CANDID APPEAL TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC: IN REPLY TO MESSRS. INGHAM, BRANCH, AND BERRIEN. ON THE DISSOLUTION OF THE LATE CABINET

Eaton, John H.

Published by Printed at the Globe Office, Washington City, 1831

About this Item

55, [1 blank] pp. Disbound, title page margins dusted. Short closed margin tear [no loss]. Good+. Eaton was a Tennessee friend and ally of President Andrew Jackson, who appointed him Secretary of War. Eaton's wife, the daughter of a tavern keeper, was the victim of the most politically significant social snobbery in our history. The extraordinary events brought down Jackson's Cabinet and engendered Jackson's lifelong enmity to Vice President Calhoun, possibly costing the latter the Presidency. The pamphlet is Eaton's emotional defense of his wife, and his outraged assault on his foes. Calhoun's wife-- followed by other Cabinet wives-- refused to associate with Peggy Eaton, on the ground that she was a loose woman, unfit to mingle with them. Jackson, a man of passionate loyalties, took Peggy's side. "Mrs. Eaton might be the wife of a cabinet officer, but Washington society refused to admit her into its circle. Jackson was enraged. Eaton was a special favorite, one of his Tennessee cronies and his principal biographer. The persecution of Mrs. Eaton was exactly parallel, in his eyes, to the persecution that had driven his beloved Rachel into the grave only a few months before" [Peterson The Great Triumvirate 183.] Howes E27. Sabin 21730. Not in Wise & Cronin, Eberstadt, Graff, Decker.

Seller Inventory # 39888

Bibliographic Details

• Title: CANDID APPEAL TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC: IN REPLY TO MESSRS. INGHAM, BRANCH, AND BERRIEN. ON THE DISSOLUTION OF THE LATE CABINET
• Publisher: Printed at the Globe Office, Washington City
• Publication Date: 1831
• Seller catalogs:
  • WOMEN
  • AMERICANA
  • HOWES
  • PRESIDENCY
  • SOUTH CAROLINA