Home of the Brave

by Jeffry Hepple

  Moments later, as if by magic, the entire throng fell absolutely silent as Chief Justice John Marshall appeared on Jackson’s right holding a Bible.

  “Fellow-Citizens,” Jackson began in a voice that hardly carried to Yank and Marina.

  “About to undertake the arduous duties that I have been appointed to perform by the choice of a free people, I avail myself of this customary and solemn occasion to express the gratitude which their confidence inspires and to acknowledge the accountability which my situation enjoins. While the magnitude of their interests convinces me that no thanks can be adequate to the honor they have conferred, it admonishes me that the best return I can make is the zealous dedication of my humble abilities to their service and their good.

  As the instrument of the Federal Constitution, it will devolve on me for a stated period to execute the laws of the United States, to superintend their foreign and their confederate relations, to manage their revenue, to command their forces, and, by communications to the Legislature, to watch over and to promote their interests generally. And the principles of action by which I shall endeavor to accomplish this circle of duties it is now proper for me briefly to explain.

  In administering the laws of Congress, I shall keep steadily in view the limitations as well as the extent of the Executive power trusting thereby to discharge the functions of my office without transcending its authority. With foreign nations, it will be my study to preserve peace and to cultivate friendship on fair and honorable terms, and in the adjustment of any differences that may exist or arise to exhibit the forbearance becoming a powerful nation rather than the sensibility belonging to a gallant people.

  In such measures as I may be called on to pursue in regard to the rights of the separate States I hope to be animated by a proper respect for those sovereign members of our Union, taking care not to confound the powers they have reserved to themselves with those they have granted to the Confederacy.

  The management of the public revenue--that searching operation in all governments--is among the most delicate and important trusts in ours and it will, of course, demand no inconsiderable share of my official solicitude. Under every aspect in which it can be considered it would appear that advantage must result from the observance of a strict and faithful economy. This I shall aim at the more anxiously both because it will facilitate the extinguishment of the national debt, the unnecessary duration of which is incompatible with real independence, and because it will counteract that tendency to public and private profligacy which a profuse expenditure of money by the Government is but too apt to engender. Powerful auxiliaries to the attainment of this desirable end are to be found in the regulations provided by the wisdom of Congress for the specific appropriation of public money and the prompt accountability of public officers.

  With regard to a proper selection of the subjects of impost with a view to revenue, it would seem to me that the spirit of equity, caution and compromise in which the Constitution was formed requires that the great interests of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures should be equally favored, and that perhaps the only exception to this rule should consist in the peculiar encouragement of any products of either of them that may be found essential to our national independence.

  Internal improvement and the diffusion of knowledge, so far as they can be promoted by the constitutional acts of the Federal Government, are of high importance.

  Considering standing armies as dangerous to free governments in time of peace, I shall not seek to enlarge our present establishment, nor disregard that salutary lesson of political experience which teaches that the military should be held subordinate to the civil power. The gradual increase of our Navy, whose flag has displayed in distant climes our skill in navigation and our fame in arms; the preservation of our forts, arsenals, and dockyards, and the introduction of progressive improvements in the discipline and science of both branches of our military service are so plainly prescribed by prudence that I should be excused for omitting their mention sooner than for enlarging on their importance. But the bulwark of our defense is the national militia, which in the present state of our intelligence and population must render us invincible. As long as our Government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of person and of property, liberty of conscience and of the press, it will be worth defending; and so long as it is worth defending a patriotic militia will cover it with an impenetrable aegis. Partial injuries and occasional mortifications we may be subjected to, but a million of armed freemen, possessed of the means of war, can never be conquered by a foreign foe. To any just system, therefore, calculated to strengthen this natural safeguard of the country I shall cheerfully lend all the aid in my power.

  It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe toward the Indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to give that humane and considerate attention to their rights and their wants which is consistent with the habits of our Government and the feelings of our people.

  The recent demonstration of public sentiment inscribes on the list of Executive duties, in characters too legible to be overlooked, the task of reform, which will require particularly the correction of those abuses that have brought the patronage of the Federal Government into conflict with the freedom of elections, and the counteraction of those causes which have disturbed the rightful course of appointment and have placed or continued power in unfaithful or incompetent hands.

  In the performance of a task thus generally delineated I shall endeavor to select men whose diligence and talents will insure in their respective stations able and faithful cooperation, depending for the advancement of the public service more on the integrity and zeal of the public officers than on their numbers.

  A diffidence perhaps too just, in my own qualifications will teach me to look with reverence to the examples of public virtue left by my illustrious predecessors, and with veneration to the lights that flow from the mind that founded and the mind that reformed our system. The same diffidence induces me to hope for instruction and aid from the coordinate branches of the Government, and for the indulgence and support of my fellow-citizens generally. And a firm reliance on the goodness of that Power whose providence mercifully protected our national infancy, and has since upheld our liberties in various vicissitudes, encourages me to offer up my ardent supplications that He will continue to make our beloved country the object of His divine care and gracious benediction.”

