and he's the author of this book, andrew jackson southerner. professor cheatham, how would you describe the opening months of the jackson administration. in 1829? pretty chaotic. jackson comes in as this man who's supposed to be reflecting the will of the people. and a lot of people expected that from him. but very quickly, jackson finds out that it's it's not that easy to rule as president. and he's to face a number of different controversies coming into the white house that are going to, in some ways affect him throughout the rest of his administration. in a general sense. what did he accomplish? jackson accomplished during his first hundred days, he accomplished, of course, setting up his cabinet, setting up his administration. he begins to implement his agenda items that he had outlined in his inaugural address. he begins to set a course for a

an increase in democratization of american politics, perhaps what we would think of as democratization today and in the mid 20 tones, but certainly at the time was in many ways a more democratic perspective on american politics. and again, he's going to be focusing on agenda items that he thinks are important that will continue on throughout his administration, things like indian removal reform of government. he's also going to going to begin to encounter at least by the end of his first year in office, some new channels urges, for example, thinking about what to do with the american economic system specifically, as are referred to the national bank. he's going to have to deal with increasing concerns about the tariff issue, which will explode at the end of his first term in office. so there's a lot that's going to be going on in those in those first few days, few months and certainly the first year that are going to set the agenda for jackson in the future.

mark cheathem we're talking about about 200 years ago and today we expect a new president to come in with blockbuster ideas, etc., and to have a very vigorous 100 days or an opening to an administration. was it the same back then? not not to the same extent. jackson certainly is going to come in with agenda items that he thinks are important. he outlined in his inaugural several things. for example, he focuses on paying off the national debt, which was a concern that he had. he talks about his inaugural address, treating native american groups fairly. that is something that may be surprising to a lot of people watching. but jackson comes in, at least for his perspective, wanting to do that. he focuses on protecting states rights, which, again, is something that may surprising if

you know anything about jackson's presidency. but he comes in wanting to protect states rights as long as they did not encroach on national power. and so that's kind of the tension point with him. and then he also wants to come in and reform a government appointments. jackson believe that it was important that the government bureaucracy was moral, that it was free from corruption, that government officials did not think of this as a lifelong office position that they could hold on to and maybe even pass on to relatives. he wanted people there who were working for the efficiency of government. and so he he focuses on that in a way that really no president before him had done. so he and those those are four pretty big items. but he doesn't come in with, you know, 20 items, you know, two dozen items that he wants to focus on. he really focuses on those four

issues, at least at the beginning. andrew jackson was elected president may 18, 28, reelected in 832. he was first sworn in on. fourth 1829. but to understand end andrew jackson, we have to go back to 1824. and in 1824, he ran for president and here were the results. it was andrew jackson versus john quincy adams. andrew jackson, 199 electoral votes and 151,000 votes in the popular vote. john quincy adams received 84 electoral votes and 113,000 votes and received only 30.9% of the popular vote. bujohn quincy adams became president. what happened? it's a complicated election, so i'll try to to briefly give you an overview. so in the 1824 election, there

were no competing political parties. there was one political party, which was the old jeffersonian republican party. they were calling themselves national republicans many times at this point. and so you have that national republic and party, that former jeffersonian coalition really breaking up into different factions based on personalities. so you have jackson, of course, henry clay, who was speaker of the house, who runs as a candidate. william h. crawford, who's secretary the treasury. and then john quincy adams, who was the secretary of state under james madison. sorry, under james monroe. so you have really four major competitors for the presidency in 1824, as you pointed out, jackson wins the most electoral votes. he wins most popular votes. he actually wins the most states as well. but it as as we all know, popular votes don't matter. and the way that you become

president is throughajority of electoral votes. and so jackson's 99 electoral votes aren't a majority. so the 12th amendment of the constitution stipulates that in those kinds of instances, top three electoral vote getters have their names submitted to the house of representatives. but then conducts its own special election, where each state, regardless of representation, whether have one representative or where, doesn't they that has one vote and whoever wins the majority of that vote by state becomes president. so jackson, adams. and then the third place vote getter, william crawford, have their names submitted to the house. well, there are a couple of interesting wrinkles here. one crawford had suffered a very debilitating stroke. the previous year. in fact, a lot of people believe that he was close to death and was on his deathbed and would

