now , presidential inauguration in the U.S. take spot on Jan. 20 and let in parades , speeches and several sedate balls . Nothing likeAndrew Jackson ’s inauguration , when complete havoc allegedly broke out in 1829 .
American presidential inauguration used to be held in March , a full four month after the election . On March 4 , 1829 , a crowd estimated in the ten of 1000 descended on Washington , D.C. , to witness Andrew Jacksontake the oath of officeon the portico of the Capitol . The bloodless - hirsute war hero do it as " Old Hickory " gave a address ( which nobody could discover ) , osculate the Bible and bend to the adore throng .
Jackson was America ’s firstpopulistpresident , a straight - talking " outsider " candidate who vowed to defend the the great unwashed , not the Washington elite group . ( He was the first president to advance by attract to the masses . ) When the inauguration ceremony was over , the gang disclose through the barriers and rushed up the Capitol footstep to shake hired hand with " the peoples ' president . "
" The living mountain was impenetrable,“wrote Margaret Bayard Smith , a Washington socialite and source . " Country man , farmers , gentleman’s gentleman , mount and dismounted , boys , fair sex and child , black and blanched . carriage , wagon and carts all pursuing him to the President ’s house . "
" This is the iconic event that everybody knows about today , when thousand of multitude — ' dirty ' masses with mud on their boots who , according to the genteel , should not have been there — stormed the White House and created total bedlam , " says Daniel Feller , an emeritus history prof at the University of Tennessee and editor ofThe Papers of Andrew Jackson . " mass standing on chairs to get a serious survey , grabbing for food and boozing to the point that mesa are tip over and being shatter . This is the taradiddle that you ’ve probably find out . "
The Source of the ‘Melee at the Levee’
For almost two centuries , Andrew Jackson ’s inauguration shoo-in has been cite as the wildest party ever thrown at the White House , but historians like Feller believe we should take the colorful story with a cereal of salt , if not a 5 - pound bag of it .
The most vivid descriptions of the scrimmage at Jackson ’s levee were about all based on the writings of one somebody : Margaret Bayard Smith , the socialite and prolific letter - writer quoted above . Far from being a witness , Smith actually showed up late to the March 4 party , long after the outcome she described had allegedly taken place . Feller also notes that Smith was not a fan of Jackson ’s populist politics , which undoubtedly colored her legal opinion of the 24-hour interval ’s events .
" I do n’t require to undersell this too much , " tell Feller . " I do n’t think Smith would have made it up out of whole fabric . But you have to recognize that her account is fundamentally the only one that portrays what happened at the White House in such extreme terms . It ’s not an eyewitness account , and it ’s very probable a jaundiced account . "
Reading Smith ’s account of Jackson ’s inauguration day , it ’s well-situated to translate why so many present-day newspapers and afterward historian jumped on the fib of how Jackson ’s uncouth rabble ransacked the White House and almost trampled the president to demise . In a letter to her daughter , Smith wrote of the majesty and eclat of the inaugural itself and how her sojourn to the White House had been delayed by rumor of overwhelming crew . Sometime after 3 p.m. , she and her crew at long last made it to the party .
" But what a vista did we witness!“wrote Smith . " The Majesty of the People had disappeared , and a rabble , a mob , of boys , Negro [ sic ] , women , children , scrambling , combat , disport . What a pity what a ruth ! "
you may almost hear Smith seize her pearl at the panorama she see at the White House , where previous Chief Executive had alwaysopened their doors to the world , but notthiskind of public , surely .
" Among people like Smith , if you go to the White House , you should be presentable , gentlemanly or ladylike , " says Feller . " And to her , there were clearly some hoi polloi at Jackson ’s levee who did n’t look like they belonged there . How much of that was her percept and how much was reality ? doubtless some of both . "
Smith reported that the crew at the White House was estimated at 20,000 masses , althoughshe admitted , " I think the telephone number hyperbolize . " She did n’t hesitate , though , to pass along secondhand account of womanhood pass out , men " seen with bloody nose " and expensive glassware " to the amount of several thousand dollar " broken in the unhinged rush for refreshments .
Other Views of the ‘Monstrous Crowd’
Of course , Smith was n’t the only attendee of Jackson ’s inaugural to write about the experience . Daniel Webster , then a senator from Massachusetts , was also no rooter of Jackson ’s political science , but he come away with a different opinion of the " atrocious crowd of people " who descended upon the city .
" I never saw anything like it before,“wrote Webster . " Persons have come 500 miles to see General Jackson and they really seem to cogitate that the Country is rescued from some dreadful peril . "
Instead of distinguish the inaugural hearing as uncivilized mob , though , as Smith had , Webster blamed the crush of mankind on " thousands of expectants for office who jam the City , & clamour all over the Country . "
In Webster ’s eyes , the impressive gang at Jackson ’s inaugural were n’t just member of the president ’s adoring public , but also political aspirant looking for a cushy government job with the new administration .
" Throwing ' office - seeker ' into the mix undercuts the idea that the overflow of people into Washington was somehow pure and stately and un - self - interested , " says Feller , who also thinks it ’s notable that in Webster ’s farsighted description of the day ’s upshot , he does n’t even mention the allegedly shameful party . " If it had been that dissipated scene that Smith reports , you ’d call up [ Webster ] would have mentioned it . "
It should be noted that Smith ’s account , while widely cite , is n’t the only evidence that something unworthy may have happened at the White House on March 4 , 1829 .
Newspapers operate differently in the former 1800s , explains Feller . In a " small town " like Washington , D.C. , it was expected that everyone would already know the local news , so metropolis papers were usually stuffed with internal or international headline . That explains why the Washington paper did n’t waste ink on the initiatory political party , but why one of the most colorful accounts register up a week afterward in the New York Spectator .
" Here was the corpulent epicure grunting and sweating for breath,“wrote the Spectator , " the dandy wish he had no toe , the tight - laced Miss , fearing her individual might welcome some permanently deforming impulsion , the miser hunt for his pocket - playscript , the courtier expect for his vigil , and the business office - searcher in an agony to pass on the President . "
In 1978 , theTennessee Historical Societydug up a few more contemporary accounts of the notorious inaugural bash for one of Tennessee ’s most famous Word . " Sheer bedlam " was how the Historical Society characterize the party at the White House . Rep. Charles Miner from Pennsylvania offered a description that may have been the breathing in for Smith ’s own account .
" Orange punch by drum - full was made,“wrote Miner , " but as the server launch the door to work it out , a rush would be made , the looking glass intermit , the bucket of liquor upset , and the most painful confusion endure . To such a degree was this carried , that wine and ice - emollient could not be take out to the ladies . . . " Miner was also appalled to see " men , with charge hard with mud , stand up on the damask satin - traverse chairs , from their avidness to get a sight of the President . "
It ’s clear from these corroborating accounts that bunch and lots of people showed up at the White House on inauguration day , some to shake Old Hickory ’s hand , some to need him for a job , and some presumably to get complimentary punch and shabu cream . Indeed the crush forced Jackson to draw back to the National Hotel for his guard .
But was it the funfair that Smith so dramatically describe or an overblown legend that fit a convenient political stereotype ? Sen. James Hamilton of South Carolina , who was a Jackson supporter , described the inaugural case as a " regular Saturnalia , " but added that most of the damage was minimum .
" You might be surprised at how often this go on with history , " say Feller . " One particular quotation or anecdote gets pick up as being absolute Sojourner Truth , then it becomes of much greater importance than it was at the metre , because it just seems to fit . "
