at Transylvania University, in Lexington, Kentucky. A year later, he started to practice law in Nashville. Democratic politics Donelson assisted his uncle during the 1824 and 1828 presidential campaigns. In 1829, he became the private secretary to his uncle, who had been inaugurated as President of the United States. Donelson's wife, Emily, served as White House hostess and unofficial First Lady of the United States because Rachel Jackson had died in December 1828. Donelson remained Jackson's private secretary throughout his administration. During Donelson's stay in Washington, Donelson had his new home, Poplar Grove (later renamed Tulip Grove), constructed on the land he had inherited from his father, which was adjacent to the Hermitage. In 1836, Tulip Grove was completed. Donelson moved back to Nashville after Jackson's retirement the following year. Donelson helped Jackson sustain the Democratic Party in a variety of ways for the next seven years in services such as writing newspaper editorials defending Democratic principles and helping Democratic candidates campaign for state, local, and national offices. In 1844, Donelson was instrumental in helping James K. Polk win the Democratic presidential nomination over Martin Van Buren and other more notable candidates. US President John Tyler appointed Donelson chargé d'affaires of the United States mission to the Republic of Texas, probably in the hope that Jackson's nephew would be able to persuade former Tennessee politician Sam Houston to endorse the US annexation of Texas. Donelson was successful in that endeavor, and Texas joined the United States on December 29, 1845. Donelson was then made minister to Prussia in 1846, a position that he would hold until President Polk's Democratic administration was replaced by the Whig administration of Zachary Taylor in 1849. Donelson's constant complaining about his personal finances and his desire for a higher salary probably had more to do with the change than partisan differences. Between September 1848 and November 1849, during the time of the Frankfurt Parliament, he was the US envoy to the short-lived revolutionary government of Germany in Frankfurt. In 1851, Donelson became the editor of the Washington Union, a Democratic newspaper. However, as sectionalism became the dominant issue of American politics, Donelson became unpopular with several factions within the Democratic Party, which forced him out in 1852. He then joined the Know Nothing (American) Party. Vice-presidential nomination and retirement In 1856, Donelson was nominated as the running mate of former President Millard Fillmore on the