never recover. so he's really not a viable option. and the other interesting wrinkle is that henry clay, who came in fourth. he is going to have his name submitted for the presidential election in the house. but he is of the house. and so, therefore, he has a lot of to shape and direct potentially what happens in the house in the early part of 1825. adams and clay meet together alledly, according to jackson means at least they strike a agreement in which adams agrees to appoint clay' secreta o state. if clay will work in the house to win him that house election and so win the house election takes place on adams wins a lot of jack soni and supporters like to that meeting and then they called a corrupt bargain. they point to that meeting as changing election from jackson,

who in their viewpoint was clearly the choice of the people to adams becoming president, which was a subversion of democracy and in their viewpoint. and so that becomes the major to really for the 1828 campaign from the jackson perspective, is this corrupt bargain stolen the election from the people it stole the election from jackson. and so part of what 1828 is about is trying to reestablish the will of the people by electing over adams, who his opponent again in 1828 and the result in 1828. andrew jackson 178. electoral. 600,000 popular votes 56%. john quincy 83 electoral votes. 501,000 votes in the popular election. that's quite a change from the year four years before, wasn't it?

yes. and one of the things people don't realize is that prior to 28, a lot of states restricted, who could vote. of course, women and african-americans, those two groups in particular could not vote. but even if you were a white man in many states, you were not allowed to vote unless you owned certain amount of property or paid a certain amount of taxes you see either the lessening of requirements or the elimination of, those requirements in a number of different states. and so the total number votes jumps between 24 and 28 in large part because of that democratization, taking place at the state level. and a lot of people think, well, you know, this is this is jackson implementing these changes. that's not the case at all. this is not something jackson controls. but he certainly benefits from in 1828, when that voter participated in rate goes from the mid-20th is up above 50%.

and total number of votes, as you indicated, jumps tremendously between 24 and the 28 election. one of the reasons that andrew jackson and this is a question was john quincy adams an unsuccessful for president, ended andrew jackson run against jacob record. yes i think you know adams is a brilliant man. i think he's probably one of the most brilliant minds who's ever sat in the white house and that that particular seat. but adams started out his administration the wrong way, whether there was a corrupt bargain or not, that's the perception. so he starts off on the wrong foot with a lot of his opponents. of course, in his inaugural address, he talks about spending money to build absorbent areas, which lot of people find very superficial. superficial lists. he talks about not to be policy by the will of constituents in

his inaugural address, which jacksonian leap on as an indication he's an elitist. he's a washington insider, son of a president. you know, washington's always been his game. and so all these things kind of come together to create a narrative, rightly or wrongly that adams doesn't care about will of the people. he doesn't care what american voters think he's going to do, what he wants to do, which is sort of create this intellectual, elitist administration that is not going to be responsive to the real needs, the american people. and so that is the main narrative that the jacksonian focus on is all these missteps that the adams makes and he makes others throughout his four years that solidify this this this belief that he simply doesn't care what americans vors want. whereas jacon does. he is a man of the people, even though in many that's not true. mark cheathem is it fair to say

that andrew jackson came into the presidency in 1829, a bit angry about what happened four years prior? oh, my goodness. yes jackson it's interesting. if you look at jackson's initial response when he loses the 1825 house election, he's he's a little bit upset, but he doesn't seem to be bent on revenge, like seeking the present didn't see again as a way of restoring american democracy and getting revenge. adams. but by the end of 25, he very clearly has determined that that is going to his objective. he's upset. i think, you know, he probably does care that the american voters were not listened to in the 24 election. but he's also upset because he believes the election was stolen from him and the campaign that takes place over the next years, several years, until 28, reinforces jackson's anger. the adams or e supporters, at

least of adams attack him for his marriage. he and his wife, rachel, had gotten married under controversial circumstances. rachel had actually still been married to first husband and she and jackson began living as husband and wife and saying that they believed that she had already been divorced when that was not true. and jackson was a lawyer, you kind of have to question their reasoning there. but in any case, that marriage, jackson being an adulterer, his wife being a bigamist is, something that really eats at jackson, that his wife being attacked in that way and all that's exacerbated when rachel dies right after the 28 election. jackson's attacked for having a violent temper. he's attacked for being an enslaver, for the enslaved african-america who worked on his various plantations as he's

