write:But neither the spartan living conditions nor the intensephysical demands of the military academy agreed withhim. Painfully thin and prone to hypochondria heworried constantly abo

including AndrewJackson Donelson
Old Hickory’s nephew and namesake.But neither the spartan living conditions nor the intensephysical demands of the military academy agreed withhim. Painfully thin and prone to hypochondria
heworried constantly about his health. And he had troublesubmitting to authority. As he explained to Donelson
“Iclaim the liberty of regulating my own conduct by whatI deem right.”3 Not surprisingly
Trist gradually came tothe conclusion that he was unsuited for a militarycareer. He left West Point without graduating andreturned to Monticello determined to marry VirginiaRandolph and serve Jeerson any way he could.A quarter of a century later
Trist found himself in afar less pleasant position in James K. Polk’sadministration. The chief clerk had had no idea thatworking for this president would prove so arduous. Tristenjoyed books
music
long dinners
and quiet time withhis family. Polk
on the other hand
fully believed that“no president who performs his duty faithfully andconscientiously can have any leisure.” Trist’s workloadwas staggering. “There has never been one day in whichI had not on hand some subject (or several subjects) todispose of which require … deliberate thought andresearch. And these subjects have all had to be disposedof by snatches
” he wrote miserably. The “enormousmail” was overwhelming
and he was responsible foroverseeing the work of the entire sta of the StateDepartment. “Everything that comes passes through myhands in the rst instance
anything that goes passesthough my hands in the last instance.”4