" Three years of
Jacksonian rule had seen the civil service revolutionized, the Cabinet
banished from its traditional place in the governmental system, and
the conduct of the executive branch given a wholly new character and
bent. Internal improvements had been checked by the Maysville Road
veto. The United States Bank had been given a blow, through another
veto, which sent it staggering. Political fortunes had been made and
unmade by a wave of the President's hand. The first attempt of a State
to put the stability of the Union to the test had brought the Chief
Executive dramatically into the role of defender of the nation's
dignity and perpetuity. No previous President had so frequently
challenged the attention of the public; none had kept himself more
continuously in the forefront of political controversy.
Frail health and close application to official duties prevented
Jackson from traveling extensively during his eight years in the White
House. He saw the Hermitage but once in this time, and on but one
occasion did he venture far from the capital.
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