Beschreibung:

CROCKETT, DAVID. Autograph letter signed in full to John Drurey, Washington City, 4 April l834. 4 full pages, 4to, inner two pages discreetly silked to protect a few short fold separations, the text entirely unaffected. BOONE'S TIRADE AGAINST THE "DESPOT" PRESIDENT JACKSON AND THE "LITTLE JUDAS" MARTIN VAN BUREN A remarkable long-winded outburst against Jackson, attacking his withdrawal of the Government's funds from the Bank of the United States, labelling Jackson a tyrant ruled by ambition and likening him to Julius Caesar (In quotation, we have regularized Crockett's idiosyncratic punctuation and capitalization to normalize sentences, but have preserved his spelling and frequent grammatical inconsistencies.) "....Your favour of the 13th March came safe to hand....I will now give you a history of the times at headquarters [Washington]. We are still engaged in debating the great question of the removal of the [Federal government's] deposits [from the Bank of the United States.] This question have consumed almost the whole of the session [of Congress]....We have done no other business except to pass some few private Bills. I do hope we may dispose of it next week. The Senate took the vote last week on Mr. Clay's Resolutions. First resolution was that the Secretary's reasons were insufficient, and was not satisfactory to the Senate and the other was that the President [Jackson] has violated the Laws and the Constitution. The first resolution was adopted 28 to 18 and the Second by a vote of 27 to l9....This was the votes of the Senate and I hope the vote may be taken in the House next week. It will be a close vote. Both partys claim the victory. I still am of [the] opinion that the House will adopt similar Resolutions, to that of the Senate. My reasons for these opinions is that in so large and enteligent boddy of men called Honourable men cannot violate principle so much as for a majority to vote for a measure that every man that knows any thing must acknowledge is contrary to the laws and Constitution. I have convered ["conferred"] with some of our own numbers that has not acknowledged that the act was not right, that Jackson had not a friend in Congress but what was sorry that the act was done, but that they must sustain their party. This is what may be called forsaking principle to follow party. This is what I hope ever to be excused from. I cannot nor will not for sake principle to follow after any party and I do hope there may be a majority in Congress that may be governed by the same motive...." "I do consider the question now before Congress is one of deep interest to the American people the question is whether we will surrender up our old long and happy mode of government and take a despot. If Jackson is sustained in this act we say that the will of one man shall be the law of the land. This you know the people will never submit to. I do believe nothing keeps the people quiet at this time only the hope that Congress will give some relief to the Country. We have had memorials from more than three hundred thousand people praying for the restoration of the deposits and a revival of the Charter of the United States Bank. They state that the manufactures have all stopped and dismissed their hands and that there is men, wimen and children ro[a]ming over the country offering to worke for their victuals. You know that such a state of thing[s] cannot be kept quiet long. This have never been the case before since previous to the old war [the War of l812?]. The people petitioned in vain...and at length we knew what followed and...my great dread is a Civil war. I do consider the South Carolina question [the great Nullification controversy] nothing to compare with the present moment. We see the whole circulatory medium of the Country deranged and destroyed and the whole commercial community oppresed and distressed...Just to gratify the ambition of one man [Jackson] that he may [w]reck his vengeance on the United States Bank. And