Secretary of War
What was the position of John Eaton (politician) from Mar 1829 to Jun 1831?
John Eaton ( politician ) John Henry Eaton ( June 18 , 1790November 17 , 1856 ) was an American politician and diplomat from Tennessee who served as U.S . Senator and as Secretary of War in the administration of Andrew Jackson . He was 28 years , 4 months , and 29 days old when he entered the Senate , making him the youngest U.S . Senator in history . Eaton was a lawyer in Tennessee who became part of a network that supported the political campaigns of Andrew Jackson . He also served in the militia as a major , and during the War of 1812 became an aide to Jackson ; Eaton served with Jackson in all his wartime campaigns and battles , including the Battle of New Orleans . After serving in the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1815 and 1816 , in 1818 Eaton was elected to the United States Senate , though he had not yet reached the constitutionally mandated age of 30 . Following Jacksons election to the presidency in 1828 , Eaton resigned his Senate seat to join Jacksons cabinet as Secretary of War . Eaton and his wife Peggy became the focus of controversy during Jacksons first term ; in the so-called Petticoat affair , Washingtons society wives refused to socialize with the Eatons . The wives of the vice president , cabinet members , and members of Congress looked down on Peggy because of the circumstances of her marriage to Eaton ; they had wed shortly after the death of her first husband , without waiting for the usual mourning period , giving rise to rumors that she had been unfaithful to her first husband before his death . Eaton resigned as Secretary of War as part of a strategy to resolve the controversy ; he later received appointments as Governor of Florida Territory and U.S . Minister to Spain . Upon returning to the United States in 1840 , Eaton refused to endorse incumbent Martin Van Buren for reelection to the presidency , angering Jackson . In retirement , Eaton resided in Washington . He died there in 1856 , and was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery . Early life . John Eaton was born on June 18 , 1790 near Scotland Neck , Halifax County , North Carolina to John and Elizabeth Eaton . The elder John Eaton was a furniture maker who served as county coroner and member of the North Carolina House of Representatives . Eatons uncle , Major Pinketham Eaton ( sometimes spelled Pinkerton ) , was a Continental Army officer who died in combat during the Revolutionary War . Eatons father owned a large amount of land in middle Tennessee , and the 1790 census lists him as the owner of 12 slaves . The younger Eaton attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1802 to 1804 . He then studied law , attained admission to the bar , and moved to Franklin , Tennessee , where he established a law practice . Eaton became active in the Tennessee militia , and attained the rank of major . He developed a close friendship with Andrew Jackson , and served as an aide to Jackson during the Creek War and the War of 1812 . Eaton took part in all Jacksons major campaigns . He supported Jacksons controversial decision in November 1814 to attack Pensacola in Spanish Florida , claiming that Spain had put herself in a belligerent position by allowing its territory to be occupied by British soldiers . Eaton participated in the Battle of New Orleans . After the war , Jackson took command of the Southern U.S . Army District with his headquarters at his home , The Hermitage . Eaton served on his staff . Eaton later became a major proponent of Jacksons presidential candidacy . John Reid , another Jackson aide , began a biography of Jackson in 1816 , but died after writing only four chapters . Eaton finished the book , which was published as The Life of Andrew Jackson in 1817 . This book was revised and republished in 1824 and 1828 . It became a major primary reference for future Jackson biographers . Senate career . From 1815 to 1816 , Eaton was a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives . In 1818 , he was elected to serve as a United States Senator from Tennessee , and he served until 1829 . His age of 28 at the time of his entry to the Senate was notable ; it contradicted the U.S . Constitutions requirement that all senators be at least 30 years old . During the early years after the creation of the United States , personal details including date of birth were not always well-documented . Eaton , Henry Clay , Armistead Thomson Mason , and possibly others all served in Senate before they had attained the required age . Eatons age of 28 makes him the youngest person ever known to have served in the Senate . Unlike many Southerners , Eaton supported the Missouri Compromise of 1820 . On March 11 , 1820 , in a letter to Jackson , he claimed that it has preserved piece and dissipated angry feelings , and dispelled appearances which seemed dark and horrible and threatening to the interest and harmony of the nation . He remained a close friend of Jackson , and while in the Senate supported the Jacksonian movement . He urged Jackson to