Who Will Be Jackson’s Heir?
Elected vice president in 1828, John C. Calhoun hoped to succeed Jackson in the White House. He failed to account for the ambition of Martin Van Buren, who managed Jackson’s campaign and claimed the prized office of secretary of state. When Van Buren resigned as secretary in 1831 and Jackson nominated him as minister to Britain, Calhoun sought to destroy his rival by blocking his confirmation in the Senate. The “Little Magician” pounced on this miscalculation, persuading Jackson, already disillusioned by Calhoun’s support for nullification, to oust him from the ticket. Van Buren took his place as vice president in 1832, carried into the office — as the cartoonist tells the tale — on Jackson’s back, and succeeded to the presidency in 1836. © Collection of the New-York Historical Society.