Duff Green, one of the party managers, proposed that a great cavalcade
should meet the victor at Pittsburgh and escort him by relays to the
capital. On Van Buren's advice the plan was abandoned. But as the
party passed along the National Road toward its destination it was
accorded an ovation which left nothing to be desired as an evidence of
the public favor.
Arrived in Washington, on the 11th of February--the day on which the
electoral votes were counted in the Senate--Jackson and his friends
found temporary lodgings at the Indian Queen Tavern, commonly known as
"the Wigwam." During the next three weeks the old inn was the scene of
unwonted activity. Office seekers besieged it morning, noon, and
night; politicians came to ask favors or give advice; exponents of
every sort of cause watched for opportunities to obtain promises of
presidential support; scores of the curious came with no other purpose
than to see what a backwoods President looked like. "The city is full
of speculation and speculators," wrote Daniel Webster to his
sister-in-law a few days after Jackson's arrival; "a great multitude,
too many to be fed without a miracle, are already in the city, hungry
for office.
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