Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-02-25
Miseellanenlts Reaaing.
SOCIAL FEUD MADE HISTORY.
How Peggy O'Neill Blasted Cslhoun's Pre-
idential Ambition.

SOCIAL FEUD MADE HISTORY.
How Peggy O'NeiIl Blasted Calhoun's Pres
identiaI Ambition.
From the st. Louis Globe Democrat.
An exciting quarrel between a pres
ident and chieftains of his party began
soon after Jackson went to the White
House. In this feud Calhoun was the
principal figure on the anti.Jackson
side. The quarrel was melted by two
causes-Jackson's discovery that Cal
houn, who was secretary of war in
Monroe's cabinet, was hostile to Jack
son during the Florida war, and
the refusal of the wife of Calhoun and
those of the members of Jackson's
cabinet in 1929 to recognize Mrs
Eaton, wife of Jackson's secretary oi
war, socially.
The origin of the social war which
changed factors in politics, and indi'
rectly resulted in the formation of the
Whig party, was this:
John H. Eaton, personal friend o.
jackson, was appointed by jackson
secretary of war, and took his seat in
the cabinet in March, 1929, on Jack
sons entrance into the White House
Eaton, a few months earlier, married
Mrs. Timberlake, whose maiden name
was Margaret L. O'Neill Commonly
called Peggy O'NeilD, a woman o.
great beauty, of some accomplishments
and of unbounded ambition. She was
the daughter of a Washington tavern
keeper. Gossip had been free with
her name during her welded life with
Timberlake, and when, after Eaton's
marriage to her and the intelligence
that he was to be a member of the
cabinet reached the public, some o.
Jackson's friends told him that Eaton's
entrance into the cabinet would cause
some embarrassment to the admins
tration, Jackson, who was creditably
slow to believe anything i'll of a wo'
man, responded that Mrs. Eaton was
not TO be in the cabinet. He made il
known to his personal friends imme'
diately after the administration began
that he desired that Mrs. Eaton should
be accorded all the courtesies to which
her station entitled her. The wife o
Vice President Calhoun and the wives
of all the members of the cabinet who
had wives refused to recognize
Mrs. Eaton. Jackson took up hel
cause with his usual energy, and the
question entered politics. Van Buren
the secretary Of state, had no wife (he
was widower). He had no daugh'
ter. He was thus free to extend tc
Mrs. Eaton the conventional courte
sizes, which be did with the dignity and
grace for which he was noted.
This made Van Buren's political
fortune. There had been keen rivalry
between Calhoun and Van Buren pre-.
viously for the succession to jackson
in the presidency. The Democratic
party was invincible, and the man who
got the presidential candidacy was Ger
tain of election. Jackson was the
party's dictator. Calhoun, by his po
sition as vice-president and by his
prominence in the party, was popular
ly believed to stand next in the line tc
Jackson. In the first year or two o.
Jackson's first term Jackson's feeble
health was thought to be barrier in
the way of his acceptance of a nomi
nation for second term, and Calhoun
was popularity supposed 10 be his polit
ical heir. The discovery, through the
Crawford disclosures, of the unfriend
illness of Calhoun for Jackson in 1878
in the Monroe cabinet, and the quarre
which the Mrs. Eaton incident brought
destroyed this hope. Van Buren,:
championship of Mrs. Eaton's cause
endeared him to Jackson.
Van Buren's call upon Mrs. Eator
at her residence had mighty politica
consequences. Like the shot of the
"em battled farmers" at Concord bridge
the sound of the silver knocker touch
ed at Mrs. Eaton's door by Martin Var
Buren, was heard round the world, Of
at least round that part of the worlt
com prised in the United States. AS {
result of the Peggy O'Neill war (sup
plemented in Calhoun's case by the
Crawford disclosures, Calhoun wa.
shut out from the presidency, was
dwarfed from a national into sectiona
figure, and his brooding over his efface
ment probably assisted in melting tha
system of political philosophy out o.
which resulted secession and civil war
Eaton and Van Buren resigned ir
April, 1881, in order to facilitate gen
eral reconstruction of the cabinet
which would free Jackson from the
husbands of the wives who had disre
garded his Eaton ukase-especially o.
| Tngham, secretary of the treasury
Branch, secretary of the navy, and
Berrien, attorney general. The coun
try was convulsed, large fragment o.
the Democratic party was cast of ano
united with the elements which found
ed the Whig party three years later
and that party received strength
which it would not otherwise have
gained at the outset.