A Jackson Man: Amos Kendall and the Rise of American Democracy (review)

Those seldom seen often shape presidential policy. In the case of Andrew Jackson's administrations, those opposed to Old Hickory often derisively referred to his inner circle of advisors, many of whom did not hold official cabinet appointments, as the "Kitchen Cabinet." Meant to convey a sense of conspiracy and treachery, this term was used to cast suspicion on the influence of Francis P. Blair, Andrew J. Donelson, Isaac Hill, and William B. Lewis over Jackson's decisions as president. Heading the Kitchen Cabinet, according to Henry Clay, Nicholas Biddle, and others, was Amos Kendall, a sober, sickly looking newspaper editor from Kentucky.

Donald B. Cole, recently retired from Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, recounts the life and influence of this enigmatic figure who held such sway over Old Hickory. Readers familiar with the early nineteenth century will recognize Cole as the author of books on the Jacksonian Party's formation in New Hampshire, Martin Van Buren's role in building the Second American Party System, and Andrew Jackson's presidency. Explaining Kendall's role in helping build the Jacksonian Democratic Party and identifying how his life reflected larger changes in American society are Cole's goals in A Jackson Man—ones at which he largely succeeds.

Born into a strict religious family on the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border, Kendall found his first great success as a newspaper editor in Kentucky. There he used the Relief War to define a two-party system that would help shape national politics in the 1820s. Initially a Clay supporter, Kendall eventually moved into the Jackson camp, partly for ideological reasons and partly for political and financial self-preservation. Once attached to Jackson, however, he threw him his entire support. Kendall's use of the "corrupt bargain" charge against Clay during the 1828 campaign won him favor with Jackson, who brought him to Washington in 1829 as an auditor in the treasury department. (He would later hold a cabinet appointment as postmaster general.)

During the next eight years, Kendall would become the president's most important advisor, particularly on the issues of implementing rotation of office, restraining the power of the Second Bank of the United States, and reforming the post office. When identifying what they considered the malign influences on Jackson, his opponents in Washington often referred to "Amos Kendall & Co.," a recognition of how important a figure Kendall had become. However, Cole argues, Kendall "never became a Van Buren man" (142), and his influence decreased during the New Yorker's only presidential term. After resigning in 1840 to accept a minor editorial position with a Democratic newspaper, the Washington Globe, Kendall finally found the financial windfall for which he had been looking when he became a business agent for Samuel F.B. Morse, who held a patent for the telegraph. He parlayed that position into a number of others involving the expanding telegraphy revolution, earning enough money to become a philanthropist in his advanced years. Kendall also would help establish Gallaudet University, the nation's first college for the deaf, and Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC.

Cole is a skilled biographer, and his narrative reveals the complexity of Kendall's personality and his political evolution into a Jacksonian Democrat. Several minor problems arise in this biography, however. First, Cole seems to overreach in crediting Kendall with the large turnout and size of Joseph Desha's gubernatorial victory in the 1824 Kentucky elections (85). The proof is simply not there, at least not as presented, to make such a definitive statement. Second, he does not elucidate how Kendall helped Richard M. Johnson win the vice-presidential nomination at the 1835 Democratic Convention, although he most likely did play an important part, since he and Johnson had been political allies in Kentucky (211). Explaining his role would have bolstered the contention that Kendall had significant influence within the Democratic Party.

Finally...