The Chautauquan, Vol. 04, November 1883: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Promotion of True Culture.; Organ of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle.Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
History
The Chautauquan, Vol. 04, November 1883: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Promotion of True Culture.; Organ of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle.
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Chautauqua Institution -- Periodicals; Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle -- Periodicals
“Soon after the commencement of this second term, I
saw, or thought I did, that it was expected of me that
I would bow to the name of Andrew Jackson, and follow
him in all his motions, and mindings, and turnings,
even at the expense of my conscience and judgment.
Such a thing was new to me, and a total stranger to
my principles. I know’d well enough, though, that if
I didn’t ‘hurrah’ for his name, the hue and cry was
to be raised against me, and I was to be sacrificed,
if possible. His famous, or rather I should say his
_infamous_ Indian bill was brought forward, and I
opposed it from the purest motives in the world.
Several of my colleagues got around me, and told me how
well they loved me, and that I was ruining myself. They
said this was a favorite measure of the President, and
I ought to go for it. I told them I believed it was a
wicked, unjust measure, and that I should go against
it, let the cost to myself be what it might; that I
was willing to go with General Jackson in everything I
believed was honest and right; but, further than this,
I wouldn’t go for him or any other man in the whole
creation.
“I had been elected by a majority of three thousand
five hundred and eighty-five votes, and I believed they
were honest men, and wouldn’t want me to vote for any
unjust notion, to please Jackson or any one else; at
any rate, I was of age, and determined to trust them.
I voted against this Indian bill, and my conscience
yet tells me that I gave a good, honest vote, and one
that I believe will not make me ashamed in the day
of judgment. I served out my term, and though many
amusing things happened, I am not disposed to swell my
narrative by inserting them.
“When it closed, and I returned home, I found the storm
had raised against me sure enough; and it was echoed
from side to side, and from end to end of my district,
that I had turned against Jackson. This was considered
the unpardonable sin. I was hunted down like a wild
varment, and in this hunt every little newspaper in
the district, and every little pin-hook lawyer was
engaged. Indeed, they were ready to print anything
and everything that the ingenuity of man could invent
against me.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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