Chapter 40 Summary and Analysis

"An Old Friend and a New Frontier" examines Jackson's dealings with Mexico. It opens with Sam Houston reappearing, drinking no more than normal 19th-century norms and with his imposing figure restored. Business brings him to New York and Washington, where he tangles with an anti-Jacksonian congressman, William Stanberry. Denying that congressmen have immunity from retaliation for words spoken on the floor, Houston canes him and is charged in the House of Representatives. Jackson dislikes the pro-bank Stanberry, believes he deserves the beating, and invites Houston to the White House. Houston defends himself "floridly," pleading extenuating circumstances. He wins the galleries but loses the case. In a criminal suit, Stanberry is awarded $500, which Jackson remits. Houston feels vindicated in Jackson's eyes.

Jackson has been thinking about Texas since Burr's plot, but for decades has been too busy to do anything about it...