The Petticoat affair was an 1830–1831 U.S. scandal involving members of President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...

's Cabinet and their wives. Although it started over a private matter, it affected the political careers of several men and resulted in the informal "Kitchen Cabinet

Kitchen Cabinet

The Kitchen Cabinet was a term used by political opponents of President of the United States Andrew Jackson to describe the collection of unofficial advisers he consulted in parallel to the United States Cabinet following his purge of the cabinet at the end of the Eaton affair and his break with...

". The 1936 film The Gorgeous Hussy

The Gorgeous Hussy

The Gorgeous Hussy is a 1936 film directed by Clarence Brown, and starring Joan Crawford and Robert Taylor. The film's plot tells a fictionalized account of President of the United States Andrew Jackson and an innkeeper's daughter...

is based on the affair.

Margaret "Peggy" O'Neale

Margaret O'Neill Eaton

Margaret O'Neill Eaton , better known as Peggy Eaton, was the daughter of Rhoda Howell and William O'Neale, the owner of Franklin House, a popular Washington, D.C. hotel. Peggy was noted for her beauty, wit and vivacity...

 (or O'Neill) was the daughter of William O'Neale, who owned a Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 boarding-house called the Franklin House, a social center for many politicians. Margaret was well-educated; she studied French, among other subjects, and was known for her ability to play the piano. She was also renowned for having a "vivacious" temperament. In 1816, Margaret married her first husband John B. Timberlake

John B. Timberlake

John B. Timberlake was a protagonist in the American political scandal known as the Petticoat affair. His wife Peggy O'Neill Timberlake was said to have had an affair with John Eaton, who became Secretary of War in President Andrew Jackson's cabinet...

, a purser in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

. She was 17, and he was 39. Timberlake had been heavily in debt for years. They had three children together, with one dying in infancy.

The couple had been friends with Senator John Henry Eaton since 1818, when Eaton was a 28-year-old widower and newly-elected U.S. Senator. After Timberlake told Eaton about their financial problems, Eaton unsuccessfully attempted to get the Senate to pass a petition to pay Timberlake's debts accrued while in the Navy. While away on a four-year sea voyage on the USS Constitution

USS Constitution

USS Constitution is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. Named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America, she is the world's oldest floating commissioned naval vessel...

, Timberlake died of pulmonary disease in 1828—although there were allegations he had committed suicide.

With the encouragement of President Andrew Jackson, who liked them both, Peggy Timberlake and Eaton married shortly after her husband's death—although according to the social mores of the day, it would have been more proper for them to wait a longer time. Their action scandalized respectable people of the capital, especially many women. Second Lady

Second Lady of the United States

Second lady of the United States is an informal title for the wife of the vice president of the United States, coined in contrast to the first lady ....

 Floride Calhoun

Floride Calhoun

Floride Bonneau Calhoun was the wife of prominent U.S. politician John C. Calhoun.-Background and early life:...

, the wife of Vice President

Vice President of the United States

The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...

 John C. Calhoun

John C. Calhoun

John Caldwell Calhoun was a leading politician and political theorist from South Carolina during the first half of the 19th century. Calhoun eloquently spoke out on every issue of his day, but often changed positions. Calhoun began his political career as a nationalist, modernizer, and proponent...

, led a phalanx of other Cabinet wives in an "anti-Peggy" coalition. Prominent women snubbed Margaret Eaton.

Martin Van Buren

Martin Van Buren

Martin Van Buren was the eighth President of the United States . Before his presidency, he was the eighth Vice President and the tenth Secretary of State, under Andrew Jackson ....

, a widower and the only unmarried member of the Cabinet, allied himself with the Eatons. Jackson was sympathetic to the Eatons, in part, perhaps, because his own beloved late wife, Rachel Donelson Robards, had been the subject of innuendo. Jackson believed such rumors were the cause of her heart attack and death December 22, 1828, several weeks after his election. (Her first marriage had not yet been legally ended at the time of her wedding to Jackson.) Even Rachel's niece Emily Donelson

Emily Donelson

Emily Donelson was the niece of U.S. President Andrew Jackson. She served as White House hostess and unofficial First Lady of the United States from 1829 to 1834.-Early life and marriage:...

, whom Jackson called on as his "First Lady

First Lady

First Lady or First Gentlemanis the unofficial title used in some countries for the spouse of an elected head of state.It is not normally used to refer to the spouse or partner of a prime minister; the husband or wife of the British Prime Minister is usually informally referred to as prime...

", sided with the Calhoun faction.

Jackson appointed Eaton as his Secretary of War, hoping to limit the rumors, but the scandal intensified. Jackson felt political opponents, especially those around Calhoun, were feeding the controversy. The controversy finally resulted in the resignation of almost all members of the Cabinet over a period of weeks in the spring of 1831. Postmaster General William T. Barry

William T. Barry

William Taylor Barry was an American statesman and jurist.-History:Born near Lunenburg, Virginia, he moved to Fayette County, Kentucky, in 1796 with his parents John Barry, an American Revolutionary War veteran, and Susannah Barry...

 would be the lone member to stay.

Jackson elevated Van Buren as his favorite and replaced Calhoun as vice presidential running mate in his re-election campaign. Van Buren thus became the de facto heir to the Democratic Party

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

. Although Emily Donelson had supported Floride Calhoun, Jackson kept his niece as his official hostess.

John Calhoun and his wife returned to South Carolina. In 1832, he won a seat in the U.S. Senate. He advocated states' rights, slavery, and economic issues affecting the South, eventually including secession from the Union.

External links

• "Andrew Jackson and the Tavern-Keeper's Daughter", Women's History
• Andrew Jackson on the Web: Petticoat Affair
• J. Kingston Pierce, "Andrew Jackson's 'Petticoat Affair' ", The History Net, June 1999