Token opposing President Andrew Jackson and his veto of the bill to recharter the United States Bank, c. 1834. Copper. DeWitt CE 1834-16. Low 51.
Around, I TAKE THE RESPONSIBILITY, enclosing bust of Jackson in safe, sword in right hand, money bag in left. Rev. Around, THE CONSTITUTION AS I UNDERSTAND IT., enclosing above ROMAN FIRMNESS, center a donkey inscribed L.L.D., below VETO.
Few presidential vetoes have caused as much controversy as the one Andrew Jackson sent to Congress on July 10, 1832. The veto of the bill to recharter the United States Bank was prelude to a conflict over fiscal policy that dominated Jackson's second term and climaxed during the mid-term elections of 1834. The controversy created the background for the issuance of clothing buttons, ribbons and a great many tokens by the Whig opposition. The latter first appeared in city elections in New York, then in state and congressional elections.
J. Doyle DeWitt, in American Political Badges and Medalets, writes: "Many of the tokens...bore coarse allusions to Jackson through the device of a jackass." Here, the ass is given a lawyerly title (doctor of law), the implication being that Jackson "doctors the laws." Perhaps the most notorious in the series, this token represents one of the first examples of "dirty politicking" in America.
One belongs in every collection of political Americana. We offer a choice example.
