GENERAL SCOTT. BEFORE THE WHIG PARTY OF THIS STATE ARE TRANSFERRED WITHOUT THEIR KNOWLEDGE, TO THE SUPPORT OF GEN. SCOTT, A CANDIDATE WHOSE NAME SEEMS ONLY TO DISTRACT OUR COUNCILS, AND WHOSE CLAIMS ARE IN ALL RESPECTS BENEATH THOSE OF HENRY CLAY OR GEN. HARRISON...
[n.p. 1840?]. 4pp, folded, untrimmed. Caption title [as issued]. Scattered foxing and spotting. Minor edgewear. Old paper remnant adhering to short closed tear at page 4 obscures all or part of the last seven words of Andrew Jackson's letter ['...have the honor to be, very respectfully...']. Good+.
This attack on Winfield Scott, who finally succeeded in becoming the Whigs' presidential candidate in 1852, prints letters from Andrew Jackson and De Witt Clinton in 1817 and 1819 respectively. They charge Scott with "base and inexcusable conduct" and "overweening vanity," and call him "an assassin lurking under a fair exterior."
Scott had told De Witt Clinton that Jackson had been guilty of "mutinous" behavior regarding a War Department order. Word got out to Jackson; Scott then challenged Clinton to a duel. Jackson, never one to disguise his feelings, says Scott is one of the "intermeddling pimps and spies of the war department," and taunts, "if you feel yourself aggrieved at what is here said, any communication from you will reach me safely at this place." The best guess on when this was printed is 1840 although Scott, indeed a man of "overweening vanity", was perpetually running for President. The title and text indicate that William Henry Harrison, who died in 1841, is alive; and there is no reference to Zachary Taylor, the Whigs' 1848 winner. A rare item.
Wise & Cronin [Jackson] 289. Not on OCLC as of January 2020, or in Miles, Sabin, Eberstadt, Decker, Haynes, Swem, NUC. Item #22397
Price: $450.00