accused of being involved in aaron burr's treasonous activities in the early. 1800s. after byrd left the vice presidency under jefferson jackson is he's accused of a number of different things that only fuel his belief that he's being mistreated and misunderstood. and so when he wins the presidency he and then of the frame of mind is he's grieving his wife. he's is someone who i think angry not just at the way the 1824 election played out, but the way that he was treated over the subsequent four years during the campaign by adams supporters. as a historian, can you make comparisons to modern times? president trump had grievances over the 2020 election. i think you always have to be careful with making comparisons

between jackson and trump in particular. the very difference in terms of their backgrounds and and other things. but i think one similarity that you can see is that jackson is someone who holds a grudge. and i think trump is someone who has shown that he holds grudges as well. jackson holds grudges and if he's your friend, you, he will support you and he will make sure that you're taking care of, you know, he'll he'll move mountains you in many ways but if you're his enemy, you had better watch out. and it's really when you look at jackson's life and even during his presidency, there, people who cross him, people who had been either relatives that he had been close to or very close, they cross him and immediately they shift from being a close ally and someone he would he would protect at all to someone who is completely written off that he really wants nothing to

do with, or at least certainly not as much as he had. so. jackson definitely holds thos grudges in ways that i think you can compare to to president trump. was henry clay still speaker of the house when jackson got elected in 1828 and did what happened in 1824 impact their relationship? so clay actually adams did once he became president he did appoint clay secretary of state. and so that that solidifies any suspicions that people had that there was there had been some conspiracy between the two was solidified by that appointment. so clay as secretary of state he is he and jackson do not get along and there had been some there have been some hard feelings before when jackson had been the military he had illegally invaded spanish, florida and clay has spoken up about that had alluded to the fact that jackson was reminding of napoleon, you know, jackson

was sort of like this military dictator in waiting. so there were there was already bad blood between the two. but certainly the corrupt bargain of 24 of 1825 affects the relationship. and then during the campaign, jackson believes clay is responsible for some of personal attacks on him, particularly the attacks on him and rachel. and he drafts this letter, we don't think that he sent it to, clay, but he drafts this letter in which he calls clay out for starting these rumors about jackson's personal life, his marriage, in particular. and so by the time jackson becomes or by the time he wins the presidency, 1828, certainly those two men have no love lost between them and that relationship continue. used to be not great for the rest of jackson's life until he dies in 1845. andrew jackson was inaugurated on march. 1829, and there was a party at

the white house following that. historian jon meacham, who is the author of american lion about andrew jackson. this is from the c-span archive. here is jon meacham talking that party. he absolutely he was very much embodying much of what he believed to be the coming of the people to power. and so it became many ways, the people's house, in a way it had not been under the first the presidents who had lived there, the other five. remember presidents before andrew jackson had either been members of the virginia gentry or members of the addams family of massachusetts. and so jackson was the first of his kind. he was a self-made man from the west, as it was then who came to washington. he was convinced that the most important thing he could do is to change the republic and contract as we thought of it. lowercase r of the founders to a

more democratic one, lowercase d and he was there in many ways in reaction to the election of 1824 when he came to the white house on the 4th of march 1829. he was there to give it to people in both very and figurative ways, as we've seen and as we all know. if anyone knows anything about andrew jackson, they know that the came to the white house and went a little were little too exuberant. i think one of the things you have to look at when you think about the inauguration in 1829 is it is a two part day. there was a very solemn spectacle up on capitol hill when john marshall administered oath. jackson kiss the bible and delivered his first inaugural. several observers francis scott key margaret smith, people who had very little reason to be pro jackson in any and in fact were

rather hostile to him were impressed by the sublimity of the spectacle of democratic leader coming to power. and so there was a very solemn, again, almost sublime scene up on capitol hill. jackson mount mounts a white horse appropriately in his own mind. down capitol hill, down pennsylvania avenue to the white house, and then the party begins. he's hustled to gatsby's hotel, the national hotel, to escape the crowd. but the white house to him was very much the symbol of presidential power and for him, presidential power that he was, as he put it, the direct representative of the american people. that's something we now take for granted. but he was the first president to assert that relationship, and it drove his enemies crazy. henry disputed. john calhoun disputed it. they thought it was the dreadful.

