Inauguration of Jackson. CHAPTER XIX PROBLEMS OF JACKSON'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION THE NEW PRESIDENT IN CHARGE MARCH 4, 1829, Washington was filled with visitors come to see the "people's champion" take the oath of office. They covered the slopes of Capitol Hill from where the peace monument now stands to the crest, where a picket fence inclosed the open square which now separates the capitol from the library of congress. Within this yard another great crowd awaited the inaugural ceremony from the east portico. Just before noon the watchers on the slope saw a knot of gentlemen issue from a hotel on the avenue and move slowly up the hill. In the midst walked Jackson, bareheaded, tall and erect, his white hair conspicuous above the shoulders of his companions. A few minutes later he had entered the building, and in a short time stood before the great crowd in the inclosure and took the oath which John Marshall administered. Then came an inaugural address, safely scanned beforehand by his advisers, lest it say something which would give the carping opposition an opportunity to upbraid him. All went well. The spectacle was so impressive that Francis Scott Key, who stood at a gate of the picket fence, exclaimed: "It is beautiful, it is sublime!" The oath taken, the president mounted his horse and rode to the White House, where a reception was tendered to any one who chose to come. tion. Now followed a saturnalia. Statesmen and stable-boys, fine ladies and washerwomen, white people and blacks, all pushed into the mansion, grasped the hand of the president, if they could The Recep- reach him, and rushed upon the waiters serving refreshments. From the rabble he was glad to escape by a side door, but the jostling crowd surged through the rooms, upsetting the trays in the hands of the servants, breaking the dishes, and leaping on the furniture in their eagerness to be served, until at last they were turned aside by some thoughtful person who had tubs of punch carried to the lawns, whither the mob quickly followed. Thus was inaugurated the rule of the democracy. The The cabinet was already announced. At the head was Van Buren, secretary of state, whom most persons thought an excellent selection. The others were nearly evenly divided between his own followers and the friends of Calhoun. They had all been selected after much conference between the two factions, DEMOCRACY AT THE HELM 393 and it seems that Jackson had been forced to submit to such a choice. The fact shows how far the party had come to be a definite organization, of which the president was only the leader. There was much disappointment, especially among the Virginians, whose state, save for a short time in Madison's presidency, had always had a seat in the cabinet since the beginning of the government. Not another Virginian was to sit there until the ill-starred administration of Tyler, himself a Virginian. The disappointed ones made the best they could of the situation, and some of them were later consoled with high diplomatic appointments. "Kitchen This cabinet was not to be a body of political advisers. The members who supported Calhoun had not the president's confidence to the same extent as Van Buren, Eaton, and Barry, the inefficient postmaster-general. These men, with W. B. The Lewis, F. P. Blair, J. A. Hamilton, A. J. Donelson, Cabinet." and some others, established such superior influence that they were dubbed the "Kitchen Cabinet." They constituted a private cabal in the interest of Van Buren. Flatterers and others who sought favors secured its influence. It was the real council of the anti-Calhoun faction until the reorganization of the cabinet in 1831 enabled the president to have a cabinet in which no Calhounite had place. With that change he consulted his regular advisers more freely, and the "Kitchen Cabinet" lost its importance. ments. Among the inauguration visitors were a vast number of office seekers. The impression that Adams officials would be removed was general, and every Jackson man who could do so was present with petitions for reward for party service. Jack Appointson was little inclined to resent the pressure brought to bear upon him. He announced frankly his belief in rotation in office, saying that one honest citizen was as capable as another of serving the public. He believed the campaign charges that the old officials were largely incompetent or touched with partisanship. It must be remembered that the old method of selecting officials was by personal recommendation, that many old men were in office who were no longer able to do the duty assigned to them, which facts gave some basis for the desire to adopt a new system. The treasury, we are told, was popularly called by residents of Washington "the octogenarian department." The removals which followed the inauguration were many more than had occurred before that time, but not so many as were made by later presidents. Most of Jackson's appointees were inexperienced men, many of them were incompetent, and a few proved dishonest. The system he inaugurated had previously grown up in several states, notably in New York. It was characterized by Marcy, of New York, in the phrase, later generally adopted, "To the victors belong the spoils!" Mrs. The selection of one member of the cabinet brought out an unexpected protest. Senator John H. Eaton, of Tennessee, a staunch friend of Jackson's, was made secretary of war. January 1, 1829, he was married to Mrs. Timberlake, daughter of a Washington tavern-keeper, who was reported to have had many adventures, a woman whom the society of the city would not receive. Remonstrances were made to Jackson against bringing into his official family one who would undoubtedly be rejected socially. He believed her innocent, and refused to discriminate against her, saying he came to Washington to make a cabinet in the interest of the country and not to please the ladies of the capital. Trouble began immediately, but as official entertainments were not held until society returned to Washington after the summer season was past, an open break was deferred until the fall. Then Jackson gave a dinner, to which all the invited ones came. But their restrained looks showed their feelings toward Mrs. Eaton. When other cabinet officers gave dinners, some members refused to attend. At other places Mrs. Eaton was treated so coolly that before the end of the winter she ceased to accept invitations. Jackson was deeply offended. He took the conduct of society as an affront to himself. He thought a combination was made to discredit his administration. Political of the So far, this was only a social affair, but it soon assumed a political aspect. Van Buren was a widower. He had no family to object to Mrs. Eaton, and won the regard of the president by conspicuous attentions to her on every possible occasion. Of those who took the opposite course, Mrs. Calhoun was the leader, and she was supported by the wives of several other cabinet members. Thus Jackson came to associate the vice-president with what he called the conspiracy, and he drew nearer to the friends of Van Buren. He called the protesting cabinet members before him and told them he expected them to induce their wives to treat more courteously the wife of his friend. The only reply they made was that they could not interfere with the social affairs of their families. There was no improvement in the situation of the unhappy woman, and the breach in the administration party grew steadily wider. