Live on cspan three online at suspended work, or listen live on the free suspend radio app. Rachel wasnt a fan of anything that took interjection away from her. Her preferences didnt influence her,. She ran the plantation or the farm and kept everything in order. She might not have been like Abigail Adams but she could write a nice letter and had night, jewelry. As he rose in politics, that was an ugly sore. She was called names. The campaign was so bitterly fought that a faction went all out, completely calling her a derogatory term. Rachel was good garbage for them. She dreaded going to washington. She said id rather be a doorkeeper in the house of god then go there. Before she left to go to washington, she died. In 20, eight rituals niece was 21 years. Old she became the white house hostess. Her life was perfect. For all the negatives they had to say about Andrew Jackson they loved emily. She received education on how to embroider, music proper manners and etiquette, it was that kind of education that enabled her when rachel dies to slide into the role of white house hostess. The woman liked her, and the womens opinions mattered. She was polished. She knew had to do things. Emily that jackson has it falling out with, over peggy affair. Jackson couldnt deal with this kind of going on against his will write in his own. Home for 12, years 1829 to 1841, no president s wife served as first lady. In this program, will learn about two administrations led by wouldve president s, and the various women who served as the first ladies. Up first on suspense first ladies, influence and image, Andrew Jacksons presidency. A story of personal politics, tragedy, gossip and in a window in washington societal. Ambition thanks for being with us in our continuing series on the of americas first ladies. Tonight the interesting jet sony an area of. Here to tell us more about that time period and the women who served in the white house to support the president to guests. First, michael anderson, object sony an america story, in and in his past he served as the superintendent, and pat brady is back at our table tonight. She is a firstlys biographer and historian. Her biography of Rachel Jackson is called a being so gentle, the frontier let story of rachel and Andrew Jackson. Michael henderson, help people understand the volume, the amount of change that Andrew Jackson brought to washington when he went to the white house. Oh, good heavens, jackson is the first westerner. Weve had virginia president s from the also before. That jackson is completely different. He grew up in the front here. The change is enormous, socially the changes enormous. Even though hes a planter, hes not of the old planter class of the south that the previous president s had been from, and nor was he, you know like a new england are either. This is a westerner and he brings very different values and very different ambitions to the white house. Were going to learn that even though he was a without president , the most of his former wife is described as hung over the white house throughout the years. There why is that . She was the woman of his life. He loved her. She was his touchstone. And when he, should be died of just a few months before he went to be integrated, he was bereft, he really was. He spent all of his time thinking about her and her memory, and having her pictures, portraits in his bedroom so he could think of her. It really changed the way the First Administration went. We need to delve into the campaign of 1828 to really understand the presidency that ensued. So 1828 was a year of what in campaigning for the presidency. How did the change . It was the first time that we didnt have a majority of electors. So by the constitution, the whole election was given over to the house of representatives. So you have these multiple, you know, competing factions in the house of representatives. If crawford from georgia, you have henry clay, if tell, who you have jackson. Jackson, he won the popular vote but not the electoral college. So when the politicking was going on in the house of representatives, there was an opportunity to make deals. One of the deals that was probably made was that henry plea would become the Vice President and adams would win the election. That was seen as a corrupt bargain. Once we come out of that election, the whole buildup to that election was that was a corrupt bargain. I need to clarify. You just described 18 24 7 siege for 1828. So the 1828 campaign was basically old enmities playing, out how did the 1828 play out . Well in 1820 for jackson wasnt quite sure that he was ready to be president , he wasnt quite sure that he was the right man. However when he won the vote and it was stolen from him, then he knew he was meant to be president , and that election he thought had still in the peoples presidency. When he came out in 1820, eight he came out fighting. And whats interesting about the campaign in so many ways, it was a prestage of modern campaigning, and the fact that he and his surrogates were out on the stump as it were. I read that as many as 800,000 more americans voted in that election than in the previous. How did he do that and how did he think of that idea of campaigning . Well a lot of it was the growing development of an Actual National party that Martin Van Buren had been working on, its also a time of technological change, we have railroads and newspapers and we have all sorts of new communication methods that are coming to bear as well. So we have white meal suffrage in all of the states. There are more people voting, more interest in voting, more opportunity to hear about it. More western states voting. Rachel jackson became an issue in the 1828 campaign. This is the first time thats in our early countries history that people targeted the wife of the president ial candidate in the campaign . To the extent that it happened. Abigail adams had taken some heart hits from the press as well. Being referred to as madame president , president first. So thats the, first time the sort of thing happened. But this was the first time someone actually went out attempting to