Token opposing President Andrew Jackson and his veto of the bill to recharter the United States Bank, 1834. Copper. DeWitt CE 1838-14. Low 12. HT 25. OBV: Figure of Jackson walking left, sword in right hand and money bags in left; around, A PLAIN SYSTEM/ VOID OF POMP. REV: Around, THE CONSTITUTION AS I UNDERSTAND IT., enclosing above, ROMAN FIRMNESS/, center, a balking donkey inscribed L.L.D., below 1834.
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 the prelude to a conflict over fiscal policy that dominated Jackson's second term and climaxed during the midterm 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 later in state and congressional elections. DeWitt remarks, "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."
One of the earliest opposition items produced for an American election.