  Jackson folded the speech and put it in his pocket. Then he faced Chief Justice Marshall.

  Marshall held the Bible toward Jackson with both hands. “Please place your left hand on the Bible and raise your right hand.”

  Jackson winced slightly as he extended his bad left arm to place his hand on the book, then he raised his right hand.

  “Do you, Andrew Jackson, solemnly swear that you will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of your ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States?”

  “Yes,” Jackson said clearly, “to the people in all their majesty, I do solemnly swear, so help me God.” He took the Bible from Marshall, raised it to his lips then bowed once again to the people and returned the Bible to the Chief Justice.

  As Jackson turned back toward the rotunda, guns on the heights at Alexandria and Fort Warburton thundered in almost perfect unison puffing white smoke-rings across the Potomac. With the cannonade, the crowd surged forward regaining its enormous collective voice.

  Yank looked over his shoulder for a moment then pulled Marina across the steps to follow the President and Justices.

  “We’re supposed to wait,” she protested, running to keep up with him.

  “The crowd broke through the barrier,” he said. Still pulling her along behind him, he followed the inaugural party into the Capital rotunda.

  When they reached the south side, Yank stepped out the door and backed against the wall, prote
cting Marina with his body. A few seconds later, the crowd burst through the doors in pursuit of their hero.

  At the bottom of the steps, thousands of people were already clogging Pennsylvania Avenue and no amount of pushing or threatening by the police or militia could open a path through them. Finally, Jackson took control, and dismissing the cordon of uniformed men, walked smiling into the crowd toward the big white horse that he was to ride to the White House.

  “Would you look at that?” Yank said in wonder.

  “Moses parting the Red Sea,” Marina replied from behind him.

  “They’re all desperate to touch him but they give him room.”

  “Dear God,” Marina gasped as she caught a glimpse through the masses of people. “That horse is wild-eyed and terrified.”

  “It’ll calm down. Watch this.”

  Jackson had reached the frightened animal now. He took the reins from the cavalryman, pulled the horse’s muzzle toward him, blew in its face, whispered something in its ear, patted its neck and then walked to the animal’s left side and swung into the saddle with the practiced, fluid motion of a born horseman.

  As Jackson rode regally toward the White House, waving as he went, the last of people who had come up the front steps spilled from the rotunda and raced down the back steps onto Pennsylvania Avenue to follow him.

  As the surge passed, Yank released Marina with a sigh of relief. “That must be how it feels to escape a buffalo stampede.”

  “I don’t want to go to the reception at the White House,” she said nervously.

  “Nor do I; that mob will tear the place down.”

  “Where did General Coffee and the others go?”

  “They were either trampled or they found another way out.”

  “Shouldn’t we go back and check on them?”

  “No. They’re fine or they’re not. There’s nothing we can do now. We have a long walk back to Alexandria and we have that damned Inaugural Ball tonight.” He took her hand and started down the steps.

  “Where is it?”

  “Where’s what?”

  “The ball.”

  “There are two, actually. One at Carusi’s Assembly Rooms and the other at the Central Masonic Hall. Which do you prefer?”

  “Do you have tickets for both?”

  “Yes.”

  “Dear God. How much did they cost?”

  “Four dollars.”

  “Per couple?”

  “Per person.”

  “You spent sixteen dollars on tickets?” she gasped.

  “Yes. Which one do you want to attend?”

  “I’m Catholic.”

  “Only on Easter and occasionally on Christmas Eve.”

  She made a face at him. “Will they let me into a Masonic Hall?”

  “Yes. Although they may sacrifice you on the altar.”

  “Then we should attend the one at Carusi’s first.”

  “First? You can’t mean you want to attend both.”

  “Me? You spent the sixteen dollars.”

  Yank turned around then stopped and waved. “There are the Coffees.”

  “What’s his wife’s name?”

  “Mary. She’s Rachel’s niece. Be sure to offer your condolences.”

  “I think I knew that.”

  “We feared that you might have been trampled,” Yank said as the couple caught up to them.

  “Not quite,” Coffee replied. “We lit out for the White House as soon as Andy kissed the Good Book.”

  “It’s in a shambles already,” Mrs. Coffee said. “We didn’t even go inside.”

  “I was so sorry to hear of your Aunt Rachel’s death, Mary,” Marina said. “She was a fine woman and I’m proud to have known her.”

  “Thank you, Marina, that’s very kind of you to say so.”

  “Which ball were you going to attend this evening?” Marina asked.

  The other woman blushed. “The tickets are very dear and we’ve had a run of bad luck lately.”

  “We have extra tickets,” Yank said immediately. “Which ball would you prefer?”

  Coffee looked suspicious. “How did you end up with extras?”

  “Uh.” Yank looked at Marina. “You tell General Coffee, please Marina.”

  “Well,” she said after a deep breath. “I thought that John had forgotten to buy them so I bought two tickets myself. But he hadn’t forgotten. They’re non-refundable.”

