United States First Lady. Emily Donelson received a place in American history, when she assumed the duties of First Lady, after the death of her aunt, Rachel Jackson. Rachel Jackson, as the wife of the 7th President of the United States Andrew Jackson, should have served as the nation's First Lady, except she died between her husband's election and his March 4, 1829 inauguration. One of the youngest women to serve as First Lady, she was twenty-one years old when she assumed this responsibility. She had gained the experience of being at social events in the White House with the President and Mrs. Monroe during the winter of 1824 to 1825, and had also been a guest of Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, who was her uncle's political rival, and his wife Louisa in their home. Born the daughter of John Donelson, her father, Rachel Donelson Jackson's brother, was the founder of the city of Donelsonville, Tennessee. Unlike many women of her time, she was formally educated, graduating from the Nashville Female Academy. At the age of seventeen years old, she married her first cousin, Andrew Jackson "A.J." Donelson, the son of Rachel Jackson's brother William. William Donelson had died young, leaving his brother-in-law, Andrew Jackson, as his children's guardian. Her husband, as a West Point graduate and lawyer, A.J. Donelson would come to work in the White House as the President's Private Secretary. As a woman from the American frontier, she was welcomed warmly into the more sophisticated Washington society. She was known for excelling in grammar and had an elegant handwriting. Well-regarded as acting First Lady, she was not only responsible for the formal social events in the White House, but also housekeeping duties, which included supervising her family's Tennessee slaves in the White House. Two of her four children were born in the White House. At first no formal functions were held in the White House out of respect of Rachel Jackson's death. After the period of mourning ended, the social events began. She had a personal problem with Peggy Eaton, wife of the President's Secretary of War, from a history earlier before the recent marriage of the Eatons. At the support of all the wives of President Jackson's cabinet and led by Floride Calhoun, wife of the Vice President, she began to social ostracize Peggy Eaton from social events in the White House. The women stated that Peggy Eaton failed to meet the "moral standards of a Cabinet Wife". President Jackson became furious with her behavior, requesting her to apologize to Mrs. Eaton, yet she never did, becoming upset and leaving Washington for her home in Tennessee for a time. With thoughts of losing his authority, President Jackson's entire cabinet except for one was asked to resign over the scandal. At this point, President Jackson appointed men loyal to him to the cabinet. This scandal became known as the "Petticoat Affair" or the "Peggy Eaton Affair." The scandal "ruined reputations and terminated friendships, and it was all so needless." With the appointment of John Eaton to the office of Territorial Governor of Florida, the couple left Washington by April of 1834. That appointment ended her problem in Washington, and she returned to the White House to resume her First Lady duties. Unfortunately, she contacted tuberculosis becoming ill and returning to Tennessee in August of 1836 where she died within four months. Upon her death, President Jackson's nephew's wife, Sarah Yorke Jackson, who had assisted with White House duties, stepped-up to act as First Lady with President Jackson's re-election