find dirt, found out what they thought was dirt and publicized widely. Who was the first person looking for the dirt . Charles hammond. He was in cincinnati any hated jackson and wanted to see jackson go down, and he didnt care what it. Took and then when he found out shes been divorced he really despised her. He was very regularly fundamentalist. It was a moral issue for him. He thought she would disgrace the white house. How did John Quincy Adams play into this campaign against breach will jackson . Well adams, what am i trying to say, he didnt do it but he didnt stop. It hammond was one of his party hacks in a way. He sort of sat back and said well look at that charles hammond, isnt he amazing. And we saw in the open political cartoons that were all targeted, was this a new phenomena . Yes. And then call a lady a, whos been married for 36 years a horror, and adulterous, a bigamist, that was unprecedented. Yes. So what was she accused of doing . She was accused of being married before she met jackson. She was a big missed basically. She was married before very unhappily to a man who treated her and her family very badly. Her whole family hated him. And out west, didnt leave that you had to stick by your man for 50 years if he was horrible. They believed in dissolving and unhappy marriage, and so they did. And also criticism of her and this western frontier, lack of class, lack of modesty. She smoked a pipe. That sums it up. She had an accent, tennessee, not east coast. Were opponents concerned about what the image for the new country would be if they made it to the white house . Yes. Theres a strong class issue that runs through all of this, and its difficult to talk about in a country that supposedly doesnt have class. But theres certainly a strong class issue to it and with this person the virtuous enough to represent the United States, and is this person gentle enough to represent the United States . Exactly. So the great tragedy is after this campaign, he went to the white house, and she is prepared to go with him and then what happens . She dies. At first she thought that the situation was to volatile that people might be rude to her, they might snap, or by people i mean other women. She thought about not going, and then they decided that that would be admitting that they were wrong, which didnt believe that they were wrong. So she decided to go, and then on december 22nd, she died of a heart attack. And she was buried in the dress she planned to wear. The satin ground she planned to wear at the inaugural ball. This is the first video, tonight well have videos throughout, taking to places and introduce you to the people who know more about the life, and show you some of the artifacts of jacksons. Were going to take you to the hermitage, their home in tennessee, and learn about the totems that Andrew Jackson carry throughout his life. Its honored rachel. We dont know what kind of Health Rachel was in overall, but its apparent that threat the fall of 1828, her health was not very good. But the campaign for president that jackson was going through had a huge effect on her health. This is a letter that jackson wrote on the day that rachel actually died, december 22nd, 28, hes writing to his friend, Richard Keith called. In the letter, he describes the onset of rituals illness, final illness. He says that she was a few days, hence, suddenly by unflinchingly attacked with paint in her Left Shoulder and breast and such was the contraction of the breast that suffocation was apprehended. It was clear that she was in very serious condition. But he talks about getting ready to go to washington like hes just assuming that shes going to get better, and awful go. But unfortunately, she didnt pass away later in the day. In the case we have a cap, according to the stories of her death, jackson called for her to be bled when she died. Jackson was a big believer in heroic medicine, medicine that if it didnt kill you would curio. So even though she was clearly not alive anymore, he asked the doctor to bleed her, and supposedly theres a small stain on this cap, the little blood that did come out when the doctor tried to plead. Her we also have a lancet which is what they would have used to cut open. Then some things about his morning. A black calling card that jackson had printed suggesting hes in deep mourning, a poem that was published and then later printed until, talking about the death of mrs. Jackson. And then a book that was given to him by a friend of his, that has a long description. Its a book called the mourner comforted, you know, tell him read things and it would help them along. Jackson was completely devastated. And for her to digest as he was preparing the plans to get on the steamboat and go to washington was more than he could deal with. This pendant was painted while he was in washington after rachels death. He had it with him pretty much all the time, either in his pocket, on a beaded chain or struck that he could wear around his neck, on his bedside table at night, so that he could see it in the morning when he awakened. And she was with him pretty much all the time even when she had passed away. This is a book that was very important to jackson. This could have been reaches songbook. She made this cover for her book so the book would stay nice. After her death, jackson kept a number of things like this close at hand so he could refer to them. Another way of keeping ritual close. Jackson had a habit after rachel died of purchasing were using or keeping things that reminded him of her. This is central hallway of the hermitage mansion. Although the house burned, jackson insisted that they repurchase the same wallpaper that rachel had chosen for the space. Shape like, that it reminded him of her, and he wanted it here. This is jacksons bedroom, and after rachels death, she was never far away from him. He kept many mementos of her around. And in the early 18 thirties, he had a project which was a special favorite of his copied so that he could have it hanging over the fireplace, it would be the first think hes on the morning in less than he saw at night. According