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Kitchen Cabinet History for kids
The Kitchen Cabinet
history revolved around the scandal known as the
Petticoat affair or the Peggy Eaton
affair.
Peggy Eaton had
married John Eaton, the Secretary of War.
The marriage, and the morals of Peggy Eaton, were highly criticized
by the highest society in Washington D.C. including the
Cabinet social circle and even his niece and First Lady
Emily Donelson.
Andrew Jackson supported the Eaton's
and was furious at the gossip and the bad publicity which had become a liability for the Democrats.
The President asked for the resignations of his disloyal cabinet,
including that of his vice president John C. Calhoun. Secretary of
State, Martin Van Buren, emerged unscathed, he was the only
unmarried cabinet member and was not involved in the scandal.
Why did Jackson have a Kitchen Cabinet?
Andrew Jackson had had
enough of the vicious tongues in Washington. His recently deceased
wife,
Rachel Donelson
Jackson,
had also suffered due to the spiteful, wagging tongues of Washington
society had accused her of adultery and bigamy. He abandoned
official cabinet meetings and used the heads of departments solely
to execute their departmental duties. Instead, he sought the advice
of old personal friends from Tennessee and loyal newspaper editors.
Andrew Jackson believed that only the President could be trusted to
stand for the will of the working people against the upper-class
Congress and used his power of veto more often than all six previous
Presidents combined. Their meetings were informal, they smoked their pipes
together and formed his "kitchen
cabinet." He rarely called an official cabinet meeting and when he did
it was usually to tell the members what he had
decided to do. The official cabinet was given the nickname of the
"parlor cabinet".
Who made up Jackson's Kitchen Cabinet?
Andrew Jackson's Kitchen Cabinet
consisted of his loyal friends, journalists and newspaper editors.
The term "Kitchen Cabinet" might sound cozy and friendly but its
members were all extremely powerful and clever men. The names of the
most influential members of the Kitchen Cabinet were:
● Martin Van Buren who had
supported Jackson through the Peggy Eaton scandal
● John Eaton who had been
the subject of the gossip
● Francis Preston Blair,
editor of the Washington Globe
● Duff Green, editor of the
highly influent United States Telegraph (he later supported
Calhoun)
● Amos Kendall a lawyer,
journalist and editor-in-chief of the Argus of Western America
● Important William Berkeley
Lewis who had served as quartermaster under General Andrew
Jackson
● Isaac Hill a politician
and editor of the New Hampshire Patriot newspaper
● General Roger B. Taney,
politician, Attorney General and Chief Justice
Kitchen Cabinet Significance
Following the cabinet
reorganization of 1831, the Kitchen Cabinet became less important
but the significance of the Kitchen Cabinet was:
● It reversed the political
fortunes of several leading politicians
●
The events surrounding the
formation of the Kitchen Cabinet led Jackson to advocate the
wide use of the "Spoils
System" which would later lead to corruption in the
government
● Martin Van Buren was
elected president, rather than John C. Calhoun
The Kitchen Cabinet
for kids
The info about the Kitchen Cabinet provides interesting facts and
important information about this important event that occured during the presidency of the 7th President of the United States of America.
The Kitchen Cabinet for kids - President Andrew Jackson Video
The article on the Kitchen Cabinet provides an overview of one of the Important issues of his presidential term in office. The following
Andrew Jackson video will
give you additional important facts and dates about the political events experienced by the 7th American President whose presidency spanned from March 4, 1829 to March 4, 1837.
The Kitchen Cabinet
●
Interesting Facts about
the Kitchen Cabinet for kids and schools
●
Key events:
The Kitchen Cabinet for kids
● The Kitchen
Cabinet, a Important
event in US history
●
Andrew Jackson Presidency from March 4, 1829 to March 4, 1837
●
Fast, fun, interesting
timeline
about the Kitchen Cabinet
●
Foreign & Domestic
policies of President Andrew Jackson
● The Kitchen Cabinet for schools,
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