ALS, four pages on two adjoining sheets, 7.75 x 9.5, December 14, 1842. Handwritten letter to J. George Harris, editor of the Nashville Union, expressing his delight with the result of the 1842 midterm elections, criticizing the propaganda associated with the 1840 presidential campaign, and denying the claims of Democratic newspapers that he and his former vice president, John C. Calhoun, had reconciled.
In part: "I…sincerely rejoice with you and the whole democracy of this union, on the great triumph achieved in Massachusetts, as well as over the other states, in which elections have lately taken place. I have never despaired of our republican system-have allways relied on the virtue of the sovereign people to defend & protect the Constitution & glorious Union. It is true the people in 1840 were deluded by the humbuggery of coons & coonskins, hard cider, big balls, & log cabins, but I allways believed that as soon as this canvass was over, and the people began to seriously reflect, their eyes would be opened from delusion under which they acted, & the recoil would be such, as we see realized all over this union-and I now predict, that such humbuggery will never he[re]after deludge the American people-[the] republican system will long endure.
I note 'that you will see it stated in all the papers of a dem. character with which you exchange, with perhaps few exceptions, that a final reconciliation & restoration of mutual confidence and faith has taken place between Mr. Calhoun & myself.' There is not one word of truth in the statement. I have had no communication with Mr. Calhoun since I left the Executive chair-& I make [no] concessions to Mr. Calhoun-I never have and I assure you never will-I have nothing to concede. This brings me in mind of Mr. [John] Bell & Co., in the case of Judge [Hugh Lawson] White and the publication must have emanated from some busybody with the same views. When Mr. Calhoun's name has been introduced as a candidate for the presidency, I have uniformly replied that a national convention fresh from the people must decide upon the candidate; and whether that be Mr. Van Buren, Mr. Calhoun, or Mr. Buchannan which may be selected, the whole Democratic Party must unite upon him-that the object of the Whiggs will be to endeavour to divide the republi[can] ranks, by getting more than one candidate into the field, like Bell with Judge White, to divide and conquer…Should Mr. Calhoun be selected by the Democratic Peoples Convention to be holden, I as one of the Democrats would…support [the] candidate thus represented."
He adds a handwritten postscript on the address leaf, signed with his initials, "A. J.," in part: "My letter to Mr. Dawson is a concise view, of my real opinion of the constitutional powers of the states & Congress-he solicited the privilege to publish it, as he believed much good would result there from. Of course I could not withhold my assent." Professionally repaired and restored to near fine condition, with a small tear to the edge of the last page. Accompanied by a handsome custom-made finely bound full morocco leather case.
During the 1840 presidential campaign, the populist rhetoric of the Whig Party declared their candidate William H. Harrison to be 'the log cabin and hard cider candidate,' associating him with the rugged and simple life of common folk. Although Harrison had a privileged background and his Democratic opponent Martin Van Buren had a modest one, Harrison won both the electoral and the popular vote. Although the election gave the Whigs control of the presidency and Congress, Jackson's Democrats regained the majority in the House of Representatives after the 1842 midterm election discusses here.
John C. Calhoun had been vice president under Jackson, but a lasting rift divided the two men after the Petticoat Affair (1829-31) and the Nullification Crisis (1832-33). When Calhoun's home state of South Carolina declared the federal Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 unconstitutional, and therefore null and void within the sovereign boundaries of the state, Calhoun defended the state's right to do so. Jackson, on the other hand, prepared to use military force to bring the state into compliance. Their relationship was never repaired.
In the postscript, he refers to a letter he had written to the editor of the Cincinnati Advertiser, Moses Dawson, one year earlier on December 16, 1841, outlining his views concerning the constitutional limits of Congress to produce currency: 'The sages who made our constitution, intended to guard us forever against a paper mon[e]y currency…[N]either the general government nor the states, have any constitutional power, to make a paper currency, neither thro corporations or by bills of credit.' A significant handwritten letter from Jackson with outstanding political content.
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