Chief among visitors from abroad was La Fayette. The two men met in
Washington in 1824 and formed an instant attachment for each other.
The great French patriot was greeted at Nashville the following year
with a public reception and banquet at which Jackson, as the first
citizen of the State, did the honors. Afterwards he spent some days in
the Jackson home, and one can imagine the avidity with which the two
men discussed the American and French revolutions, Napoleon, and the
late New Orleans campaign.
Jackson was first and last a democrat. He never lost touch with the
commonest people. Nevertheless there was always something of the grand
manner about him. On formal and ceremonial occasions he bore himself
with becoming dignity and even grace; in dress he was, as a rule,
punctilious. During his years at the Hermitage he was accustomed to
ride about in a carriage drawn by four spirited iron-gray horses,
attended by servants in blue livery with brass buttons, glazed hats,
and silver bands. "A very big man, sir," declared an old hotel waiter
to the visiting biographer Parton long afterwards.
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