Question

Which incident during Andrew Jackson's term helped boost Martin Van Buren's prospects for a presidential run?

Answer 1

"The Eaton Affair" was an incident during Andrew Jackson's presidency that helped start the process that eventually made Martin Van Buren the eight President of the United States.

After dealing with a cabinet in which he didn't had many allies beside the Secretary of War, John Henry Eaton, President Jackson faced a difficult situation in which his closest ally was being driven out its post under a plot that was supposedly led by its own Vice-President, John C. Calhoun.

After the scandal started, Calhoun was accused of treachery. In the middle of this crisis, one of the few Cabinet officers who stood by Jackson's side was Secretary of State, Martin Van Buren.

During 1831, the resulting situation of the problems with Calhoun threatened to shut down the administration, and Eaton and Van Buren came up with a plan in which both of them were going to resign, allowing Jackson to request the resignations of the rest of the secretaries to appoint a new Cabinet.

As a reward for Van Buren, Jackson named him as minister to Great Britain and becoming the highest post in the US diplomatic service at the time.

With this action, not only Van Buren went on to fulfill his duties abroad to return as a political martyr, it also served to make him Jackson's choice for vice-president in 1832, and his eventual successor to the presidency in 1837.

Answer 2

Martin Van Buren (1782-1862) was the 8th President of the United States from 1837 to 1841. He had to face the important economic recession that took place in 1837. In 1840 a federal central bank for the US was created.

He reached the presdency by taking advantage of the endorsement of popular outgoing of his predecessor, the former President, and party colleague Andrew Jackson. Jackson refused to participate in the presidential election in 1836 but remained quite active in the party activities and campaigns, supporting Van Buren so that as his sucessor he would continue with the policies he had implemented.

There was a scandal that shooked the Cabinet of President Jackson, known as the Petticoat Affair. The wives of the cabinet members socially ostracized John Eaton, the Secretary of War, and his wife Peggy as they dissaproved some aspects of their personal life and marriage, which they considered did not meet the necessary moral standards required for the wife of a cabinet member. This scandal had important effects as it shook Jackson's administration severely, as all Cabinet members resigned but one. It also made Van Buren's access to presidency much easier.