop the advancing tide of English settlement” (ibid.). At the beginning of his book on the removal of the Southern tribes, Foreman was terse but decided in his judgment: “It is not intended here to indict the people of the South for mistreatment of the Indians. Whatever may be charged against the white people in this regard is not sectional. The Indians have suffered at their hands throughout the country from north to south and from east to west” (italics mine) (Foreman, Indian Removal, 16).

10 the white survivors retaliated Prucha, Great Father, 13–14. The white response, Prucha wrote, was “immediate and vengeful; the massacre was used an excuse for a massive retaliation against the Indians, for it was looked upon as proof that Indians could not be trusted, even when professing friendship.” Such cycles of violence were to become all too familiar. By 1676 the wars in New England (see above) even provided a precedent for what came after the violence: “The terms of peace imposed on the defeated Indians were harsh and drawn up to ensure the future security of expanding white settlements,” Prucha wrote. “As in the aftermath of the Virginia massacre of 1622, the Indians were killed or forced out of the areas of white settlement” (ibid., 14).

11 said that “treaties were expedients” Ibid., 196. The remarks were made in 1830.

12 Indians were viewed as savages Ibid., 5–11. Prucha, Indians in American Society, 1–54, is interesting reading, as is Wallace, Long, Bitter Trail, 15–29, in which Wallace details the actual worlds of the tribes as they encountered the European settlers.

13 “Next to the case of the black race” Ronald T. Takaki, Iron Cages: Race and Culture in 19th-Century America (New York, 1990), 80; and James Madison, Letters and Other Writings of James Madison (New York, 1865), III, 516.

14 should be sent west Sheehan, Seeds of Extinction, 244.

15 “This then is the season” Ibid.

16 attempted to formulate a humane policy Prucha, Great Father, 59–71.

17 “It is presumable that a nation” Ibid., 59.

18 to meet with senators about Indian issues Ibid., 55.

19 “We presume that our strength” Ibid., 31.

20 Monroe and Adams had drafted removal plans Prucha, Cherokee Removal, 3–4. The removal policy, Prucha noted elsewhere, had “begun long before Jackson’s presidency …” (Prucha, “Andrew Jackson’s Indian Policy: A Reassessment,” 534). See also Norgren, Cherokee Cases, 39–40; Satz, American Indian Policy in the Jacksonian Era, 11–12; Wallace, Long, Bitter Trail, 39–41.

21 Everett “spoke also of the debate” Memoirs of JQA, VIII, 206.

22 Clay was now against removal Remini, Henry Clay, 362.

23 Clay had told him “that it” Memoirs of JQA, VII, 89–90. Clay also told Adams, Adams said, that “he believed [the Indians] were destined to extinction, and, although he would never use or countenance inhumanity towards them, he did not think them, as a race, worth preserving. He considered them as essentially inferior to the Anglo-Saxon race which were now taking their place on this continent” (ibid.).

24 McKenney … turned to New York City Herman J. Viola, Thomas L. McKenney, Architect of America’s Early Indian Policy: 1819–1830 (Chicago, 1974), 220–22; Prucha, “Thomas L. McKenney and the New York Indian Board,” The Mississippi Valley Historical Review 48 (March 1962), 635–55. The Board existed only for a year, until August 1830, when Jackson removed McKenney from office (Prucha, Great Father, 200).

25 the Indians had been “excited to war” Prucha, “Andrew Jackson’s Indian Policy: A Reassessment,” 528.

26 In January 1817, Jackson told James Monroe Papers, IV, 80.

27 “The sooner these lands” Ibid.

28 pondering a complete removal Papers, VI, 192.

29 “a dense white population” Ibid., 200.

30 After a white woman was kidnapped Prucha, “Andrew Jackson’s Indian Policy: A Reassessment,” 529.

31 “With such arms” Ibid.

32 denounced a “base, cowardly attack” Ibid., 530.

33 that “there could exist” Ibid.

34 “However mere human policy” Frelinghuysen, Speech of Mr. Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey, Delivered in the Senate of the United States, April 6, 1830, on the Bill for an Exchange of Lands with the Indians Residing in Any of the States or Territories, and for Their Removal West of the Mississippi, 7–9.

35 the Iroquois in New York and Cherokees in North Carolina Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 420.

36 “This is a straight and good talk” Papers, VII, 113.

Chapter 8: Major Eaton Has Spoken of Resigning

  1 in quarters to the right of the main entrance Seale, President’s House, I, 195 and 212.

  2 ringing and ringing for him Amos Kendall, “Anecdotes of General Jackson,” United States Magazine and Democratic Review 11 (1842), 273. According to Kendall, Donelson reported that Jackson thought of firing O’Neal on several occasions but could never bring himself to go through with it (ibid.).

  3 to bring Emily Donelson a letter EDT, I, 184–85.

  4 “You are young and uninformed” Ibid., 184.

  5 “You may take it” Ibid.

  6 a “little nest” Ibid.

  7 “their gossiping tattle” Ibid.

  8 he invoked Rachel Ibid. “When your excellent aunt arrived here in 1815 (I have heard her tell the story),” Eaton wrote, “some of those busy folks, always and everywhere to be found, undertook to tell her of the people here; and amongst other things that a certain lady was not a proper character for her to associate with. Her answer as alike creditable to her head as to her heart was, ‘I did not come here to listen to little slanderous tales, and to decide upon people’s character’ ” (ibid.).

  9 “These people” Ibid.

10 “some surprise” Ibid., 186.

11 realized he had failed to ask Ibid., 185.

12 Eaton scrawled Emily a second note Ibid.

13 “…  to ask you” Ibid.

14 a polite but steely letter Ibid., 186–87.

15 “totally unacquainted” Ibid., 186.

16 “Having drawn my attention” Ibid.

17 Yes, Emily acknowledged, “there were some” Ibid.

18 “As to the probability” Ibid.

19 “As you say” Ibid.

20 “I take this opportunity” Ibid., 187.

21 what Jackson called “my family, my chosen family” Correspondence, IV, 196.

22 Andrew Donelson sent his wife’s letter EDT, I, 187.

23 Eaton weighed whether his war to survive Emily Donelson to Mary Donelson, May 10, 1829, Mrs. John Lawrence Merritt Collection.

24 “Indeed the prejudice is so strong against them” Ibid.

25 “the road to favor and patronage” PJCC, XI, 477. The occasion was Calhoun’s reply to Eaton’s 1831 publication of the Eatons’ version of the affair (ibid., 474–82).

26 what Calhoun in 1831 called the “artful machinations” Ibid., 481.

27 “It is Sunday” John Eaton to John Coffee, June 21, 1829, Dyas Collection–John Coffee Papers, 1770–1917, Tennessee Historical Society War Memorial Building, Nashville, Tennessee. Papers housed at the Tennessee State Library and Archives.

28 “Our old friend is himself again” Ibid.

29 “those who have been removed” Ibid.

30 Woodbury … wrote Treasury Secretary Samuel Ingham Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Bank War, 51–52. Woodbury also wrote Biddle about the matter. See Levi Woodbury to Nicholas Biddle, Nicholas Biddle Papers, LOC. Written from Portsmouth on June 27, 1829, the Woodbury letter to Biddle is marked “Confidential.”

31 unhappy with Jeremiah Mason Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Bank War, 52. See also Parton, Life, III, 260.

32 Petitions were en route Parton, Life, III, 260–61. The politics of the New Hampshire episode was particularly fraught for Biddle, because Isaac Hill, a pro-Jackson newspaper editor who was now at Treasury, had instigated the move against Mason.

33 close to Daniel Webster and to John Quincy Adams Ibid., 260.

34 “partial, harsh” Ibid.

35 Biddle conceded nothing Ibid., 265.

36 a letter to Secretary Ingham Ibid., 266.

37 there was no mechanism Papers, VII, 458.

38 a memorandum in Jackson’s hand Ibid., 458–60.

39 could “redress all grievances” Ibid., 459.

40 “We visited the President” Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 289.

41 Martha Jefferson Randolph EDT, I, 218–19.

42 She had given birth “Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson,” http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/mj3.html

43 Jackson and Van Buren saw her Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 308. See also EDT, I, 217–19.

44 “there is properly no history, only biography” Brooks Atkinson, ed., The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (New York, 2000), 116. The line is found in Emerson’s essay “History,” published in his 1841 book Essays: First Series. Emerson believed that every reader looked to find himself in the mirror of history. “There is a relation between the hours of our life and the centuries of time,” he wrote. “As the air I breathe is drawn from the great repositories of nature, as the light on my book is yielded by a star a hundred millions of miles distant, as the poise of my body depends on the equilibrium of centrifugal and centripetal forces, so the hours should be instructed by the ages and the ages explained by hours. Of the universal mind each individual man is one more incarnation.… We, as we read, must become Greeks, Romans, Turks, priest and king, martyr and executioner; must fasten these images to some reality in our secret experience, or we shall learn nothing rightly. What befell Asdrubal or Caesar Borgia is as much an illustration of the mind’s powers and depravations as what has befallen us. Each new law and political movement has a meaning for you … I can see my own vices without heat in the distant persons of Solomon, Alcibiades, and Catiline” (ibid., 113–14).

45 riding on horseback most days Niven, Martin Van Buren, 250.

46 “We are getting along” Ibid.

47 to pay a call on John Quincy Adams AMVB, 269.

48 Jackson heard Van Buren out Ibid.

49 at once pleased and sour Memoirs of JQA, VIII, 128–29. James A. Hamilton accompanied Van Buren on the call.

50 the eleventh Philippic of Cicero Ibid., 127.

51 “all the members” Ibid., 128.

52 “Of the new Administration” Ibid.

53 spoke of the weather Ibid., 129.

54 ongoing negotiations about American trade Ibid.

55 “very cordially received” AMVB, 269.

56 “reestablish friendly relations” Ibid., 270.

57 “by far the ablest man” Memoirs of JQA, VIII, 129.

58 a visit with Emily and Mary Eastin AMVB, 344–45, is a full account of the episode. See also EDT, I, 209–12.

59 “the Eaton malaria” EDT, I, 179.

60 “conveyed, tho’ gently” AMVB, 344.

61 “being controlled” Ibid.

62 “the situation of her Uncle” Ibid.

63 “I rose from my seat” Ibid., 345.

64 an excursion aboard the steamboat Potomac EDT, I, 202–3.

65 At Alexandria National Intelligencer, July 10, 1829.

66 crowds of admirers Richmond Enquirer, July 14, 1829.

67 her fan and cologne bottle EDT, I, 202.

68 he saw Margaret “betray” Ibid., 202–3.

69 “She informed me” Ibid., 203.

70 she announced that she felt “pity” Correspondence, IV, 190.

71 “secret influence” PJCC, XI, 386.

72 “The interference of the lady” Ibid., 387.

73 Margaret “flatters up the old General” TPA, 114.

74 “as the means of gratifying” Ibid., 386.

75 the weather was lovely Papers, VII, 384.

76 Jackson again boarded the Potomac Ibid.

77 the Rip Raps, Virginia Ibid., 385.

78 wondered “whether the weeping willows” Ibid., 386.

79 “My dear son” Ibid.

80 a debate about whether to marry Ibid.

81 a fortress named after Calhoun Chester D. Bradley, Fort Wool (Fort Monroe, Va., 196[?]).

82 Steaks, English cheese, turtle soup Correspondence, IV, 64–65, reprints Jackson’s grocery bill from the stay.

83 “inhaling the salubrious ocean breeze” Richmond Enquirer, September 1, 1829.

84 “My dear and sincere friend” Papers, VII, 387.

85 an evening call from the Reverend John Campbell Ibid., 411. Andrew Donelson’s complete memorandum of the Campbell episode and ensuing events by Andrew can be found on 411–15. See also TPA, 94–95.

86 felt bound by “feelings of the most sincere friendship” Ibid.

87 Would Donelson absorb the first blows Ibid.

88 “I declined a conversation” Ibid.

89 “She seems strong” EDT, I, 205.

90 added “combustible qualities” Correspondence, IV, 67.

91 Calhoun would “attempt much next winter” Satterfield, Andrew Jackson Donelson, 24.

92 emotions “have been steamed” EDT, I, 205.

93 “a fine healthy child” Ibid., 206.

94 “quite strong” Ibid., 205.

95 the “gratifying intelligence” John Coffee to Andrew Jackson Donelson, September 19, 1829, Dyas Collection–John Coffee Papers, 1770–1917, Tennessee Historical Society War Memorial Building, Nashville, Tennessee. Papers housed at the Tennessee State Library and Archives.

96 “I assure you” Ibid.

97 “the Sunshine of the White House” Alice Graham McCollin, Ladies’ Home Journal 11 (January 1894), 7.

98 Campbell returned to the White House Papers, VII, 405.

99 the doorkeeper TPA, 95.

100 with William Lewis Papers, VII, 408.

101 Donelson left the two men alone Ibid., 405.

102 Jackson was stunned Ibid., 405–6.

103 “Never having suspected” Ibid., 403.

104 “this vile tale” Ibid., 406.

105 “We parted” Correspondence, IV, 67.

106 found sufficient evidence Ibid., 408–9, details Jackson and Lewis’s detective work.

107 asked him to arrange Ibid., 409.

108 Thursday … was a clear, pleasantly warm day “Meteorological Register for September, 1829,” National Intelligencer, October 3, 1829.

109 the two windows facing south Author’s tour of the White House.

110 Jackson “stated the result of my inquiry” Correspondence, IV, 409.

111 Jackson “must have misunderstood” Ibid.

112 “I think it necessary” Ibid., 405.

113 “Man born of woman” Ibid., 413.

114 a special meeting Ibid., 423.

Chapter 9: An Opinion of the President Alone

  1 “I have a confused story” John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Adams, September 20, 1829, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

  2 cloudy and rather cool “Meteorological Register for September, 1829,” National Intelligencer, October 3, 1829.

  3 Ely, Campbell, and the secretaries Parton, Life, III, 203.

  4 rectangular table Seale, The White House, 90.

  5 down the long hall Author’s tour of the White House.

  6 argued over the alleged miscarriage Parton, Life, III, 204. Parton’s account is based on interviews with “sources,” presumably including Lewis, who was present.

  7 Jackson moved on Ibid.

  8 the charge of Eaton and Margaret spending the night together Ibid.

  9 “Nor Mrs. Eaton, either” Ibid.

10 “On that point” Ibid.

11 “She is as chaste” Ibid.

12 “are so public that my servants” Louisa Catherine Adams to John Quincy Adams, September 27, 1829, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

13 “All this got abroad” Ibid.

14 a “little engagement” Papers, VII, 447.

15 “When you marry” Ibid.

16 first annual message Ibid., 776.

17 a secret diplomatic initiative Ibid., 427.

18 a mission to Sultan Mahmud II of Turkey John M. Belohlavek, “Let the Eagle Soar!”: The Foreign Policy of Andrew Jackson (Lincoln, Neb., 1985), 128–50, covers Jackson’s policy toward the Mediterranean world.

19 had lost Greece Ibid., 128–29.

20 Lord Byron died Ibid., 128.

21 Turkey needed ships Ibid., 130.

22 had traditionally approved the appointment Ibid., 131.

23 Biddle paid a call Correspondence of Nicholas Biddle, 93–94.

24 “I do not dislike” Ibid., 93.

25 a failed land Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Bank War, 20.

26 learned to fear debt Ibid., 18–20.

27 “great difficulty” Ibid., 18.

28 skeptical of promissory notes Ibid., 19.

29 He was grateful Correspondence of Nicholas Biddle, 93.

30 by the anniversary Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Bank War, 58.

31 “That is my own feeling” Correspondence of Nicholas Biddle, 94.

32 “[Jackson] said” Ibid.

33 “I said, well I am very much” Ibid.

34 “Sir,” said Jackson, “it would be” Ibid. For a survey of Jackson’s work on the Bank issue in the late autumn of 1829, see Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Bank War, 60–64. “Although he toyed with several different plans at this time [late 1829], the President could not make up his mind about any one of them, acting as though he knew he had to support some form of national banking and yet could not bring himself to do it,” wrote Remini. “So he vacillated. He considered one scheme, then another, and then a third, always ending where he started, not certain whether he wanted a central bank or just a government depository. Throughout the Bank War this uncertainty was repeatedly evidenced both in his letters and conversations, and it is extremely difficult at times to determine what he meant when he used the phrase ‘national bank’—whether a central bank, or a multi-branched federally chartered banking operation, or simply a bank located in the District of Columbia to act as a fiscal agent of the government. Most probably he was willing to experiment with any scheme that political necessity dictated. The only alternative he totally eliminated … was a continuation of Biddle’s Bank.

“His indecision can be seen in the variety of schemes he considered in 1829. At one point he suggested the idea of tying the BUS to the Treasury and restricting its note-issuing powers; at another, of creating a bank for deposit to serve as a government agent in the transfer of public funds; and at another, of providing a system somewhat resembling Grundy’s proposal” (ibid., 60). This last is a reference to a plan of Tennessee politician Felix Grundy’s that, Remini wrote, “called for the establishment of a principal bank in Philadelphia with branches in all the states. In addition, the directors of the parent bank would be elected by Congress and the directors of each branch by their Congressional delegations. The bank’s capital would be established at $40 million, and the profits of each branch would be used for internal improvements within their respective states” (ibid., 59). For Grundy’s letter to Jackson on the subject, see Papers, VII, 505–6.

35 the traditional dinner I am indebted to TPA, 108–9, for the details of the evening.

36 “the most splendid” Ibid., 109.

37 the president’s “mortification” Ibid.

38 gave another dinner Ibid., 109–10. Van Buren asked Martha Jefferson Randolph to be the guest of honor, hoping the dowager’s presence might soothe matters. It did not (ibid.).

39 an even more ambitious evening party Ibid., 110–11. Also see Nivens, Martin Van Buren, 252–53.

40 A later ball given by the Russian minister Ibid., 112–14.

41 was said to be furious As above, for the details of this incident, see TPA, 112–14.

42 Jackson heard the Huygens rumors Ibid., 113–14.

43 “Spare no expense” EDT, I, 212.

44 The service would be in the East Room Ibid., 212–15. I drew on Burke’s account for my portrait of the occasion.

45 “Dost thou, in the name of this child” The Book of Common Prayer according to the Use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States (Philadelphia, 1822), 129–30.

46 “I do, sir, I renounce them all!” EDT, I, 214.

47 “In communicating with you” Messages, II, 1005.

48 thoughts and points he would jot Parton, Life, III, 269.

49 136–72 in the House “Party Divisions of the House of Representatives,” http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/house_history/partyDiv.html 119 25–23 in the Senate “Party Division in the Senate, 1789–Present,” http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/one_item_and_teasers/partydiv.htm 119 The document reflected Papers, VII, 601–30, traces the development of the document, and includes drafts on sundry issues by Jackson and from Kendall, Van Buren, Eaton, and James A. Hamilton. The full final text can be found in Messages, II, 1005–25.

50 “Blessed as our country” Messages, II, 1006.

51 “Our system of government” Ibid., 1010.

52 limit the executive Ibid., 1011.

53 “the majority is to govern” Ibid., 1010.

54 the context of this assertion Ibid., 1010–11.

55 “In a country where offices” Ibid., 1012.

56 David Barton of Missouri C. Perry Patterson, Presidential Government in the United States: The Unwritten Constitution (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1947), 73. The address was delivered on March 17, 1830.

57 feared “Executive encroachment” Ibid.

58 a signal that Jackson wanted to reconsider Messages, II, 1025. As noted above, however, Jackson was uncertain at this point about precisely what he wanted to do about the Bank.

59 Biddle tried to make the best of things Correspondence of Nicholas Biddle, 94. Biddle’s letter was dated January 2, 1830.

60 “I was aware that the Bank question” Papers, VII, 642–43.

61 the tariff, which so vexed South Carolina Messages, II, 1014–16.

62 as a senator, had voted in favor Feller, Jacksonian Promise, 67.

63 a series of twenty-four essays Prucha, ed., Cherokee Removal, 8.

64 “Most certainly an indelible stigma” Ibid., 49.

65 God, Evarts said Ibid., 51.

66 no answer other than removal or submission Messages, II, 1019–22.

67 “should be voluntary” Ibid., 1021.

68 “Our conduct toward these people” Ibid.

69 Christmas 1829 was a dim, unremarkable affair Papers, VII, 657–58, is a description by Lewis of the grim atmosphere of this period at the White House.

70 “in very feeble health” Ibid., 657.

71 “confirmed dropsy” Kenneth F. Kiple, ed., The Cambridge Historical Dictionary of Disease (New York, 2003), 100–5; John Walton, ed., The Oxford Companion to Medicine (New York, 1986), 326.

72 “Things are not as they ought to be” Amos Kendall to Francis Preston Blair, January 28, 1830, Blair and Lee Family Papers, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

73 “my labors increase” Papers, VII, 585.

74 “I can with truth say” Ibid.

75 Speaking of the “old differences” Amos Kendall to Francis Preston Blair, January 28, 1830, Blair and Lee Family Papers, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Chapter 10: Liberty and Union, Now and Forever

  1 a White House levee EDT, I, 222–24.

  2 “Shaking hands” Ibid., 222–23.

  3 calico “serves to show” Ibid., 223.

  4 “No doubt Emily’s concession” Ibid.

  5 “They affected no superiority” Ibid.

  6 “There is no scarcity” John Quincy Adams to Abigail Brooks Adams, January 31, 1830, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

  7 treated Margaret even more coolly Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 311.

  8 “She is not received” Ibid.

  9 “Our government is becoming” Ibid.

10 “One woman has made sad work” Ibid., 310–11.

11 a session between the president I am indebted to Marszalek’s reconstruction of the meeting in TPA, 118. For Samuel Ingham’s account, see Parton, Life, III, 303–7.

12 A kind of compromise TPA, 118–19.

13 “Any attempt” Ibid., 118.

14 “Society is [still]” Ibid., 119.

15 “Our Presses at home” Robert Y. Hayne, “Letters on the Nullification Movement in South Carolina, 1830–1834,” American Historical Review 6 (July 1901), 738. The letter from Hayne was addressed to James Henry Hammond and was dated March 29, 1830.

16 with the added benefit Peterson, Great Triumvirate, 170–71, is a good summary of Benton’s concerns.

17 one of the most significant Feller, Public Lands in Jacksonian Politics, 112–36; see also Herman Belz, ed., Webster-Hayne Debate on the Nature of the Union: Selected Documents (Indianapolis, 2000), ix–xv.

18 twenty-one of the nation’s forty-eight senators Belz, ed., Webster-Hayne Debate, ix.

19 “seems to have metamorphosed” Ibid.

20 filled the two galleries Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 309–10. See also Peterson, Great Triumvirate, 175.

21 a dais flanked by four gray marble columns Author’s observation of Old Senate Chamber at the Capitol. See also “The Old Senate Chamber,” Office of the Curator, January 1992.

22 Lewis kept tabs Parton, Life, III, 282.

23 Benton denounced Foot’s resolution Feller, Public Lands in Jacksonian Politics, 112–13. See also Benton, Thirty Years’ View, 130–33.

24 “The whole country may be” Remini, Daniel Webster, 317.

25 the remark about the South Ibid.

26 “Yankees were never in great credit” Jervey, Robert Y. Hayne and His Times, 222.

27 “Viewing the United States” Ibid., 223.

28 Webster was a floor below Remini, Daniel Webster, 317–18.

29 “my court papers” Ibid.

30 “The fruits of our labor” Belz, ed., Webster-Hayne Debate, 8.

31 “Sir, I am one of those” Ibid., 10.

32 Webster grew grim Remini, Daniel Webster, 318.

33 time to “calculate the value of the Union” Peterson, Great Triumvirate, 173.

34 windy winter Tuesday Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 309.

35 thought of Cooper’s threats Peterson, Great Triumvirate, 173.

36 “They significantly declare” Belz, ed., Webster-Hayne Debate, 24.

37 “I am a Unionist” Ibid.