to the traditions, stories that were passed down in the family, he would go up to her to every evening about sunday, on and to spend time out there either thinking about her or thinking about the problems of the day and wanting to feel her close by or something. Well i want to tell you that this program is interactive, we welcome your participation in theres lots of ways that you can do that. First of all, you can call us and our phone lines are two zero two five eight five three eight eight zero, if you live in the eastern or central time zones. If you live out west, our numbers are two zero to five eight five three eight eight one. So heres a tweet from Sheldon Cooper that writes even though rachel never makes it to washington d. C. , the chip plans for what the jacksonlee food were should be like . There she did. She didnt like extensive entertaining. She was very religious, which he liked to do was here at the leading pictures of the day. Have family and friends lined up around her in the white house. I think it would have been a very does domesticated white house. The same person asked another question, its a good time to ask. Given her public scrutiny did any famous dignitaries attend her funeral . Do we know the answer to that . No she was buried two days after she died. So given the way news traveled and people traveled in those days, nobody could have made it. But all the local dignitaries, all the businesses in town, all the church bells tolled, everything close down and there was a huge attendance at her funeral, but not people from away. Well have time to step back and tell a little bit of the love story as you call it, the great love story between racial and Andrew Jackson. First of all who is Rachel Jackson . She was the daughter of one of the first families of tennessee. She and her whole family came to tennessee the 8000mile river trip, in which many people on the trip died. They were on a flat boat and they survived. And they were some of the earliest white settlers, and her family was quite prominent in the area. She was really part of the generally of tennessee. And we have a question from twitter of someone wanting to know how unusual was for someone at the age of 24 to be on their second has spent . Was that considered unusual at the time . Not particularly. To put that all the time, particularly on the frontier. You couldnt live alone. People remarried because needed to have the support in order to live. The difference here was that they divorced. Yes. Well they had the phrase they are now has been and now wife. Windows and widowers always remarried. It was very peculiar for someone not to remarry. Her husband was 17 years her senior . This name was lewis roberts. Not that much. Ten years her senior. How did they meet . How did they make the match . Her family love the area of nashville because the war between the whites and the indians was so ferocious and so strong. But its wanted to stay, theyre the indians want to them to not be there. It was a battle for territory and the donelsons left kentucky, and thats where the met lewis robards. Why did they leave . He was abusive. It took the support of her family, it took courage but more than that. She would never have left him if her family had not supported her because you cant live without a family at west. And she adored her family and they adored her. Who was Andrew Jackson at the time she met him . Nobody. Basically. He had been in local militias, and had studied the law but that was about it. How did they meet . He was one of the borders at her moms house, or moms really palisade. They had a fort where they lived. And he was in one of the cottages with another bachelor lawyer who is there. And you say why is one of the gentle renting at the colleges. Second of all, in terms of this being a long going, war have extra guns on hand as i was a good thing. Explain more about tennessee in that time period and what the region of the country looks like. This is the far west at this point. Its recently settled. Most settlers from tennessee either came by river the won, where they came over the mountains. But this was still very rough country. Not even as settled as kentucky. Next is a question, this is from mitchell in nashville tennessee. Hi, mitchell youre on the air. Yes i noticed earlier on the show that you put up that rachels birthday was in june, and it included the actual month and date. My understanding was that no one actually knew what her exact dates of birth was other than the, year is this correct . Thats correct. The date isnt known at all. Its believed it was june because this part of the tradition, but even that is a little bit up in the air. Next a question from martha in california. Hi martha. Hi. I understood if im not mistaken that only White Property owners voted at the time. Is that correct . Thats correct. There was a growing thing. Certainly in the early days it was only White Property owners of a certain standing. As we move through the period, franchise expands to generally being way males. So Rachel Donelson meet the tall Andrew Jackson. There are attracted to each other, how did the mayors take place . Its more than attraction, its that all his life, jackson truly loved woman, he loved his mom for example. He couldnt see women be mistreated, really badly treated in any way. So his gallantry was involved with what he saw as abuse of this woman. And then when they fell in love the decided to elope tenacious which was spanish territory at the time. And how long did they stay there and come back to tennessee . They did. They stayed several months close to a year i believe. And when they came back this simply said oh were mary now. And her family including her mother said yes, this is our soninlaw, Andrew Jackson. And whos going to tell them no . People just accepted it because their family, neighbors, and friends accepted. It when did the details become apparent that the divorce was finalized and how . Well that was tricky because the diverse was filed for virginia by the husband. But there were stipulations in that settlement, in that it had to be posted a certain a