. . . and probably in the elections of 1824 and 1828, too!
It was hard to pick one, just one ancestor, for my entry in th 59th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy, Politics and Our Ancestors. But I did. and I chose Lewis Leader, my 7th Great Grandfather.
He was an early settler in that river town, Marietta, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The town that had more taverns than Churches, and he owned one of them! A tavern, that is, not a Church! Democratic politics were big there and Lewis’ name seem to pop up whenever an article appeared about anything political! He must have been a political person long before the earliest article I can find that mentioned his name in conjunction with politics.
Before I get into the following newspaper article, a sense of what was going on during that period would probably help to explain the meeting Lewis attended.
- First of all, Andrew Jackson, had won the popular vote in the 1824 election, but didn’t have enough electoral votes. The election was decided by the House of Representatives. His supporters felt he was robbed of the election when John Q. Adams was voted President by the House. For more on this, go to the website The State Library of North Carolina. (sound familiar?)
- The Second thing of importance was his opposition to the Charter of a National Bank. He had fought to rescind the charter and listed reasons for his veto. The nation was on the eve of a major depression. (sound familiar?) That was the reason for the following meeting.
It was August of 1832 when Lewis went to the “Jackson ‘Veto’ Meeting.” According to an article in “The Columbia Spy:”
“In pursuance of public notice, a respectable meeting of those favorable to the re-election of Andrew Jackson, convened at the public house of Oliver M’Donald in the Borough of Marietta, on the evening of the 3d inst. . . . .on a motion a committee of five were appointed to draft a preamble and resolutions expressive of the sense of the meeting. . .”
The meeting was adjourned to meet again on the “8th inst.” and at that time, the preamble and resolutions were adopted. Several of the more interesting resolutions were:
Resolved, That we view with the utmost feelings of contempt those political desperadoes (whether fed, bought or shrouded under the mantle of sanctity) who are sacrificing every honorable and manly principle–to obtain the support of the most dangerous enemies of the republic.
Resolved, That we ask no firmer ground for our undivided support of Gen’l Jackson than the “veto” the “veto” — in “toto.” Remember citizens and farmers, the batch of Banks and Governor Snyder’s veto in Penn’a. –how many “cried aloud” but soon suffered and repented.
Resolved, That Andrew Jackson is the only man in whose hands we can (with safety) trust the rudder of state–at this momentous “crisis” of our country, when our national vessel is tossing on the billows of dissentions–Conjured up by the machinations of the nullifieers of the South, the “whole hog” tariffites” of the East, and the “Bank monopolists” of the middle states.. . . ”
A motion was made at the end of the meeting, that a “committee of correspondence” be appointed, along with a “committee of vigilance.” Lewis Leader was on the Vigilance Committee, whatever that was! Newspapers brought politics into living rooms in 1832. TV has taken over that venue today.
People haven’t changed and neither has politics. . . .
