Details
JACKSON, ANDREW, President. Autograph letter signed ("Andrew Jackson") to Reverend Ezra Stiles Ely in Philadelphia; Hermitage, 19 May 1827. 2 pages, 4to, integral address leaf addressed in Jackson's hand, red circular "Nash. T." datestamp and postage notation "25," recipient's docket, moderate to heavy show-through due to the heavy ink used by Jackson, otherwise good.
A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE'S WIFE
Jackson, already a candidate for President, slated to oppose John Quincy Adams in the 1828 election, writes to a Philadelphia supporter. Ely's letter was delivered by Charles Biddle on a recent visit to Jackson. "...I recommended Mr. Biddle to settle in Nashville; he is now on a visit to Missouri...It is a cheering circumstance to me, to learn that pensylvania [sic] continues her attachment & support to me -- all the slander that wickedness can suggest & falshood [sic] invent, have been levelled against me, & my family, by the panders of power & corruption -- this will recoil upon its own head -- Truth is mighty & will ultimately prevail and when it does, I [will] feel secure from the multiplied shafts of slanders.... "Mrs. J. owes five Dollars to the Philadelphian [a journal]. She has presumed so much upon your goodness as to inclose it to you, with a request, that you hand it to the Editor...."
In the 1828 presidential contest, Jackson was vilified by his opponents as having been guilty of "adultery, gambling, cock-fighting, bigamy, slave-trading, drunkenness, theft, lying, and murder" (Paul F. Boller, Presidential Campaigns, 1984, p.45-46). Attacks on Jackson's wife, Rachel, became especially vicious; Adams's supporters revived an old accusation that Jackson and Rachel were adulterers. It is believed that these and other cruel slanders contributed to the illness and sudden death of Rachel Jackson in December 1828.
A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE'S WIFE
Jackson, already a candidate for President, slated to oppose John Quincy Adams in the 1828 election, writes to a Philadelphia supporter. Ely's letter was delivered by Charles Biddle on a recent visit to Jackson. "...I recommended Mr. Biddle to settle in Nashville; he is now on a visit to Missouri...It is a cheering circumstance to me, to learn that pensylvania [sic] continues her attachment & support to me -- all the slander that wickedness can suggest & falshood [sic] invent, have been levelled against me, & my family, by the panders of power & corruption -- this will recoil upon its own head -- Truth is mighty & will ultimately prevail and when it does, I [will] feel secure from the multiplied shafts of slanders.... "Mrs. J. owes five Dollars to the Philadelphian [a journal]. She has presumed so much upon your goodness as to inclose it to you, with a request, that you hand it to the Editor...."
In the 1828 presidential contest, Jackson was vilified by his opponents as having been guilty of "adultery, gambling, cock-fighting, bigamy, slave-trading, drunkenness, theft, lying, and murder" (Paul F. Boller, Presidential Campaigns, 1984, p.45-46). Attacks on Jackson's wife, Rachel, became especially vicious; Adams's supporters revived an old accusation that Jackson and Rachel were adulterers. It is believed that these and other cruel slanders contributed to the illness and sudden death of Rachel Jackson in December 1828.