The Washington establishment was stunned.
A political outsider with few connections in the nation’s capital, but wide national celebrity among the American people, was going to be the next president of the United States.
Washington, D.C., residents were unprepared for the wild scene that was about to unfold when the new president’s advocates—and a few detractors—poured into the city. Some compared this enormous mass of people to an invading barbarian horde pillaging Rome.
This scene may sound familiar in 2017, but it describes Andrew Jackson’s inaugural celebration in 1829. At the time, such large-scale fanfare at an inauguration was unprecedented.
Yet despite the circus atmosphere that Jackson’s inaugural became famous for, he delivered a powerful performance that set a course for his transformative agenda over the course of his administration.
More importantly, the event marked an occasion in which Americans from every station and status in life could feel a connection to the presidency. This has been an inaugural tradition ever since.
When Jackson finally arrived in the city, he was wearing a black suit and a black armband to symbolize his mourning over his deceased wife. But many noted that his appearance was that of a dignified gentleman, not an uncouth barbarian.
Historian Robert Remini, who elaborated extensively on the events surrounding Jackson’s inauguration, wrote that Jackson “was the most presidential-looking figure to head the nation since George Washington.”
The crowd, which swelled into the thousands and tens of thousands to see the new president deliver his inaugural address, couldn’t be quieted enough to hear the soft-spoken Tennessean.
The speech was short, but resonated with the American people. Jackson borrowed heavily from the inaugural address of Thomas Jefferson, a man whose ideas he greatly hoped to emulate.
Jackson’s address laid out his general governing philosophy. He mentioned upholding the Constitution, defending the power of the states in relation to the federal government, and eliminating the national debt.
And perhaps, most importantly, Jackson maintained that he would undergo the “task of reform,” and go after the “unfaithful and incompetent hands” who had burrowed their way into power.
This specifically applied to career bureaucrats whom he distrusted and believed needed to be shaken up for the good of the country.
After completing his brief speech to uproarious applause, Jackson was given the oath of office by Chief Justice John Marshall. And after reciting the oath, Jackson kissed the Bible used in the ceremony and bowed to the people.
Remini summed up how this inauguration, as wild and uncouth as it became, set a uniquely American precedent for the way we welcome our presidential leaders.
He wrote, “The inauguration proved so lusty in its display of the American spirit at its most boisterous, exuberant, and vulgar that the essential ingredients of this inaugural became traditional … The people—not politicians or Washington society … made it uniquely their own.”
In many ways, this inaugural tradition stands today.