“ONE OF THE FIERCEST AND MOST CONTROVERSIAL MEN EVER TO SERVE AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES”
JACKSON, Andrew. Inaugural Address, Delivered… March 4th, 1829. District Court of Massachusetts: B. Bailey, 1836. Small broadside, original white glossy card stock (5 by 6-1/2 inches), printed on recto. $1100.
1836 commemorative printing of Jackson’s first inaugural address that was delivered March 4, 1829, this issued the year Jackson retired from the presidency, handsomely printed on glossy card stock (5 by 6-1/2 inches) with small engraved vignette of Jackson and facsimile of his signature, with a decorative border.
"Andrew Jackson was one of the fiercest and most controversial men ever to serve as president of the United States" (Wilentz, 2). On losing the presidential election of 1824 in the House of Representatives. In 1827 "Old Hickory" successfully gained the presidency with "a stunning popular and electoral victory over [John Quincy] Adams… Jackson remains one of the most important spokesmen for majoritarian rule in this country, a president who worried over the abuse of power by the central government and urged greater democracy through direct election for all government officers, and a president who brought into sharp focus the never-ending efforts of privileged elites who seek to use the government for their particular and selfish purposes and in the process endanger liberty and betray American democracy" (ANB). Jackson sounds several of these signature themes in his first inaugural address, printed here in 1836: "the first presidential election in a dozen years in which Jackson, who was retiring in accordance with George Washington's two-term tradition, would not be a candidate" (Meacham, 306). With engraved vignette of Jackson after the 1835 portrait by "renowned engraver and painter Asher Durand… the finest portrait of Andrew Jackson made during Jackson's presidency" (Wilentz, 1). Contemporary owner inscription to verso dated "July 1837." Trace of early mounting to corners of card verso.
Text and image fresh with only lightest soiling at edges. A near-fine copy.