sister-in-law a few days after Jackson's arrival; "a great multitude,
too many to be fed without a miracle, are already in the city, hungry
for office. Especially, I learn that the typographical corps is
assembled in great force. From New Hampshire, our friend Hill; from
Boston, Mr. Greene ... and from everywhere else somebody else. So many
friends ready to advise, and whose advice is so disinterested, make
somewhat of a numerous council about the President-elect; and, if
report be true, it is a council which only makes that darker which was
dark enough before."

To all, Jackson was accessible. But he was not communicative, and up
to Inauguration Day people were left to speculate not only upon the
truth of the rumor that there was to be a "full sweep" in the offices
but upon the new Administration's attitude on public questions in
general. Even Isaac Hill, a warm friend and supporter, was obliged to
write to an acquaintance four days before the inauguration that
Jackson had little to say about the future, "except in a general way."
The men with whom the Executive-elect was daily closeted were Major
Lewis and Senators Eaton and White. Van Buren would have been of the
number, had not his recently assumed duties as Governor kept him at
Albany. He was ably represented, however, by James A. Hamilton, a son
of Alexander Hamilton, to whose correspondence we owe most of what we
know about the laying of the plans for the new Administration.

The most pressing question was the personnel of the Cabinet. Upon only
one appointment was Jackson fully determined when he reached
Washington: Van Buren was to be Secretary of State. The "little
magician" had been influential in turning New York from Crawford to
Jackson; he had resigned his seat in the Senate and run for the
governorship with a view to uniting the party for Jackson's benefit;