accept an appointment as Governor of the newly acquired Territory of Florida in 1821 , which he did . From 1827 to 1829 , Eaton served as Chairman of the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia . In 1822 , Eaton and William Berkeley Lewis attempted to nominate a candidate before the Tennessee legislature to oppose incumbent U.S . Senator John Williams , who was openly against Jacksons candidacy for president in 1824 presidential election . After being unable to find a viable candidate , they nominated Jackson himself . The strategy was successful , and Jackson won . Eaton also helped advance Jacksons campaign for president through the Letters of Wyoming , which were printed in newspapers . In them , Eaton praised Jacksons record . He celebrated even some of Jacksons most controversial actions , such as the suspension of habeas corpus in New Orleans in 1815 . Washington would have done the same , he asserted . In 1825 , Eaton received an honorary degree ( Master of Arts ) from the University of North Carolina . Eaton supported the Tariff of 1828 , or the Tariff of Abominations . Marriages . In 1813 , Eaton married his first wife , Myra Lewis ( 1788–1815 ) , the daughter of William Terrell Lewis , a prominent Tennessee businessman and landowner . After the death of their father , Jackson and his wife became Myras and her sister Marys guardians , and Eatons marriage to Myra Lewis strengthened his relationship with Jackson . Eaton married his second wife Peggy ONeill Timberlake ( 1799–1879 ) in 1829 , while serving in the Senate . She was the mother of three children ; a son William , who died as an infant , and daughters Virginia and Margaret . Eaton had been a longtime friend of Peggy Timberlake and her husband John B . Timberlake , and John Timberlake had died only a few months before Eaton married his widow . Jackson knew and liked Peggy Eaton and encouraged Eaton to marry her , telling him Why yes , Major . If you love the woman , and she will have you , marry her by all means . He asked Eaton to marry her as soon as possible . Eaton had no children with either wife . Secretary of War . Petticoat affair . Jackson , leading the new Democratic Party , won the 1828 presidential election , and in March 1829 Eaton resigned his Senate seat to accept appointment as Jacksons Secretary of War . The appointment was seemingly made because of Jacksons desire to have a personal friend in the Cabinet in whom he could confide . Women in Washington social circles led by Floride Calhoun , the wife of Vice President John C . Calhoun , snubbed the Eatons because they married so soon after John Timberlakes death , rather than waiting for the usual mourning period ; there were stories that Eaton and Peggy Timberlake had been having an affair before John Timberlake had died . Rumors held that Peggy , as a barmaid in her fathers tavern , had been sexually promiscuous or had even been a prostitute . Petticoat politics emerged when the wives of cabinet members , led by Mrs . Calhoun , refused to socialize with the Eatons . They refused to attend social events at which she would be present . According to Emily Donelson , Eaton considered resigning in the first months of the administration . Jackson refused to believe the rumors about Mrs . Eatons past conduct , telling his Cabinet that She is as chaste as a virgin ! In his view , the dishonorable people were the rumormongers , in part because he was reminded of the attacks that had been made , particularly in the 1828 election , against his wife , Rachel Jackson , over the circumstances of their marriage . Jackson also believed that John Calhoun fanned the flames of the controversy as a way to gain political leverage for a growing anti-Jackson coalition . Duff Green , a Calhoun protégé and editor of the United States Telegraph , accused Eaton of secretly working to have pro-Calhoun cabinet members Samuel D . Ingham ( Treasury ) and John Branch ( Navy ) removed from their positions . Jackson biographers Richard B . Latner and Robert V . Remini believe that the hostility towards the Eatons was rooted less in questions of morality and proper behavior than in politics . Eaton had been in favor of the Tariff of Abominations , which Calhoun bitterly opposed and which led him to elucidate the doctrine of nullification . He was also close to Secretary of State Martin Van Buren , another supporter of the tariff and Calhouns main rival for who would succeed Jackson as president . Calhoun may have wanted to expel Eaton from the cabinet as a way of boosting his anti-tariff agenda and increasing his standing in the Democratic Party . Many other cabinet members were Southerners and may have felt similarly , especially Ingham , a close Calhoun ally who supported his presidential aspirations . Eaton took his revenge on Calhoun . In the spring of 1830 , reports emerged accurately stating that Calhoun , while Secretary of War , had favored censuring Jackson for his 1818 invasion of Florida . These infuriated Jackson . The biggest bombshell was a letter given to Jackson on May 12 by William H . Crawford , Monroes Secretary of the Treasury , in which Crawford stated that , contrary to Jacksons former suspicions , it was Calhoun , not himself , who vocally advocated censuring Jackson in Monroes cabinet . For reasons unclear , Calhoun asked Eaton to approach Jackson about the possibility of Calhoun publishing his correspondence with Jackson at the time of the Seminole War . Eaton did nothing . This caused Calhoun to believe that Jackson had approved the publication of the letters . Calhoun published them in the Telegraph . This gave the appearance of Calhoun trying to justify himself against a conspiracy to damage him , and further enraged the President . Meanwhile , Van Buren , a widower , took Jacksons side and defended the Eatons . This raised Van Buren in Jacksons esteem , and , in addition to disagreements between Jackson and Calhoun on a number of other issues , mainly the Nullification Crisis , marked him as Calhouns likely vice presidential successor . In the spring of 1831 , Van Buren helped end the Petticoat affair by offering to resign as Secretary of State . This gave Jackson the opportunity to reorganize his cabinet by asking for other resignations , and he was able to replace the anti-Eaton secretaries ; only Postmaster General William T . Barry remained . Eaton , being the source of the controversy , also agreed to resign his position . On June 17 , the day before Eaton formally resigned , a text appeared in the Telegraph stating that it had been proved that the families of Ingham , Branch , and Attorney General John M . Berrien had refused to associate with Mr . Eaton . Eaton wrote to all three men demanding that they answer for the article . Ingham sent back a contemptuous letter stating that , while he was not the source for the article , the information was still true . On June 18 , Eaton challenged Ingham to a duel through his second , his brother-in-law Dr . Philip G . Randolph , who visited Ingham twice and threatened him the second time with personal harm if he did not comply with Eatons demands . Randolph was dismissed , and the next morning Ingham sent a note to Eaton discourteously declining the invitation . It described Eatons situation as one of pity and contempt . Eaton wrote a letter back to Ingham accusing him of cowardice . Ingham was then informed that Eaton , Randolph , and others were looking to assault him . He gathered together his own bodyguard , and was not immediately molested . However , he reported that for the next two nights Eaton and his men continued to lurk about his dwelling and threaten him . He then left the city , and returned safely to his home . Ingham communicated to Jackson his version of what took place , and Jackson then asked Eaton to answer for the charge . Eaton admitted that he passed by the place where Ingham had been staying , but at no point attempted to enter...or besiege it . In 1832 , Jackson nominated Van Buren to be Minister to England . Calhoun killed the nomination with a tie-breaking vote against it , claiming his act would ...kill him , sir , kill dead . He will never kick , sir , never kick . However , Calhoun only made Van Buren seem the victim of petty politics , which were rooted largely in the Eaton controversy . Van Buren was nominated for vice president , and was elected as Jacksons running mate when Jackson won a second term in 1832 . The affair had a hand in the replacement of the Telegraph as the main propaganda instrument for the administration . Jackson enlisted the help of longtime supporter Francis Preston Blair , who in November 1830 established a newspaper known as The Washington Globe , which from then on served as the mouthpiece of the Democratic Party . It also contributed to the creation of the Kitchen Cabinet . Indian affairs . In the summer of 1830 , following the passage of the Indian Removal Act , allowing for the transportation of the Five Civilized Tribes from their homes in the South to lands being given to them in Indian Territory ( modern-day Oklahoma ) , Jackson , Eaton , and General John Coffee negotiated with the Chickasaw , who quickly agreed to move west by agreeing to the Treaty of Franklin in August . Jackson put Eaton and Coffee in charge of negotiating with the Choctaw . Lacking Jacksons skills at negotiation , they frequently bribed the chiefs in order to gain their submission . Their tactics typically worked , and the chiefs signed the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek , agreeing to move west . The removal of the Choctaw took place in the winter of 1831 and 1832 , and was wrought with misery and suffering . Other activities . As Secretary of War , Eaton supported compensation upon discharge for soldiers who had served honorably . He made the Topographical Engineers a separate bureau within the War Department . Later career . Following his resignation as Secretary of War , Eaton returned to Tennessee . His wife suffered a period of ill health after arriving . Jackson planned to replace him in the War Department with Tennessee senator Hugh Lawson White . This would vacate Whites senate seat , which Eaton would presumably fill . However , White refused the cabinet