38 Hayne replied to Webster Ibid., 35–79. Hayne was not terse.

39 there were reports that the vice president Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, II, 60. (Wiltse writes that he doubts this actually happened.)

40 Hayne “was deficient” Samuel M. Smucker, The Life, Speeches and Memorials of Daniel Webster (Chicago and New York, 1859), 70.

41 “His dark and deeply-set eyes” Ibid., 86.

42 “It is a kind of moral” Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 310.

43 dressed in a Revolutionary blue coat Smucker, Life, Speeches and Memorials of Daniel Webster, 86. In Smucker’s telling, on the morning of what was to become known as Webster’s Second Reply to Hayne, “the House of Representatives was deserted. Nearly all the members hastened to the Senate-chamber.… The place itself was illustrious and solemn; for it was the central spot of the whole earth for high and grave discussion in reference to human freedom; and it had been hallowed by the labors and the eloquence of the fathers and heroes of the Republic” (ibid., 85).

44 He stood to Calhoun’s left The United States Senate Historical Office; I am grateful to Donald A. Ritchie, associate historian, for showing me Webster’s desk.

45 a glorious Rembrandt Peale portrait Author’s observation, the Old Senate Chamber.

46 “I have not allowed myself” Belz, ed., Webster-Hayne Debate, 143–44.

47 shocked silence Remini, Daniel Webster, 329.

48 “Mr. Webster,” a colleague said Ibid.

49 Hayne disagreed Ibid.

50 That night at the White House Ibid., 332–33.

51 usual Wednesday levee Marquis James, Andrew Jackson: Portrait of a President (Indianapolis, 1937), 128.

52 wasted no time Remini, Daniel Webster, 332–33.

53 “I felt as if everything” Ibid., 329.

54 “Been to the Capitol, Major?” Parton, Life, III, 282.

55 Webster’s achievement Peterson, Great Triumvirate, 179–80, is particularly good on this. Paul C. Nagel, One Nation Indivisible: The Union in American Thought, 1776–1861 (Westport, Conn., 1980), is also a wonderfully illuminating study of these issues.

56 in some ways invented Peterson, Great Triumvirate, 179–80. See also Remini, Daniel Webster, 328–31.

57 offered to die for a nation Belz, ed., Webster-Hayne Debate, 331.

58 “Sir … should the cupidity” Ibid.

59 paid a call on Adams Memoirs of JQA, VIII, 210.

60 a brother of Robert Livingston Charles Haven Hunt, Life of Edward Livingston (New York, 1864).

61 Livingston had known misfortune Belz, ed., Webster-Hayne Debate, 408. See also Hunt, Life of Edward Livingston, 20.

62 pressed into the arena by his wife See, for instance, Louise Livingston to Edward Livingston, December 23, 1828, Edward Livingston Papers, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

63 among the first … to raise the prospect Hunt, Life of Edward Livingston, 312.

64 multiplicity of issues Belz, ed., Webster-Hayne Debate, 409.

65 “Sir … might not a hearer” Ibid., 410.

66 “For my own part” Ibid.

67 “the necessary and … the legitimate parties” Ibid., 431.

68 “The spirit of which I speak” Ibid., 431–32.

69 “excess of party rage” Ibid., 433.

70 “I am no censor” Ibid.

71 “There is too much at stake” Messages, II, 1515.

72 “We undoubtedly think” Belz, ed., Webster-Hayne Debate, 433–34.

73 “There are legitimate” Hunt, Life of Edward Livingston, 349–50.

Chapter 11: General Jackson Rules by His Personal Popularity

  1 Green published a piece in the Telegraph Parton, Life, III, 284.

  2 a dinner to take place Ibid., 282–84. For accounts of the evening, its background, and its implications, see also Benton, Thirty Years’ View, 148–49; AMVB, 413–17; Remini, Jackson, II, 233–37.

  3 Indian Queen Hotel Remini, Jackson, II, 234.

  4 “a nullification affair altogether” Parton, Life, III, 284. The traditional view of the evening as a plot of Calhoun’s is challenged in Richard R. Stenberg, “The Jefferson Birthday Dinner, 1830,” Journal of Southern History 4 (August 1938), 334–45.

  5 The dinner, Webster told Clay PHC, VIII, 193.

  6 wrote out three different toasts Parton, Life, III, 284.

  7 going through the newspapers Ibid.

  8 “He said he preferred” Ibid.

  9 “glorious stand” AMVB, 414.

10 climbed atop Ibid., 415.

11 “Our Union—it must be preserved” Ibid.

12 “The Union—next to our liberty the most dear” Ibid., 416.

13 “Mutual forbearance” Ibid.

14 “the bustle and excitement” Ibid., 415.

15 might add the word “Federal” Ibid.

16 as the National Intelligencer put it Ibid., 416–17.

17 “That Jackson will be” Memoirs of JQA, VIII, 210.

18 “I seriously apprehend a civil war” William Crawford to Martin Van Buren, May 31, 1830, Martin Van Buren Papers, LOC. Another letter to Van Buren, written in late May 1830, further illustrates the South’s contentious views on the tariff. “Fortunately for South Carolina and for the whole South, she stands in such a situation with so much right upon her side and so much wrong to complain of, that she has no occasion to bully or bluster and has little to do but stand on her sovereignty and say to the Genl. Govt. ‘thus far shalt thou go and no further …’ ” wrote James Hamilton, Jr., from Charleston (James Hamilton, Jr., to Martin Van Buren, May 1830, Martin Van Buren Papers, LOC).

19 Emily’s father died EDT, I, 229–30.

20 been sick for three months Ibid.

21 congressmen “brought forward” AMVB, 320.

22 funding for a sixty-mile Maysville Road Feller, Public Lands in Jacksonian Politics, 136–42. See also AMVB, 314–38, for Van Buren’s account of the administration’s approach to internal improvements; and Parton, Life, III, 285–87.

23 while they were on horseback AMVB, 321.

24 “The road was in Mr. Clay’s own state” Ibid., 320–22.

25 Johnson found Jackson and Van Buren alone Ibid., 323–25. Van Buren’s vivid recollection of the scene perhaps overemphasizes the degree to which the veto was a financial calculation—Jackson’s memorandum stresses his concern for jurisdiction over projects—but it seems accurate in its passion.

26 “General! If this hand” Ibid., 324.

27 memorandum on the veto Correspondence, IV, 139.

28 “I stand committed” AMVB, 324.

29 Jackson vetoed the bill and three others Latner, Presidency of Andrew Jackson, 137–38, and Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 327–28. Explaining the nuances of the veto, Wilentz wrote: “In the spirit of Jeffersonian strict construction—but also displaying his propensity to placate the South, especially after the rancor over the tariff in 1828—Van Buren urged a veto. Extravagant federal spending on improvements, he reasoned, would turn elections into corrupt appeals to the voters’ narrow self-interest, while opening up new opportunities for congressional logrolling at the public’s expense. Jackson, who had been thinking along similar lines, decided to reject not just the Maysville project but a slew of other federal improvement bills. Yet in his Maysville veto message—written chiefly by Van Buren with the help of a young Tennessee congressman, James K. Polk—Jackson also defended the benefits of a ‘general system of improvement,’ praised state road and canal projects, and supported judicious federal spending on projects of clearly national importance. Having bolstered his Old Republican southern supporters, some of whom were leaning dangerously toward Calhoun’s more extreme states’ rights views, the president, his political circumstances precarious, made clear that he did not oppose all government-aided economic development. He would adhere to that position fairly consistently for the rest of his presidency” (ibid., 328). See also Cole, Presidency of Andrew Jackson, 62–67.

30 “much, and, I may add” Messages, II, 1054.

31 “What is properly national” Ibid.

32 by the end of his second term Ellis, Union at Risk, 24.

33 Noting that “many of the taxes” Messages, II, 1052.

34 “have been cheerfully borne” Ibid.

35 “The veto message” Feller, Public Lands in Jacksonian Politics, 139.

36 vetoed a total of nine bills Patterson, Presidential Government in the United States, 50–56. Jackson, Presidential Vetoes, 15–27, is an excellent discussion of the internal improvement vetoes. See also Edward S. Corwin, The President: Office and Powers, 1787–1984 (New York, 1984), 317–25; Wilson, Division and Reunion, 50; and Goldsmith, Growth of Presidential Power, 329–46; Goldsmith writes: “It would seem that Andrew Jackson’s sure instinct for power dictated an early and dramatic action at the beginning of his administration in order to assert his own authority and to demonstrate that the presidency was a position of leadership as well as a vehicle for administering the will of the legislature. However, the President, under the Constitution, was given a voice in the legislative process, and Jackson (with Van Buren’s approval) was anxious to assert this policymaking role and to put both the Congress and the country on warning that the age and feeble health of the old general would in no way restrict his vigorous pursuit of what he considered were the responsibilities of the President of the United States. Formal constitutional arguments were offered in the veto message, but the intent was political and the objective was the assertion of Jackson’s policies—a sign which marked the beginning of a new and dynamic chapter in the growth of presidential power” (ibid., 345). See also Henry James Ford, Rise and Growth of American Politics: A Sketch of Constitutional Development (New York, 1898), 175–87.

37 “From motives of respect to the legislature” Patterson, Presidential Government in the United States, 50.

38 Watching Jackson veto Maysville Memoirs of JQA, VIII, 230–31.

39 “Jackson was the first President” Patterson, Presidential Government in the United States, 51. Patterson also quotes Levi Woodbury, the Jackson–Van Buren Cabinet secretary who became a justice of the Supreme Court, saying: “The veto power is the people’s tribunative prerogative speaking again through their executive” (ibid., 52).

40 had “asserted that the veto” Ibid., 51.

41 occasionally asked for “something I can veto” Richard E. Neustadt, Presidential Power: The Politics of Leadership (New York, 1960), 84.

42 “We are all shocked” Remini, Henry Clay, 362.

43 could back a constitutional amendment Ibid.

44 “We shall be contending” Ibid.

45 “The veto, I find, will work well” Correspondence, IV, 156. Jackson wrote en route to Tennessee after the veto was announced.

46 “The Great Arbiter of Nations” Prucha, Cherokee Removal, 51.

47 “The people” Ibid.

48 formally entitled “The Bill for an Exchange of Lands” For accounts of the politics of, and the maneuvering over, the removal bill, see Cole, Presidency of Andrew Jackson, 67–74; Parton, Life, III, 279–80; Prucha, ed., Cherokee Removal, 5–28; Satz, American Indian Policy in the Jacksonian Era, 19–56; Satz, “Rhetoric Versus Reality: The Indian Policy of Andrew Jackson” in Cherokee Removal, Before and After, ed. William L. Anderson, 29–55; and Wallace, Long, Bitter Trail, 65–70.

49 reported out of the Indian Affairs Committee Cole, Presidency of Andrew Jackson, 71.

50 Jackson believed the treaties irrelevant Prucha, Great Father, 192.

51 “the poor Indians” Frelinghuysen, Speech of Mr. Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey, Delivered in the Senate of the United States, April 6, 1830, on the Bill for an Exchange of Lands with the Indians Residing in Any of the States or Territories, and for Their Removal West of the Mississippi, 27.

52 “Mr. President, if we abandon” Ibid., 28.

53 created a “Quaker panic” in Pennsylvania Cole, Presidency of Andrew Jackson, 72.

54 “without the slightest consultation” Frelinghuysen, Speech of Mr. Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey, Delivered in the Senate of the United States, April 6, 1830, on the Bill for an Exchange of Lands with the Indians Residing in Any of the States or Territories, and for Their Removal West of the Mississippi, 5.

55 Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi Ibid., 17.

56 to be known as “the Democracy” Wilentz, Andrew Jackson, 103.

57 “General Jackson rules by his personal popularity” Memoirs of JQA, VIII, 215.

58 complained of “the spirit of party” Prucha, ed., Cherokee Removal, 24–25.

59 a Jacksonian congressman from Alabama Ibid., 25.

60 “Now what can we do” Ibid.

61 the bill passing 28 to 19 Cole, Presidency of Andrew Jackson, 72.

62 Wilson Lumpkin of Georgia Ibid.

63 attacking his people as “atheists” Ibid.

64 “the treaties of this Government” Register of Debates in Congress, 21st Congress, First Session, VI, 1830, 997.

65 had “shocked the public feeling” Ibid., 998.

66 “was to be a government” Ibid., 1000.

67 “The eye of other nations” Ibid., 1015.

68 After much back-and-forth Cole, Presidency of Andrew Jackson, 73–74.

69 Shortly before four o’clock Margaret’s letter to Jackson in reply to the invitation her husband brought home was written at four p.m. EDT, I, 231.

70 “Circumstances, my dear General” Correspondence, IV, 145.

71 “I ask to say to you” Ibid.

72 “I have spoken” Ibid.

73 Jackson gave Andrew the letter Ibid., 195.

74 “You have not forgotten the note” Ibid.

75 a passionate note for the president’s files Ibid., 145.

76 would leave for Tennessee EDT, I, 233.

77 “embarrassments that yet attend us” Ibid., 234.

78 “The Secretary of War and family” Ibid.

79 Jackson admitted that “there has been” Correspondence, IV, 146.

80 “very popular” Ibid., 161.

81 insisted on going to the Mansion Ibid., 194–95.

82 he had “expected you and Emily” Ibid.

83 a formidable element of Nashville society Correspondence, IV, 173.

84 “a combination” refused Correspondence, IV, 164.

85 Emily and Andrew’s “folly and pride” Ibid., 165.

86 “My duty is that my household” Ibid.

87 “My connections have acted very strangely” Ibid., 165.

88 “affairs [are] so bad” Ibid.

89 a large barbecue in the Eatons’ honor Correspondence, IV, 167.

90 At 3:30 on the afternoon Ibid.

91 a crowd of five hundred Ibid.

92 Jackson was delighted “to shake hands” Ibid.

93 “The ladies of the place” Ibid.

94 “That my Nephew and Niece” Ibid.

95 A letter from Rebecca Branch EDT, I, 237.

96 the bargain was struck Ibid., 240–41.

97 “General Coffee has” Correspondence, IV, 168.

98 Emily changed her mind EDT, I, 241.

99 “I shall have no female family” Correspondence, IV, 170.

100 “Whether Mr. Donelson will or will not” Ibid.

101 only the Chickasaws actually came James, TLOAJ, 550–51.

102 Helped along by bribes Wallace, Long, Bitter Trail, 76–77.

103 the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek Prucha, Great Father, 216–18.

104 ratified the exchange Ibid., 215.

105 “Our doom is sealed” Ibid., 218.

106 it fell to the French writer Alexis de Tocqueville Ibid.

107 the first of two critical cases Norgren, Cherokee Cases, 98–111, is an excellent account of the litigation, its background, and its implications.

108 better described as “domestic dependent nations” Ibid., 101.

109 the government had long acted Ibid. Norgren wrote: “In spite of the dozens of international treaties agreed on by the United States and various Indian nations, Marshall concluded that the Cherokee did not constitute a foreign nation.” It was, Norgren argued, a “procedural sleight of hand” (100–1).

110 declining to take a stand Ibid. For more sympathetic accounts of Marshall’s work in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, see Smith, John Marshall: Definer of a Nation, 516–17; and R. Kent Newmyer, John Marshall and the Heroic Age of the Supreme Court(Baton Rouge, La., 2001), 446–51.

111 by hanging an Indian convicted of murder Ibid., 95–98.

112 “a proper case, with proper parties” Newmyer, John Marshall and the Heroic Age of the Supreme Court, 450. This helped open the way for Worcester v. Georgia the next year, a case treated more fully below.

113 The Cherokee Nation would be back Norgren, Cherokee Cases, 112–33, details the second case.

114 “If it be true” Ibid., 104. Politics was a factor among several in Marshall’s thinking, and Jackson clearly saw the struggle over Indian removal as more of a political than a legal issue. He knew, for instance, that his enemies saw an opening to make a humanitarian case. “I have now a clue to all the maneuvers and secret plans … to produce opposition to my measures, and particularly to the bill for the removal of the Indians,” Jackson said (Correspondence, IV, 269).

115 “No ladies will return with me” Correspondence, IV, 173.

116 rode in his carriage from the Hermitage EDT, I, 241.

117 Emily wept Ibid., 241–42.

118 “Uncle’s last words to me” Emily Donelson to Andrew Jackson Donelson, October 15, 1830, Gertrude and Benjamin Caldwell Collection, The Hermitage.

119 their horses Correspondence, IV, 181.

120 late one night at Knoxville EDT, I, 242.

121 “We travel at the rate” Ibid.

122 “business has greatly accumulated” Correspondence, IV, 181.

Chapter 12: I Have Been Left to Sup Alone

  1 took her first steps EDT, I, 254.

  2 cross-examined his mother Ibid., 243.

  3 “Jackson talks a great deal” Ibid.

  4 late on an October Sunday evening Correspondence, IV, 186–88. The letter was dated October 24, 1830.

  5 “Major Donelson has informed you” Ibid., 186.

  6 “I have often experienced” Ibid., 186–87.

  7 Privately Calhoun believed nullification PJCC, XI, 415. Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, II, 86–89, offers a sympathetic view of Calhoun’s position, but it is difficult to reconcile Calhoun’s advocacy of the doctrine and his interest in the preservation of slavery with his oft-stated desire to avoid disunion. “He realized that it was not the tariff but slavery that was at stake,” Wiltse wrote of Calhoun in the 1830 period. “He saw the South as a permanent minority and knew that her only safety lay in her own ability to resist exploitation at the hands of the more populous sections of the Union. If their individual sovereignties could be preserved, the slave states could protect themselves. If the partisan majority in control of the general government were allowed to wield sovereign powers, then the South could continue to exist only on the sufferance of the stronger interest.” And yet he continued to insist that he completely opposed what he called “civil discord, revolution, or disunion.” The implication is that he somehow believed that if the South lost the fight for nullification, and thus lost slavery (which is Wiltse’s logic), then the South would peaceably submit to living in a nation in which it would be, as Wiltse put it, at “the sufferance of the stronger interest.” It seems safest to say that Calhoun’s reluctance to acknowledge the full implications of his doctrine—that nullification was a step toward possible disunion—was based on his national political ambitions. At this juncture being president of the United States still held enormous appeal, much more appeal, for instance, than being president of a breakaway Carolinian republic, or even a larger Southern confederacy (Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, II, 88–89).

  8 “I had supposed” Correspondence, IV, 191.

  9 proving central in a congressional race EDT, I, 243–44; TPA, 146–48; Satterfield, Andrew Jackson Donelson, 29. Each account reports the accusations slightly differently, with Emily Donelson’s letter, unsurprisingly, dwelling on the offense to her family.

10 saying that Jackson had asked EDT, I, 244.

11 a crowd of about six hundred people Ibid.

12 “informed the people” Ibid.

13 Jackson, she wrote Andrew, “may have used” Emily Donelson to Andrew Jackson Donelson, October 15, 1830, Gertrude and Benjamin Caldwell Collection, The Hermitage.

14 “My Dear husband” Ibid.

15 “I had the great pleasure” Ibid.

16 “I was thinking of you” Ibid.

17 “Is Major L[ewis] still at the President’s house?” Ibid.

18 “Mary Lewis is here” EDT, I, 245.

19 young Jackson “sometimes” Ibid., 243.

20 In South Carolina in these October weeks Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 212–18.

21 not enough votes in the legislature Ibid., 218.

22 “I have always looked” Freehling, ed., Nullification Era, 100.

23 passed six resolutions related to nullification Boucher, Nullification Controversy, 104–7.

24 Monday morning, October 25, 1830 Correspondence, IV, 189.

25 of “intimations” from the Eaton camp Ibid.

26 “You have decided the question” Ibid., 192.

27 nor a familiar face across the way Ibid.

28 plagued by headaches Ibid.

29 Jackson replied on Saturday, October 30 Ibid., 193–94.

30 “my dear Andrew” Ibid., 194.

31 asked Andrew to remain Ibid.

32 then they would part Ibid.

33 he wrote again in the autumn dusk Ibid., 195–96. We can fix the hour of composition from a detail in an ensuing letter. Writing of this particular note the next day, Donelson said: “What I wrote yesterday evening was done by twilight …” (ibid., 197).

34 “In your house” Ibid., 195.

35 linking the present question with the first great test Ibid.

36 It was almost midnight Ibid., 196. This note of Jackson’s is dated “11 o’clock p.m.”

37 “My dear Andrew, for so I must still call you” Ibid.

38 “You were my family, my chosen family” Ibid.

39 Andrew saw he had been imprecise Correspondence, IV, 196–97.

40 Power and affection were at stake Here is just one example. This is the paragraph Jackson wrote after telling Donelson he should leave after Congress adjourned: “I have found for upwards of a year that you appeared to be estranged from me, and entirely taken up with strangers, but what I most regretted was your constant melancholy, and abstraction from me, which under my bereavements made my tears to flow often. I pray you cheer up, my tears are dried. When you leave, whatever cause I have to regret or complain, you will carry my friendship with you, and my prayers for your happiness, and that of your amiable family … [the] two little cherubs, Jackson and Rachel, who I can never cease to love” (ibid., 194).

41 “evidence of hostility to me” Ibid., 202.

42 who wrote to reassure him that all would be well EDT, I, 254.

43 “Still, I think you” Ibid.

44 Emily went a step further Ibid., 260.

45 “I would be willing” Ibid.

46 briefly noted in his diary Memoirs of JQA, VIII, 245.

47 on a cold September morning Nagel, John Quincy Adams, 335.

48 “not the slightest desire” Memoirs of JQA, VIII, 240.

49 Louisa … had even threatened Nagel, John Quincy Adams, 335.

50 hours of reflection Memoirs of JQA, VIII, 245.

51 relief from his trials Ibid., 246–47.

52 “My return to public life” Ibid., 246.

53 “the faithless wave of politics” Ibid., 243.

54 “My election as President” Ibid., 247.

55 the founding editor of a new administration newspaper Parton, Life, III, 333–39, covers the founding of the Globe. See also FPB, 45–61, and Culver H. Smith, The Press, Politics, and Patronage: The American Government’s Use of Newspapers, 1789–1875(Athens, Ga., 1977), 119–35. Jeffrey L. Pasley, “The Tyranny of Printers “: Newspaper Politics in the Early American Republic (Charlottesville, Va., 2001), 390–99, is a good account of the Jacksonian newspaper world. As Pasley wrote: “Andrew Jackson’s presidency marked a major turning point in the history of newspaper politics. Understanding exactly the role that newspaper editors played in his campaigns, Jackson amply expressed his gratitude to the network of editors that supported him, not only by doling out printing contracts but also by appointing at least seventy editors to federal offices and allowing several key editors to play crucial roles in his administration” (ibid., 390).

56 had run his newspaper Cole, A Jackson Man, 59.

57 with the help of Blair Ibid., 72.

58 what Jackson called “the true faith” Correspondence, IV, 212. The context was Jackson’s urging John Coffee to subscribe to the new paper in a letter dated December 6, 1830.

59 Kendall was a critical figure Harriet Martineau, Retrospect of Western Travel (Armonk, N.Y., 2000), 52–54. This edition of Martineau’s work was edited by Daniel Feller; I highly recommend his fine introduction.

60 “I was fortunate enough” Ibid., 54.

61 Born in Virginia in 1791 FPB, 3.

62 converted to Jacksonian politics Ibid., 25.

63 “I wish you to stand just as I do” Amos Kendall to Francis Preston Blair, October 2, 1830, Blair and Lee Family Papers, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

64 With Kendall doing the wooing The history of the founding of the paper became a source of controversy later on when Kendall and Blair got into a dispute. See Smith, The Press, Politics, and Patronage, 122–26.

65 “Now, I want you to prepare” Amos Kendall to Francis Preston Blair, August 22, 1830, Blair and Lee Family Papers, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

66 “about five feet ten inches high” Smith, The Francis Preston Blair Family in Politics, I, 62.

