Today in Early American History 3/27
American Revolution 1775 : Jefferson elected to the Continental Congress Future President Thomas Jefferson is elected to the second Continental Congress on this day in 1775. Jefferson, a Virginia delegate, quickly established himself in the Continental Congress with the publication of his paper entitled “A Summary View of the Rights of British America.” Throughout the next year, Jefferson published several more papers, most notably “Drafts and Notes on the Virginia Constitution.” In June 1776, Congress put together a committee to draft the Declaration of Independence. After much discussion, the committee chose Jefferson to compose the document. At just 33 years old, Jefferson finished writing his draft of what is considered the most important document in the history of democracy in just a few days. After a few minor changes, the committee submitted the draft, titled “A Declaration by the Representatives in General Congress Assembled,” to Congress on June 28, 1776. After some debate, the document was formally adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776, under the new title, “The Declaration of Independence.” In the following years, Jefferson drafted other historical documents including, in 1777, a bill establishing religious freedom that was formally enacted by Congress in 1786. He served as Virginia’s governor from 1779 to 1781, minister to France from 1784 to 1789 and the first U.S. secretary of state under President George Washington from 1790 to 1793. Jefferson served as vice president under President John Adams from 1797 to 1801 and afterwards was elected the third president of the United States, a position he held for two terms from 1801 to 1809. After his presidency ended, Jefferson retired from public life to his home, Monticello, in Virginia. Jefferson died on July 4, 1826--50 years to the day after the signing of The Declaration of Independence. He was 83 years old.
Presidential 1829 : Jackson appoints John Eaton as secretary of war and starts scandal On this day in 1829, President Andrew Jackson defies Washington society matrons and appoints scandal-plagued John Eaton as his secretary of war. Earlier that year, Eaton had married a former tavern maid with a supposedly lurid past. Margaret “Peggy” Eaton had been raised in a boardinghouse frequented by Washington politicians and became an astute observer of politics, as well as an accomplished musician and dancer. She charmed many of the boardinghouse’s tenants, including then-Senator Andrew Jackson and his friend John Eaton, and was suspected of having many illicit affairs before her first marriage. She was 23 and the wife of a Navy sailor when she first met Jackson and Eaton. Eaton enjoyed Margaret’s wit and intelligence and escorted her to social functions when her husband was at sea. When Margaret’s first husband died unexpectedly, rumors abounded that he had committed suicide over his wife’s alleged affair with Eaton. Both Eaton and Margaret denied the affair, claiming to be nothing more than friends. In addition to Margaret’s sullied reputation, her passionate nature, flirtatiousness and outspokenness irked Washington’s society matrons at a time when those qualities were considered unseemly in women. When Eaton and Margaret married shortly after her first husband’s death, the ladies of Washington society ostracized the new couple. Jackson sympathized with and supported his friend Eaton. Jackson’s late wife Rachel—whom he had unwittingly married before her divorce from her first husband was final--had also been the victim of social gossip when she first came to Washington. When someone advised Jackson against making Eaton his secretary of war because of Margaret’s reputation, Jackson barked, “do you suppose that I have been sent here by the people to consult the ladies of Washington as to the proper persons to compose my cabinet?!" Secretary of State Martin Van Buren also sided with Eaton. It was Vice President John Calhoun’s wife who led Washington’s elite in snubbing the Eatons at social gatherings. For the rest of Jackson’s first term, his opponents used the “Eaton Affair” or “Petticoat Affair,” as it was known, to attack the president’s moral judgment and, by extension, his administration’s policies and appointees. By 1831, the Eaton Affair had proved immensely divisive and politically damaging to Jackson. In response, Eaton and Van Buren resigned in order to give Jackson the opportunity to overhaul his cabinet with new members and protect his presidency from further scandal.
Civil War 1865 : Lincoln, Sherman, and Grant meet President Lincoln meets with Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman at City Point, Virginia, to plot the last stages of the war. Lincoln came to Virginia just as Grant was preparing to attack Confederate General Robert E. Lee's lines around Petersburg and Richmond, an assault that promised to end the siege that had dragged on for 10 months. Meanwhile, Sherman's force was steamrolling northward through the Carolinas. The three architects of Union victory met for the first time as a group--Sherman and Lincoln had never met--to plot the final destruction of the Confederacy. Lincoln came to Grant's headquarters at City Point at the general-in-chief's request. Lincoln boarded the River Queen with his wife Mary and son Tad on March 23, and the first family had a hectic visit. Lincoln went to the Petersburg lines and witnessed a Union bombardment and a small skirmish. He also reviewed troops, visited wounded soldiers, and then met with Grant and Sherman. Sherman had traveled from Goldsboro, North Carolina, to the coast before catching a steamer to Virginia. During the meeting, Lincoln expressed his concern that that Confederate armies might slip away. He was worried that Lee might escape Petersburg and flee to North Carolina, where he could join forces with Joseph Johnston to forge a new Confederate army that could continue the war for months. Grant and Sherman confidently assured the president that the end was in sight. Lincoln emphasized to his generals that any surrender terms must preserve the Union war aims of emancipation and a pledge of equality for the freed slaves. After meeting the next day with Admiral David Dixon Porter, the three went their separate ways. In less than four weeks, Grant and Sherman had secured the surrender of the Confederacy.
posted by LadyIrene @ 3/27/2007 01:14:00 PM
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