Binns, John (1772-1860) Monumental Inscriptions.
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC08460 Author/Creator: Binns, John (1772-1860) Place Written: s.l. Type: Pamphlet Date: 1828 Pagination: 8 p. ; 22 x 14 cm. Order a Copy
8 images of fictitious funeral monuments, each to a man executed by Jackson. The first six are for Tennessee militiamen executed in February 1815, after the Battle of New Orleans, for being deserters. The last two are for John Woods, a mutineer Jackson had executed during the Creek War. The imagined tombstones bear inscriptions detailing how each was a good man and soldier, and regardless of this, was "By the Orders of General Andrew Jackson, Shot to Death." Each monument was supposedly erected on 4 July, 1828. One reminds the reader "Let not the splendor of Military renown Blot out from your indignant recollection this bloody deed DONE BY A HERO." The back of the pamphlet urges the American People to "Pronounce the emphatic word No." to Jackson's candidacy. Jackson had not actually ordered the men to be shot, but had signed off on the military court's verdict. Used as Anti-Jackson propaganda in the 1828 presidential election, a race full of personal attacks and slanders on both candidates. The pamphlets were distributed by pro-Adams congressman, using their free franks. Binns is attributed as the author of a like-named piece bearing the same text at the American Antiquarian Society (Shoemaker 32382), printed in Baltimore in 1828. GLC01825 contains almost identical text in broadside form.
John Binns published the "Democratic Press" in Philadelphia, a paper that opposed Jackson.
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