William Peterfield Trent

“ The chief feature of the new régime is to be found in the general sweeping of Government employees out of office on account of their political affiliations. Up to this time there had been few removals on such grounds, but Jackson acted upon the doctrine, enunciated by Marcy in 1831, that “to the victors belong the spoils of the vanquished.” (See Civil-Service Reform.) The leading facts of Jackson's two administrations were the scandal concerning Mrs. Eaton (see Eaton, Margaret) , whereby the Cabinet was broken up; the veto of the United States Bank charter ”

“ In 1823 the Legislature of Tennessee elected him to the United States Senate, and at the same time nominated him for President. At the election the next year there were four candidates who received electoral votes as follows: John Quincy Adams, 84; William H. Crawford, 41; Henry Clay, 37; and Jackson, 99. No one having a majority, the House of Representatives elected Adams, and Jackson retired to private life. But four years afterwards he was supported by all the opponents of the Administration, and elected by an immense majority—the vote being Jackson, 178; Adams, 83. ”

“ The contest was one of the most personal and bitter in American political history, because Jackson, taking as a personal matter the party slander which accused Adams of buying Clay's support in the preceding election by the promise of the portfolio of State, threw his whole force into the struggle. Jackson was reëlected in 1832, his principal opponent being Henry Clay. In his second term Van Buren was Vice-President.
Jackson's eight years' administration of the Government meant the rise of the people to power. ”