Though remembered largely by history as Andrew Jackson's nephew,
Andrew Jackson Donelson was himself a significant figure in
nineteenth-century America: a politician, planter, diplomat,
newspaper editor, and vice-presidential candidate. His relationship
with his uncle and mentor defined his life, as he struggled to find
the political and personal success that he wanted and his uncle
thought he deserved. In Old Hickory's Nephew, the first definitive
biography of this enigmatic man, Mark R. Cheathem explores both
Donelson's political contributions and his complex, tumultuous, and
often-overlooked relationship with Andrew Jackson.
Born in Sumner County, Tennessee, in 1799, Donelson lost his
father only five years later. Andrew Jackson soon became a force in
his nephew's life, seeing in his namesake his political prot?g?.
Jackson went so far as to predict that Donelson would one day
become president. After attending West Point, Donelson helped
establish the Jacksonian wing of the Democratic party and edited a
national Democratic newspaper. As a diplomat, he helped bring about
the annexation of Texas and, following in his uncle's footsteps, he
became the owner of several plantations. On the surface, Donelson
was a political and personal success.
But few lives are so straightforward. The strong relationship
between the uncle and nephew -- defined by the concept of honor
that suffused the southern society in which they lived -- quickly
frayed when Donelson and his wife defied his uncle during the
infamous Peggy Eaton sex scandal of Jackson's first presidential
administration. This resulted, Cheathem shows, in a tense
relationship, full of distrust and suspicion, between Donelson and
Jackson that lasted until the "Hero of New Orleans" died in 1845.
Donelson later left the Democratic party in a tiff and joined the
American, or Know Nothing, party, which selected him as Millard
Fillmore's running mate in 1856. Though Donelson tried to establish
himself as his uncle's political successor and legator, his friends
and foes alike accused him of trading on his uncle's name to gain
political and financial success.
The life of Andrew Jackson Donelson illuminates the expectations
placed upon young southern men of prominent families as well as the
complexities and contradictions in their lives. In this biography,
Cheathem awakens interest in a nearly forgotten but nonetheless
intriguing figure in American history.
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