Beschreibung:

JACKSON, Andrew (1767-1845), President . Autograph manuscript, written as President-elect, A DRAFT OF HIS RESPONSE TO THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE'S NOTIFICATION OF HIS ELECTION AS PRESIDENT, n.p., n.d. [circa 16 February 1829]. 2 pages, folio, 326 x 196mm., small stains along central horizontal fold, lower right-hand corner torn away, inscription on verso "a note" (perhaps in Jackson's hand). "I ACCEPT THE OFFICE GIVEN ME BY THE FREE & UNBIASED SUFFRAGE, OF A VIRTUOUS PEOPLE, WITH FEELINGS OF THE HIGHEST GRATITUDE" Jackson's formal response to the Congressional notification that, after one of the most acrimonious and ugly political campaigns in the nation's history, he has been elected to the presidency of the United States: "Sensible that I owe what public consideration I possess to the confidence reposed in me by my fellow citizens of these United States--feeling a conscious inability to discharge this debt of gratitude, I have made it an undeviating rule of my conduct not to decline any situation that it was the pleasure of the people to call me to fill--I had retired from the bustle of public life to my farm, there to repair an enfeebled constitution, worn out in the service of my country. The people of their own mere will brought my name before the nation for the office of President of the U. States. They have sustained me against all the torrents of slander that corruption & wickedness would invent, circulated through subsidised presses & every other way supported by the patronage of the government; and by a large majority of the virtuous yeomanry of the U. States have elected me to fill the Presidential chair--such call, under such circumstances, I cannot hesitate to obey. I accept the office given me by the free & unbiased suffrage, of a virtuous people, with feelings of the highest gratitude." "Allow me to assure you I feel the responsibility of the duties I am called on to perform and I appreciate as I ought the honor the people have conferred on me, and that I will enter upon the duties to which I am called, with that zeal the confidence in me has inspired, supplicating the throne of grace, to guide me in the duties of my office, that my consideration may resound to the harmony, prosperity, & happiness of these United States. Permit me to assure you of the sensibility I feel of the kind manner you have been pleased to make known to me the result of the peoples will on the election of their chief magistrate." In the course of the bitter campaign, Jackson's Democrats charged John Quincy Adams with having made a disgraceful bargain with Henry Clay in order to derail Jackson's election in 1824; on their part, Adams's supporters revived scurrilous accusations of promiscuity against Rachel Donelson Jackson and accused Jackson and Rachel of adultery since they had married before her divorce from her first husband had been formalized. Rachel had a history of coronary problems and poor health, and Jackson tried to keep her from learning of the scandals being circulated by his opposition. But about seven weeks after Jackson's election, on 28 December 1828, Rachel died suddenly. Jackson forever blamed his political enemies for having caused her death. Jackson left the Hermitage on 17 January 1829 and arrived in Washington on 11 February, the day Congress met to make the official tally of votes. The next day, a committee of one Senator and two Representatives was delegated to inform Jackson of the official count of votes. While the exact day of the meeting is not known, the committee reported on 17 February that their duty had been fulfilled. An early editor, John S. Bassett, dated this draft 23 December 1828 ( Letters , 3:454); but the present editors at the Papers of Andrew Jackson to whom we are grateful for valuable assistance, have re-assigned the manuscript to the above date on very solid evidence. A copy of Jackson's reply to the committee--differing in some respects from this draft--from a contemporary newspaper, i