delusion, i think was one of the phrases. but for it was not unlike president elect obama in many ways, it was important to keep the channel open between the president and the people to keep them informed, to keep them engaged in the life of the democracy, because he believed that's what set the american system apart from any other. was there a sense openness at the white house? we saw some pictures and we saw the crowd gather on inauguration day. but afterward. do people continue to get that sense? it was their house as well. well, if they could get past jimmy o'neal, who was the doorkeeper who was a how to put it, he had a bit of a problem with strong drink as. we say in my part of the world, in the south. and so he was he was there by the north door and with occasionally be on duty would occasionally not. there's a wonderful story of jackson trying to find him one day and ask andrew donaldson, his private secretary, who lived

across the hall from jackson about 14 paces, which is now the family dining room in the white house was the donaldson bedroom. he said, jimmy, he's a drunk. i expect, but people could come upstairs. you know, there was that staircase at other end, which is no longer there. but office seekers would lobby him in real time. he would be available to the public. not quite every week, but quite often. he rode horseback every day with martin van buren. and so he was very much figure in washington and was in no way an isolated. the only the only time he withdrew when he was truly sick. and remember, jackson had not had what you would call a sheltered life before. he was president. and so between his military exploits, his duels, he had two bullets in him. he had dysentery. he had painful, false teeth. he was a bit battered.

by the time he came to the white house. and so occasionally he would have to retire or for to be sick for a good bit. but otherwise he believed very much in maintaining an open house. also, the that's not just for noble purposes. it was a very practical reason. he was the first president, i believe, who understood democratic in the sense of leading entire mass of people. remember, the suffrage is being expanded to white men, more voters than ever before in american history are participating in politics. jackson again, first man to come from his part of the world. he understood politics was becoming form of entertainment, a kind of something that required engagement. there were barbecues. there were torchlight parades, there were hickory clubs as political organizing elements. he kept a portrait painter living with him in the white house.

ralph earl, who painted many of the portraits you've been showing. earl there and painted jackson all the time. and so jackson understood would jackson would have loved the internet. if you allow that anachronism observation. he founded his own in washington, sending for fresh francis preston blair from kentucky, who did the eponymous house comes from from him he was the editor. jackson would help the editorials he would look at copy he understood that the message coming out of the white house had to be consistent, had to be personal. he understood because he was a military man. the role of the general or the president in the human drama of leadership and knew very well he agreed with something nathaniel hawthorne recorded in the late 1820s, when he heard a democratic senator say that it is not just the creed that

american tend to follow in their politics. also, the apostle and this is american history tv series, the first 100 days where we look at the early months of a new presidency. we're looking at andrew jackson's, 1829, his few months in office. our guest is mark cheathem. he's with cumberland university in lebanon, tennessee, where he is a history professor. he's also the author of this book, andrew jackson southerner. professor cheatham, was the reaction in official washington to that party. washingtonians were, i think, shocked. and and have to understand that the people who were reporting from washington about the events of the inauguration day in march and 29, they were anticipating that jackson was going to bring

change. he is someone does not fit the mold of the first six presidents. he's not from virginia. he's not from massachusetts. he is not someone who has an elite background, or at least someone who comes from or born into an elite background. so they were already anticipating changes and maybe even a little bit of chaos. so they're reporting on what's happening at the the inauguration day festivities at the white house. i think you have to keep that in mind. for example, margaret baird smith, who's married to one of the newspaper publishers there in washington, she's the person who's oftentimes quoted about there being a mob, you know, king mob and the chaos of the day. so you have to keep that in mind that there's a spin to this. but at the same time, there are other accounts from other people that talk about jackson having to be pulled out a window because there was so much as far as people in the white house

that they had to be lured with pints and maybe even alcohol. probably alcohol. and so there's some truth to this, certainly. but i think lot of the descriptions perhaps are magnified because people seeing the events and putting them within the framework. this is just what we expected. we expected the chaos of this this man of the people coming into the presidency, coming into washington. and it's kind of interesting because when you look at jackson on that day, he he goes gives a speech. he's inaugurated, sworn into office. he does attend the levy at the white house. and then he retires and he doesn't attend the inaugural ball that night. and really, that ball in many ways sets the tone for the early days of jackson's administration, because at that ball, you have a number of women

who live in washington. some of them are cabinet wives who just arrived. some of them are women who live permanently in washington, who choose and deliberately choose not to associate with one of the cabinet wives o was there, a woman by t name of margaret eaton. margaret was the wife of johnny, who was jackson's secretary of war. that treatment of margaret really sets the tone, not just socially, politically, because of the controversy over margaret and john egan's marriage. and that is something that's really going to consume jackson more than it should have over the next couple of years. mark cheathem but how would you describe the social and economic conditions of the united states in 1829? united was certainly a nation that was not a world power. i think many times as americans