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS CHECKED While this affair progressed, Van Buren was able to give his rival another deadly thrust by bringing the president over to the opposition to internal improvements, whose champion Calhoun had long been. The vice-president was the author of the bonus bill, 1817 (see page 365), which Madison vetoed on constitutional grounds. But the friends of improvements persisted, and in 1819 passed resolutions calling on the secretary of war, Calhoun, to report on the roads necessary for Calhoun ments. THE MAYSVILLE VETO 395 military defense. The secretary complied, but his comprehensive scheme was not acted upon. However, so many appropriations were made for single works that Monroe, himself a strict constructionist, decided to give the country another warning like that of Madison. Accordingly he vetoed, in 1822, a bill to establish toll-gates on, and otherwise to regulate, the Cumberland road, a great national highway designed to run from the Potomac to the capital of Missouri, then the westernmost state. Jackson was at that time in private life, but he wrote to Monroe, congratulating him on the veto. In 1824 a bill was passed directing the secretary of war to have made surveys of such roads and canals as were needed for national development. Next year Calhoun reported a system of roads and canals, the chief features of which were: (1) a canal from the Potomac to the Ohio, to be extended finally to Lake Erie, (2) an inland waterway along the coast from the Potomac to Boston harbor, and (3) a national highway from New Orleans to Washington. Besides these works he pointed out others which ought to be undertaken, some in the South, and some in the West. To the opponents of improvements it seemed a bid for the support of all the parts of the country which would be affected. Nothing was done to carry out this scheme while Adams was president, but it was still in the minds of men at the accession of Jackson. The large group who favored it, strong especially in the Middle and Northwestern states, looked to Calhoun, second in the party and probable successor in 1832, to carry it out. If the weight of Jackson's opposition could be aroused, it would weaken the scheme and at the same time deal a hard blow to the hopes of Calhoun. Van Buren was the daily companion of the president. He was not a great statesman, but he had tact and common sense, and Jackson, who knew little about practical administration, asked ville Veto, his advice continually. The two men talked freely about The Maysthe dangers they believed to exist in the growing tendency 1830. to get congress to vote money for roads and canals which were purely local, and it was decided that at the first good opportunity a veto should be given which would again call attention to the evils in the practice. Soon afterwards a bill was introduced to authorize the government to take stock in a road from Maysville, Kentucky, to Lexington, in the same state. The road was purely local, and a veto of it could be easily defended. Its passage through the two houses was carefully watched from the White House, and the veto was duly sent May 27, 1830. Many of the president's best friends feared the consequences, saying that it would alienate Pennsylvania and the West. He replied that it was only the contractors and landboomers, with the politicians who feared them, that opposed the veto, and that the people at large would approve the measure. The news from the people confirmed this foresight. The Maysville veto proved one of the popular measures of Jackson's career. In delivering it he showed one of his most characteristic traits, his ability to divine what the people wished and his willingness to appeal to them over the heads of the politicians. After rejecting the Maysville bill Jackson objected to many similar measures. He effectively checked appropriations for roads in the Later History of Internal Im states, although many were built in the territories. He did not make the same objection to appropriations for improving rivers and harbors, destined to be for many provements. years the congressman's means of getting benefits for his district. The veto came just when railroads were coming into use, the burden of constructing them was transferred to the states, which made, in the next generation, lavish gifts to such enterprises. The rage for railroad construction at state expense led to much extravagance in the West and was a vital cause of the panic of 1837. After 1850 the Jackson policy was reversed, when great land grants began to be made for the construction of railroads, the most important being the grants in aid of the transcontinental roads during the civil war and immediately afterwards. and Union Men. DIVISION IN THE JACKSONIAN PARTY In 1830 Calhoun was committed to state rights, the program of his friends in South Carolina, and he could not seriously object to the checking of internal improvements. In fact, the South State Rights supported the Maysville veto nearly unanimously. It was more concerned in impeding the progress of protection; and the doctrine of nullification, announced for that purpose, was in danger of becoming the general slogan of that section. Many Northern men felt that the doctrine ought to be opposed, and the great Hayne-Webster debate, which occurred at this time, gave them a feeling of relief, since it afforded the greatest champion of the union, Daniel Webster, an opportunity to place before the country the arguments for a stronger federal government. The occasion of this celebrated debate was some resolutions offered December 29, 1829, by Senator Foote, of Connecticut, looking to the Foote's restriction of land sales. The Western senators objected immediately, thinking that Foote merely wished to check the drain of Eastern population to the West. Benton, of Missouri, a forceful but bitter debater, took up the cause of the West in one of his characteristic speeches, and much feeling was aroused in the senate. Then the advocates of states rights thought they saw an opportunity to draw the West to their side. They wished to show that it was not strictly constitutional for the federal government to pass laws which bore hardly on any section, and that an attempt to do so was but in keeping with the policy of building up one section at the expense of another, a policy which must lead to hostility of |