  “Yes.” Yank nodded. “So you see, we have two tickets that we can’t use. Which of the two would you prefer to attend? Marina and I have no preference.”

  Mrs. Coffee looked up at her husband for a moment. “Well, if you really don’t have a preference, I think we’d like to go to the one at the Masonic Hall.”

  “Done,” Yank said. “I’ll give you the tickets when we get back to the tavern.”

  ~

  Carusi’s main ballroom was a vast open space, three hundred feet long and one hundred fifty feet wide. The draped ceiling was supported by rows of four Greek pillars made from highly polished marble that soared a hundred feet overhead. The room was lighted from above with whale-oil lamps whose light was diffused by the gauzy drapes. The walls on each side contained viewing boxes on a second level with smaller columns supporting the floor and extending to the underside of the ceiling.

  “Well,” Yank muttered to Marina. “This may well be equal in vulgar opulence to any European palace.”

  “It’s mostly gilt and mirrors.”

  He looked at her curiously. “That’s an odd reaction.”

  “I’ve been here before, John. It isn’t what it seems at first blush.”

  “Oh. I forgot that you were once a Washington belle.”

  She giggled. “Did you hear that President Jackson had to climb out of a window at the White House to escape the mob?”

  “Yes.” He smiled. “I also heard that they had to put huge bowls of punch on the front lawn to lure the revelers out of the mansion.”

  “They say the damage will run into thousands of dollars.”

  “His enemies will make good use of that in the press tomorrow. I wonder where Jackson’s going to sleep tonight.”

  “At Gadsby’s Tavern.” Marina squeezed Yank’s arm. “Don’t look now but that’s Peggy Eaton over there to our right.”

  “There are several hundred women to our right. And since I don’t know anyone named Peggy Eaton, I would have trouble identifying her. If I was permitted to look, that is.”

  “The buxom redhead with Senator Eaton, you fool.”

  Yank looked and raised his eyebrows. “Ah, yes. Charming and indeed buxom. Why am I not looking at her?”

  “You must know about the scandal surrounding her late husband’s suicide and her over-hasty marriage to the senator.”

  “That would probably be in the scandal section of the newspapers that you abscond with every morning.”

  “Society pages,” she corrected. “And I always return them.”

  “If you do, I don’t read them.”

  “Then I’ll tell you all about it.”

  “No thank you.”

  “If you’re going to be in the President’s Cabinet you need to know all about this,” she whispered.

  “Well I’m not going to be in the President’s Cabinet so I don’t need to know anything about it.”

  “What?”

  “I said that I don’t need to know.”

  “Did he offer you a position?”

  “Yes.”

  “What?”

  “We never got that far in the discussion.”

  “What?”

  “You sound like a parrot, Marina. What, what, what.”

  “What did you say to him, John?”

  “I told him that I admired him enormously as a man and as a general, but that I disagreed vociferously with almost everything that he believed in.”

  “You didn’t.”

  “Yes I did. And I also told him that I could never be a damned Democrat.”

  �
�John.”

  “Marina.”

  “You’ve cut your own throat.”

  He shrugged. “There’s a rocking chair on the porch at Van Buskirk Point just waiting for me.”

  “Shit.”

  Yank looked at her in surprise. “You never seemed that enthusiastic about moving back here.”

  “No, no. That’s not what I meant. Peggy O’Neale is coming toward us. That’s what I was swearing about.”

  “Who the devil is Peggy O’Neale?”

  “That devil would be me, General,” the buxom redhead that Marina had pointed out said. “Hello, Marina.”

  “Nice to see you Peggy,” Marina replied with a pleasant smile. “You already seem to know my husband.”

  “I’ve admired him from a distance,” she said. “Do you know my husband, Senator John Eaton, General?”

  “Yes, indeed,” Yank said. “Good evening, Senator. Have you met my wife?”

  Eaton bent over Marina’s hand. “Charmed, Mrs. Van Buskirk, charmed.”

  “John is to be in the President’s cabinet,” Peggy said proudly.

  “That’s a bit premature, my love,” Eaton replied. “There is a matter of the Senate’s consent.”

  “Oh bother,” she giggled. “They’re all your old cronies.”

  “I’m so very sorry,” Marina said, “but I see Mrs. Jackson’s niece over there and I must offer her my condolences. Please excuse me.” She smiled again at Peggy, patted Yank on the arm and then hurried away.

  “Mrs. Jackson’s niece is the official hostess,” Peggy said icily. “One should not be forced to seek her out, she should be welcoming us.” Peggy looked at her husband. “She intentionally ignored us when we were announced.”

  Ignoring her, the Senator took Yank’s arm and lowered his voice conspiratorially. “I was told that you declined the President’s offer of a cabinet position, Yank.”

  Yank raised an eyebrow. “Were you indeed, Senator?”

  “I was hoping it was untrue,” Eaton replied.

  Yank extracted his arm. “I see Win Scott over there trying to get my attention. My eldest son is in his command. General Scott may have important news for me. Please excuse me, Senator.” He bowed. “Mrs. Eaton? Charmed.”