67 The journey from Kentucky FPB, 42–43.

68 Lewis took one look at him Parton, Life, III, 337.

69 Blair was swept away by Jackson’s charm Ibid., 337–38.

70 Invited that very first night Ibid.

71 “abashed and miserable” Ibid., 338.

72 took Blair by the arm Ibid.

73 Francis Preston Blair would now fight any battle FPB, 46, makes a similar point: “On this note began Blair’s undying love for Andrew Jackson.”

74 Andrew Donelson was to take the president’s annual message Parton, Life, III, 339. Donelson was an early topic of conversation between Blair and Jackson. “There’s my nephew, Donelson,” Jackson told Blair. “He seems to be leaning toward the nullifiers.” Such a charge was unfair to Andrew, who was dedicated to Jackson and to Jackson’s philosophy, if not, obviously, to all of Jackson’s appointees and social demands. If Jackson truly believed Andrew to be a nullifier, or even a serious sympathizer with the Southern cause, he would have banished Andrew long, long before, for then Andrew would have been a traitor to the country, not just a serial inconvenience. The rest of the conversation with Blair rings more true, including a warning to watch Andrew with care. “I raised him. I love him. Let him do what he will, I love him. I can’t help it. Treat him kindly, but if he wants to write for your paper, you must look out for him.” It is also possible that Lewis, a rival of Donelson’s, was the source of the anecdote for Parton; Lewis clearly gave Parton other details about the evening (ibid., 337).

75 writing editorials after nightfall in lead pencil FPB, 63.

76 he attacked nullification Messages, II, 1079–80. It was subtle but unmistakable: “It is beyond the power of man to make a system of government like ours or any other operate with precise equality upon states situated like those which compose this Confederacy; nor is inequality always injustice” (ibid.). Jackson addressed extreme feelings in his discussion of conflicting interests between states and regions in which he sounded notes similar to those struck by Edward Livingston earlier in the year and echoed Van Buren’s toast at the Jefferson birthday dinner. His critics saw it differently. “There are avowals in [the message] that would drive a king of France from his throne and that would undoubtedly have cost John Quincy Adams an impeachment,” Richard Rush of Pennsylvania wrote Henry Clay (PHC, VIII, 315).

77 “It is an infirmity of our nature” Ibid., 1086–87.

78 told the readers of the Globe FPB, 60.

79 attractive to “certain men, who, like Caesar” Ibid.

80 passed the holiday “soberly yet agreeably” EDT, I, 264.

81 Donelson excused himself Ibid., 265.

82 quoting a poem Ibid., 266.

83 had lost a great deal of weight Ibid., 270.

84 “like a spectre” Ibid.

85 scolded Andrew Ibid.

86 “Although your letters” Ibid.

87 “Although we have been visited” Correspondence, IV, 226–27.

88 “is an old man of 66 years” George Wilson Pierson, Tocqueville and Beaumont in America (New York, 1938), 663. The letter is dated January 20, 1831. Beaumont was more impressed with the secretary of state. Of an evening spent at the Livingstons’, he reported: “I mingled my square dances and waltzes with most interesting conversations with Mr. Livingston on the penitentiary system and especially on capital punishment, passing thus from the serious to the pleasant.… It’s absolutely a European salon, and the reason is simple: all the members of the diplomatic corps gathered in Washington set the tone; French is the common language, and you would believe yourself in a Paris Salon” (ibid., 665). The letter was dated January 22, 1831.

89 “People in France” Ibid., 663.

90 In early 1831 the Globe announced Remini, Jackson, II, 304–5.

91 “The conquering Hero” Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, II, 93.

92 At the time, Adams Remini, The Life of Andrew Jackson, 124.

93 Jackson, who had been aware Papers, VI, 461–63.

94 “I should be blind not to see” PJCC, XI, 173–91, is the full text of Calhoun’s reply to Jackson. The “I should be blind” quotation is on page 189.

95 “He is aspiring” Correspondence, IV, 151.

96 Jackson feigned surprise and outrage Remini, Jackson, II, 306–11, is good on the intrigue surrounding the publication of the Seminole correspondence. 170 “a conspiracy for my destruction” Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, II, 95.

97 “The Globe you will have seen” Samuel D. Ingham to Samuel McKean, February 25, 1831, Samuel D. Ingham Papers, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, University of Pennsylvania.

98 “came out pell mell” Samuel D. Ingham to George Wolf, February 27, 1831, Samuel D. Ingham Papers, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, University of Pennsylvania.

99 “A man who could secretly” Correspondence, IV, 216.

100 went to Meridian Hill to see John Quincy Adams Memoirs of JQA, VIII, 331–32.

101 spent two hours talking politics Ibid., 332–33.

102 dispatched Andrew on Tuesday, March 8 EDT, I, 281.

103 “The adjournment of Congress” Ibid., 280.

104 “As much as I desire you” Ibid., 282.

105 “Recent information from the General” Ibid., 283.

106 “this disgusting petticoat business” Samuel D. Ingham to Samuel McKean, February 25, 1831, Samuel D. Ingham Papers, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, University of Pennsylvania.

107 worried about “the plots, intrigues and calumnies” AMVB, 402.

108 he settled on a plan My account of Van Buren’s role in the Cabinet dissolution is drawn from AMVB, 402–8.

109 a thunderstorm drove them Ibid., 402.

110 “You have possibly saved” Ibid., 403.

111 “We should soon have peace in Israel” Ibid.

112 “the course I had pointed to” Ibid., 404–5.

113 Van Buren jumped up Ibid., 405–6.

114 “Why should you resign?” Ibid., 406.

115 “it was forthwith agreed” Ibid., 407.

116 “The long agony is nearly over” Royce McCrary, “ ‘The Long Agony is Nearly Over’: Samuel D. Ingham Reports on the Dissolution of Andrew Jackson’s First Cabinet,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 100 (April 1976), 235.

117 Jackson forced him, Berrien, and Branch to resign as well Correspondence, IV, 260–79, covers much of the ensuing action. See also Parton, Life, III, 346–59.

118 For all to resign, he told Ingham John Berrien to Samuel D. Ingham, April 24, 1831, Samuel D. Ingham Papers, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, University of Pennsylvania.

119 “to make up” Samuel D. Ingham to Samuel McKean, May 27, 1831, Samuel D. Ingham Papers, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, University of Pennsylvania.

120 “You must read Tacitus” John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, February 26, 1831, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

121 “You are disgusted” John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, March 9, 1831, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

122 “The President parts” Thomas H. Clay, “Two Years with Old Hickory,” Atlantic Monthly 60 (August 1887), 193.

123 “My labours have been incessant” Correspondence, IV, 265.

124 telling Emily that he thought EDT, I, 287.

125 news of the Cabinet resignations broke in the Globe Remini, Jackson, II, 315.

126 Vaughan … wrote Viscount Palmerston … that “this day” Charles Vaughan to Viscount Palmerston, April 20, 1831, National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew.

127 Vaughan told London to watch the South Ibid.

128 The Cabinet news Bangeman Huygens to Verstolk van Soelen (minister of foreign affairs), May 13, 1831, Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken 1813–1896, Nationaal Archief, Den Haag.

129 “He was near” Bangeman Huygens to Verstolk van Soelen (minister of foreign affairs), May 13, 1831, Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken 1813–1896, Nationaal Archief, Den Haag.

130 “false” and “unnatural” Ibid.

131 “to entirely remake” Ibid.

132 “In truth, the only excuse” Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 318–19.

133 the “explosion at Washington” John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, April 22, 1831, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

134 “people stare—and laugh” Ibid.

Chapter 13: A Mean and Scurvy Piece of Business

  1 what he called “secretes” See, for example, Correspondence, V, 206.

  2 “I know not how things are moving” Alexander Speer to Joel Poinsett, March 14, 1831, Joel Poinsett Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

  3 “I will not be at all surprised” Ibid.

  4 he thought his information sound Ibid.

  5 allegations that “Jackson had turned you” George Wolf to Samuel D. Ingham, May 23, 1831, Samuel D. Ingham Papers, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, University of Pennsylvania.

  6 “His administration is absolutely odious” PHC, VIII, 230.

  7 Louisa Adams called the battles within Louisa Catherine Adams to Charles Francis Adams, February, 21, 1831, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

  8 “the Jackson party is a good deal” John McLean to Samuel D. Ingham, May 7, 1831, Samuel D. Ingham Papers, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, University of Pennsylvania.

  9 “The administration at Washington cannot recover” Hayne, “Letters on the Nullification Movement in South Carolina,” 745.

10 Duff Green … told the Eaton story TPA, 170.

11 Eaton issued a challenge Ibid., 170–71.

12 to “know of you, whether or not you sanction” John Eaton to Samuel Ingham, June 17, 1831, Samuel D. Ingham Papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Pennsylvania.

13 three days of incendiary correspondence and confrontation Parton, Life, III, 364–68; see also Remini, Jackson, II, 320–21, and Memoirs of JQA, VIII, 371–75.

14 Ingham would not dignify Samuel D. Ingham to John H. Eaton, June 18, 1831, Samuel D. Ingham Papers, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, University of Pennsylvania.

15 “In the meantime” Ibid.

16 called Ingham’s note “impudent and insolent” Heiskell, AJETH, III, 338.

17 a brother-in-law of Eaton’s, Dr. Philip G. Randolph Ibid.

18 “a threat of personal violence” Ibid. 179 Eaton went nearly mad Ibid.

19 searched the city for Ingham Correspondence, IV, 300–1; see also Parton, Life, III, 366–67.

20 “lying in wait” Correspondence, IV, 300.

21 took up positions at the Treasury and in a grocery store Ibid.

22 “While prowling about” Duff Green to William Cabell Rives, June 21, 1831, Duff Green Papers, LOC.

23 what Green called “the firmness of the old gentleman” Ibid.

24 back on the march Correspondence, IV, 300.

25 Beseeching Jackson to intervene Ibid.

26 fled the city at four o’clock in the morning Ibid., 301.

27 Jackson dismissed Ingham’s story Ibid.

28 “The truth is Eaton alone did look for him” Ibid., 302.

29 It was Ingham’s guard Ibid.

30 the Ingham forces “had determined” Ibid.

31 sought security at home in Bucks County TPA, 173.

32 Jackson left for the Rip Raps Correspondence, IV, 302–3.

33 “acted a most ridiculous” PHC, VIII, 373.

34 “Eaton still remains in the city” Duff Green to Samuel D. Ingham, July 4, 1831, Samuel D. Ingham Papers, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, University of Pennsylvania.

35 In New York City that April 1831 Ammon, James Monroe, 571.

36 at Prince and Marion streets George Morgan, The Life of James Monroe (Boston, 1921), 439.

37 her father had come to live Ibid.

38 a boy who was in and out Ibid., 440.

39 “the recent quasi revolution” Memoirs of JQA, VIII, 360.

40 “If other revolutions partake of the sublime” John Quincy Adams to Benjamin Waterhouse, May 11, 1831, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

41 on a day “long enough” AMVB, 407–8.

42 “Our reception” Ibid.

43 “It is strange” Ibid.

44 “Nothing now is more probable” PHC, VIII, 366.

45 the people “know but a small part” Samuel D. Ingham to John Workman, July 8, 1831, Samuel D. Ingham Papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Pennsylvania.

46 rose early on the morning Hayne, “Letters on the Nullification Movement in South Carolina,” 741.

47 Hammond’s long account Ibid., 741–45.

48 Calhoun “immediately entered” Ibid., 742.

49 “as jealous of his military fame” Ibid.

50 “to throw himself entirely upon the South” Ibid., 744.

51 two subsequent encounters Ibid.

52 “there is a listlessness about him” Ibid., 745.

53 George McDuffie laid out his popular Freehling, ed., Nullification Era, 104–19.

54 if inaccurate Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 192–96, analyzes the economics and politics of McDuffie’s forty-bale theory.

55 “I will readily concede” Freehling, ed., Nullification Era, 116.

56 “The Union, such as” Ibid., 118.

57 Green’s fear, James Hamilton, Jr., said Hayne, “Letters on the Nullification Movement in South Carolina,” 746–47.

58 a daylong Fourth of July rally Freehling, ed., Nullification Era, 120–37.

59 “all the kindly feelings of the human heart” Ibid., 127.

60 secluded at the Rip Raps Correspondence, IV, 312.

61 a letter that … echoed Drayton Freehling, ed., Nullification Era, 136–37.

62 “I fear from my observations” PHC, VIII, 365.

63 Calhoun wrote what came to be known PJCC, XI, 413–40. See also Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, II, 113–16.

64 the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions See, for instance, Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 78–80.

65 came to light in 1832 Ellis, Union at Risk, 9.

66 Madison denied that the resolutions Ibid., 10–11.

67 nullification would create the mechanical means Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 319–21, is excellent on nullification’s theoretical underpinnings. (See ibid., 376–77, for the Fort Hill Address in particular.) See also Howe, What Hath God Wrought,395–410.

68 “Let it never be forgotten” PJCC, XI, 425.

69 “The rule of the majority” Ibid., 451.

70 “I have been deeply disappointed in him” Memoirs of JQA, VIII, 411. Adams was also hearing in these months that “the nullifiers of South Carolina are fully determined to proceed to the last extremities of civil war” (ibid., 410).

71 faced trouble at home Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, II, 116–17.

72 his recollection of his state of mind Carl Brent Swisher, ed., “Roger B. Taney’s ‘Bank War Manuscript,’ ” Parts 1 and 2, Maryland Historical Magazine 53 (June and September 1958), 103–30, 215–37.

73 “He was at that time vehemently assailed” Ibid., 117.

74 tall and thin H. H. Walker Lewis, Without Fear or Favor: A Biography of Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney (Boston, 1965), 3.

75 a memoir known as the “Bank War Manuscript” Ibid., 103–6. Taney never finished it, and it was subsequently lost, Swisher wrote, until it “was rediscovered in 1929 when at a public sale in Atlanta, Georgia, a locksmith purchased an old safe. Inside he found a mass of letters and other papers. He destroyed the letters, but saved a bound manuscript, which proved to be Taney’s longhand account …” (ibid., 105). See also John McDonough, “Notes on the Collection,” Roger B. Taney Papers, LOC.

76 “His wife had been” Ibid., 117–18.

77 larger and more complicated Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 282–83.

78 whether the opposition should try to impeach the president PHC, VIII, 360.

79 “Mr. Calhoun will run for president” Correspondence, IV, 286.

80 Thinking of the Hermitage Ibid., 283.

81 Jackson’s Tennessee friends … went to work EDT, I, 296–97. Jackson was newly angry over the fact that a pro-Calhoun Fourth of July gathering in Georgetown had toasted Emily as a defender of female virtue (Correspondence, IV, 311–12).

82 “Our true policy now” Correspondence, IV, 315.

83 after “the most mature reflection” Ibid., 323.

84 “All things will work” EDT, I, 296.

85 Jackson, pen in hand, was writing Correspondence, IV, 347; see also EDT, II, 1.

86 five paragraphs on politics Correspondence, IV, 347–48.

87 his room flooded with his family Ibid., 348.

88 “This moment the ladies have entered” Ibid.

89 “Uncle seems quite happy” EDT, II, 4–5.

90 when Margaret and John Eaton set out Correspondence, IV, 350.

91 “He ought to have left before this” Andrew Jackson, Jr., to William Donelson, September 9, 1831, Gertrude and Benjamin Caldwell Collection, The Hermitage.

92 “Nothing reconciles me” Correspondence, IV, 351.

93 “quite charmed” M.A. DeWolfe Howe, The Life and Letters of George Bancroft (New York, 1908), I, 192.

94 “He assured me” Ibid., 193.

95 his host’s “qualifications” Ibid., 192.

96 “told an anecdote” Thomas Woodson, ed., Nathaniel Hawthorne: The French and Italian Notebooks (Columbus, Oh., 1980), XVIII, 366.

97 “Surely, he was the greatest” Ibid., 367.

98 “I have no very important news” Andrew Jackson, Jr., to William Donelson, September 9, 1831, Gertrude and Benjamin Caldwell Collection, The Hermitage.

99 until the nomination actually reached Parton, Life, III, 375–82.

100 the Senate voted Remini, Andrew Jackson, II, 348–49, is a vivid account of the vote.

101 word arrived as a White House dinner party Ibid., 349.

102 refusal to confirm “has displayed” Correspondence, IV, 400.

103 Calhoun was “politically damned” Ibid., 402.

104 “factious opposition” Ibid., 401.

105 “It will kill him, sir” Parton, Life, III, 380.

106 “The common sentiment” EDT, II, 10–11.

107 Van Buren “received the tidings” Washington Irving, Letters (Boston, 1978–82), II, 693.

108 “Every thing is going on well” PHC, VIII, 465.

109 a resolution that the nomination Register of Debates in Congress, 22nd Congress, 1st session, VIII, 1833, 1310.

110 “To myself, I feel like a new man” EDT, II, 4.

111 she told him they were visiting the Hermitage Ibid., 15.

112 “very gay” Ibid., 5.

113 “Cousin Andrew arrived last Sunday with his bride” Ibid., 7.

114 Jackson had stayed Ibid., 6.

115 “We were quite gay” Ibid., 7.

116 “the same frank, gay, communicative woman” Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 319.

117 “Neither Mr. or Mrs. McLane” Ibid., 325.

118 “The argument was carried” Ibid., 326.

119 “Well, I will lead” Ibid.

120 “Now, trifling as this affair” Ibid., 326–27.

121 “The Bank question” Ibid., 327.

122 she and her husband had “several new neighbors” Ibid., 322.

123 a heavy snowstorm Ibid., 324.

124 one Clay son was currently battling Remini, Henry Clay, 368.

125 committed to “the Lunatic Asylum” Ibid., 375.

126 was “irreclaimably dissipated” Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 324.

127 Irving, who had come home Irving, Letters, II, 704–5.

128 “Mr. Clay is borne up” Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 324–25.

129 “Politics are waxing warmer” Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, February 18, 1832, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville.

Chapter 14: Now Let Him Enforce It

  1 Edward Livingston issued a revealing directive “Circular to the Ministers in Europe and at Rio de Janeiro,” Department of State, Washington, D.C., March 28, 1832, Diplomatic Instructions of the Department of State—Great Britain, Reel 73, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

  2 “It is observed” Ibid. The italics are Livingston’s.

  3 “an ambitious man” Swisher, ed., “Roger Taney’s ‘Bank War Manuscript,’ ” June 1958, 124.

  4 confirmed his longtime support of the Bank Ibid., 125.

  5 came to the Treasury in late 1831 Remini, Jackson, II, 335–42, is a good account of McLane and the Bank.

  6 most of the questions of the day Ibid., 337.

  7 The political price for the scheme Ibid.

  8 as Andrew Donelson read a draft Swisher, ed., “Roger Taney’s ‘Bank War Manuscript,’ ” June 1958, 122.

  9 so mild that it “startled” Roger Taney Ibid.

10 suggested Jackson “would now defer” Ibid., 122–23.

11 “Having conscientiously” Ibid., 123.

12 “The duty of making this objection” Ibid.

13 No one else in the office came to Taney’s side Ibid., 123–28.

14 “objected strongly to any alteration” Ibid., 124.

15 Jackson “always listened reluctantly” Ibid., 128.

16 some back-and-forth Ibid., 127.

17 McLane, it seemed, had won Ibid., 125.

18 soon in Andrew Donelson’s office Swisher, ed., “Roger Taney’s ‘Bank War Manuscript,’ ” September 1958, 215.

19 “Having conscientiously” Swisher, ed., “Roger Taney’s ‘Bank War Manuscript,’ ” June 1958, 123. Italics are mine; the final version is found in Messages, II, 1121.

20 decided to apply for recharter Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Bank War, 73–77.

21 Clay and Webster privately pressed Henry Clay to Nicholas Biddle, December 15, 1831, Nicholas Biddle Papers, LOC; Daniel Webster to Nicholas Biddle, December 18, 1831, Correspondence of Nicholas Biddle, 146; Remini, Life of Andrew Jackson, 222.

22 Taney said Biddle was “an ambitious man” Swisher, ed., “Roger Taney’s ‘Bank War Manuscript,’ ” June 1958, 109.

23 “If General Jackson does not kill” Hunt, Life of Edward Livingston, 382.

24 “The Bank, Mr. Van Buren, is trying to kill me” AMVB, 625.

25 In addition to fighting the flu Remini, Andrew Jackson, II, 346.

26 a brief, painful operation Parton, Life, III, 415–16.

27 “Go ahead” Ibid., 415.

28 Mary Eastin was planning her wedding EDT, II, 11.

29 Lucius Polk, a cousin of James K. Polk’s Ibid., 12.

30 “I believe I may say” Ibid., 12–13.

31 “We farmers generally” Andrew Jackson, Jr., to William Donelson, September 9, 1831, Gertrude and Benjamin Caldwell Collection, The Hermitage. In February 1832, Andrew junior echoed the point. “The times being hard even here in money matters,” he wrote, “my father has been unable to comply with” coming up with $1,500 for a transaction (Andrew Jackson, Jr., to William Donelson, February 6, 1832, Gertrude and Benjamin Caldwell Collection, The Hermitage).

32 the “quite warm” Andrew Jackson, Jr., to William Donelson, February 6, 1832, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville.

33 the Black Hawk War Patrick J. Jung, The Black Hawk War of 1832 (Norman, Okla., 2007), is a strong recent study, as is Kerry A. Trask, Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America (New York, 2007). Frank E. Stevens, The Black Hawk War, Including a Review of Black Hawk’s Life(Chicago, 1903), is a classic account. See also Anthony F. C. Wallace, Prelude to Disaster: The Course of Indian-White Relations Which Led to the Black Hawk War (Springfield, Ill., 1970); Prucha, Great Father, 253–57; and, for the documentary record, Ellen M. Whitney, ed., Black Hawk War, 1831–1832, 2 vols. in 4 parts (Springfield, Ill., 1970–78).

34 there would be British Jung, Black Hawk War of 1832, 65–67; the British along the Canadian border had long been a source of anxiety for whites in the region. As in the South, Indian leaders had fought with the British in the War of 1812—and Black Hawk was among their number (Trask, Black Hawk, 109–10).

35 and fellow Indian support Jung, Black Hawk War of 1832, 5, is very good on the internal Indian rivalries that crippled resistance to white expansion. Jung wrote: “Another factor that had a significant impact upon the course of the Black Hawk War was the escalation of intertribal warfare among the Indian communities of the upper Great Lakes and upper Mississippi Valley. In the years immediately preceding the conflict, the tribes of this region had coalesced into two loosely organized alliance systems that fought with increasing frequency and intensity.… The fighting gave [white] military commanders and Indian agents a tremendous opportunity … and both exploited these divisions during the Black Hawk War by using the enemies of the Sauks and Foxes to engage Black Hawk’s band.”

36 the only blood he shed Abraham Lincoln, The Language of Liberty: The Political Speeches and Writings of Abraham Lincoln (Washington, D.C., 2004), 114.

37 after a ceremonial feast of boiled dog Jung, Black Hawk War of 1832, 87. It was, Jung wrote, “a common ceremonial meal among Great Lakes Indians.”

38 Black Hawk sent emissaries Ibid., 88.

39 seem to have had a good deal to drink Ibid., 89.

40 while accounts are confused Ibid., 88.

41 they, not Black Hawk’s warriors, shed first blood Ibid., 89.

42 Forty … killing twelve Ibid.

43 Jackson ordered Winfield Scott into action Elliott, Winfield Scott, 261–62.

44 deadly outbreak of cholera Ibid., 265–66.

45 Landing at Fort Gratiot Ibid., 266.

46 escaped to the forests Ibid.

47 only to die on the run Ibid.

48 wolves and wild hogs Ibid.

49 the Battle of Bad Axe Jung, Black Hawk War of 1832, 166–75.

