Arrived in Washington, on the 11th of February—­the day on which the electoral votes were counted in the Senate—­Jackson and his friends found temporary lodgings at the Indian Queen Tavern, commonly known as “the Wigwam.”  During the next three weeks the old inn was the scene of unwonted activity.  Office seekers besieged it morning, noon, and night; politicians came to ask favors or give advice; exponents of every sort of cause watched for opportunities to obtain promises of presidential support; scores of the curious came with no other purpose than to see what a backwoods President looked like.  “The city is full of speculation and speculators,” wrote Daniel Webster to his 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; he was the cleverest politician and, next to Calhoun, the ablest man, in the Democratic ranks.  When offered the chief place in the Cabinet he promptly accepted.  Edward Livingston was given his choice of the remaining positions, but preferred to accept an election to the Senate.  With due regard for personal susceptibilities and sectional interests, the list was then completed.  A Pennsylvania Congressman Samuel D. Ingham, became Secretary of the Treasury;