John Eaton (politician)
American politician and diplomat from Tennesse
Years: 1790 - 1856
John Henry Eaton (June 18, 1790 – November 17, 1856) is an American politician and diplomat from Tennessee who served as U.S. Senator and as Secretary of War in the administration of Andrew Jackson.
He is twenty-eight years old when he enters the Senate, making him the youngest U.S. Senator in history.
Eaton is a lawyer in Tennessee who becomes part of a network that supported the political campaigns of Andrew Jackson.
He also serves in the militia as a major, and during the War of 1812 becomes an aide to Jackson; Eaton serves with Jackson in all his wartime campaigns and battles, including the Battle of New Orleans.
After serving in the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1815 and 1816, in 1818 Eaton is elected to the United States Senate, though he has not yet reached the constitutionally mandated age of thirty.
Following Jackson's election to the presidency in 1828, Eaton resigns his Senate seat to join Jackson's cabinet as Secretary of War.
Eaton and his wife Peggy become the focus of controversy during Jackson's first term; in the so-called Petticoat affair, Washington's society wives refuse to socialize with the Eatons.
The wives of the vice president, cabinet members, and members of Congress look down on Peggy because of the circumstances of her marriage to Eaton; they had wed shortly after the death of her first husband, without waiting for the usual mourning period, giving rise to rumors that she had been unfaithful to her first husband before his death.
Eaton resigns as Secretary of War as part of a strategy to resolve the controversy; he later receives appointments as Governor of Florida Territory and U.S. Minister to Spain.
Upon returning to the United States in 1840, Eaton refuses to endorse incumbent Martin Van Buren for reelection to the presidency, angering Jackson.
In retirement, Eaton resides Washington.
He dies there in 1856, and is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery.