we look back, we that we've always been a great power. and that certainly wasn't the case. and there are american eyes there who thought, you know, that the united was the equivalent of great britain and france economically, militarily, socially and all that. we're really just a very up and a country very up and coming nation trying to find our feet. and so economically, you know, united states is okay, we had debt left over from the war of 1812. and that's part of what jackson's attempting to do during his administration, is attempting to pay off that to put the united states on better economic footing socially. there's a lot going on, much of which we won't get into. but one of the key things to keep in mind is that even though even though slavery had always existed as an issue from the very beginning, even before the united states was formed, the 1828 election was really the

first election. when you have a significant discussion of slavery as a campaign issue. jackson's the slave and treatment of african-americans, but also henry clay even though he wasn't running for office people jacksonian were talking about that during the campaign. and so the slavery issue which is that we tend to think boils boils up later politically is already festering there. and you can see that it's starting to take hold in in politics in a way that it had not prior to this point. here is a copy from the library of congress of andrew jackson's 1829 inaugural address written in his own hand. professor cheatham, did he lay out a vision for country in that address? he did. he talked about, wanting to pay off the national debt, which is one of his main objectives, partly because he himself had suffered from debt. in fact, it had almost ruined

him about a decade after he came to tennessee. in the late 1780s. so debt was something that jackson thought was important to rid of not just personally, but as nation. it would free up resources to be used for other things. one of the things that jackson includes in a draft of the inaugural address, but which he doesn't talk about in the final draft is what to do once the debt was paid off. and so one of the ideas that and his advisors come up with is they come up with the idea of the surplus revenue that the government would generate. and so just to remind viewers, the way that the united states generated revenue, a government at that point was primarily through tariffs, taxes on imported goods and then also public land sales. the revenue from that.

so once the national debt paid off jackson had a plan for using that surplus revenue to give it back to the states and let the states then use on a local level on a state level that the national government was designating was happening with those funds and that fit with his conception of of the national government in states rights. and so that into another theme of his inaugural address which was states rights again as long as states rights did not interfere with the directives and obligations of the national government, jackson was supportive of states rights that becomes problematic as he goes through his first term in office because of the conflict between his administration and southern states, specifically carolina,

because carolina is going spend a lot of time during jackson's first term arguing. arguing against unfair tariffs. they believe that tariffs were being pass by congress that were they were being enforced and collected and they were harming southern states who were more dependent on tariff revenue or wanted to be dependent on imported goods than other states outside of the south. and so that becomes a point of conflict for jackson. he can't anticipate that, but it's already evident. and sort of ironically, jackson, an early draft of the inaugural address, has a section about the tariff that he leaves out, which is which is interesting. so those are two, two key themes that he lays out as a vision. a third theme is native americans and their treatment. jackson wants them treated justly. but if you know jackson's background, his background was such that his definition of

fairness and justice was not going to be the same native americans he had spent a lot of time during the war of 1812 and after the war of 1812, fighting against various native american groups in, the southern states in the southern territories. and so jackson's version of just unfair is not going to wind up being the same as probably what those groups would have wanted, but it fit within the prevailing views of white americans at the time not to dismiss that and to justify it, but he was not out of line with what a lot of white americans wanted see happen when it came to treatment of native americans. and then lastly, jackson wanted to reform government. he wanted people in office, in the bureaucracy who were moral people who were upright rights, worked with integrity, who did

not view their job as an entitlement. they knew do their job as something that belonged to them. but he wanted people there who saw themselves as of the people that they were, people who were working for the good of the entire nion, not just to line their own pockets with their sour or maybe even with bribes or kickbacks or other things. and so that that's really his vision he lays out in the inaugural address. again, not a lot of points. there's not a lot of lot of power see, you know, specific policies that he'd deep dive deep dives. but he lays out a clear vision that this is what he's going to be focused on. initially during his first year in office. and just to put it on screen, the four points that mark cheathem says were in andrew jackson inaugural address, the protection of states rights payment of the national debt, treatment of native americans and reform in government appointments. how did he, in the first months in office, tackle any of those?

