The Reign of Andrew Jackson: A Chronicle of the Frontier in PoliticsOgg, Frederic Austin
History
The Reign of Andrew Jackson: A Chronicle of the Frontier in Politics
Ogg, Frederic Austin
Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845; United States -- Politics and government -- 1829-1837
Arrived in Washington, on the 11th of February--the day on which the
electoral votes were counted in the Senate--Jackson and his friends
found temporary lodgings at the Indian Queen Tavern, commonly known as
"the Wigwam." During the next three weeks the old inn was the scene of
unwonted activity. Office seekers besieged it morning, noon, and night;
politicians came to ask favors or give advice; exponents of every sort
of cause watched for opportunities to obtain promises of presidential
support; scores of the curious came with no other purpose than to see
what a backwoods President looked like. "The city is full of
speculation and speculators," wrote Daniel Webster to his sister-in-law
a few days after Jackson's arrival; "a great multitude, too many to be
fed without a miracle, are already in the city, hungry for office.
Especially, I learn that the typographical corps is assembled in great
force. From New Hampshire, our friend Hill; from Boston, Mr. Greene . .
. and from everywhere else somebody else. So many friends ready to
advise, and whose advice is so disinterested, make somewhat of a
numerous council about the President-elect; and, if report be true, it
is a council which only makes that darker which was dark enough
before."
To all, Jackson was accessible. But he was not communicative, and up to
Inauguration Day people were left to speculate not only upon the truth
of the rumor that there was to be a "full sweep" in the offices but
upon the new Administration's attitude on public questions in general.
Even Isaac Hill, a warm friend and supporter, was obliged to write to
an acquaintance four days before the inauguration that Jackson had
little to say about the future, "except in a general way." The men with
whom the Executive-elect was daily closeted were Major Lewis and
Senators Eaton and White. Van Buren would have been of the number, had
not his recently assumed duties as Governor kept him at Albany. He was
ably represented, however, by James A. Hamilton, a son of Alexander
Hamilton, to whose correspondence we owe most of what we know about the
laying of the plans for the new Administration.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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