Receipts from the Hermitage farm during
his years of absence were small, and fire in 1834 made necessary a
rebuilding of the family residence at considerable cost. The upshot
was that when, in 1837, the General was preparing to leave Washington,
he had to scrape together every available dollar in cash, and in
addition pledge the cotton crop of his plantation six months ahead for
a loan of six thousand dollars, in order to pay the bills outstanding
against him in the capital.
Meanwhile the country came to the election of 1836. From the time of
Van Buren's withdrawal from the Cabinet in 1831 to become, with
Jackson's full approval, a candidate for the vice presidency, there
never was doubt that the New Yorker would be the Democratic
presidential nominee in 1836, or that his election would mean a
continuation, in most respects, of the Jacksonian regime. Never did a
President more clearly pick his successor. There was, of course, some
protest within the party. Van Buren was not popular, and it required
all of the personal and official influence that the President could
bring to bear, backed up by judicious use of the patronage, to carry
his program through.
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