50 a new Supreme Court decision Norgren, Cherokee Cases, as noted above, is an excellent survey of the 1831 and 1832 cases, their origins, and their implications. Edwin A. Miles, “After John Marshall’s Decision: Worcester v. Georgia and the Nullification Crisis,” The Journal of Southern History 39 (November 1973), 519–44, is also critical to understanding the issues. See also Satz, American Indian Policy in the Jacksonian Era, 40–52.

51 Cherokee Nation v. The State of Georgia Ibid., 98–111. “Valid treaties with the United States guaranteed their sovereignty, which represented nothing if not the power to govern themselves. Georgia’s proposed assertion of jurisdiction violated those treaties—treaties that according to Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution were the supreme law of the land, superior to state law” (Norgren, Cherokee Cases, 48).

52 Two Christian missionaries Smith, John Marshall, 517.

53 “repugnant to the Constitution, laws, and treaties” Ibid., 518.

54 Justice Joseph Story suspected the matter Ibid.

55 “Our public affairs” PHC, VIII, 472.

56 “We were at the Capitol yesterday” Susan Donelson to William Gaston, March 12, 1832, William Gaston Papers, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

57 Horace Greeley later claimed Miles, “After John Marshall’s Decision: Worcester v. Georgia and the Nullification Crisis,” 519. The remark first appeared in his 1865 The American Conflict: A History of the Great Rebellion in the United States of America, 1860–’64; Greeley’s source was Massachusetts congressman George N. Briggs.

58 historically questionable Ibid., 528–29. Miles wrote: “If [Jackson] made the statement attributed to him about John Marshall’s decision, no one recorded it until years later, but he did refer to the ruling as ‘still born’ when Georgia refused to honor the Court’s mandate. And on one occasion, ‘he sportively said in private conversation that if … called on to support the decree of the Court he will call on those who have brought about the decision to enforce it[;] that he will call on the Militia of Massachusetts.’ ”

59 “The decision of the Supreme Court” Correspondence, IV, 430.

60 reconstructed the chronology of the case Miles, “After John Marshall’s Decision: Worcester v. Georgia and the Nullification Crisis,” 527.

61 In the strictest sense of the law Prucha, Great Father, 212. As Prucha wrote: “United States marshals could not be sent to free the prisoners until the state judge had refused formally to comply with the order. But Georgia ignored the court’s proceedings, and no written refusal was forthcoming. Anyway, the Supreme Court adjourned before it could report Georgia’s failure to conform. Nor was there any other procedure that Jackson could adopt, even if he had wanted to.”

62 at least two factors at work Ibid., 212–13.

63 the administration convinced Wilentz, Andrew Jackson, 141–42.

64 Emily gave birth to her third child EDT, II, 17.

65 “I am thankful” Emily Donelson to Mary Donelson, June 17, 1832, Mrs. John Lawrence Merritt Collection.

66 “I have been very well” Ibid. Emily added: “I am quite well now and have been all about upstairs, but have not been down yet, though I will in a day or two. I had an old nurse who stayed with me the month. She has now left me and I miss her a good deal. I have no one now but Eliza and a little girl Andrew bought about 8 years old who does very well to rock the crib. He bought her brother who is 10. They are very bright and will make good servants in the course of time but are not much use at present. I have been very lonesome since Mary left me though I have had a great many visitors every day it is not like having some one always in the house.”

67 “I do not know yet” Ibid.

68 “I had hoped before this” Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, late June 1832, Mrs. John Lawrence Merritt Collection.

69 trouble had begun in Quebec Parton, Life, III, 418–20. This was the cholera that had so decimated General Scott’s mission in the Black Hawk War.

70 On June 27, 1832, Henry Clay proposed PHC, VIII, 545–46.

71 could see Clay’s initiative A woman styling herself as “A Daughter of Massachusetts” wrote him “to offer you my sincere acknowledgement for your recent noble and spirited avowal of your belief of the Christian religion, and your reverence for its precepts; and I can assure you, Sir, that a large majority of the daughters of the descendants of the Pilgrims unite with me in the same sentiment” (PHC, VIII, 549).

72 he, too, believed in “the efficacy” Correspondence, IV, 447.

73 “I could not do otherwise” Ibid.

74 “It is the province” Ibid. Jackson’s reluctance to carry the presidency into the religious realm was shared by believers who thought that the church, broadly defined, risked corruption by contact with the government—that believers should, in the words of Roger Williams, the dissenter who left the Massachusetts Bay Colony to found Rhode Island, cherish a “hedge or wall of separation between the Garden of the Church and the wilderness of the world”—in order to protect religion from politics, not politics from religion (see my American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation [New York, 2006], 54).

75 “I am no sectarian” Ibid., 256.

76 was prepared to veto Remini, Jackson, II, 361.

77 a veto message written by Louis McLane Draft of Veto Message, Van Buren Papers, LOC.

78 “In the spirit” Ibid.

Chapter 15: The Fury of a Chained Panther

  1 Biddle thought he had Jackson where he wanted him Swisher, ed., “Roger Taney’s ‘Bank War Manuscript,’ ” September 1958, 220.

  2 “He was offended” Ibid.

  3 The Senate passed the bill Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Bank War, 80.

  4 One story sheds light Swisher, ed., “Roger Taney’s ‘Bank War Manuscript,’ ” September 1958, 221–23.

  5 “Now I do not mean” Ibid., 222.

  6 “is becoming desperate” Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, February 18, 1832, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville.

  7 Jackson sent Taney Swisher, ed., “Roger B. Taney’s ‘Bank War Manuscript,’ ” September 1958, 226–28. I am indebted to Taney’s description of the writing of the veto.

  8 Taney joined Donelson … “even hearing” Ibid., 227.

  9 in the northern light Earl’s room faced north. Author tour of the White House.

10 “It is to be regretted” Messages, II, 1153. Feller, Jacksonian Promise, 169–75, is interesting on the veto and its implications, as is Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 373–86, and Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 367–74.

11 “The Congress, the Executive” Ibid., 1145.

12 “Sir, no President” Remini, Life of Andrew Jackson, 231.

13 “I have now done my duty” Messages, II, 1154.

14 Whose vision would prevail Jackson’s veto—indeed, his whole presidency—raises questions about the nature of power in American life. Gerard N. Magliocca, Andrew Jackson and the Constitution: The Rise and Fall of Generational Regimes (Lawrence, Kans., 2007), 48–60, is especially good on these issues (as are his source notes). Magliocca wrote: “The rise of the executive branch as the driving force for constitutional reform, which was contrary to the expectation of the Framers, is one of the most important institutional developments during the last two centuries. Jefferson was the first to experiment with using his office as a focal point of the popular will, which explains why leaders in the 1830s often invoked his acts as a precedent for Jackson’s decisions. But Jefferson always publicly proclaimed his deference to Congress. What makes Jackson unique is that he was the first president to declare that he was the tribune of the people and could assert an independent constitutional vision on their behalf” (ibid., 56). Magliocca noted that Lincoln defied Dred Scott and that Franklin Roosevelt threatened to defy the Supreme Court over abandoning the gold standard during the New Deal (ibid.).

15 Jackson believed that “the intelligence and wisdom” Messages, II, 1154.

16 banking and finance and the American economy Peter Temin, The Jacksonian Economy (New York, 1969), is a strong account and an interesting argument. Temin is responding in part to Schlesinger’s classic work on the Jacksonian period, The Age of Jackson, which was written in the New Deal era.

17 The veto message “has all the fury” PHC, VIII, 556.

18 “profound calculation” Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 248.

19 a lucrative pepper trade Belohlavek, “Let the Eagle Soar!” 151–53.

20 There was also a good deal of specie Naval Affairs, 22nd Congress, 1st Session, No. 485, 155.

21 as well as opium Ibid.

22 was ashore attending to the weighing of the pepper Ibid., 154.

23 “rendered desperate by their habits” Ibid.

24 stabbed Charles Knight, the first officer Ibid., 155.

25 in his side and in his back Ibid.

26 two seamen, John Davis and George Chester Ibid., 153.

27 other crew members dove overboard Ibid., 155.

28 plundered the ship Ibid., 154.

29 tried to return Ibid., 154–55, details Endicott’s escape from the port.

30 A local rajah, Chute Dulah, accepted Ibid., 155.

31 Endicott, with help, retook his ship Ibid.

32 “Who great man now” Ibid.

33 “May the mistake” Ibid.

34 the president of the United States believed that “the flag of the Union” Ibid., 153. The orders were signed by Navy Secretary Levi Woodbury.

35 “demand of the rajah” Ibid.

36 If talks failed Ibid.

37 “other ships-of-war” Ibid.

38 Arriving at Quallah Battoo Ibid., 157.

39 “No demand of satisfaction” Ibid., 156.

40 An invading force of 250 sailors and marines Belohlavek, “Let the Eagle Soar!” 155.

41 used javelins and darts Naval Affairs, 22nd Congress, 1st Session, No. 485, 157.

42 and killing more than 100 natives Belohlavek, “Let the Eagle Soar!” 156.

43 the ship’s medicine chest Naval Affairs, 22nd Congress, 1st Session, No. 485, 156.

44 assault on “a settlement filled” National Intelligencer, July 13, 1832. The original attack on Jackson was published on July 10, 1832, the same day the Bank veto went to Congress (Belohlavek, “Let the Eagle Soar!” 157).

45 “from an impulse of national pride” National Intelligencer, July 13, 1832.

46 asked for copies of the relevant papers on Thursday, July 12, 1832 Belohlavek, “Let the Eagle Soar!” 159.

47 Edward Everett of Massachusetts, a committed National Republican Ibid., 161.

48 “From the papers communicated” Ibid.

49 To avoid embarrassing Downes Ibid., 159–61.

50 the episode … faded away Ibid., 162.

51 jotting a note to Kendall Correspondence, IV, 465. The emphasis is Jackson’s.

52 “I have been most kindly received” Irving, Letters, II, 705. The letter was written to Peter Irving on June 16, 1832.

53 “The campaign is over” PHC, VIII, 555.

54 Emily took a trip to Baltimore Emily Donelson to Mary Donelson, [September 1832,] Mrs. John Lawrence Merritt Collection.

55 “I regret the continuance” Correspondence, IV, 475.

56 a letter to her mother Emily Donelson to Mary Donelson, [September 1832,] Mrs. John Lawrence Merritt Collection. After mentioning her own health, Emily added: “As soon as I got well Andrew was taken with the same and when we arrived at the springs looked like a ghost, but we had not been there more than a day before he began to improve and continued to do so until we reached home. We were at the Springs 10 days, were very much pleased and I have been very sorry that I did not remain longer but as my husband was obliged to be in Washington I thought we had all better be together and we were not then so much alarmed about the cholera.”

57 In the early hours of Monday, August 22, 1831 Freehling, Road to Disunion, 180.

58 entered the house of his master Ibid.

59 a broader spree Ibid., 180–81. See also Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 323–27.

60 killed about fifty-seven whites, a large majority of them women and children Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 325.

61 believed that “the Spirit” Ibid., 324.

62 A solar eclipse that year Ibid.

63 answered in kind by whites Ibid., 325.

64 a debate over partial and gradual emancipation Ibid., 325–27. See also Freehling, Road to Disunion, 181–96.

65 to “await a more definite” Ibid., 326.

66 “I heard” Correspondence, IV, 470. Calhoun, needless to say, would have disagreed. Ensconced at Fort Hill, Calhoun was thinking grandly, and unrealistically. Writing on the day of the state elections in South Carolina, Calhoun said: “The State rights party will triumph by a large majority. A convention of the State will certainly be called and the act nullified; but any movement will be made with the view of preserving the Union. The end arrived at will be a general Convention of all the States, in order to adjust all constitutional differences and thusly restore general harmony. We have run nearly fifty years on the first tack. It is a wonderful run; but it is time to bring up the reckoning in order to take a fresh departure” (PJCC, XI, 665). There was at least one obvious problem with Calhoun’s musings: they took no account of Andrew Jackson. Calhoun’s political judgment when it came to assessing Jackson was matched in its mediocrity only by Henry Clay’s.

67 legislature was to meet on Monday, October 22, 1832 Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 260.

68 plans for a possible mutiny Correspondence, IV, 475–76.

69 “The Presidential question” PJCC, XI, 665.

Chapter 16: Hurra for the Hickory Tree!

  1 the first major personal presidential campaign tour For accounts of the 1832 campaign, see, for instance, Robert V. Remini, “Election of 1832,” in History of American Presidential Elections, 1789–2001, ed. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Fred L. Israel, vol. 2 (Philadelphia, 2002), 495–574; Cole, Presidency of Andrew Jackson, 137–52; Parton, Life, III, 417–32; Remini, Jackson, II, 374–92; and Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 372–74.

  2 In Baltimore in late May 1832 Parton, Life, III, 421.

  3 the 1826 disappearance and suspected murder of William Morgan Steven C. Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730–1840 (Williamsburg, Va., 1996), 277–79.

  4 A strong political force Ibid., 280–83.

  5 the Anti-Masons nominated William Wirt Ibid., 282. See also Remini, “Election of 1832,” 500–5. Charles Bankhead’s assessment of the Anti-Mason movement is interesting. Writing Palmerston in October 1831, Bankhead said: “Delegates from thirteen states of the Union assembled last week at Baltimore for the purpose of nominating ‘an Anti-Masonic President and Vice-President.’ … It is necessary to premise that about four years ago a man named Morgan, in the State of New York, suddenly disappeared and no trace of him has since been discovered. It was suspected that he made some revelations relative to Free-Masonry, which, as a Mason, he was bound by oath to keep secret. Some short time afterward he was carried off and supposed to have been murdered by other Free Masons who thought themselves absolved by their Masonic oaths in pursuing to any extent any member of the Fraternity who should transgress the regulations. Out of this circumstance grew a party espousing Anti Masonic opinions, and they have not hesitated to propagate the idea that Free-Masonry in this country has assumed such an alarming importance that the very Courts of Justice are, in a degree, subservient to its regulations. On this belief gaining ground, many of its supporters conceived that the Executive Officers of the Government should not belong to the society of Free Masons.… General Jackson is a Free Mason and under the pretence of objecting to his reelection upon principle, the Anti Masonic meeting (composed, in great measure, of Northern and Eastern men) make use of that objection politically to defeat his prospects at the ensuing election” (Charles Bankhead to Viscount Palmerston, October 4, 1831, National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew).

  6 Clay, the National Republican nominee Remini, Henry Clay, 403–11, is a good account of the campaign from Clay’s perspective.

  7 There were barbecues Remini, “Election of 1832,” 513. Here is Remini on the barbecue factor: “In addition to parades, the Democrats believed in barbecues as an important technique in winning the voter’s favor. Even when they lost local elections, as they did in Kentucky, the Democrats seemed to think a barbecue was in order—or so the Louisville Journal reported. ‘There seems to be no way of convincing these fellows that they are fairly beaten. They have one sort of answering for every thing. If we show them that we have elected our Lieutenant Governor by a majority of nearly 30,000, they reply by swallowing a pig. If we show them that we have gained great strength in the Senate, and added to our superiority, they reply by devouring a turkey. If we show them that we have obtained a majority of two-thirds in the House of Representatives, they reply by pouring off a pint of whiskey or apple-toddy. There is no withstanding such arguments. We give it up’ ” (ibid.).

  8 “The Jackson cause” Ibid., 509.

  9 “THE KING UPON THE THRONE” Ibid., 511.

10 took in a mile-long Jackson parade Parton, Life, III, 425.

11 Duff Green watched the rise PJCC, XI, 667–68. Green added, alluding to the Anti-Masons: “If I were permitted to make a suggestion I would say that we must organize against their organization and the question to be considered is how is that organization to take place.”

12 his autumn journey from Tennessee to Washington According to Remini’s account, Jackson denied that he was campaigning, at least in Tennessee (Remini, Jackson, II, 380).

13 at a Democratic barbecue in Lexington Ibid., 384.

14 “This is certainly” Ibid.

15 Blair helpfully published Ibid.

16 saying he had promised that “whilst I continued” PHC, VIII, 555.

17 “His opponents (and they are not few or unimportant)” Charles Bankhead to Viscount Palmerston, October 28, 1832, National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew.

18 “belong to history” Parton, Life, III, 425–26.

19 won overwhelmingly Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 373–74.

20 The popular vote was closer Remini, “Election of 1832,” 515.

21 Jackson’s popularity was “so unbounded” Charles Bankhead to Viscount Palmerston, November 13, 1832, National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew.

22 “The excitement during the last fortnight” Ibid.

23 “The dark cloud” PHC, VIII, 599.

24 the South Carolina convention nullified the Tariff of 1832 Freehling, ed., Nullification Era, 152.

25 a story making the rounds “The Life and Times of James Hamilton of South Carolina by S. Hamilton,” material owned by Herman P. Hamilton, Chester, S.C., James Hamilton Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, microfilm.

26 John Randolph of Roanoke was supposed Ibid.

27 “It is no longer to be doubted” William Gaston, “Reply to invitation to dine in Montgomery 1832,” October 3, 1832, William Gaston Papers, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Chapter 17: A Dreadful Crisis of Excitement and Violence

  1 sat down by his fireside Pierce M. Butler to James Henry Hammond, December 18, 1832, James Hammond Papers, LOC.

  2 “bent on enforcing his mandate” Ibid.

  3 volunteered his military services Hayne, “Letters on the Nullification Movement in South Carolina,” 751.

  4 appointed a new military aide-de-camp Ibid., 752–53.

  5 “this crisis in our affairs” Ibid., 753.

  6 issued detailed secret orders Ibid., 753–55.

  7 corps of “Mounted Minute Men” Ibid., 754.

  8 “My plan is this” Ibid.

  9 “a short yellow crane Plume” Ibid., 755. “Palmetto Buttons of a beautiful pattern” could be purchased, Hayne said, at Roche’s in Charleston.

10 “Keep me constantly advised” Correspondence, V, 18.

11 “I have on every occasion” Correspondence, IV, 481.

12 thought Charleston more worried than exuberant Samuel Cram Jackson Diary, November 27, 1832, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill.

13 “Anxiety and fear” Ibid.

14 “a dreadful crisis of excitement and violence” Samuel Cram Jackson Diary, November 28, 1832, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill.

15 “the custom house where the battle will be fought” Correspondence, IV, 481.

16 “We are not disposed” Ibid.

17 recorded a near massacre Samuel Cram Jackson Diary, October 20, 1832, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill.

18 “their blood was up” Ibid.

19 Hotheads in the Union ranks Ibid.

20 Jackson dispatched George Breathitt Correspondence, IV, 484–85.

21 “collect all the information” Ibid., 485.

22 Poinsett briefed Jackson Ibid., 486–88.

23 “Both parties [of the nullifiers]” Ibid., 487.

24 “a Southern man” Ibid., 487–88.

25 “We had rather die” Ibid., 492.

26 “I fully concur with you” Ibid., 493.

27 “calmness and firmness” Ibid., 494.

28 drafted in something of a conciliatory spirit Ellis, Union at Risk, 81–83.

29 “This is all we want” Correspondence, IV, 489.

30 created, he said, “discontent” Messages, II, 1161.

31 “Limited to a general superintending power” Ibid., 1169.

32 was “in substance a complete surrender” Memoirs of JQA, VIII, 503.

33 Jackson’s December strategy was threefold For my narrative and analysis of Jackson and nullification, I am indebted to, among others: Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 265–97; Ellis, Union at Risk, 74–177; Feller, Jacksonian Promise, 164–66; Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 395–410; and Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 374–89.

34 “The President has instructed me” Lewis Cass to Joel Poinsett, December 7, 1832, Poinsett Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Chapter 18: The Mad Project of Disunion

  1 alone in his office Parton, Life, III, 466.

  2 standing at his desk Jackson used a standup desk. Seale, The White House, 90.

  3 a steel pen Ibid.

  4 “A gentleman who came in” Ibid.

  5 sent across Lafayette Square to Decatur House Eberlein and Van Dyke Hubbard, Historic Houses of George-Town and Washington City, 269. Livingston lived at the Decatur House, on the northwest corner of Lafayette Park. Hunt, Life of Edward Livingston,371–73, argues for Livingston’s authorship of the proclamation; Parton, Life, III, 466, insists on Jackson’s. The drafts show both men’s work, though the spirit and logic are clearly Jackson’s.

  6 As the document went to press Parton, Life, III, 466–67.

  7 “Those are my views” Ibid., 467.

  8 “incompatible with the existence of the Union” Messages, II, 1206.

  9 an option “at an earlier day” Ibid., 1205.

10 “The war into [which] we were forced” Ibid.

11 “forms a government, not a league” Ibid., 1211.

12 “Contemplate the condition of that country” Ibid., 1217.

13 “Carolina is one of these proud states” Ibid.

14 “But the dictates of a high duty” Ibid., 1217–18.

15 “destined to bring about another reign of terror” Hayne, “Letters on the Nullification Movement in South Carolina,” 751.

16 “wise, determined and firm” Correspondence, IV, 502.

17 “I pray God to preserve” Ibid., 499.

18 Marshall became one of Jackson’s “warmest supporters” Smith, John Marshall: Definer of a Nation, 519–20. The characterization is from Joseph Story, who includes himself in it.

19 “One short week” PHC, VIII, 603.

20 “Who can have confidence” Ibid., 609.

21 the “mass of the people” Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, II, 172.

22 “The whole subject is discussed” Philip Hone, The Diary of Philip Hone, 1828–1851 (Boston, 1889), 68–69.

23 “measures have been taken” Hayne, “Letters on the Nullification Movement in South Carolina,” 753. 231 “These men are reckless” Correspondence, IV, 502.

24 “If I can judge” Ibid., 502–3.

25 Hayne ordered the preparation Hayne, “Letters on the Nullification Movement in South Carolina,” 755.

26 “What have we to fear” Correspondence, IV, 504.

27 “I am lingering here” Irving, Letters, II, 742.

28 more than two thousand people there Samuel Cram Jackson Diary, November 29, 1832, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill.

29 “I hope these southern Nullifiers” Rebecca Gratz, Letters of Rebecca Gratz (Philadelphia, 1929), 165–66.

30 resigned the vice presidency PJCC, XI, 685.

31 spent an entire Sunday William Gaston to Mrs. H. M. Manly, December 31, 1832, William Gaston Papers, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill.

32 Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi Ellis, Union at Risk, 102–40; Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 203–5.

33 In Alabama, the influential congressman Dixon Hall Lewis Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 203.

34 In Mississippi, Senator George Poindexter Richard Aubrey McLemore, ed., A History of Mississippi (Jackson, Miss., 1973), I, 276–83, covers the state’s role in nullification. “It is true that Senator Poindexter supported the theory of nullification in the Senate and opposed the president in the confrontation with South Carolina” (ibid.).

35 John A. Quitman, the chancellor of the state courts “Back on the home front the chief proponent of nullification was John A. Quitman. He joined Poindexter in predicting catastrophic consequences for the South on other basic issues, including slavery, if all Southerners did not stand together on state rights and nullification” (ibid., 277). For Quitman in particular, see Robert E. May, John A. Quitman: Old South Crusader (Baton Rouge, La., 1985), 29–75.

36 “the very existence” Cleo Hearon, “Nullification in Mississippi,” Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society 12 (1912), 45.

37 Georgia stood by Jackson Ellis, Union at Risk, 102–22.

38 In North Carolina, officials Ibid., 159.

39 Virginia was perhaps the greatest threat Ibid., 123–40.

40 figures like the aged James Madison Ibid., 125–29.

41 the state’s governor, John Floyd Ibid.

42 it was all “for the purpose” Ibid., 128.

43 not until Jackson’s Nullification Proclamation Ibid., 129.

44 The vision of Jackson sweeping into the South Ibid., 129–30.

45 “He pursues enemies” Ibid., 130.

46 Floyd’s confidence grew Ibid., 130–31.

47 the chief justice’s post-proclamation euphoria John Marshall to William Gaston, December 20, 1832, William Gaston Papers, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill.

48 “I look with anxious solicitude” Ibid.

