The Petticoat Affair
There is a lot to be said about Andrew Jackson’s presidency and a lot to say about the man himself. A moral beacon for the Light he was not. Jackson was the 7th President of the United States, and he served a full two terms, but he was often embroiled in controversy during his time in office. One such scandal is the Petticoat Affair. This is fairly complicated so stick with us.
Margaret Eaton was a character. She was outspoken, very beautiful, and a widow of only a few months. It was only a few months after her first husband died that she married Jackson’s Secretary of War, John Eaton. In those days, this was seen as highly improper, as most saw her immediate marriage as a disgrace to her deceased husband. It cast aspersions over her reputation, mostly in terms of her faithfulness not only to her previous marriage, but her marriage to John Eaton. They called her a woman of “easy virtue.”
The early 19th century in Washington was highly stratified when it came to social circles, and the Cabinet Wives were very prominent within the top echelons of Government society. Margaret Eaton was shunned within that community. Both Cabinet officials and their wives actively derided her virtue, often publicly. Whether or not any of those accusations were true, or not, no one really knows.
President Jackson, however, sympathized with Eaton, and publicly announced that the rumors were false. He even called a special cabinet meeting, during which he said that Margaret Eaton was “as chaste as a virgin”.
His intervention did little to quell the rumors around Mrs. Eaton. When those rumors didn’t die down, Jackson fired or accepted the resignations of most of his cabinet members. It also caused a rift between him and Vice President John C. Calhoun, who would be replaced during Jackson’s second term, likely because of the Petticoat Affair.
Jackson didn’t hold on to many cabinet members for very long. During his two terms, he had two Vice Presidents, four Secretaries of State, five Secretaries of Treasury, two Secretaries of War, three Attorneys General, two Postmasters General, and three Secretaries of the Navy. Quite a turnover rate for just a few years in office.
You May Also Read: 10 Historic Presidential Affair Scandals.