(JACKSON ANDREW) MCCOY JOHN Autograph Letter Signed to Repre

Sale 2483 - Lot 153

Price Realized: $ 344

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Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750

"THE HICKORY POLE OR TREE IS NOW THE EMBLEM OF DEMOCRACY" (JACKSON, ANDREW.) MCCOY, JOHN. Autograph Letter Signed, to Representative Joseph Lawrence (1786-1842), attacking Jackson in prose and verse. 3 pages, 10x8 inches, on one folding sheet, with address panel and postal markings on terminal page ("18 0/4"); minor wear, seal tear and one-inch repaired closed tear in blank area of second leaf. West Finley, PA, 13-15 January 1835

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The letter's author, John McCoy (1782-1852), was a militia colonel and an ardent Whig and abolitionist (see Historical and Biographical Record of Southern California, page 526); his brother, Kenneth, ran an active stop on the Underground Railroad. The letter includes a vehement attack on Andrew Jackson and his administration: "A majority of the intemperate, illiterate, uninformed, antichristian, or nothingarians are admirers of the illustrious, immortal, unimpeachable, Andrew Jackson. They have like the ancients chosen a tree that will rot. The hickory pole or tree is now the emblem of democracy, all who will come under its shade are now made the exclusive Democrats no matter what their former principles." He also includes an original poem on the Jacksonians, reading in part: "And all who would to office gain / Must follow in warlike train / Must rally round the 'Hickory Tree' / Must rally round, cry 'Jubilee' / To sing and hear the 'Battles Fought' / By our 'Great Hero', glorious thought / . . . Our liberties I greatly fear / Dear sir, ere long, will perish here / Since party strifes of various kind / Received, doth prejudice the mind."