As advisers on party affairs and on matters of general policy the President drew about himself a heterogeneous group of men which the public-labeled the “Kitchen Cabinet.”  Included in the number were the two members of the regular Cabinet in whom Jackson had implicit confidence, Van Buren and Eaton.  Isaac Hill was a member.  Amos Kendall, a New Englander who had lately edited a Jackson paper in Kentucky, and who now found his reward in the fourth auditorship of the Treasury, was another.  William B. Lewis, prevailed upon by Jackson to accept another auditorship along with Kendall, rather than to follow out his original intention to return to his Tennessee plantation, was not only in the Kitchen Cabinet but was also a member of the President’s household.  Duff Green, editor of the Telegraph, and A. J. Donelson, the President’s nephew and secretary, were included in the group; as was also Francis P. Blair after, in 1830, he became editor of the new administration organ, the Globe.  It was the popular impression that the influence of these men, especially of Lewis and Kendall, was very great—­that, indeed, they virtually ruled the country.  There was some truth in the supposition.  In matters upon which his mind was not fully made up, Jackson was easily swayed; and his most intimate “Kitchen” advisers were adepts at playing upon his likes and dislikes.  He, however, always resented the insinuation that he was not his own master, and all testimony goes to show that when he was once resolved upon a given course his friends were just as powerless to stop him as were his enemies.

The Jacksonians were carried into office on a great wave of popular enthusiasm, an for the time being all the powers of government were theirs.  None the less, their position was imperiled almost from the beginning by a breach within the administration ranks.  Calhoun had contented himself with reelection to the vice presidency in 1828 on the understanding that, after Jackson should have had one term, the road to the White House would be left clear for himself.  Probably Jackson, when elected, fully expected Calhoun to be his successor.  Before long, however, the South Carolinian was given ground for apprehension.  Men began to talk about a second term for Jackson, and the White House gave no indication of disapproval.  Even more disconcerting was the large place taken in the new regime by Van Buren.  The “little magician” held the chief post in the Cabinet; he was in the confidence of the President as Calhoun was not; there were multiplying indications that he was aiming at the presidency; and if he were to enter the race he would be hard to beat, for by general admission he was the country’s most astute politician.  With every month that passed the Vice President’s star was in graver danger of eclipse.