position despite much prodding from Jackson . Eaton attempted to return to the Senate by running against incumbent Felix Grundy in 1832 . Jackson officially remained neutral during the election , as Grundy was also a Democrat , and Eaton was defeated . He served as a delegate to the 1832 Democratic National Convention . In a letter to Jackson before the convention , Eaton declared his strong support for Jacksons choice of Van Buren for vice president . He also requested that several of his friends be given appointments in the administration . Eaton later received appointments that took him away from Washington , D.C. . He served first as Governor of the Florida Territory from 1834 to 1836 . In 1835 , violence began to escalate between the Seminole Indians and white settlers . Members of the Seminole had signed Treaty of Paynes Landing in which they agreed to move westward . However , many began to resist . Eaton warned Jackson against an excessive show of military force , fearing that this would only provoke the Seminole further . Jackson heeded his advice at first , but continuing to do so proved impossible , as Seminole attacks continued . The violence eventually led to the Second Seminole War . In 1836 , Eaton was replaced as governor by Richard K . Call . Later that year , he was appointed Ambassador to Spain , and he served until April 1840 . His tenure was undistinguished ; a predecessor in the post , Cornelius P . Van Ness , strongly castigated Eaton , reporting that the Spanish government thought little of Eatons abilities . He believed Eaton to be not only incapable of putting together two common ideas but of comprehending a single one , and contended that Eatons work habits could best be described as indolent . He also indicated that Mrs . Eaton engaged in spreading gossip about Van Buren , and that her manner was forward enough that the Spanish government considered her to be the real minister . Finally , Van Ness accused the Eatons of drinking excessively , writing that he and she regularly dispose of two bottles of rum of the strongest kind in the spirit of three days ; this is , four glasses each and every day , besides wine : and while they are taking it and he chewing , she smokes her cigars . Retirement and death . Upon returning from Spain , Eaton announced that he was unwilling to support Van Burens campaign for reelection to the presidency in 1840 . He endorsed Van Burens opponent , William Henry Harrison . Supposedly , this action was rooted in Eatons displeasure over the way he was allegedly treated by Van Buren while serving as Ambassador to Spain . My friend Maj . Eaton comes home not in good humor . He says he has been dismissed , Jackson wrote . Still , the declaration deeply upset Jackson , who in a letter to Blair went so far as to accuse Eaton of having apostatised and taken the field with the piebald opposition of abolitionists , antimasons and blue light federalists . Eaton officially joined the Whig Party , but for the remainder of his life was not politically active . He and Jackson encountered each other in 1840 while Jackson was travelling throughout Tennessee to campaign for Van Buren . According to Remini , both men behaved properly . Jackson biographer James Parton wrote in 1860 that Eaton and Jackson remained unreconciled . However , 21st century historian John F . Marszalek claims that the two men did reconcile with each other just before Jacksons death in 1845 . Eaton and his wife lived comfortably in retirement in Washington , D.C . He resumed his law practice , and he and his wife returned to Franklin during the summers . Eaton chose not to join any church , but figured prominently in Washington social circles . He was President of the Washington Bar Association . Eaton and his wife were once again reported to have drunk to excess , and he was criticized for taking up a legal case against Amos Kendall , a staunch Jacksonian who had defended the Eatons conduct during the Petticoat affair . Eaton died in Washington on November 17 , 1856 at age 66 . His funeral was conducted at his residence . Eaton was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington . Legacy . Contemporary William Joseph Snelling , in his 1831 biography of Jackson , strongly criticizes Eaton . Of Eatons Jackson biography , he writes , it is hard to say which is more disgraced , the hero [ Jackson ] or the historian . The book contains scarcely a period of good English , but makes amends by abundance of fulsome adulation , by the omission of many disgraceful acts and the palliation of others . By 1831 , Snelling says , he had become the laughing-stock of the nation . Remini says that the entire Eaton affair might be termed infamous . It ruined reputations and terminated friendships . And it was all so needless . In spite of this , an obituary published in Washingtons Daily National Intelligencer spoke favorably of Eaton . It noted that after his death Chief Justice Roger B . Taney had adjourned a session of the Supreme Court early in order that those present could attend the funeral . Eaton County , Michigan , is named in Eatons honor .