He had not been chosen as a party man, but it
is altogether probable that his own sympathies and those of most of
his constituents lay with the Jeffersonians; and his appearance on the
floor of Congress was an omen of the fast-rising tide of western
democracy which should never find its ultimate goal until this rough
but honest Tennesseean should himself be borne into the presidential
chair.
Jackson's career in Congress was brief and uneventful. After a year of
service in the House of Representatives he was appointed to fill the
unexpired term of William Blount in the Senate. But this post he
resigned in 1798 in order to devote his energies to his private
affairs. While at Philadelphia he made the acquaintance not only of
John Adams, Jefferson, Randolph, Gallatin, and Burr, but of his future
Secretary of State, Edward Livingston, and of some other persons who
were destined to be closely connected with his later career. But
Jackson was not fitted for a legislative body either by training or by
temperament. He is recorded as speaking in the House only twice and in
the Senate not at all, and he seems to have made no considerable
impression upon his colleagues.
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