49 Floyd was inclined Ellis, Union at Risk, 130. “If he uses force, I will oppose him with a military force,” he wrote in his diary (ibid.).

50 “Separated from the East” Correspondence to John Branch, January 31, 1833, John Branch Papers, LOC.

51 “Insane as South Carolina unquestionably is” John Marshall to William Gaston, December 20, 1832, William Gaston Papers, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill.

52 “Were an open declaration” Ibid.

53 “Old men are timid” Ibid.

54 Jackson put on a brave face Correspondence, V, 4.

55 “Virginia, except” Ibid.

56 “the union shall be preserved” Ibid.

57 “I will die with the Union” Correspondence, IV, 500.

58 “Your account of Mr. Calhoun” Leonidas Polk to Rufus Polk, February 28, 1833, Leonidas Polk Collection, The University of the South, University Archives and Special Collections, Sewanee.

59 New Year’s Day 1833 EDT, II, 28–29.

60 skirmished a bit Ibid., 27.

61 “was always of a tyrannical disposition” Ibid.

62 “I am very glad that Uncle” Ibid.

63 he had lost a Senate bid TPA, 206–7.

64 “She has been quite ill” EDT, II, 26.

65 “seem to enjoy themselves” Ibid., 37.

66 “You must excuse this scrawl” Ibid., 28.

67 when Washington Irving called Irving, Letters, II, 743–44.

68 Irving “came away with a still warmer feeling” Ibid.

69 introduced the administration’s tariff reform bill Remini, Jackson, III, 29. See also Cole, Presidency of Andrew Jackson, 164–65, and Freehling, Road to Disunion, 283.

70 Supreme Court justices gathered to dine EDT, II, 33–35.

71 “If you were to see him” Ibid., 35.

72 Justice Story, Mary said, “appears to be” Ibid.

73 “what is more remarkable” Ibid., 34.

74 Livingston had not bothered PJCC, XII, 5.

75 “Our cause is doing well” Ibid., 6.

Chapter 19: We Are Threatened to Have Our Throats Cut

  1 did not yet know …”whether some of the eastern states” Correspondence, V, 3.

  2 “There is nothing certain” PHC, VIII, 613.

  3 “The people will never again” PJCC, XII, 8–9.

  4 a conversation he had at the White House Correspondence, V, 4–5.

  5 the state legislature had failed to condemn nullification Ellis, Union at Risk, 141–57.

  6 remained in New York in these tense weeks Correspondence, V, 4. For example, on January 16, 1833, the day Jackson introduced the Force Bill to give him the power to put down South Carolina if it came to that, the president of the United States was reduced to adding this postscript to a letter to Van Buren: “I will be happy to hear from you often, and see you as early as a just sense of delicacy will permit” (ibid.).

  7 worried that the proclamation Ellis, Union at Risk, 145–57, details Van Buren’s complex balancing act. See also Latner, Presidency of Andrew Jackson, 152–55.

  8 For half an hour Correspondence, V, 4.

  9 “I learned from him” Ibid.

10 were “holding regular drills” Ibid.

11 had allowed the American flag to be flown upside down Ibid.

12 It was a dark report It was gloomy by design. Jackson needed to impress the New Yorker with the gravity of the moment. From the White House Wright went to see Cass at the War Department, who pressed the points Jackson had made, this time with particular reference to tariff reform. Jackson and his men knew what they were doing: New York and Van Buren needed to be convinced to go along with lowering the tariff in order to relieve the pressure for armed conflict, and Wright was being used as the messenger back to Albany. Jackson was playing the political game with shrewdness and skill. “The Secy. of War assures me that the reasons to apprehend force constantly increase and that he has little hope that any measures which can be taken will prevent it,” Wright told Van Buren, “but that the South will remain firm if Mr. Verplanck’s bill is passed, and without any bill there is reason to fear for the whole South, even for Tennessee.” Wright also heard that General Scott was “saying that blood would be shed and that he did not believe any thing could prevent it” (ibid.).

13 the Force Bill Latner, Presidency of Andrew Jackson, 150–51; and Ellis, Union at Risk, 94.

14 to move the collection of federal revenue Ellis, Union at Risk, 94.

15 Felix Grundy of Tennessee Ibid., 160.

16 Calhoun was not yet in the chamber PJCC, XII, 15.

17 had joined the Union Ibid., 14.

18 “No—I go too far” Ibid.

19 the prospect of an armed Jacksonian dictatorship Ibid.

20 “warmth” Ibid., 15.

21 he knew was “unbecoming” Ibid.

22 had “great effect” Ibid.

23 rushed to reassure Jackson Correspondence, V, 5.

24 more hopeful than realistic Calhoun understood that the Force Bill message was problematic for Jackson, and possibly providential for South Carolina’s cause. “I have no doubt the message will do more for us than the Proclamation,” Calhoun wrote James Hamilton, Jr. “It has roused the Southern members more than any event which has yet occurred. The excitement extends even to the administration men of that quarter. I do not doubt that our cause gains daily and that in less than six months the South will be united if we but act prudently.” It was a sound reading of a fluid political moment (PJCC, XII, 16).

25 Late that night Correspondence, V, 5. “I write in great haste, late at night, and much fatigued, and indisposed by a bad cold,” Jackson wrote. “You will excuse this scrawl, it is intended for your own eye.”

26 “Give me the earliest intelligence” Ibid., 5–6.

27 “The Nullifiers are extremely active” Ibid., 8.

28 to prepare for “protracted warfare” Hayne, “Letters on the Nullification Movement in South Carolina,” 760.

29 “revolutionists in North Carolina” Correspondence, V, 8.

30 “I expect the next move will be secession” Ibid., 9.

31 “The nullifiers in your state” Ibid., 14.

32 “He has marked out” PHC, VIII, 617.

33 the Force Bill “arms the executive” Ellis, Union at Risk, 161.

34 Even a senator friendly to Jackson Ibid., 162.

35 disliked putting “the whole military” Ibid.

36 Much of the Force Bill I drew on Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 284–86, for the details in this paragraph.

37 After flirting with Calhoun and the nullifiers, Georgia Ellis, Union at Risk, 116.

38 Alabama, Mississippi, and North Carolina Ibid., 158–59.

39 “We detest the tariff” McLemore, History of Mississippi, I, 278.

40 Under Governor Floyd, Virginia weighed Ellis, Union at Risk, 136–37.

41 “Even if the Governor of Virginia” Correspondence, V, 12.

42 “It is very late” Ibid.

43 “I understand that Governor Hayne” Irving, Letters, II, 751.

44 held a day of fasting Samuel Cram Jackson Diary, January 31, 1833, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill.

45 “All went to the Methodists” Ibid.

46 “We walked up to the Capitol” Fanny Kemble, Fanny Kemble: The American Journals (London, 1990), 84–85. The entry is dated Monday, January 14, 1833. “We went first into the Senate, or upper house, because Webster was speaking, whom I especially wished to hear,” Kemble wrote. “The room itself is neither large nor lofty; the senators sit in two semi-circular rows, turned towards the President, in comfortable arm-chairs. On the same ground, and literally sitting among the senators, were a whole regiment of ladies, whispering, talking, laughing, and fidgeting. A gallery, level with the floor, and only divided by a low partition from the main room, ran around the apartment: this, too, was filled with pink, and blue, and yellow bonnets; and every now and then, while the business of the house was going on, and Webster speaking, a tremendous bustle, and waving of feathers, and rustling of silks, would be heard, and in came streaming a reinforcement of political beauties, and then would commence a jumping up, a sitting down, a squeezing through, and a how-d’ye-doing, and a shaking of hands.”

47 the narrow steps Author observation. I am grateful to Donald A. Ritchie, associate historian of the U.S. Senate, for giving me a tour of the Capitol as it was in Jackson’s day.

48 GENTLEMEN WILL BE PLEASED Ibid.

49 The women, Coffee said, “fill” EDT, II, 37.

50 “I can give you no definitive opinion” PHC, VIII, 607–8.

51 “To take issue now” PJCC, XII, 38–39.

52 The nullifiers agreed Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 288.

53 “The famous day fixed” Samuel Cram Jackson Diary, February 1, 1833, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill. 243 at work on a compromise tariff PHC, VIII, 604–5. 243 spoke in the Senate Ibid., 621–22. 243 Praising “that great principle” Remini, Henry Clay, 426.

54 “If there be any” Ibid.

55 “Notwithstanding all their tyranny” Correspondence, V, 14–16.

56 Jackson was another Macbeth Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, II, 178.

57 “a question of self-preservation” PJCC, XII, 69.

58 “it will be resisted” Ibid.

59 “Mr. Calhoun is not a fine looking man” EDT, II, 32.

60 Calhoun, Clay said, seemed “careworn” Freehling, Road to Disunion, 266. See also Peterson, Great Triumvirate, 222–23.

61 Webster, who favored the Force Bill, rose Remini, Daniel Webster, 378.

62 “The people of the United States” Ibid., 379.

63 “The bill granting the powers” Correspondence, V, 18.

64 “Well, Clay, these are fine fellows” Remini, Henry Clay, 429.

65 the Compromise of 1833 Peterson, Great Triumvirate, 222–33. Freehling, Road to Disunion, 283–85, details the Calhoun-Clay negotiations over tariff rates—negotiations Clay dominated. On the ground in South Carolina, Poinsett worried about compromise. To him, facing the nullifiers close at hand, cutting the tariff was giving the potential rebels at least part of what they wanted. In essence, Poinsett believed that a compromise in Washington amounted to surrendering to blackmail. “With regard to the tariff bill, I am disposed to believe that it will be better for the country that it should not pass during the present session,” he told Jackson on February 28. “It is doubtless just and politic that the tariff should be modified; but to do it now would have the appearance of yielding to threats and might affect the character and diminish the strength of the government.” Fortunately Jackson thought differently (Correspondence, V, 23–24).

66 tariff reform Freehling, Road to Disunion, 284–85.

67 the olive branch to the sword Merrill D. Peterson, Olive Branch and Sword: The Compromise of 1833 (Baton Rouge, La., 1982), 79.

68 John Randolph of Roanoke Remini, Henry Clay, 433.

69 “Help me up” Ibid.

70 the Verplanck bill came from Treasury Secretary McLane Remini, Henry Clay, 415–16. Jackson recalled the bill as a “tariff bill prepared by McLain [sic] under my view.”

71 Operating on two levels Freehling put this well. “In every confrontation, the tempestuous Westerner [Jackson] had been the iciest plotter,” Freehling wrote. “For all his image as a hothead, Jackson usually fired the second shot. He allowed the enemy to spend initial fury. He then cut aggressors down. He won the Battle of New Orleans that way, and the Bank War, and his most famous duel. The counterpunching warrior now plotted to turn the brainy Calhoun into the provocative assaulter” (Freehling, Road to Disunion, 278).

72 “I beg of you” Correspondence, V, 3.

73 “We have beat the Nullifiers” Joel Poinsett to F. Tyrell, March 25, 1833, Poinsett Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

74 “the most violent cold I ever had” PHC, VIII, 633.

75 “Keep me constantly advised” Correspondence, V, 29.

76 “the tariff was only” Correspondence, V, 72.

77 named a postmaster for New Salem David Herbert Donald, Lincoln (New York, 1995), 50.

Chapter 20: Great Is the Stake Placed in Our Hands

  1 ceremonies moved indoors EDT, II, 41. The Globe said: “In consequence of the inclemency of the weather the ceremonies of the Inauguration of the President and Vice President of the United States will take place in the Hall of the House of Representatives.” See also Remini, Jackson, III, 45–46.

  2 Flanked by Andrew Donelson Ibid., 41. The Globe, again: “The President took the seat of the Speaker of the House, with Mr. Van Buren on his left, and his Private Secretary, Mr. Donelson, on his right.…”

  3 a much more substantive speech Messages, II, 1222–24.

  4 “My experience” Ibid., 1223.

  5 “Solemnly impressed” Ibid.

  6 “Without union our independence” Ibid.

  7 he said he longed to “foster with our brethren” Ibid., 1224.

  8 “a united and happy people” Ibid.

  9 once called “the prudence” Ibid., 1219.

10 Jackson’s “most fervent prayer” Ibid., 1224.

11 wore his great cloak … showed no signs of strain Remini, Jackson, III, 48.

12 took the oath again from John Marshall Smith, John Marshall: Definer of a Nation, 520.

13 the last of the chief justice’s nine inaugurations Ibid.

14 One guest, Philip Hone Remini, Jackson, III, 48.

15 sent him to bed EDT, II, 42.

16 Emily and Andrew led the White House circle Ibid.

17 as Calhoun traveled south, fast Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 295.

18 wrote, the Clay rates Ibid., 288.

19 even James Henry Hammond “confessed that he thought” Ibid.

20 the South Carolina convention met Ibid., 296.

21 George McDuffie “very eloquently” Samuel Cram Jackson Diary, March 15, 1833, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill.

22 the convention nullified the Force Bill Ellis, Union at Risk, 176–77.

23 a test oath for officeholders Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 309–22.

24 to pledge, according to one proposal Ibid., 310.

25 “We must not think of secession” Freehling, ed., The Nullification Era, 182.

26 Frustrated by Jackson’s apparent victory Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 297.

27 “A people, owning slaves” Ibid.

28 “Let Gentlemen not be deceived” Ibid.

29 Jackson even indulged in philosophy Correspondence, V, 29.

30 Welcome family news EDT, II, 43–44.

31 born just before the presidential election Remini, Jackson, II, 380.

32 “You know I have always been” EDT, II, 43.

33 had been sick Ibid., 44.

34 “Washington will be very dull” Emily Donelson to Mary Donelson, April 22, 1833, Mrs. John Lawrence Merritt Collection.

Chapter 21: My Mind Is Made Up

  1 a steamboat excursion Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, May 9, 1833, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville. My account of the episode is drawn from this previously unpublished letter of Andrew Donelson’s. See also Parton, Life, III, 486–89, and Remini, Jackson, III, 60–62. Jackson described the incident in a letter to Van Buren (Correspondence, V, 74).

  2 a disturbed former navy officer, Robert B. Randolph Cole, A Jackson Man, 135–37; 181.

  3 as though to assault him Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, May 9, 1833, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville. Donelson called it a “brutal attempt by Randolph to insult the President.”

  4 Andrew Donelson lunged to protect Jackson Ibid.

  5 who was not armed Ibid.

  6 Randolph bloodied Jackson’s face Parton, Life, III, 487, and Remini, Jackson, III, 61.

  7 the president’s stare stopped the assailant Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, May 9, 1833, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville.

  8 “The object of the attack” Ibid.

  9 Washington Irving happened to be in Fredericksburg Irving, Letters, II, 762.

10 “It is a brutal transaction” Ibid.

11 An admirer of the president’s from Alexandria Parton, Life, III, 487–88.

12 “No, sir, I cannot do that” Ibid., 488.

13 He told Van Buren Correspondence, V, 74.

14 “a military guard around the President” Remini, Jackson, III, 61.

15 Randolph was a figure Cole, A Jackson Man, 135–37; 181.

16 the seas were rough Parton, Life, III, 492–93.

17 deposits remained in the Bank Remini, Jackson, III, 52–54.

18 “The hydra of corruption” Ibid., 52.

19 The vote came after the House Ibid., 53.

20 “Biddle is actually using” Parton, Life, III, 500.

21 “the damned bank ought to be put down” Ibid., 503.

22 Jackson agreed with his editor Ibid., 500.

23 Blair then canvassed Ibid.

24 “that the withdrawal” Ibid.

25 Kendall and Van Buren had a tense conversation AAK, 376.

26 “the parties separated” Ibid.

27 “Oh, my mind is made up” Parton, Life, III, 500.

28 “Let the removal” AAK, 376.

29 Hearing that Kendall was to “take charge” Samuel D. Ingham to Samuel McKean, May 27, 1831, Samuel D. Ingham Papers, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, University of Pennsylvania.

30 William J. Duane Remini, Jackson, III, 57–59. Jackson told Van Buren that the idea of appointing Duane had “flashed into [his] mind.” Remini remarked that it was a “great misfortune that he did not suppress it on the spot” (ibid., 57–58). See also Parton, Life, III, 508–12.

31 A Philadelphian, the son Ibid., 58.

32 Jackson apparently never asked him This is the clear implication of Duane’s own narrative of events (Parton, Life, III, 512–13).

33 By law the Treasury secretary David P. Currie, The Constitution in Congress: Democrats and Whigs, 1829–1861 (Chicago, 2005), 67–68.

34 visited at his lodgings by Reuben Whitney Parton, Life, III, 512–13.

35 a merchant and former Bank official Cole, Presidency of Andrew Jackson, 190. Whitney, Cole wrote, “had worked for the Bank but had deserted to the Jackson administration early in the Bank War.”

36 Whitney undertook to explain Parton, Life, III, 512–13.

37 “He stated that” Ibid., 512.

38 Duane complained to Louis McLane Ibid.

39 Duane was correct and cool Ibid., 513.

40 Duane went to the White House Ibid.

41 “I had heard rumors” Parton, Life, III, 513–14.

42 more thoughts from the road Ibid., 513.

43 “reflect with a view to the public good” Ibid.

Chapter 22: He Appeared to Feel as a Father

  1 “Uncle’s health is as usual” Emily Donelson to Mary Donelson, April 22, 1833, Mrs. John Lawrence Merritt Collection.

  2 Rising early Correspondence, V, 106.

  3 “I want relaxation” Ibid. On the question of the deposits, Jackson wrote: “This is the only difficulty I see now in our way. I must meet it fearlessly as soon as I can digest [sic] a system that will insure a solvent currency and a sure system for the fiscal operations of the government” (ibid., 106–7).

  4 parents in the Northeast sometimes invoked Josiah Quincy, Figures of the Past from the Leaves of Old Journals (Boston, 1883), 363. Jackson may have been a popular bogyman, but Quincy admitted admiration for the general. “The name of Andrew Jackson was, indeed, one to frighten naughty children with,” he wrote, “but the person who went by it wrought a mysterious charm upon old and young.”

  5 a New England Sunday school teacher EDT, II, 46.

  6 he sat in candlelight after dinner Correspondence, V, 109. The letter was written from Philadelphia on June 10, 1833.

  7 returned to his lodgings Ibid. This account came from New York, dated June 14, 1833.

  8 “I have witnessed” Ibid.

  9 In Boston thousands of children EDT, II, 50.

10 the only sounds were “shouts” Ibid. Donelson also wrote from Boston: “One of the most striking differences in the character of this population compared with ours in the South and West is its order and habitual respect for those in authority.”

11 The sun was so hot Correspondence, V, 109.

12 wadding from a cannon nearly singed his hair Parton, Life, III, 490.

13 a low-lying bridge EDT, II, 47.

14 “The smile—the grace” Remini, Jackson, III, 74.

15 a steamboat trip to Staten Island Parton, Life, III, 490–91.

16 There was some confusion Ibid., 491.

17 On Wednesday, June 26, 1833 “Visit of the President to Harvard University,” Boston Courier, June 27, 1833.

18 standing on Bunker Hill Remini, Jackson, III, 79–80.

19 “It is with great difficulty” EDT, II, 50.

20 sardonically called “this magnificent tour” Remini, Jackson, III, 83.

21 “Now, Doctor” Parton, Life, III, 489.

22 some feared for his life EDT, II, 51. John Quincy Adams was less generous about the news of Jackson’s poor health. “I believe much of his debility is politic.… He is so ravenous of notoriety that he craves the sympathy for sickness as a portion of his glory” (Memoirs of JQA, IX, 5).

23 laurels of the journey “proved the increase” Sir Charles Vaughan to Viscount Palmerston, July 4, 1833, National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew.

24 “The friends of the President” Ibid.

25 “were more like the homage” Remini, Jackson, III, 83.

26 a long paper Correspondence, V, 113–28.

27 accompanied by a letter Ibid., 111–13.

28 “the gamblers” Nicholas Biddle to Robert Lenox, July 30, 1833, Nicholas Biddle Papers, LOC. During Jackson’s trip, men including Blair and Kendall, Duane recalled, “called on me, and made many of the identical observations in the identical language used by [Jackson] himself. They represented Congress as corruptible, and the new members as in need of especial guidance.” They spoke in tactical political terms. “They pointed out the importance of a test question, at the opening of the new Congress, for party purposes,” Duane said. “They argued that the exercise of the veto power must be secured; that it could be in no other way so effectually attained as by at once removing the deposits; and that, unless they were removed, the President would be thwarted by Congress” (Parton, Life, III, 514).

29 Duane replied to Jackson on Wednesday, July 10 Parton, Life, III, 520.

30 “Legislators alone” Ibid., 519.

31 Jackson asked Duane to call Ibid., 518.

32 “we did not understand each other” Ibid.

33 “My object, sir, is to save the country” Ibid.

34 “I wish to wait a little while” Nicholas Biddle to Robert Lenox, July 30, 1833, Nicholas Biddle Papers, LOC.

35 Kendall and Donelson were dispatched Cheathem, Old Hickory’s Nephew, 97.

36 “They tell me the state banks” AAK, 378.

37 “Send me to ask them” Ibid.

38 a long debate with Duane Parton, Life, III, 520–23.

39 said that he would resign Ibid., 522.

40 whiled away the hours with Blair FPB, 81–82.

41 “My dear Mary” Correspondence, V, 158.

42 Jackson said that he was struck as David Ibid., 143.

43 from Psalm Sixty-eight The lines read: “A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation” (Psalm 68:5, King James Version).

44 “Mr. Blair,” Jackson told his editor FPB, 82.

Chapter 23: The People, Sir, Are with Me

  1 The Cabinet gathered at the White House Parton, Life, III, 524.

  2 Kendall had returned Cole, A Jackson Man, 187. Of forty-seven banks, Kendall recommended seven: one in Maryland, one in Philadelphia, three in New York, and two in Boston. “The selections were a triumph for party patronage,” Cole wrote. “Five of the banks were ‘friendly’ Democratic banks, and the other two … ‘liberal’ opposition banks. All seven had important party connections.…”

  3 as though he feared Parton, Life, III, 524–25.

  4 “How shall we answer to God” Ibid.

  5 the Globe singled Duane out Ibid., 526.

  6 denied any involvement Ibid.

  7 “It is impossible to describe” Ibid.

  8 the mission to Russia Ibid., 530.

  9 Duane chose not to take it Ibid. Jackson was gloomy. “Would to God I could return from here to private life,” he wrote Mary Coffee on September 15, 1833. But he would not bend in the meantime (Correspondence, V, 188).

10 “It is known” Correspondence, V, 189.

11 The Cabinet met again Parton, Life, III, 527.

12 a manuscript in Andrew Donelson’s hand Correspondence, V, 192.

13 “The divine right of kings” Ibid., 193–94.

14 the paper was revised (by Taney) and read aloud (by Donelson) Ibid., 192.

15 it was drier For the full final text, see Messages, II, 1224–38.

16 “the object avowed” Ibid., 1225–26.

17 As the session broke up Parton, Life, III, 528.

18 he needed one more day Ibid.

19 news of Jackson’s decision to remove the deposits Ibid.

20 “Then I suppose” Ibid., 529.

21 Duane would not resign Ibid., 530–31.

22 Jackson fired him Correspondence, V, 206.

23 Writing to Van Buren Ibid., 206–7.

24 “conduct has been such” Ibid., 206.

25 was to begin in a week’s time Cole, A Jackson Man, 189.

26 Biddle held a board meeting in Philadelphia Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Bank War, 126–28.

27 call in loans and restrict credit Remini, Jackson, III, 108. See also Parton, Life, III, 533–34; Cole, Presidency of Andrew Jackson, 198–99.

28 “The ties of party allegiance” Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Bank War, 126–27.

29 New York business was “really” Remini, Jackson, III, 111.

30 (and would be) Cole, Presidency of Andrew Jackson, 209.

31 raised objection after objection Parton, Life, III, 505–6.