well, it's interesting because. just like any new president, i think jackson probably didn't realize how difficult it was to be president. even 200 years ago. the process of simply doing your job as president was difficult. it saw use for example, the reform of of government appointments. one of the things that a lot of people don't realize is that people who go to washington to for that inaugural or those inaugural who are, you know, trampling the furniture at the white house, number one, probably most of those are people who live in washington or very close. number two, if they're making the trip to washington, they're not doing it on vacation. it took jackson three and a half weeks to get from nashville to washington via river and via carriage. so this is not a quick trip.

you're not going to make a vacation trip for inaugural festivities. many of the people are coming to washington, are looking for jobs. and so in in the early days of his administration, jackson fis t very quickly that just that task takes an enormous amount of time. there's really no security to speak of at the white house so people could just walk in. people are riding him. so if they're not walking in, they're writing to jackson. they're writing to his private secretary, andrew donaldson, or they're writing to other people and asking them to send their letters or take their to jackson. so there are hundreds of people who are asking for a job. and jackson is trying to to sort all this out in the early days of his administration. and it just takes up an enormous amount of time. i don't think that he really anticipated having to do that despite his military background and despite, you know, being a pretty organized person. so that that part of the agenda is going to take a lot longer than jackson anticipates.

the treatment of native americans. really, the only major legislation that jackson and jacksonian supporters passing congress and the jackson signed off on during his first term in office is the indian removal act, which was passed in may of 1830. so even that takes time to put together for jackson to implement as an agenda item. you know, the issue of states rights, the issue of paying off the national debt, both of those sort of get subsumed to the immediate pressures of become king or acting as president and handling the administrative functions. and then again, you have the fact that jackson is distracted by, other things going on with his cabinet and with the social life there in washington. what about his interaction with congress? jackson comes in to office with jacksonian holding a narrow lead in the senate.

he jackson means have a much bigger margin in the house about i think 66 to 60 vote margin in the house. so the house is more solidly jacksonian the senate. jackson's relationship with congress is is good in some ways he has certain figures in congress who can assist him. people like hugh lawson white, for example, who's a fellow tennessean. so he has people there who can help him manage what's happening in the house. but he also has people in the house who are opposed to him and vehemently opposed to him. for example. you have people like daniel webster, henry clay, who's going to make his way back. congress. sohere's going to be significant, at least leadership, opposition to jackson in congress and he in

congress has a lot. during his first term, not necessarily during first hundred days, but during his first term. they're going to -- heads a lot when it comes to particularly economic issues. jackson's to find that he and congress are not on the same page many times. and so that's going to be an area that jackson's first term is is tumultuous by his second term is going to be even more tumultuous as a and opposition party. the whig party forms in congress to oppose jackson and his agenda during his second term. and andrew jackson's vice president, did he play a significant role? yeah. oh, my goodness. yes, he did. johnson calhoun from south carolina, who if you don't know as viewers, actually, john quincy adams as vice president. so in that 24 election, calhoun was elected vice president about midway through adams term in office. calhoun, jackson and, senator

martin van buren, from from new york, form the cole ish and the jacksonian coalition that turns into the democratic party. so roughly halfway through adams's presidency, calhoun is actually a vice president who is actively working against and actively supporting adams's opponent, andrew jackson. so you would think, you know. jackson as president now. calhoun as vice president, things would be peachy keen that that they would be happy and and they would be able to work together. however, the tariff issue was driving a wedge already between calhoun and jackson. calhoun was someone who, as a south carolinian, had come to believe that the tariff was punishing southerners unfairly. he saw it as an overreach of national power encroaching on states rights. and early in jackson's

administration, he and calhoun come into conflict with one another over that issue. the tariff issue over rumors which were true that calhoun had opposed jackson's invasion illegal invasion of spanish florida in the 18 teens and by the fact that calhoun, according to jackson and some of his advisers as calhoun, was the mastermind behind the ostracization of john and margaery that had started even before the inaugural on march 4th of 1829. but certainly escalated quickly after that. was that the petticoat? it was, yes. why was it described as that? you know the petticoat affair. it alludes to the fact that that women in washington were conflict with margaret eaton over social mores.

