The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-07-14
CABINETS Of
UNITED STATES
Pierce's Council Remained
Unbroken During
His Term


In charge of the secretary of war. In
1929 Jackson called the postmaster
general into his council The office Of
secretary Of the interior dates from
1S40, when Taylor entered the presi-
dency. At that time and for forty
years afterward the cabinet consisted
of seven members. These comprised
Its number through the civil war pc
riod. The secretary of agriculture ap
peared In the closing days of Cleve-
lands first term. and Norman ]. Col
man Of Missouri was the first person
who held that title. Early in Roose
velt's service and largely through his
influence the department of commerce
and labor was created, with its chief
member Of the cabinet. To that post
Roosevelt appointed his private secre-
tary, Cortelyou.
Adams Made Few Changes.
Next to Pierce, the president who
made the fewest changes In his cabi
net was John Quincy Adams. He
made only one. Near the end Of the
term Peter B. Porter of New York sue
ceeded James Barbour of Virginia as
secretary of war. And Adams, like
Pierce, was fairly well served by his
official advisers. All were men of high
standing in their day. Those who are
best known to readers of history are
Henry Clay, who was secretary Of
state; Richard Rush. secretary Of the
treasury; John Mclean, postmaster
general, and William Writ, attorney
general. Pierce's cabinets best known
members were William L. Marcy, sec
retary of state: James Guthrie, secre-
tary Of the treasury; Jefferson Davis,
secretary of war, and Caleb Gushing,
attorney general. Marcy is the man
who. as a senator from New York,
made use Of the pharse, ITO the victor
belong the spoils of the enemy" mean
ing to the victor in politics This was
during Jackson's administration and
was in justification of Jackson's course
In turning his party enemies out Of
the federal appointive offices and put
ting his friends in. This was the
spoils system, so called, which ragged
until mitigated by the civil service
act of 1888, signed by President Ar
thur. Guthrie was mentioned early in
1851 as being one of the southern enc
mics Of his party whom Lincoln was
considering as possible selections for
his cabinet. Lincoln found 1t neces-
sary or expedient, however, to give all
the places to Republicans.
An upheaval occurred in Jackson's
cabinet in 1881, in the troubles in
which Jackson and Calhoun found
themselves in hostile camps in the
two issues. One was the fight which
the wives and daughters of Vice Pres
ident Calhoun and some of the mem
bers of the cabinet made against the
wife of Secretary of War Eaton, and
the other came through the nullifica-
ton movement in South Carolina,
which was led by Calhoun and Hayne.
The first was facetiously styled the
Peggy O'Neil war" Mrs. Eaton was
the daughter of Washington tavern
keeper named O'Neil who married a
naval officer named Timberlake. Cos
sip, especially by women, made rather
free with the name of Undertakes
wife, and he committed suicide. Then
she married General John H Eaton, Il
neighbor and friend of Jackson, whom
Jackson, when entering Office in 1920,
appointed secretary of war. The wo
men of the court circle refused to re-
ceive Mrs Eaton, while Jackson. who
had long been acquainted with her and
who admired her, took her side As
the husbands of these women were ell
ther unwilling OF unable to constrain
their wives to tender the ordinary
courtesies to Mrs Eaton the matter
became an issue in Democratic fac
tional politics. The result was the res
ignation of some of the members of
the cabinet, led by JacksOn's friend,
Van Buren,, who was a widower and
who was free to extend all the conven-
tiOnal courtesies to Mrs. Eaton. With
Van Buren and Eaton out of the cabi-
net Jackson forced the friends Of Cal
houn out, and a new council was the
result. This cabinet squabble thrust
Calhoun out of the line for the sue
cession to the presidency and put Van
Buren in his place. Notification, how
ever, and the knowledge that Calhoun
as secretary of war under Monroe had
favored a court martial for Jackson
for his too exuberant activity in the
Crook war did more even than the
Eaton imbroglio toward turning "Old
Hickory" against the South Carolinian.
Along until Jackson's day, except in
the case of Hamilton and Jefferson in
Washington's cabinet and few of the
members of the council of John Ad-
ans. fairly harmonious relations exist
cd among the official advisers of the
presidents, broken in the case of Mon
roe and Crawford the secretary of the
treasury. 1t was said that for a time
there were strained relations between
these two, although in the campaign
of 1894 the gossip of the day said that
Monroe would have preferred Draw
o.. a. H. - hn fhav.