ickory. When all the votes were tallied, Jackson came out on top again. Only this time, he had the necessary majority in the electoral college. Jackson had little to celebrate, however. His wife, Rachel, died a couple days before his inauguration. One of her last remarks were, I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of God than to live in that palace. Jackson blamed her death on both his political enemies and himself.A couple of days before General J arrived, Daniel Webster wrote this famous letter to his friends: General Jackson will be here abt. 15. of Feb.- Nobody knows what he will do. Many letters are sent to him; he answers none of them. His friends here pretend to be very knowing; but.... Great efforts are being made to put him up to a general sweep as to all offices; springing from great doubts whether he is disposed to do it. Nobody is authorized to say whether he intends to retire after one term.... Who will form the cabinet is as well known at Boston as at Washington.... My opinion is that when he comes he will bring a breeze with him. Which way it will blow I cannot tell.When Andrew Jackson reached Washington in 1929, he seemed incapable of carrying the burdens of being president. He suffered from tuberculosis and when his wife died, he felt he had little to live for. Many thought that he would never survive the first term. Jackson supporters swarmed their way into Washington because they believed that Jackson would make a clean sweep of all federal officials appointed by Adams. Old Hickory used the spoils system to replace only about a sixth of federal office holders during his years in the White House.Jackson started his first term with a social problem called the Affair of Mrs.Eaton. It involved John Eaton, the secretary of war, and a married daughter of the owner of a Washington boardinghouse where Eaton resided. When the girls husband died at sea(some said he killed himself because of her affair with Eaton), Jacks...