so, margaret had been born in washington. her father was a hotel owner. she had grown up in the area. she was someone who did not fit the social norms. so women were expected be quiet and, you know, not be involved politics and, you know just kind of stay in their lane. and margaret did not do that. she had early on when she was a teenager. her husband had then died in 1828. and died within less than a year. margaret married john eaton, who was not only jackson's for his cabinet as secretary of war, but was one of jackson's closest friends. so you're thinking, well, this big deal was what's the big deal? she's a widow or she decides to marry someone in the jackson ministration. why is this such a big deal? because number one, margaret didn't fit those social norms for women. number two, she did not a full

year after her husband's death to marry, which was one of the requirements socially for women at that time. and then number three, there rumors that, margaret and john eaton had been having an affair. even her husband died. and then there quick marriage after her husband's death solidify hide for many washington women there these rumors about margaret's reputation as an immoral woman. so what does all this to do with politics? well, what it has to do with politics is that cabinet wives were very important to making the administration run efficiently. they have little ones who not not only controlled social events and made sure that those women went smoothly, but they were also oftentimes politically active behind the scenes. and so, margaret, being in the cabinet was seen as affront, not

just socially but also in terms of what influence is she going to have as an immoral woman who doesn't fit the norms of society? what influence is she going to have over her husband? what influence is she going to have over jackson and? then to top it all off, what magnifies it even more is jackson, who is grieving rachel's death? in december of 28 comes to washington, is one of his best friends. john is being accused of adultery. john's wife, margaret, is being accused of all sorts of things. and jackson immediately leaps to their defense because a friendship, first of all, but also i think because he sees in john and margaret eaton some of the same attacks that he and raelad suffered throughout their marriage. and so jackson in many ways is projecting onto the eaton's some of the protection.

but he could no longer give rachel because she had passed away. he's able to transfer that to john and margaret eaton and so jackson will spend an inordinate amount of time over the first two years of his presidency dealing with forcing cabinet wives in their husbands to interact socially with john and margaret. all right. so imagine this. you have a president coming into office, has an agenda. he's, you know, most important person in the united states economics to consider, you know, all these different factors to consider. and jackson is having cabinet where he is calling cabinet officers in and other people outside of the administration in and trying to convince them that margaret was not an immoral woman. you know, that is what he's spending a lot of psychological and personal on. and so it just creates chaos within washington. it creates chaos within the

administration. jackson's cabinet splits. and in fact, by the time this whole episode over in 1831, jackson essentially reconstitutes his entire cabinet because of this this situation action involving the eton marriage, which is causes, again, a lot of uproar in washington that, you know, here's here's the man that we thought would bring chaos. and he's brought even more chaos than we imagined. so those first few months of the jackson administration in 1829, andrew jackson is pretty bogged down with hiring decisions and with controversies. yes, absolutely. today we are used to presidents coming in and immediately signing executive orders. were those used back in 1829? jackson does not does not do anything like that. he is he isomne, again, who's focused on the administrative tasks. yes. but he is not presence. that time did not legislate in

that way did not direct political affairs in the way that they do in more modern times from the mid 20th century on. was he facing any foreign policy crises coming in in 1829? he wasn't necessarily facing crises. there were some disputes, france over some payments that were due to the united states that will eventually escalate into more problems down the road. but really, the main foreign relations issue that jackson pays attention to during his first few months in office in 29 is texas. texas which was part of mexico at that point sort of the northern frontier land of mexico. jackson had believed that texas was belong to the united states when the united states had purchased florida spanish

florida with the adams owned east treaty. and he believed that the united states had been swindled by the spanish when they had not given the united states texas. and so he's going to spend a lot of time focused on figuring out how could the united acquire texas and what helps him in that regard. interestingly, he is there's a there's a friend of jackson's back in tennessee who's a guy by the name of sam houston. sam houston, actually resigns the governorship of tennessee under controversial circumstances and and eventually he's going to move west of course and wind up in texas and be sort of a point person for jackson and his administration there in texas. and jackson's not not focused on houston in that regard at that point. but you can already see pieces being put into place that eventually are going lead to

jackson being able to pay more attention to texas. and he doesn't acquire texas before he leaves office in 1837. in fact, the united states doesn't acquire texas until. that process is completed in 1845. but you can already see the being laid for the united states acquire texas because that is something that jackson prioritizes during those first few months that's really his major foreign relations focus at that point. mark cheathem we that andrew jackson of course one in 1828 was reelected in 1832 but in the early of his administration in 1829 was the public having buyer's remorse because of some of these controversies and chaos? and what was the news coverage like for him? well, the news coverage in many ways was hostile, at least in in in certain areas. in washington, you have there was one newspaper, the united states telegraph, that the