32 Lewis broke the silence Ibid., 506–7.

33 As lawmakers traveled Ibid., 537–61. See also Remini, Jackson, III, 111–15.

34 petition after petition Parton, Life, III, 545.

35 One day Jackson was seated at a table Ibid., 549–50.

36 “Excuse me a moment” Ibid.

37 “Well, sir” Ibid.

38 “Didn’t I manage them well?” Ibid., 550.

39 “Go home, gentlemen, and tell the Bank” James, TLOAJ, 661–62.

40 “may as well send at once” Correspondence of Nicholas Biddle, 222.

41 took to referring to himself in the third person Parton, Life, III, 551–52.

42 “Well, what do you want?” James, TLOAJ, 661–62. All of the details of the proceedings in the following paragraphs come from this source.

43 wrote of “the violent withdrawal of public funds” Louis Sérurier to Paris, June 18, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 174–75, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.

44 that the army was protecting Jackson FPB, 86–87.

45 took up the issue in the Globe Ibid.

46 a delegation of Jacksonian congressmen Ibid., 87.

47 Donelson took Jackson’s annual message Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, December 4, 1833, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville.

48 “the unquestionable proof” Messages, II, 1249.

49 “whether the people of the United States” Ibid.

50 “Violent opposition may be expected” Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, December 4, 1833, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville. Donelson also noted one of the political factors of the moment: “The grand object will be … the creation of resources to start a new candidate, or rather a no administration candidate for the Presidency.…” The thrust of Donelson’s point: that the anti–Van Buren forces might attempt to use the Bank battle to field a rival to the vice president.

51 Henry Clay, fresh from Lexington PHC, VIII, 669. Clay arrived in Washington on the evening of November 30.

52 “Depend upon it” Ibid., 679.

53 “I mean myself to open and push” Ibid.

Chapter 24: We Are in the Midst of a Revolution

  1 arrived in the city four days before Christmas R. K. Polk to James Polk, December 23, 1833, Polk and Yeatman Family Papers, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

  2 what he called “a burning fever” Ibid.

  3 Clay was to speak Schurz, Henry Clay, II, 32.

  4 consumed by callers and business Emily Donelson to her sister, December 25, 1833, Mrs. John Lawrence Merritt Collection.

  5 “I suppose you all are at my Dear Mother’s” Ibid.

  6 “We are in the midst of a revolution” Remini, Henry Clay, 449–50. See also PHC, VIII, 684.

  7 “The eyes and hopes” AAK, 396.

  8 Van Buren was forced PHC, VIII, 685.

  9 “You would be surprised to see the General” Andrew Jackson Donelson to Edward Livingston, March 7, 1834, Andrew Jackson Donelson Papers, LOC.

10 “was clearly and manifestly” PJCC, XII, 207–8.

11 “There are but two channels” Ibid.

12 “What, then, is the real question” Ibid., 218.

13 “artful, cunning, and corrupt” Ibid., 221.

14 removal of the deposits and the prospect of a national Democratic nominating convention Ibid.

15 “dictate the succession” Ibid., 221–22.

16 “We have arrived at a fearful crisis” Ibid., 225.

17 a weak moment with Kendall AAK, 416.

18 “The distress so much complained of” Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, March 1, 1834, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville.

19 had brought about “indiscriminate ruin” Remini, Jackson, III, 164.

20 “We are gaining strength politically” Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, March 1, 1834, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville.

21 Benton would come down to the White House Benton, Thirty Years’ View, I, 424.

22 never seemed “more truly heroic” Ibid.

23 “We shall whip them yet” Ibid.

24 the Bank “ought not to be rechartered” Remini, Jackson, III, 166–67.

25 “I have obtained a glorious triumph” Correspondence, V, 260.

26 had at last “put to death” Ibid., 259.

27 a resolution of Clay’s PHC, VIII, 685.

28 referred to Jackson as “Caesar” Ibid., 686.

29 “The whole community of the United States” Sir Charles Vaughan to Viscount Palmerston, April 20, 1834, FO 5–290.

30 The tally in the Senate was 26 to 20 PHC, VIII, 685.

31 Resolved, That the President Ibid.

32 the Chamber of Deputies in France Duc de Broglie to Sérurier, April 8, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 95–96, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères. In this letter, de Broglie writes Sérurier: “This bill was rejected by the legislature by a majority of 8 votes. I will not try to explain to you what is incomprehensible here for everyone—that is, how such powerful reasons for passing the bill were swept away, when we had every reason to believe that the law would be approved. Be that as it may, Monsieur, what is important for you to know, and what you will have to inform the Cabinet in Washington, is that the king’s government has formally resolved to call for a vote on the issue in the next session of the legislature.… The king’s government expects that this legislative decision will be received in the U.S. first with bitterness and irritation.” And de Broglie sounds a warning: “Any hasty measure, any behavior contrary to the good relations and friendship which the interests of our two nations ardently desire, would only decrease the king’s government’s chances of success.”

33 by a margin of eight Ibid.

Chapter 25: So You Want War

  1 in the form of dispatches from Edward Livingston Sérurier to Paris, May 11, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 127–37, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.

  2 struggled to figure out what to do Ibid. “Since I have no instructions from you,” Sérurier wrote home, “I must just wait. Immobility and self-respect have often succeeded for me here. Will that be enough now?”

  3 Thinking of “the President’s fiery character” Ibid.

  4 Sérurier called on McLane Ibid., 131. “Mr. McLane replied calmly and said that he appreciated the reasons for my visit and that he would inform the President.”

  5 “I was informed” Ibid., 129.

  6 “It would no longer” Ibid.

  7 Jackson’s reaction “is what I feared the most” Ibid.

  8 came to see the Frenchman Sérurier to Paris, May 20, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 140, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.

  9 “He told me that” Ibid.

10 “had hit the President like a thunderbolt” Sérurier to Paris, May 11, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 131, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.

11 It was Henry Clay, in a fury Sérurier to Paris, May 11, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 133, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.

12 “Well, he said to me, so you want war” Ibid.

13 The two continued their conversation Ibid.

14 made his first visit to the White House Sérurier to Paris, May 20, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 143, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.

15 “The President was very cold” Ibid.

16 “take the political temperature” Sérurier to Paris, June 20, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 380, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.

17 “I have always loved France” Ibid.

Chapter 26: A Dark, Lawless, and Insatiable Ambition!

  1 document entitled “Protest” Messages, II, 1288–1312. In his memoirs, John Quincy Adams writes that Jackson sent his “Protest” to the Senate on April 17, 1834.

  2 “Having had the honor” Ibid., 1288.

  3 “The judgment of guilty” Ibid., 1294.

  4 “If the censures of the Senate” Ibid., 1310.

  5 “the President is the direct representative” Ibid., 1309.

  6 “In vain do I bear” Ibid., 1311–12.

  7 seeking to “concentrate” Ibid.

  8 “The domineering tone” Memoirs of JQA, IX, 51.

  9 to Webster the protest amounted Peterson, Great Triumvirate, 244.

10 Calhoun was even angrier PJCC, XII, 310.

11 “Infatuated man!” Ibid.

12 recounted an interview John C. Hamilton to William Gaston, September 27, 1834, William Gaston Papers, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

13 saying the “charge” Ibid.

14 Clay referred to Jackson’s foes as Whigs PHC, VIII, 714–15.

15 “a denomination which, according to the analogy of all history” Ibid., 714.

16 rescue the nation from “a Chief Magistrate” Ibid., 715.

17 Claiming to have heard a rumor Ibid., 717.

18 Sérurier wrote that “Mr. Forsyth” Sérurier to Paris, July 2, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 206–7, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.

19 because of “intolerable heat” Sérurier to Paris, July 8, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 216–18, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.

20 Sérurier marveled at the old man’s enduring vitality Ibid.

21 Sérurier came across Nicholas Biddle Sérurier to Paris, August 18, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 248, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.

22 “One of the first people” Ibid.

23 “The South seems to be asleep” Frederick W. Moore, ed., “Calhoun as Seen by His Political Friends: Letters of Duff Green, Dixon H. Lewis, Richard K. Crallé During the Period from 1831 to 1848,” Publications of the Southern History Association 7 (July 1903), 287.

24 Emily had given birth to her fourth child EDT, II, 68. Hearing the news, Sarah Jackson quickly dispatched congratulations from Nashville in a letter that was also filled with concern for the head of the family. Sending her regards to Emily, Sarah then took on a wifely tone with Jackson. “I have not been able to read the papers for some time, but heard of your triumph over your and our country’s enemies,” Sarah wrote Jackson. “I congratulate you, my dear Father, and pray that your health may be restored and your life prolonged, and that your strength increase” (Sarah Yorke Jackson to Andrew Jackson, May 2, 1834, Andrew Jackson Papers, LOC).

25 in the White House FPB, 88.

26 he gave her Rachel’s wedding ring FPB, 175–76.

27 he and Lewis had drunk “Ice sangree” Ibid.

28 bought the house Ibid., 92.

29 would bring the president a pail Ibid.

30 “We are very much pleased” EDT, II, 68.

31 Her niece Elizabeth Martin Ibid., 66–68.

32 being courted by Lewis Randolph Ibid.

33 Emily had entertained Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 307.

34 “I am well except [for] weakness” EDT, II, 69.

Chapter 27: There Is a Rank Due to the United States Among Nations

  1 the construction of the first home of their own EDT, II, 70.

  2 Emily managed the details Ibid.

  3 kept a crate of her china Correspondence, V, 302.

  4 fire broke out at the Hermitage Remini, Jackson, III, 179–91. The house burned on the afternoon of Monday, October 13, 1834.

  5 “Oh, had I been there” Ibid., 185.

  6 the slaves who were on hand Ibid.

  7 Sarah “acted with firmness” Correspondence, V, 296.

  8 had given him “the means to build it” Ibid., 302.

  9 “Was it not on the site selected” Ibid.

10 He gave orders about Ibid.

11 “I suppose all the wines” Ibid.

12 The French remained a problem In an August 9, 1834, letter, Edward Livingston insisted that Sérurier had led Jackson to believe that the Chamber would resolve the problem before the American Congress met in December 1834 (Livingston to de Rigny, August 9, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 240–42, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères). De Rigny denied that the government had made any such promise (ibid., 243–44). Still, Jackson held his temper, further perplexing the French. On October 2, 1834, Sérurier called on Jackson, expecting an unpleasant visit. Instead, Sérurier was “happily surprised. The President received me with his usual politeness and kindness without any visible change in his attitude.” Jackson avoided the subject altogether (Sérurier to Paris, October 8, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 291, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères).

13 met with Sérurier Sérurier to Paris, October 22, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 302–7, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.

14 “The President was deeply hurt” Ibid.

15 “No, gentlemen” Parton, Life, III, 569–70.

16 in the eighteenth Messages, II, 1319.

17 “the whole civilized world” Ibid., 1325.

18 a law approving “reprisals upon French property” Ibid.

19 “inflexible determination” Ibid., 1326.

20 France “would but add violence to injustice” Ibid.

21 “Threats are far from being avoided” Sérurier to Paris, December 2, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 338, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.

22 fell back on the caricature of Jackson Sérurier to Paris, December 5, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 342, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.

23 “It is generally agreed” Ibid.

24 “iron will subdued all resistance” Ibid.

25 “very cold and disagreeable” Emily Donelson to Mary Donelson, December 25, 1834, Mrs. John Lawrence Merritt Collection. 293 Emily dined alone with Mrs. Forsyth Ibid.

26 composing a coded message Sérurier to Paris, December 25, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 360, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.

27 “If we have war with the U.S.” Ibid. Henry Clay also clearly thought things were heading in a warlike direction, and the situation brought out his instinct for compromise and conciliation. Clay came to see Sérurier and spoke as though he too believed war was not far off. “He told me that he was distressed by the Message, by its threats and the effect it would have on both sides of the Atlantic,” Sérurier wrote Paris on December 28, 1834. “He added that the wisest men in Congress, all while blaming the rash step taken by the head of the republic, could not wish to abandon him when he was fighting for their own interests against a foreign power. However, he continued, everyone was loath to be associated with the defiant tone, the threats, and even more, the reprisals … in this unfortunate document. He said that they would do what could be done to bring about reconciliation in the best interests of all” (Sérurier to Paris, December 28, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 362–69, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères).

28 “Never since Washington’s death” Sérurier to Paris, July 2, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 210, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.

29 On New Year’s Eve, Adams rose in the House John Quincy Adams, Oration on the Life and Character of Gilbert M. de Lafayette: Delivered at the Request of Both Houses of the Congress of the United States, Before Them, in the House of Representatives at Washington. December 31, 1834 (Trenton, N.J., 1835).

30 the king of France recalled Sérurier home to Paris De Rigny to Sérurier, January 14, 1835, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1835, 389, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères (Letter published by Courier des Etats-Unis, New York, January 30, 1836).

31 “The impression that President Jackson’s message produced here” Ibid.

32 had summoned Edward Livingston Ibid.

33 “passports will be at his disposal” Ibid.

34 presented to the Chamber on Thursday, January 15, 1835 Ibid.

35 A new clause said that “all or part” Ibid.

36 an additional requirement Duc de Broglie to Alphonse Pageot, June 17, 1835, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1836, 52, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.

37 “the true meaning and real purport” Ibid.

38 had to offer “new testimony to the good faith” Ibid.

39 John Quincy Adams rallied to his foe’s side Parton, Life, III, 577.

40 “Sir, this treaty has been ratified” Ibid., 577–78.

41 “The President told me” Sir Charles Vaughan to Viscount Palmerston, Washington, November 5, 1835, National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew.

42 the suggestion that he would apologize Messages, II, 1407–8. The French chargé, Jackson reported to Congress on January 15, 1836, had asserted that “We will pay the money, says [the chargé], when ‘the Government of the United States is ready on its part to declare to us, by addressing its claim to us officially in writing, that it regrets the misunderstanding which has arisen between the two countries; that this misunderstanding is founded on a mistake; that it never entered into its intention to call in question the good faith of the French Government nor to take a menacing attitude toward France.’ And [the chargé] adds: ‘If the Government of the United States does not give this assurance we shall be obliged to think that this misunderstanding is not the result of an error.’ ” And finally: “ ‘the Government of the United States knows that upon itself depends henceforward the execution of the treaty of July 4, 1831’ ” (italics in the original).

43 “of naval preparations” Ibid., 1411.

44 “large and speedy appropriations” Ibid. Two days after this communication, Alphonse Pageot followed Sérurier in returning to France. It was January 17, 1836 (Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1836, 64, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères).

45 “The conception that it was my intention” I am indebted to Belohlavek, “Let the Eagle Soar!” 122, for the insight about the annual message. The full passage of Jackson’s is a mouthful: “The conception that it was my intention to menace or insult the Government of France is as unfounded as the attempt to extort from the fears of that nation what her sense of justice may deny would be vain and ridiculous. But the Constitution of the United States imposes on the President the duty of laying before Congress the condition of the country in its foreign and domestic relations, and of recommending such measures as may in his opinion be required by its interests. From the performance of this duty he cannot be deterred by the fear of wounding the sensibilities of the people or government of whom it may become necessary to speak …” (Messages, II, 1376–77).

46 Britain, fearing that a war London could see no good coming of a Franco-American war. “The British ambassador in France, Lord Granville, and Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston had carefully followed the seriousness of the situation, Great Britain growing steadily more troubled as her valuable continental ally seemed to be slipping into an unnecessary conflict with the United States,” writes John M. Belohlavek. “Such an event would disrupt the French economy and enact untold havoc upon the French merchant marine and navy. While Louis Philippe probably possessed the maritime might to defeat the Americans, a war would drain limited resources and sidetrack him from the more vital arena of the European balance of power with the autocratic eastern monarchies. A Franco-American War would also mean a blockade of United States ports and the disruption of valuable cotton exports to English textile mills” (Belohlavek, “Let the Eagle Soar!” 122–23).

47 both sides accepted the offer Messages, II, 1432–33.

48 Jackson suspended his call Ibid., 1433.

49 Thomas P. Barton, Livingston’s aide in France Parton, Life, III, 574–77.

50 “Tell me, sir” Ibid., 575.

51 Jackson jumped up Ibid., 576.

52 helped soothe “the irritation” Ibid.

53 The British resolved Belohlavek, “Let the Eagle Soar!” 122–25.

54 chose to take the conciliatory line of Jackson’s from December as apology enough Ibid., 124–25.

55 “There is a rank due” Messages, II, 1436.

Chapter 28: The Wretched Victim of a Dreadful Delusion

  1 a dinner in Washington Parton, Life, III, 580–81.

  2 “The national debt is paid!” Ibid., 581.

  3 Jackson was walking out of the House chamber Ibid., 582.

  4 when the president’s eyes met those Washington Globe, January 31, 1835.

  5 “handsome … well-dressed” young man Ibid.

  6 Armed with two pistols Ibid. For accounts of the assassination attempt and its aftermath, see also Benton, Thirty Years’ View, 521–24; Richard C. Rohrs, “Partisan Politics and the Attempted Assassination of Andrew Jackson,” Journal of the Early Republic 1 (Summer 1981), 149–63; and Remini, Jackson, III, 229.

  7 less than ten feet Ibid. The Globe of January 31 thought the distance had been “within two and a half yards” (Washington Globe, January 31, 1835).

  8 raised the first gun and fired Ibid.

  9 charged his assailant Ibid. According to Isaac Bassett, “The President instantly rushed upon him with uplifted cane …” (Papers of Isaac Bassett, U.S. Senate Commission on Art, Washington).

10 “The explosion of the cap” Benton, Thirty Years’ View, 521.

11 Lawrence dropped the gun Papers of Isaac Bassett, U.S. Senate Commission on Art, Washington.

12 it too failed to fire Parton, Life, III, 582.

13 had thought the assassin “firm and resolved” Washington Globe, January 31, 1835.

14 “seemed to shrink” Ibid.

15 a nearby navy lieutenant Parton, Life, III, 582.

16 “The President pressed” Washington Globe, January 31, 1835.

17 put into a carriage Parton, Life, III, 582.

18 by George Washington and by the weather I am indebted to Donald A. Ritchie, associate historian of the U.S. Senate, for the Washington tomb theory, which he laid out for me during a tour of the Capitol in which we recreated, as best we could, the path Jackson would have taken from the services for Davis in the old chamber through the Rotunda to the East Portico. Lawrence himself attributed the weapons’ failure to the damp weather (Rohrs, “Partisan Politics and the Attempted Assassination of Andrew Jackson,” 162–63).

19 “The pistols were examined” Benton, Thirty Years’ View, 521.

20 125,000 to one FPB, 99. In the emotion of the moment, the Globe attributed the failures to fire to divine intervention. “How the caps could have exploded without firing the powder is miraculous,” the paper wrote in the edition reporting the attack. “Providence has ever guarded the life of the man who has been destined to preserve and raise his country’s glory, and maintain the cause of the People. In the multitude of instances in which he has hazarded his person for his country, it was never in more imminent danger than on yesterday …” (Washington Globe, January 31, 1835). One suspects the moisture had more to do with it than the miraculous.

21 Van Buren found him EDT, II, 78.

22 claiming to be the king of England Rohrs, “Partisan Politics and the Attempted Assassination of Andrew Jackson,” 151.

23 believed Lawrence was an agent Ibid., 152–54.

24 Harriet Martineau visited the White House Parton, Life, III, 584.

25 the “insane attempt” Ibid.

26 “He protested” Ibid.

27 “taciturn and unwilling to talk” Washington Globe, January 31, 1835.

28 “Whether Lawrence has caught” Ibid.

29 “Someone told me” Nathaniel Niles to William Cabell Rives, January 30, 1835, William Cabell Rives Papers, LOC.

30 “Yes, sir” Ibid.

31 “This man has been hired” Edwin A. Miles, “Andrew Jackson and Senator George Poindexter,” Journal of Southern History 24 (February 1958), 62.

32 for the president “to name any person” Nathaniel Niles to William Cabell Rives, January 30, 1835, William Cabell Rives Papers, LOC.

33 Poindexter demanded an investigation Report on Communication of Senator G. Poindexter, S. Doc. 148, 23rd Congress, 2nd session, March 2, 1835, 1–50. The document includes the conclusions of the investigation and a series of transcripts of original documents.

34 two affidavits alleging that Lawrence had been seen Rohrs, “Partisan Politics and the Attempted Assassination of Andrew Jackson,” 155–57. See also Report on Communication of Senator G. Poindexter, S. Doc. 148, March 2, 1835, 11–12.

35 a blacksmith who did work for the White House Ibid., 156. The blacksmith was named Mordecai Foy. 300 a man who had loaned money to Poindexter Ibid. His name was David Stewart.

36 to have some hopes of being given work Ibid., 157.

37 “has become of late years idle and intemperate” Report on Communication of Senator G. Poindexter, S. Doc. 148, March 2, 1835, 3. Did Jackson play a role in ginning up allegations against Poindexter? Stewart said yes, claiming that “if he had put into his affidavit all, and some say only part of what the General desired him to put in, it would have filled a newspaper” (ibid.). The committee exonerated Jackson of this (Rohrs, “Partisan Politics and the Attempted Assassination of Andrew Jackson,” 158).

The committee did find that Charles Coltman, a government contractor, had played a role in shaping the affidavits. In the fullest scholarly treatment of the politics of the assassination attempt, Richard Rohrs wrote: “When several of the committee members conferred with the president, Jackson told them that approximately fifty people had seen Lawrence enter Poindexter’s home. Yet the president stressed that he had only accepted those reports of individuals who were willing to file affidavits. He further explained that he had done nothing to secure the two existing ones. In testimony before the entire Senate committee, Foy and Stewart reaffirmed the statements in their earlier depositions. Foy, who occasionally worked as a blacksmith for the White House, testified that although a Mr. Coltman and another man, whose name he did not know, encouraged him to report what he had observed, he received no ‘reward, bribery, or corruption’ as compensation for presenting his affidavit. Stewart admitted that Poindexter owed him money, but denied that was the reason he came forward with the information. Like Foy, Stewart related that Mr. Coltman had urged him to report his observations.

“As the proceedings continued, it became evident that neither Foy nor Stewart were credible witnesses. Foy, for example, was unable to identify Poindexter’s home. It seemed ironic to the committee that Foy remembered the exact date and time of day of the alleged meetings, but the wrong house. A shopkeeper testified that Stewart had been in his shop, which was more than a mile from the senator’s home, at the same time he reportedly saw Lawrence and Poindexter together. Stewart’s inability to describe Lawrence’s stature or the color of his hair further diminished his reliability as a witness.…

“After challenging the credibility of Stewart and Foy, the committee concentrated on determining if anyone had committed improprieties in obtaining the affidavits. Although several witnesses testified that Stewart told them that Jackson asked him to include more information in his deposition than he knew to be true, the committee apparently considered this to be a lie. Foy, in a supplementary memorandum, admitted that Charles Coltman, a contractor for government buildings, had intimated that blacksmith work on the fence of the new Treasury Department building would be forthcoming if he filed a deposition. In response to this accusation, Coltman denied promising work to Foy or being actively engaged in gathering evidence to implicate Poindexter. He admitted only that he had encouraged both Foy and Stewart to notify the proper authorities, after learning of their observations.… The committee reproached Stewart and Coltman, but absolved the president, apparently rejecting Stewart’s attempt to implicate him. While simply dismissing Foy as a man affected by ‘his habits of inebriation,’ the committee determined that Stewart, motivated by Poindexter’s indebtedness, committed ‘an offense of the deepest dye against the public morals.’ According to the committee, Coltman then arranged for Foy to substantiate Stewart’s lies by promising him work on the Treasury Department building. The committee members expressed hope that those involved would ‘be held up to public odium and scorn’ ” (Rohrs, “Partisan Politics and the Attempted Assassination of Andrew Jackson,” 156–58).

38 dismissed the allegations Ibid., 7. Their conclusion: “That not a shade of suspicion rests upon the character of the Hon. George Poindexter” in the matter of the assassination attempt.

