Nicholas Trist Biography

Nicholas Philip Trist (June 2, 1800 – February 11, 1874) was born in Charlottesville, Virginia and was the grandson of James Madison's former Philadelphia landlady. He attended West Point and studied law under Thomas Jefferson, whose granddaughter (Virginia Jefferson Randolph, 1818–1875) he married.:91 He was also private secretary to Andrew Jackson, whom he greatly admired.:92–93 Trist served as a conduit for James Madison to President Jackson.He alone negotiated an end to the Mexican-American war, which brought into the United States all or part of 10 states.