“The Soldier in the Army and the Statesmen in the Cabinet” | Politics of the Presidency: Washington to Lincoln

Catherine Treesh

Due to the curious circumstances of the election of 1824, my anti-Jackson campaign ad does not have the vicious character of the stereotypical attack ad. Four men were nominated as candidates for the presidency, each claiming to be the ideological descendent of Thomas Jefferson – political parties, as organized national entities, did not exist at this time. Jackson and John Quincy Adams deeply respected each other in the early 1820s, and there was a strong possibility that Adams would choose Jackson as his vice president. Because of this, Adams supporters had to tread carefully around Jackson. I attempted to instill a respectful and intelligent tone in the ad because that was the general tone of Adams’ opposition to Jackson. The line of attack I took is intended to make John Quincy look like the good guy, reasonably stating that Jackson simply is not qualified and is potentially dangerous.

The music I chose for this ad was John Quincy’s campaign song, “Little Know Ye Who’s Coming”. It did not attack a particular candidate, just emphasized that terrible things were bound to happen if Adams were not elected. I chose this song because it gives an edge to the video – lyrics such as “fire’s coming, swords are coming, pistols, guns and knives are coming… if John Quincy not be coming” playing subtly in the background gives the ad an ominous feel. The title of my video comes from a larger quote in the Boston Patriot: “fellow-citizens, I desire to see a Soldier in the army, and a Statesman in the cabinet…I have an intuitive objection to any president, whose genius is exclusively military”. Although I could not find an appropriate place in my ad to put this quote, it encapsulates the video’s theme. Far be it from me, or from any of Jackson’s opponents at the time, to deny that he had extraordinary military skills, but the question we must ask, and the question the ad asks, is, is that enough?

The first section of the ad gallantly admits to Jackson’s heroics, particularly in the Battle of New Orleans. The first picture shows the expanse of the Battle of New Orleans, while the second one shows Jackson, front and center commanding the troops. I chose this sequence because I wanted to get that Ken Burns feel of zooming in on what is important. Although the two pictures are completely different prints, I wanted to get across the idea that the victory was indeed largely due to Jackson’s command.

Section 2 of my campaign ad serves as a transition to the main attack part of the ad. I thought the quote “But… let us not be blinded by the halo of military glory which surrounds the warrior’s brow” was particularly poignant because I had just spent the last ten seconds setting up Jackson’s halo. This quote asks the audience to pause and question how far their reverence for Old Hickory should extend. The text is in yellow because I wanted to give it a highlighter effect – as in, pay attention, this is important! – and because I wanted to play on the word ‘halo’.

The third section flows from an idea implicit in Section 2’s quote: that although a military hero, Jackson as a candidate has some serious drawbacks. I used red text for the quotes because red generally has a negative connotation, and the purpose of these quotes is to show the cons of electing him president. This quote highlights reasons why he would be bad in a position of authority in an administrative, law-bound setting. The background print celebrates Jackson, “The Heroe of New Orleans,” and is used to emphasize that he has traits which may suit him well on the chaos of the battlefield, but which are not suitable for the office of President.

Section 4 attacks Jackson from a different angle, employing the idea that his status as military hero actually makes him a dangerous choice for President. The first quote serves as an introduction to the main part of this section, the highlighting of the names of military leaders gone wrong. I highlighted the various military dictators’ names in red because it is the color of power and of blood, two things I was aiming to associate Jackson with. Although he was compared to various dictators in many articles, I chose this particular quote because it included both Caesar and Napoleon, who were poignant and unpleasant connections – Caesar is the classical example of a military dictator, and Napoleon’s takeover was so fresh in the minds of the American people. In addition, I liked that the quote ended with “we must avoid their errors” because it emphasizes that America could easily be like Greece, Rome, England, or France if we, the voting public, do not take a stand against Jackson.

In the final section of my campaign ad, I wanted to sum up all I had said before and give the audience clear directions of how to view the candidates and how to vote. The “Send Caesar to Gaul…” quote is actually a continuation of the “Admiration of military talents…” quote in Section 4. I decided to sandwich the quote about dictators in the middle because I thought it provided the perfect examples that the “Admiration of military talents…” quote was missing. By putting “Send Caesar to Gaul” over Jackson’s portrait, I hoped to get across that Jackson was a young Caesar, with the potential to do great harm to the Republic. By placing “but elect Cato…” over John Quincy Adams, I depicted John Quincy as the epitome of a statesman who deserves to be placed at the head of the government. The very last picture of the ad is of a Republican voting ticket, making the message of the anti-Jackson ad clear, if for some reason it hadn’t been clear before.