39 Questioned afterward by two physicians Benton, Thirty Years’ View, 521–23. Politics seemed less of a factor than madness. Asked by the examining doctors who would make a good president, Lawrence answered “Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, [and] Mr. Calhoun,” but also said that “Col. Benton, Mr. Van Buren, or Judge White” would also do well.

40 “Hallucination of mind was evident” Ibid., 524.

41 settled for blaming anti-Jackson Senate speeches Washington Globe, February 4, 1835.

42 “sullen and deep-brooding fanatic” Ibid.

43 “violent in his expressions” Ibid.

44 “Is it … a strained inference” Ibid.

Chapter 29: How Would You Like to Be a Slave?

  1 in the market for new slaves Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, July 4, 1835, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville.

  2 “waiting for an inspection” Ibid.

  3 “One of the boys I took” Ibid.

  4 his new wife’s “trunk and guitar” Andrew Jackson, Jr., to Samuel Hays, May 8, 1832, The Hermitage.

  5 “Late on yesterday evening your kind favor” Ibid. Andrew junior added: “If you do propose to take her I can immediately send her to you—she can be taught perhaps. You can take her for what she cost me [to bring] her on here, which is not much—her cost was $250, the expense in bringing her about 50, or 55—I shall however in a day or two either send you her or Charlotte, perhaps tomorrow—nothing will give me more pleasure than to accommodate you in every respect.”

  6 “Andrew has not yet bought me a girl” Emily Donelson to Mary Donelson, May 10, 1829, Mrs. John Lawrence Merritt Collection.

  7 “Advertisement for Runaway Slave” Burstein, The Passions of Andrew Jackson, 24; Papers, II, 40–41.

  8 owned about one hundred fifty slaves Frederick M. Binder, The Color Problem in Early National America As Viewed By John Adams, Jefferson and Jackson (Paris, 1968), 124–25.

  9 the nation’s thinking on slavery Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 330–47. See also Feller, Jacksonian Promise, 60–65; Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 423–29; Henry Mayer, All on Fire: William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition of Slavery (New York, 1998), 97–239; James Brewer Stewart, Holy Warriors: The Abolitionists and American Slavery (New York, 1976), 35–74; William J. Cooper, Jr., The South and the Politics of Slavery, 1828–1856 (Baton Rouge, La., 1978), 58–66.

10 he was not interested in reform “Jackson’s position on the question, and the position of the other leaders of the Democratic Party, was quite clear and unambiguous,” wrote Remini. “He held that the Constitution expressly recognized slavery in the South and made provisions about representation in Congress to accommodate that fact of life.… ‘There is no debatable ground left upon the subject,’ editorialized the Globe” (Remini, Legacy of Andrew Jackson, 88).

11 a revealing exchange with Roeliff Brinkerhoff Roeliff Brinkerhoff, Recollections of a Lifetime (Cincinnati, 1900), 61.

12 the battle was joined again in South Carolina Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 340–60.

13 its headquarters on Nassau Street William Lee Miller, Arguing About Slavery: The Great Battle in the United States Congress (New York, 1996), 97.

14 arrived aboard the steamboat Columbia Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 340.

15 fell to Alfred Huger Ibid.

16 wanted guidance from above Ibid.

17 Local newspapers Ibid., 340–41.

18 A mob came to the post office Ibid.

19 along with effigies Ibid.

20 exchanging notes with Kendall Correspondence, V, 359–61.

21 as a “wicked plan” Ibid., 361.

22 John W. Jones Miller, Arguing About Slavery, 93.

23 Northern opinion was hardly enthusiastic Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 343.

24 “unconstitutional and wicked” Messages, II, 1394.

25 asked Congress for a law Ibid., 1394–95.

26 The states, Calhoun said, “possessed” Miller, Arguing About Slavery, 100.

27 “virtually … clothe” Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 347.

28 “If you refuse” Parton, Life, III, 589.

29 “This spirit of mob-law” Correspondence, V, 360.

30 they tacitly allowed Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 346–48.

31 The episode affirmed Miller, Arguing About Slavery, 100–5. See also Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 343–48, and Stewart, Holy Warriors, 70–74.

32 “So the pamphlet controversy” Ibid., 104.

33 “On principle, slavery has no advocates” Latner, Presidency of Andrew Jackson, 212. Latner wrote: “However menacing the slavery issue began to appear in the mid-1830s, it had very little effect on the perceptions of men like Jackson, Kendall, and Blair. Reflecting their Jeffersonian heritage, they considered slavery not as a permanent fixture, but as a blight that, somehow, Time and Providence would eradicate” (ibid.).

34 complained of the expense Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, October 15, 1835, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville.

35 “I had to employ a man” Ibid.

Chapter 30: The Strife About the Next Presidency

  1 The politics of 1836 Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 446–54. See also Holt, Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party, 38–59, and Niven, Martin Van Buren, 386–403.

  2 had nominated one of their own Powell Moore, “The Revolt Against Jackson in Tennessee, 1835–1836,” Journal of Southern History 2 (August 1936), 335–59. See also Joshua W. Caldwell, “John Bell of Tennessee: A Chapter of Political History,” American Historical Review 4 (July 1899), 652–64; William G. Shade, “ ‘The Most Delicate and Exciting Topics’: Martin Van Buren, Slavery, and the Election of 1836,” Journal of the Early Republic 18 (Autumn 1998), 459–84; Burton W. Folsom II, “The Politics of Elites: Prominence and Party in Davidson County, Tennessee, 1835–1861,” Journal of Southern History 39 (August 1973), 359–78; Thomas Brown, “From Old Hickory to Sly Fox: The Routinization of Charisma in the Early Democratic Party,” Journal of the Early Republic 11 (Autumn 1991), 339–69.

  3 a former Democrat Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 390.

  4 The Whigs in the North Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 448–49.

  5 “He is not of the race” Widmer, Martin Van Buren, 88.

  6 was “a crawling reptile” Ibid., 89.

  7 could not help Van Buren too overtly Jackson’s opponents struck at the heart of Jackson’s creed by arguing that the champion of democracy was betraying his own faith in the people by working for the election of a successor—any successor. To the Illinois Whigs, “the convention system … forced upon the American people by the Van Buren party” was “destructive of the freedom of the elective franchise, opposed to republican institutions, and dangerous to the liberties of the people” (Holt, Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party, 31).

  8 “All my friends know” Nashville Republican, July 28, 1835.

  9 “Permit me here to say” Papers, VII, 656.

10 In the autumn of 1834 Nancy N. Scott, ed., A Memoir of Hugh Lawson White (Philadelphia, 1856), 301–4. See 302–4 for Orville Bradley’s complete letter on the Jackson episode.

11 “the subject of succession” Ibid., 302.

12 “General Jackson entered warmly” Ibid., 303.

13 The solution Ibid., 304.

14 wrote that “much as the people of Tennessee” Nashville Republican, July 25, 1835.

15 Blair … backed Richard M. Johnson Niven, Martin Van Buren, 395. See also Remini, Jackson, III, 256.

16 widely believed that Blair was doing Jackson’s bidding Nashville Republican, July 28, 1835.

17 a series of attacks on Andrew and on Blair Nashville Republican, July 7, 14, 18, 25, 28, August 8, 18, 20; September 1, 8, 12, 15, 1835.

18 “For President HUGH WHITE” Nashville Republican, July 7, 1835.

19 affirmed by a “packed jury” Ibid.

20 carried “the grossest” Ibid.

21 “You must keep me advised” Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, July 15, 1835, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville.

22 “My inclinations as well as my duty” Ibid.

23 the day he returned to the White House Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, July 21, 1835, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville. Andrew wrote: “I came back last evening from the Rip Raps where I left Uncle and all our family in good health.”

24 “I see that the Republican” Ibid.

25 “It would be just as reasonable” Ibid.

26 “But I have no time” Ibid.

27 “I have noticed” Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, July 24, 1835, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville.

28 In July, the paper kept raising the stakes Nashville Republican, July 14, 1835.

29 “It has been the professed object” Nashville Republican, July 18, 1835.

30 Jackson was behind the frank Ibid. On the same day, the paper also asked: “Is it not exhibiting him as the anxious and active friend of Mr. Van Buren? Is it not degrading the Chief Magistrate of a great nation into a warm and reckless partisan—the mere tool of his supple but wily inferior?”

31 The Republican’s true agenda Nashville Republican, July 28, 1835. Donelson was one proxy target, Blair another.

32 “That the Editor of the Globe” Ibid.

33 “Always supposing” Ibid.

34 denouncing the charges as “a vile calumny” September 1, 1835. The Republican was responding to the Globe’s coverage of the events.

35 “Does he know” Ibid.

36 The letter he wrote to rebut Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, August 18, 1835, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville.

37 “drawn up in most haste” Ibid.

38 “It is painful to me” Ibid.

39 “not so much because my course” Ibid.

40 “The Major, like all weak persons” Nashville Republican, September 8, 1835.

41 “But we cannot afford” Ibid.

42 Blair tried his hand Nashville Republican, July 25, 1835.

43 Donelson began to read aloud Ibid.

44 “It must be apparent” Ibid.

45 “In the progress” Ibid.

46 “a charge of dictation” Ibid.

47 “The indelicacy, presumption” Ibid.

48 “It is evident” Ibid.

49 a “worthy pair” Ibid.

50 “You may rest assured” Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, September 21, 1835, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville.

51 “violence of party strife” Ibid.

52 “It will be among” Ibid.

53 “The Calhoun, the Eaton, and the ancient opposition” Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, August 18, 1835, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville.

54 One night at the shore Parton, Life, III, 601–2.

Chapter 31: Not One Would Have Ever Got Out Alive

  1 Sunday, August 16, 1835 EDT, II, 88.

  2 First mapped by the Spanish in 1519 Harry Hansen, ed., Texas: A Guide to the Lone Star State (New York, 1969), 30–47, is a straightforward telling of Texas history originally written in 1940 as part of the Federal Writers’ Program of the WPA. For overviews of the history of Texas and Jackson’s interest in it, see, for instance: Richard Bruce Winders, Crisis in the Southwest: The United States, Mexico, and the Struggle over Texas (Wilmington, De., 2002); Remini, Jackson, III, 352–68; and Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 658–73.

  3 had long tantalized Americans Hansen, ed., Texas, 37.

  4 “a most delicious country” Ibid., 39.

  5 Stephen Austin Ibid., 38.

  6 An 1826 rebellion Ibid., 39–40.

  7 the Texas Revolution had begun Ibid., 40–43.

  8 “I cannot remember” Ibid., 41.

  9 maneuvered to win Texas, dispatching an envoy Remini, Jackson, III, 352–53. See also Winders, Crisis in the Southwest, 76–77.

10 A land speculator in Texas Quinton Curtis Lamar, “A Diplomatic Disaster: The Mexican Mission of Anthony Butler, 1829–1834,” The Americas 45 (July 1988), 5.

11 Jackson regarded Butler’s time Remini, Jackson, III, 218–19.

12 (“A. Butler: What a scamp”) Ibid., 220.

13 Butler was simply Remini makes this point clearly: “It would seem that the President was inviting his minister to gain the cession of Texas by encouraging Mexican greed” (ibid., 220).

14 “This must be an honest transaction” Ibid., and Papers, VII, 489.

15 sent Mexico into “a perfect tempest” Correspondence, V, 381.

16 Santa Anna, the powerful leader of Mexico Winders, Crisis in the Southwest, xxviii, 10–11.

17 “perfectly furious” Correspondence, V, 381.

18 was convinced the Americans had fomented Ibid.

19 “would in due season” Ibid.

20 Sam Houston was advertising Hansen, ed., Texas, 41.

21 “Volunteers from the United States” Ibid.

22 Osceola led the Seminole war party John K. Mahon, History of the Second Seminole War, 1835–1842 (Gainesville, Fla., 1985), 91–92; John Missall and Mary Lou Missall, The Seminole Wars: America’s Longest Indian Conflict (Gainesville, Fla., 2004), 89–92. Prucha, Great Father, 229–33, is a good overview. See also, for instance, Milton Meltzer, Hunted like a Wolf: The Story of the Seminole War (Sarasota, Fla., 2004), 78–79; Herbert J. Doherty, Richard Keith Call: Southern Unionist (Gainesville, Fla., 1961), 93–108; Remini, Andrew Jackson and His Indian Wars,272–77.

23 (murdered a rival) Missall and Missall, Seminole Wars, 92.

24 escaped slaves were finding sanctuary Mahon, History of the Second Seminole War, 93–94.

25 a Florida militia wagon train at Kanapaha Remini, Andrew Jackson and His Indian Wars, 274; see also Mahon, History of the Second Seminole War, 101.

26 180 Seminoles routed Missall and Missall, Seminole Wars, 96–97.

27 “I have been confined” Remini, Jackson, III, 310–11.

28 “Let the damned cowards” Ibid., 311–12.

29 completing the work of Cherokee removal Prucha, Great Father, 233–42. See also Heidler and Heidler, Indian Removal, 39–41, and Satz, American Indian Policy in the Jacksonian Era, 99–101.

30 the Treaty of New Echota Heidler and Heidler, Indian Removal, 68–76. See also Anderson, ed., Cherokee Removal: Before and After, 55–72, and Wilentz, Andrew Jackson, 142.

31 Ross, who represented Satz, American Indian Policy in the Jacksonian Era, 100.

32 an estimated 4,000 of the 16,000 Cherokees Anderson, ed., Cherokee Removal: Before and After, 75–95, contains a fascinating account of the origin of the 4,000 figure. The essay, by Russell Thornton, examined the demography of the Trail of Tears and found that, as he put it, “A total mortality figure of 8,000 for the Trail of Tears period, twice the supposed 4,000, may not be at all unreasonable” (ibid., 93).

33 “I fought through the Civil War” Satz, American Indian Policy in the Jacksonian Era, 101.

34 “the philanthropist will rejoice” Prucha, Great Father, 242.

35 a large party for Christmas Day Mary Donelson Wilcox, Christmas Under Three Flags (Washington, D.C., 1900), 17–45. See also EDT, II, 90–97. My account of the Christmas festivities is heavily indebted to Wilcox’s rendering, and to Burke’s rerendering. It is worth noting that Wilcox was writing nearly seven decades after the event, during the Victorian era, when the colorful pageantry of Christmas took on a more central role in American culture; this may have influenced her memory of that Christmas morning.

36 Emily dispatched the invitations Ibid., 18.

37 a warm, sunny winter day Ibid., 25.

38 they were to meet him EDT, II, 91.

39 were “always granting” Wilcox, Christmas Under Three Flags, 23.

40 “To the Orphan Asylum” Ibid.

41 (The petition to incorporate) Holly C. Shulman, ed., “The Dolley Madison Digital Edition: Dolley Madison and the Founding of the Washington Orphan Asylum,” University of Virginia Press, http://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu:8080/dmde/editorialnote.xqy?note=all#n3.

42 the children quizzed “Uncle” Ibid., 24.

43 Arriving at the Asylum Ibid., 25.

44 still-green parks Ibid.

45 “a hand-painted” Ibid., 25–26.

46 the president was up early Ibid., 28.

47 “Spare the rod and spoil the child” Ibid., 35.

48 At four that afternoon Ibid., 38–40.

49 supper began Ibid., 43.

50 filled with flakes of snow Ibid., 44.

Chapter 32: I Fear Emily Will Not Recover

  1 a Philadelphia merchant named George W. South Correspondence, V, 382.

  2 a shipment of furnishings for the rebuilt Hermitage Ibid., 382–83.

  3 three sets of wallpaper Ibid., 383.

  4 a favorite of Jackson’s Jackson had purchased a copy of the book during his White House years. Papers, VII, 403.

  5 Written in 1699, the book François de Fénelon, Telemachus (Cambridge, England, 1994).

  6 “The whole world” Ibid., 158. Fénelon also writes: “Both his understanding and virtue must be limited and imperfect. He must have passions, humors, habits which he cannot always control. He is surrounded by artful, mercenary men, and cannot find the assistance which he seeks after. Every day he is led into some error, either by his own passions or those of his ministers. Scarcely has he repaired one fault when he falls into another. Such is the condition of kings who are the most enlightened and the most virtuous.”

  7 “ ‘True it is’ ” Ibid., 324.

  8 “Mentor replied to him patiently” Ibid.

  9 “You are assembled” Messages, II, 1367.

10 “There is doubtless” Ibid.

11 “Our happiness” Ibid.

12 “The moral power of the world” Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 512.

13 Angelina Grimké, a native South Carolinian Mayer, All on Fire, 231.

14 Calhoun acknowledged the high price Miller, Arguing About Slavery, 127.

15 petition the Congress in favor Freehling, Prelude to Civil War, 348–57.

16 Congress employed what was called Ibid., 353. See also Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 451–52, for Van Buren’s maneuvering in the debate, and 470–73 for John Quincy Adams’s strong objections to the gag rule.

17 devised by South Carolina congressman Ibid., 351.

18 (The Senate did the same) Ibid., 353.

19 John Quincy Adams saw the inherent tensions Miller, Arguing About Slavery, 207–8.

20 An appeal for help from Stephen Austin Correspondence, V, 397–98.

21 Texas declared its independence Hansen, ed., Texas, 43.

22 stormed the Alamo Ibid., 42–43.

23 at Goliad Ibid., 43.

24 Sam Houston rallied his men Ibid., 43–44.

25 the appearance of neutrality Correspondence, V, 398.

26 “a war of barbarism” Ibid., 397.

27 “The writer does not reflect” Ibid., 398.

28 his true feelings on the subject EDT, II, 97.

29 the spring racing season began Ibid., 98.

30 lost a sister in April Ibid., 102–3.

31 “I have intended to write to you” Ibid.

32 was to take three of the four children Ibid., 104–5.

33 he would “have nothing to do” Ibid., 105.

34 reached Nashville on Sunday, June 26 Ibid., 107.

35 at work at Poplar Grove Ibid., 105–6.

36 awaiting her husband and her eldest son Ibid., 105.

37 slowed by terrible rains Correspondence, V, 414.

38 “torn to the quick” Ibid., 418.

39 (Jackson usually spelled it “Salum”) Ibid., 414.

40 “We reached here today” EDT, II, 107.

41 “Jackson is in fine health” Ibid., 108.

42 brought word that Mrs. Mary Ann McLemore Ibid.

43 “not so well” Ibid., 110.

44 “shaking hands,” he said, “with at least 4,000” Ibid., 111.

45 now demonstrably sick Ibid.

46 it would turn out, tuberculosis Cheathem, Old Hickory’s Nephew, 121.

47 “I will be uneasy until I hear from you” EDT, II, 112.

48 Jackson found himself without word from Nashville Ibid.

49 “My mind is sorely oppressed” Ibid.

50 “I pity the Major’s situation” Correspondence, V, 428.

51 “I find much business” Ibid., 429.

52 signs, he wrote, of lung disease Ibid., 428.

53 in “a kind of stupor” Ibid.

54 Jackson spent the evening Ibid., 427.

55 It was “with painful sensations” Ibid.

56 “I trust in the mercy” Ibid.

57 “But my dear Andrew” Ibid.

58 “Still I have a hope” Ibid.

59 could not stay away from politics Ibid.

60 “I can say to you” Ibid., 428.

61 decided to leave her … ten days later EDT, II, 114–15.

62 he asked Roger Taney for help Correspondence, V, 429–30.

63 already trying to assuage his own guilt EDT, II, 114–15.

64 Emily approved Ibid., 114. “It was a call to the colors,” Burke wrote. (Ibid.)

65 “in tears” at the thought Ibid., 117.

66 “I would judge it would be best” Ibid.

67 about eleven o’clock Ibid., 116.

68 knew what she would want to hear Ibid.

69 earned a salary signing public land warrants Cheathem, Old Hickory’s Nephew, 116.

70 “I trust, my dear Emily” EDT, II, 117.

71 a list of clothes Correspondence, V, 433.

72 “The Major is working night and day” Ibid.

73 “I am constantly filled” EDT, II, 120.

74 Writing to Andrew on Friday, November 11 Ibid., 122.

75 Jackson “has made but little” Ibid., 123.

76 suffered his own hemorrhage attack Correspondence, V, 439.

77 “Under the circumstances” EDT, II, 123.

78 “You are young” Correspondence, V, 439.

79 linking his own illness with hers Ibid., 439–40.

80 “Your dear papa” EDT, II, 126.

81 “I wish you to attend to your education” Ibid.

82 a few lines jotted to Emily Ibid.

83 had already begun to fail Ibid., 127.

84 a small bird flew into Emily’s room Ibid.

85 came to Jackson in a dream Ibid., 128.

86 is virtually breathless with his fright Ibid.

87 Emily Donelson died Ibid., 129.

88 Her mother delayed the burial Ibid., 130–31.

89 on the morning of Wednesday, December 21 Cheathem, Old Hickory’s Nephew, 123. Burke puts the date of Andrew’s arrival as December 22, according to a letter Andrew sent dated December 23rd (EDT, II, 130), but, as Cheathem points out, this letter is most likely misdated (Cheathem, Old Hickory’s Nephew, 123).

90 “Let me hear from you often” Ibid., 131.

91 “Would to God I had been there” Correspondence, V, 442.

92 taking charge of the now motherless brood EDT, II, 133.

Chapter 33: The President Will Go Out Triumphantly

  1 as the returns trickled in Niven, Martin Van Buren, 401.

  2 If the vote was sent to the House Ibid., 401–2.

  3 by the beginning of December Ibid.

  4 Emily’s death had touched EDT, II, 134–35.

  5 Jackson had it boxed Ibid., 132.

  6 asked Jackson to put it aside Ibid., 137.

  7 ordered a supply of cold ham Papers of Isaac Bassett, U.S. Senate Commission on Art, Washington.

  8 “the great part of the Senate” Ibid.

  9 “The decree has gone forth” Daniel Mallory, ed., Life and Speeches of Henry Clay (New York, 1844), I, 278.

10 “No one, not blinded by party zeal” PJCC, XIII, 361–63.

11 (Bank men) Poore, Perley’s Reminiscences of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis, 142. See also Papers of Isaac Bassett, U.S. Senate Commission on Art, Washington.

12 to send for guns Benton, Thirty Years’ View, 731. See also Papers of Isaac Bassett, U.S. Senate Commission on Art, Washington.

13 “History has been ransacked” Benton, Thirty Years’ View, 721–22.

14 “He came into office” Ibid., 725.

15 “Great has been the opposition” Ibid., 726.

16 “Great is the confidence” Ibid.

17 The motion to expunge carried Parton, Life, III, 619–20.

18 “a storm of hisses and groans” Papers of Isaac Bassett, U.S. Senate Commission on Art, Washington.

19 (the sergeant at arms) Ibid.

20 Jackson invited the senators Parton, Life, III, 620.

21 “head-expunger” Ibid.

22 “All going well here” Andrew Jackson, Jr., to Stockley Donelson, January 31, 1837, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville.

23 what Benton called the “crowning mercy” Parton, Life, III, 620.

24 Benton sent Jackson the pen Correspondence, V, 450–51. According to Isaac Bassett, it “was a new pen that had never been used for any other purpose. The President received it with pleasure and informed Mr. Benton that he should preserve it while he lived and at his death bequeath it to him as a mark of his regard” (Papers of Isaac Bassett, U.S. Senate Commission on Art, Washington).

25 “It has been my fortune” Messages, II, 1511–12.

26 “My public life has been a long one” Ibid., 1512.

27 cloudless and warm Parton, Life, III, 628.

28 found the crowd “profoundly silent” Benton, Thirty Years’ View, 735.

29 “In receiving from the people” Messages, II, 1537.

30 on which “the rising was eclipsed” Benton, Thirty Years’ View, 735.

