Chapters 31-33 Summary and Analysis

"Democracy Rampant" describes Jackson's inauguration. He carries on through his grief only by summoning his sense of duty. He cannot sleep, feeling that Rachel would not have died, had he stayed out of politics. He lingers at Rachel's grave and answers no letters from Washington, leaving an eerie political calm. The capital is still a shabby "work in progress," the avenues are hardly grand, and the President's House is "an immense pile." Still, the gentry put on airs and follow a "fastidious etiquette." They liken the army of unsophisticates who come to see Jackson installed to the barbarian hordes invading Rome and other dismaying events in antiquity. Still, Mar. 4 dawns warm as Revolutionary War veterans escort the president-elect to his inauguration. By noon, the crowd stands at 15,000 as Chief Justice John Marshall administers the oath. Jackson's voice is nearly...