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The Eaton Affair
Peggy O'Neill Timberlake was the daughter of a Washington tavern keeper and the wife of John Tmberlake, a U.S.navy purser. After her husband's death, Peggy married U.S. Senator John Henry Eaton in 1829. The wives of other cabinet members opted not to associate themselves with her because she and John Eaton had allegedly been intimate before their marriage and Peggy's impoverished beginnings. President Jackson's attempts to gain her a place among the other women caused an uproar in the cabinet and destroyed political alliances.
At the center of the controversy were John C. Calhoun, his wife Floride, the Eatons, President Jackson and wife Rachel. Floride Calhoun, along with her husband and several other cabinet wives, managed to isolate and separate the Eatons from the rest of upper-class society. The Calhouns also targeted the president's wife Rachel, citing that Rachel married the president before her divorce from her first husband was finalized. President Jackson attributed these malicious acts to Rachel's death in 1828, and replaced Calhoun with Martin Van Buren as his vice president in the election of 1832. He also forced five of six cabinet members to resign in 1831 for jumping on the Calhoun bandwagon. The sensationalized scandal caused most Americans to identify the presence of Margaret Eaton as the cause.
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