31 “My own race is nearly run” Messages, II, 1527. The Farewell Address was one of the presidential documents he cherished most. In his retirement, a copy of it, framed in gold, hung in the Hermitage, along with his First Annual Message, the Nullification Proclamation, and the Bank Veto Message (author observation; the Office of the Hermitage’s Chief Curator / Director of Museum Services confirmed that the framed documents were in the house in Jackson’s day).

Chapter 34: The Shock Is Great, and Grief Universal

  1 a contemporary observer noted J. Cunningham to Reuben Lewis, April 9, 1837, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond. Jackson, Cunningham wrote, was greeted “with flags flying … amid the roar of artillery.” The former president arrived in Louisville at seven-thirty in the morning on March 20, about two and a half hours ahead of schedule. “Such however was the extreme anxiety to see him that the bridges, wharves, roofs of the houses and the boats at the landing were crowded with spectators,” Cunningham wrote. Led to a “splendid open barouch drawn by four beautiful grey horses,” Jackson made a hero’s progress through the city, accompanied by forty carriages and a thousand people. As evening came, Jackson departed. The crowds, Cunningham said, “cheered the general as long as he was in sight.”

Jackson seemed exhausted, but as on his northern tour four years before, he refused to disappoint the public. “The General is very much debilitated, indeed he was so feeble in appearance that his friends urged him strongly not to expose himself to the fatigue of shaking hands with the crowds that pressed to see him,” Cunningham wrote, “but he withstood every solicitude utterly regardless of his own comfort and [was] only anxious to afford others gratification. And this has ever been one of the leading traits of his character. He has always been ready to do and suffer everything for his country regardless of self.

“As I gazed upon his toilworn face and shrunken cheek,” Cunningham continued, “I thought of the language of Cardinal Wolsey: ‘An old man, broken with the storms of life has come to lay his bones among you.’ ” [sic]

  2 “I thought it was one of the most sublime” Ibid. Cunningham closed: “Did it not almost seem during the raging of the panic that money alone could move the pulse of this nation! Were you not then almost afraid that the virtuous days of the republic had departed!—that gold had eaten into and corrupted the vitals of the people and that they were ready to sell their liberties for a mess of pottage! It is not so. The Americans delight in great and gracious actions, they know how to appreciate and reward public virtue—and as long as they know that, liberty is safe!”

  3 “The Major is so much engaged” EDT, II, 139.

  4 a cold autumn Friday in 1838 AAK, 367–68.

  5 advising Donelson in 1840 to “seek out” Correspondence, VI, 53.

  6 Donelson married Elizabeth Martin Randolph Cheathem, Old Hickory’s Nephew, 144.

  7 (About this time the name) Robbie D. Jones, Landmarks of American History Teacher Workshop, “Architecture in Jacksonian America,” The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson and America, 1801–1861, 7.

  8 Tyler appointed him chargé d’affaires Cheathem, Old Hickory’s Nephew, 170.

  9 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association Thomas Jefferson, Writings (New York, 1984), 510.

10 sitting in his pew in the Hermitage church Parton, Life, III, 644.

11 “the interposition of Providence” Ibid.

12 Jackson listening intently Ibid., 645.

13 speak of “the career of a man” Ibid.

14 Jackson insisted Ibid.

15 appears to have had a kind of conversion Ibid., 645–46.

16 “As the day was breaking” Ibid., 646.

17 Jackson stood, leaning on a cane Ibid., 647–48. For a more detailed account of the backstory of Jackson’s joining the Church—one that involves Sarah Yorke Jackson and her attempts to have one of her children baptized—see Remini, Jackson, III, 444–47.

18 A financial panic, followed by depression Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 501–8; Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 456–65; Temin, Jacksonian Economy, 113–77; and Feller, Public Lands in Jacksonian Politics, 182–88.

19 This Deposit Bill Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 443–46. See also Remini, Jackson, III, 320–29.

20 an order called the Specie Circular Remini, Jackson, III, 328–29. Wilentz, Andrew Jackson, 114–20, is a strong summary of the economic and political factors at work late in Jackson’s administration.

21 the circular was aimed at speculators Feller, Public Lands in Jacksonian Politics, 184. Wilentz wrote: “The federal land office turned into a gigantic government-sponsored confidence scheme, whereby speculators borrowed large amounts of paper money, used it to buy federal land, then used the land as collateral on further lands—all of which ensnared the federal government, as Benton observed, in ‘the ups and downs of the whole paper system’ ” (Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 444).

22 plenty of blame Temin, The Jacksonian Economy, offers a detailed defense of Jackson. “Despite its universal acceptance, this story [of Jackson’s being responsible for the ensuing economic distress] will not stand close scrutiny; it is negated by extant data of the 1830s,” Temin wrote. “Jackson’s economic policies were not the most enlightened the country has ever seen, but they were by no means disastrous. The inflation and crises of the 1830’s had their origin in events largely beyond Jackson’s control and probably would have taken place whether or not he had acted as he did. The economy was not the victim of Jacksonian politics; Jackson’s politics were the victims of economic fluctuations” (ibid., 16–17). Wilentz wrote: “Jackson’s Specie Circular, by slamming the brakes on the western land mania and halting the shift of specie from eastern banks to the West, has traditionally received the blame for causing economic disaster. That interpretation now appears simplistic at best” (Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 444).

23 “It was reported that” Mrs. C. M. Stephens to Phila Ann Donelson, January 8, 1840, Mrs. John Lawrence Merritt Collection.

24 “I was in Nashville the other day” Leonidas Polk to his mother, June 4, 1840. Leonidas Polk Collection, The University of the South, University Archives and Special Collections, Sewanee.

25 George P. A. Healy James, TLOAJ, 782.

26 “I see that you” Ibid.

27 “our poor old grey headed” Letter to Stockley Donelson, July 25, 1841, Mrs. John Lawrence Merritt Collection.

28 “He is swollen all over” Sarah Yorke Jackson to Emma Donelson, April 30, 1845, Gilder Lehrman Collection, RGJ 496.36, The Hermitage.

29 a postscript dictated by Jackson Ibid.

30 Jackson “still continues about the same” Sarah Yorke Jackson to Emma Donelson, May 17, 1845, Gilder Lehrman Collection, RGJ 496.34, The Hermitage. 343 “that it was not far distant” Andrew Jackson, Jr., to A.O.P. Nicholson, June 17, 1845, The Hermitage. 343 “When I have suffered” Ibid. 343 “I cannot be long with you all” Ibid. 343 “I wish to be buried” Ibid.

31 Texas remained a question Ibid. Jackson explicitly mentioned Andrew Donelson, “our minister there.” 343 tensions between London and Washington Ibid.

32 “He conversed generally” Andrew Jackson, Jr., to A.O.P. Nicholson, June 17, 1845, The Hermitage.

33 “let war come” Ibid. “He spoke of our Oregon difficulty and … expressed a hope and prayer that it would be amicably arranged by the two governments and if not let war come said he.”

34 “My dear Andrew” Correspondence, VI, 408–9. The letter was dated May 24, 1845.

35 “This may be the last” Ibid., 397–98.

36 “On the subject of my papers” Ibid., 406–7.

37 On Friday, June 6, he wrote President Polk Ibid., 413–14.

38 a note to Thomas F. Marshall Thomas F. Marshall to Andrew Jackson, Jr., June 20, 1845, Scott Ward Collection. The letter was written from Versailles, Kentucky.

39 “cold, clammy perspiration” Andrew Jackson, Jr., to A.O.P. Nicholson, June 17, 1845, The Hermitage.

40 the attending doctor thought Jackson was gone Here is Andrew Jackson, Jr., on the incident: “On … Saturday [June 7, 1845] he felt tolerably comfortable the first part of the day. He was then seized with a cold clammy perspiration, an evidence of death approaching. He talked but little that day.… Late in the evening Doctor Esselman came and he tried to check his bowels but to no purpose. The General rested pretty well that night. The next morning early I called the Doctor in. Soon after the Doctor coming in, nature seemed to give away and the general fainted. When the Doctor remarked he is gone, we laid him in bed, where he immediately recovered” (Andrew Jackson, Jr., to A.O.P. Nicholson, June 17, 1845, The Hermitage).

41 after ten minutes Elizabeth Martin Donelson to Andrew Jackson Donelson, June 9, 1845, Stanley Horn Collection, The Hermitage. In describing Jackson’s last moments, I have relied on the recollections and reports of Elizabeth Martin Donelson, Andrew Jackson, Jr., and Hannah, each of whom was in the room, and on the reconstruction found in Parton, Life, III, 678–79.

42 Lewis arrived Parton, Life, III, 678.

43 “Major, I am glad to see you” Ibid.

44 to defy expectations Hannah recalled: “About an hour before he died he [came] to—we had all thought he was dead before that” (Correspondence, VI, 415). These remarks are recorded in what is called “ ‘Old Hannah’s’ Narrative of Jackson’s Last Days.” It is worth noting that Hannah’s reminiscences were recorded when she was eighty-nine, in 1880—during an era in which there was much mythologizing about the relationship between slaveholders and slaves. See David W. Blight, Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (Cambridge, Mass., 2001). Still, Hannah’s memories have much in common with letters written close to the date of Jackson’s death.

45 looked up at her and asked how everyone was at home Elizabeth Martin Donelson to Andrew Jackson Donelson, June 9, 1845, Stanley Horn Collection, The Hermitage.

46 “Johnny went and kissed him” Ibid.

47 Jackson asked for his spectacles Correspondence, VI, 415.

48 licked the lenses, dried them on his sheet Ibid.

49 “God will take care” Andrew Jackson, Jr., to A.O.P. Nicholson, June 17, 1845, The Hermitage.

50 “Do not cry” Elizabeth Martin Donelson to Andrew Jackson Donelson, June 9, 1845, Stanley Horn Collection, The Hermitage.

51 “My conversation is for you all” Correspondence, VI, 415.

52 “Christ has no respect to color” Ibid.

53 “What is the matter” Andrew Jackson, Jr., to A.O.P. Nicholson, June 17, 1845, The Hermitage.

54 asked one of the slaves Correspondence, VI, 415.

55 “Just then” Ibid.

56 It was six o’clock Andrew Jackson, Jr., to A.O.P. Nicholson, June 17, 1845, The Hermitage.

57 what Elizabeth Donelson called “spasms” Elizabeth Martin Donelson to Andrew Jackson Donelson, June 9, 1845, Stanley Horn Collection, The Hermitage.

58 fainted … bathed in camphor Correspondence, VI, 415.

59 Andrew junior “seemed bewildered” Elizabeth Martin Donelson to Andrew Jackson Donelson, June 9, 1845, Stanley Horn Collection, The Hermitage. 345 Hannah, in grief, would not leave Correspondence, VI, 415.

60 “Although it was looked for” Elizabeth Martin Donelson to Andrew Donelson, June 9, 1845, Stanley Horn Collection, The Hermitage.

61 “Yours to the Genl I will keep” Ibid. The day after Jackson died, she wrote, “I have just received your letter.”

62 Sam Houston, who had just left Donelson, arrived James, TLOAJ, 786.

63 a reported three thousand people Parton, Life, III, 679.

64 conducted the service from the front portico Ibid.

65 “These are they which came” In Parton, Life, III, 679, the verse appears as “These are they which came out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.”

66 The Ninetieth psalm was read Andrew Jackson, Jr., to A.O.P. Nicholson, June 17, 1845, The Hermitage.

67 “How Firm a Foundation” Ibid.

68 Fear not, I am “How Firm a Foundation, Ye Saints of the Lord,” in The Hymnal, by the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., ed. Louis F. Benson, rev. ed. (Philadelphia, 1911), 505.

69 Thomas Marshall returned home Thomas F. Marshall to Andrew Jackson, Jr., June 20, 1845, Scott Ward Collection.

70 to see “the last characters” Ibid.

71 promised to visit the grave Ibid.

72 “He knew” Ibid.

73 “Before the nation, before the world” B. M. Dusenbery, Monument to the Memory of General Andrew Jackson (Philadelphia, 1848), 50.

74 “Sleep sweetly, aged soldier” Ibid., 69. In Pennsylvania, the governor, Francis R. Shunk, acknowledged the late hero’s divisiveness, but spoke of the same feelings that had been evident in Louisville when Jackson was coming home from Washington eight years before. “Whatever differences may exist among his countrymen in regard to some measures of his administration, it must be admitted by all that the same courageous assumption of responsibility—the same patriotism—the same energy and decision—the same honesty of purpose—and the same devotion to the constitution and the Union which distinguished him as a general, he displayed as a statesman. During his administration, questions arose which agitated the whole community. Even the Union itself was threatened, and gave occasion for an exhibition of devotion to its preservation which commanded universal applause” (ibid., 149). Shunk had also heard of the closing hours of Jackson’s life on the first floor of the Hermitage, and from afar the governor sensed the nature and strength of the bonds between Jackson and his broad family: “Childless, the pains of his last illness were assuaged, and its tedious hours beguiled by affection more than filial, and bursts of grief from hearts in which not a drop of his blood was mingled, paid the holiest tribute to his memory when he died,” Shunk said. “With paternal admonitions, tender adieus to those to whom not blood, but affection, made him father, in the confident hope of a blissful immortality, his spirit, released from its frail and decaying tenement, has gone to receive its reward” (ibid., 153–54).

75 according to legend, a visitor Oral tradition, The Hermitage.

76 Blair gave up the Globe FPB, 163–67.

77 Blair had loaned … the Jacksonian tome Ibid., 175–77.

78 Blair became a great Unionist Ibid., 150–77, tells the story of Blair’s important role in antebellum politics.

79 Blair helped engineer Ibid., 192–97.

80 Blair supported Lincoln Ibid., 262–64.

81 he urged the new president Ibid., 315–17.

82 On Lincoln’s authority Ibid., 283.

83 one of his sons, Montgomery Blair Ibid., 271.

84 Francis Bicknell Carpenter’s painting “First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln,” http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/artifact/Painting_33_00005.htm.

85 In the last days of 1864 FPB, 363–64.

86 “the cause of all our woes” Ibid., 364–67.

87 a Friday, February 3, 1865 Ibid., 368.

88 Blair and his daughter Lizzie Ibid., 371.

89 Blair asked to be baptized Ibid., 434.

90 Blair died four years later Ibid., 437.

91 retiring to Lindenwald Niven, Martin Van Buren, 485.

92 candidate for the Free Soil Party Ibid., 590.

93 He supported President Lincoln’s fight Ibid., 610–11.

94 died after a long illness Ibid., 611. See also New York Times, October 20, 1876.

95 “The grief of his patriotic friends” Ibid., 612.

96 leaving office in 1840 AAK,436.

97 published a biography of the general Ibid., 505.

98 Kendall went to work for Samuel F. B. Morse Ibid., 527.

99 supported President Lincoln Ibid., 621. Kendall published many articles denouncing secession, some of which are reprinted in his Autobiography, 580–619. 349 a generous donor to Calvary Baptist Church Ibid., 663–64.

100 a founder of Gallaudet University Ibid., 555. The school was originally named the Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind.

101 He died on Friday, November 12, 1869 Ibid., 690–91.

102 After losing the Senate election Remini, Jackson, II, 318.

103 president of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 544.

104 governor of the Florida territory Remini, Jackson, II, 321.

105 “Our friend John Eaton is harassed” TPA, 207.

106 Eaton was dispatched as the minister Ratner, Andrew Jackson and His Tennessee Lieutenants, 89.

107 writing that “he and she” TPA, 220.

108 campaigning for Van Buren’s 1840 opponent Ibid., 223.

109 “My friend Maj. Eaton comes home” Correspondence, VI, 59.

110 the couple lived with Margaret’s mother TPA, 223.

111 Eaton practiced law Ibid., 223–24.

112 “Never did I so much regret” Correspondence, VI, 112–13.

113 “I have thought ever since” TPA, 223.

114 In the summer of 1844 Ibid., 225.

115 Eaton died on Monday, November 17, 1856 Ibid., 227.

116 “We had been honored” Eaton, Autobiography of Peggy Eaton, 205.

117 Italian dancing master named Antonio Buchignani TPA, 229.

118 moved to New York City Ibid., 230–33.

119 “a carriage with four horses” Ibid., 224.

120 sent flowers to the funeral … unmarked grave Ibid., 235–36.

121 “She belonged to the women” Pollack, Peggy Eaton, 282.

122 secretary of state in John Tyler’s Cabinet PJCC, XXI, 395.

123 He died in Washington Coit, John C. Calhoun, 509–10.

124 Floride was en route Ibid., 512.

125 Clay saluted Calhoun’s oratorical gifts Ibid.

126 buried in the churchyard of St. Philip’s Ibid., 516.

127 served in the Senate until 1842 Remini, Henry Clay, 600.

128 seeking the presidency Ibid., 610.

129 (Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey) Ibid., 645.

130 hailed as “Young Hickory” Ibid., 654.

131 Clay asked after Jackson’s health Remini, Jackson, III, 481.

132 “The glorious result of the presidential election” Correspondence, VI, 334.

133 Compromise of 1850 Remini, Henry Clay, 730–61.

134 “Tell Clay for me” Ibid., 738.

135 Clay died on Tuesday, June 29, 1852 … lie in state Ibid., 781–86

136 “the acutest, the astutest, the archest enemy” Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 514.

137 rebellion aboard the Amistad Nagel, John Quincy Adams, 379–81.

138 collapsed on the floor of the House Ibid., 414.

139 His casket was taken … interred beside Abigail and John Adams Ibid., 415–16.

140 “preside over the destinies” Papers, V, 188.

141 considered for Van Buren’s Cabinet Cheathem, Old Hickory’s Nephew, 189.

142 accepted President Tyler’s appointment Ibid., 171.

143 “All is safe” Ibid., 207.

144 American envoy to Prussia Ibid., 208.

145 edited the Washington Union Ibid., 262–78.

146 vice president on the Know Nothing ticket Ibid., 297.

147 Andrew junior killed himself in a hunting accident Remini, Jackson, III, 145, and supporting note.

148 “A great change” Laura Donelson to John Donelson, February 22, 18[?], Mrs. John Lawrence Merritt Collection. The events described in the letter take place in 1856 (Cheathem, Old Hickory’s Nephew, 301).

149 “Uncle Andrew [Donelson] was up here” William Donelson, Jr., to John Donelson, April 29, 1859, Mrs. John Lawrence Merritt Collection.

150 he moved from support for the Union Cheathem, Old Hickory’s Nephew, 316–19.

151 died on Monday, June 26, 1871 Ibid., 328.

Epilogue: He Still Lives

  1 streets of mud and ice I am indebted to Curtis Mann, the city historian of Springfield, Illinois, for describing the layout and conditions of the city during the winter of 1861.

  2 his brother-in-law’s brick general store Emanuel Hertz, ed., The Hidden Lincoln: From the Letters and Papers of William H. Herndon (New York, 1940), 118.

  3 need some “works” to consult William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik, Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life (New York, 1917), II, 188.

  4 “I looked for a long list” Ibid.

  5 small, sparsely furnished Interview with Curtis Mann, the city historian of Springfield, Illinois.

  6 Lincoln looked to Jackson With the admittedly large exception of the integrity of the Union, Lincoln had long been a Henry Clay Whig who opposed Jackson on most issues. In the crisis of the Civil War, however, the sixteenth president saw virtue in the seventh. A portrait of Jackson hung in Lincoln’s White House office, and there are some echoes of Jackson’s proclamation in Lincoln’s first inaugural. The Constitution, Jackson had said, was “the perpetual bond of our Union.” Scribbling across a sheet of paper, Lincoln wrote, “I hold that in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution the Union of these states is perpetual.” Speaking more in sorrow than in anger, Jackson had said: “I call upon you in the language of truth, and with the feelings of a Father, to retrace your steps.” In the winter’s light, Lincoln urged care and caution. “Do not rush to arms,” Lincoln said, “in hot haste.” Jackson had said: “Fellow citizens! The momentous case is before you.” Lincoln wrote: “In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war.” For Jackson’s proclamation, see Messages, II, 1203–19; for Lincoln’s first inaugural, see Lincoln, Speeches and Writings, 215–24.

  7 “The right of a state to secede” John G. Nicolay and John Hay, Abraham Lincoln: A History (New York, 1886), III, 248.

  8 “A majority held in restraint” Lincoln, Speeches and Writings, 220.

  9 “Jackson had many faults” Alfred Bushnell Hart and Herbert Ronald Ferleger, eds., Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia (New York, 1941), 272.

10 approved of Jackson’s “instinct” Theodore Roosevelt, Letters and Speeches (New York, 2004), 109.

11 “The course I followed” Theodore Roosevelt, The Rough Riders: An Autobiography (New York, 2004), 620.

12 a visit to the Hermitage Mary French Caldwell, “Another Breakfast at the Hermitage: Part II: 1934,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 26 (Fall 1967), 249–50.

13 “bowed gallantly” Ibid.

14 ramps had been installed Ibid.

15 he chose to stay on his feet Ibid.

16 some occasions were so important to him A similar one occurred when he met with Winston Churchill at sea off Newfoundland in August 1941; for a church parade aboard the Prince of Wales, Roosevelt walked to his seat on deck. See my Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship (New York, 2003), 107–8, for an account of the moment.

17 “Responsibility lay heavily” Radio Address from the USS Potomac for Jackson Day Dinners, March 29, 1941. See John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project [online]. Santa Barbara, Calif.: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database). http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=16095.

18 with a “rugged, courageous spirit” Ibid.

19 Eddie Jacobson, Truman’s partner Truman, Where the Buck Stops, 372–73. Sheepishly recalling Jacobson’s complaint in retirement, Truman said: “I’ll admit that I’ve probably read more about Jackson than anyone else in the country. It took us a long time to pay off our creditors, too. It was 1935 before they were all settled and taken care of” (ibid.).

20 spent his childhood soaking up David McCullough, Truman (New York, 1992), 43. Jackson and Robert E. Lee were Truman’s longtime heroes. To Merle Miller, Truman also claimed that his father, John Anderson Truman, was “an Andrew Jackson descendant, you understand, and those people are all fighters” (Merle Miller, Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman [New York, 1973], 67–68).

21 commissioned a statue McCullough, Truman, 180. Also see Miller, Plain Speaking, 135, and Robert H. Ferrell, Harry S. Truman: A Life (Columbia, Mo., 1994), 112.

22 traveled to the Hermitage McCullough, Truman, 180. Also see Miller, Plain Speaking, 135.

23 put a small bronze McCullough, Truman, 606

24 “He wanted sincerely” Truman, Where the Buck Stops, 295. Truman did acknowledge Jackson’s greatest failing, which was that his desire to help people did not extend to the original inhabitants of the land. “That’s the only thing I hold against old Jackson … the fact that he didn’t do anything to help the Indians when he was president. The Seminoles and the Choctaws were terribly mistreated when Jackson was president, and I do hold that against him” (ibid., 280).

25 “helped once again to make it clear” Ibid., 303.

26 When Truman lit the National Community Christmas Tree The New York Times, December 25, 1945.

27 “It is well” John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project [online]. Santa Barbara, Calif.: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database). http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=12250. The speech was broadcast nationally beginning at 5:15 P.M. on Christmas Eve.

28 His tombstone reads only Author observation, The Hermitage.

29 slave quarters are near Jackson’s tomb Ibid.

30 “The victor in a hundred battles” Dusenbery, ed., Monument to Jackson, 70.

31 whose bust Author observation, The Hermitage.

32 “The moral of the great events” Dusenbery, ed., Monument to Jackson, 46.

33 a sparkling, unusually warm Washington Union, January 9, 1853.

34 Clark Mills’s equestrian statue Ibid.

35 A vast procession Ibid.

36 Blair had drafted Douglas’s remarks FPB, 176.

37 “Nobly did the widowed mother” AJETH, III, 566.

38 often sat in Pew 54 For the history of, and details about, Saint John’s Church, see www.stjohns-dc.org/article.php?id=48. I am grateful to the rector, the Reverend Luis Leon, and to the parish’s executive director of operations, Hayden G. Bryan, for their assistance.

39 “He still lives” AJETH, III, 573.