jacksonian had purchased and had put up projects and editor in charge of. and so you have a there in washington with the telegraph the telegraph however is more beholden to johnson calhoun and so during jackson's first term, you can see the telegraph becoming less pro jackson more anti jackson more parochial him. and so following year in 1830, jackson and his supporters actually established the washington under francis blair. that becomes the main mouthpiece for the jacksonian and the jackson administration. but prior to that, a lot of these paper coverage is negative because america gains at least those who were part of the traditional institutions part of the judicial or traditional elitist class saw him as just a disruptive factor. he was and certainly the more that the eton controversy began

to be publicized and people were talking about, you know, why is president jackson focused on, you know, who's attending which dinner and person is getting an invitation and why is he doing all that? instead of focused on leading the country. certainly, i think that there are people people who perhaps had buyer's remorse. having said that, there weren't enough because in 32, when jackson was reelected, he's not reelected with quite as as much of a majority. but it's still a pretty substantial majority. so there weren't weren't enough people with buyer's remorse to not reelect him. and 32 mark cheathem what do you see as andrew jackson's legacy of the first months of his presidency? does he have one? i think jackson comes in, you know, with these with his inaugural message agenda and for the most part, he's going to implement those changes. you know, we can see he sets

into twon th indian, a process that take place during his administration and then in subsequent administrations with the removal not just of the southeastern groups like the but also northern groups. it will help lead to the circumstances that contribute to the seminole war, which starts during his second term and last until john tyler's administration in the early 1840s. the reform of government that is something that is ongoing. but that is a process that jackson helps to initiate. and so think that's definitely a legacy of his this whole question of, you know, is the national government more important than the state governments in terms of rights? that is something that jackson is certainly going to continue as a legacy because at the end of his second term, he stands

very firmly for the union against, south carolina and against nullification and the idea of secession. and that legacy continues to the point that when abraham lincoln was writing his inaugural address. in 1861, when he looked to try to address, you know, the southern states that had seceded, he looked at people, henry clay, but he looked at andrew jackson. and that is remarkable because jackson and lincoln were two polar opposites, both in personality and in policy. but lincoln understood that jack's firm stance for the union was something that needed to be drawn on in order to encourage americans to maintain the union. so that is certainly, i think, part of his legacy moving forward. and then lastly, you know, this idea of the payment of the national debt, jackson does pay it off and has a pay off since. so maybe not as much of a legacy there, but the economic arguments of jackson's

administration, particularly with the national bank, with the argument of that jackson makes in opposition to the bank that he is the direct representative of the people as president. that is certainly one of the lasting legacy. you know, it's a very modern conception that the president i am the direct representative of the people. it's not just their elected senators and representatives in congress, but it is also the president. and to me, that's one of the legacies that can already see being laid out in jackson's first 100 days. now, mark cheathem, a history professor at cumberland universe city, about 40 miles east of nashville, i believe. are you close to the hermitage? jackson's home down there and. how valuable was that in writing your own book? andrew southerner. yes, i'm about probably 20 minutes door to door from my office to the hermitage. and i use hermitage as archives extensively when looking

particularly at jackson's role as an enslaver and his treatment of the african-american since he enslaved. it was extremely valuable, particularly when it came to that point. well, i to tell you, i've been fascinated this entire over your right shoulder is martin buren. i don't know how many people have a martin van buren statue their shelf, but what is that, mr. cheatham? that is actually the cover of book i wrote a few years ago called the coming democracy, which looks at presidential campaign things from 1824 to 1840. and so one of my roles here at cumberland to be project director for the papers of martin van buren. and so when i was looking for a cover for that particular book, that was one of the images that i thought captured sort of the the era sort of you can see van buren sort of rolling his eyes. and often times that's how i feel studying this era. mark cheathem of cumberland universe city. thank you for being part of the

history tv series. the first 100 days. looking at the early months of andrew jackson, hisall right.

well, good afternoon welcome to. the american enterprise institute book event law schools gone lawless. thank you all for joining us today. i'm jeff rosen. i'm a nonresident fellow here at the enterprise institute and some of you may know me from past roles i've played government, i've been a lawyer for more than 40 years and i've previously taught at a law school. but those are only two of the many reasons why i'm enthused for today's discussion about a book that addresses law and law schools and the chance to talk with the author of the book. this is a book that will get the attention of law schools but a wider readership as well. so i'm very pleased to have the opportunity to introduce our speaker for today's book event, ilya shapiro, and talk with him about his book, lawless. so first, a few words about ilya