Milford chronicle., 1928-08-24
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JOURNEYS 1T. MERRILL Rz
0eu+sIasx .u~n q nsxs HtS{to 49,
10. 1928. Western Newspaper Union.l
S.-JacksoniGn Campaign
Methods
DIVERGENCE on the national po-
II Ncical stage of a century ago
Of that picturesque and robust per-
sOnalitS, Andrew Jackson, marked
the beginning of modern style po-
litical campaigns, with their hur-
rah and hullabaloo, their parades
and mass meetings, and the use OF
earicature as well as the spoken
and printed word to advance the
fortunes Of Presidential candidates.
JacksOn'S supporters and his OPP
ponents resOrted to methods that
were entirely new in America. Up
to that time Presidential campaigns
had been conducted with degree OF
lecorum and few manifestations OF
general popular excitement.
Jackson changed all that. with
4 grand flourish he opened his can
Vass for election IN 1928 with a
triumphal steamboat tour down the
Mississippi river to celebrate the
anniversary Of the Battle Of New
Orleans in which he had played the
most conspicuous part. An armada
Of steamboats, chugged up the river
to greet him and escort him to his
destination. Amid salvos OF artll-
lery the "Cld Hero" landed on the
levee at New Orleans amid his for
mer comrades in arms, and festive
days followed.
Most scurrilOus of any up to that
time was the campaign which en-
sued, with newspapers and orators
throwing an unprecedented We
hemence into the abuse of the OPP
posing candidates, Jackson and
John Quincy Adams.
Jackson was denounced as a
bloody butcher, a duel fighter, a
murderer of Indians and English
men. To add a gruesOme touch to
these accusations, handbills were
published headed with a coffin lid
bearing an inscription for each of
his supposed victims. The ambig-
nous circumstances of the generals
marriage -unwittingly contracted
before his wife had been fully di-
Vorced from her first husband
we're dragged into public view and
1ilated upon by merciless scandal
mOngers.
In his political battle with this
rude son of the frontier, John
Quincy Adams, staid scion of New
England aristOcracy, did not es-
cape his full share of abuse. Jack
son entered the campaign firmly
convinced that Adams had beaten
him out of the Presidency four
years earlier by entering into a
corrupt bargain" with Henry Clay,
and, Jackson men rang the changes
on these charges.
Other personal accusations against
Adams were extreme and absurd.
He was denounced as a mOnarchist.
The allegation that he had written
an unpleasant poem about Jeffer-
son a quarter century earlier was
flung at him. He was accused Of
using public funds to buy a billiard
table for his use in the White
House. Jacksonian congressman
prOfessed to be Mortified at eXpendi-
ture of public monies for gam
ing tables and gambling furniture"
though Adams vainly denied that
any such table (the inventory
placed it's value at S61) had been
bought for him. In like vein was
the charge that he had been eXtrav-
agant in refurnishing the East
room of the Executive mansion,
where his good mother had been
wont to hang out the Presidential
to dry.
JacksOn's nickname, "Old Hick-
Ory," led many Democratic en-
thusiasts. particularly the young
men, to plant hickory poles in his
honor, and numerous were the
bloody noses and broken hands when
the Adams men attacked the Jack
son partisans as they danced around
.hese fetishes. and tried to uprOOt
The poles.
The new tide of western frontier
Democracy swept the old general to
victory, to the surprise and dismay
" New Englanders and jewellers on
he seabOard.
In the Jackson campaign for re-
election against Henry Clay in 1882,
American political caricature came
ntO its own for the first time. The
opposition circulated pictures of
Jackson receiving a crown from
Martin Van Buren,, the "little ma
gician" of New York. and a scep-
err from Satan; or represented him
md his official friends as burglars
lining a mOnStrOus battering ram
It the barred front door of the
United States bank.
The Jacksonians did not rely on
return fir, of caricature to stir
he hearts of the people, but again
lied an enormous traffic in hick-
ny poles and whOOped up the cam
aign with camp meetings and
parades.
The popular fervor swept Jack
on into office for a second term.
Sut this method of campaigning
Ould be used to as good advantage
y the opposition, should the prop
r candidate appear, as the Wings
bly, demonstrated in the famous
log cabin and hard cider cam
align" of 1S40