Jackson slaying the Second Bank of the United States, in a Democratic cartoon.
"But this August dignity I treat of, is not the dignity of kings and robes, but that abounding dignity which has no robed investiture. Thou shalt see it shining in the arm that wields a pick or drives a spike; that democratic dignity which, on all hands, radiates without end from God; Himself! The great God absolute! The centre and circumference of all democracy! His omnipresence, our divine equality!
"If, then, to meanest mariners, and renegades, and castaways, I shall hereafter ascribe high qualities, though dark...then against all mortal critics bear me out in it, thou just Spirit of Equality, which hast spread one royal mantle of humanity over all my kind! Bear me out in it, thou great democratic God!...Thou who didst pick up Andrew Jackson from the pebbles; who didst hurl him upon a war-horse; who didst thunder him higher than a throne! Thou who, in all Thy mighty, earthly marchings, ever cullest Thy selectest champions from the kingly commons; bear me out in it, O God!"
-- Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
1 comment:
Who's that standing, or perhaps falling, behind Jackson? It looks as though he's being strangled by something, the draw string on Jackson's pants, or possibly his suspenders. Nicholas Biddle perhaps?
ANK
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