Coffin Handbills

The Coffin Handbills were a series of pamphlets attacking Andrew Jackson during the 1828 United States presidential election. Jackson was running against incumbent John Quincy Adams, who decided to attack Jackson's ethics and moral character.

Andrew Jackson had a reputation as a national hero, because of his leadership during the Battle of New Orleans that was the final action of the War of 1812. His glory was turned against him when John Binns, editor and publisher of the Democratic Press in Philadelphia, published the first “coffin handbill”. The poster showcased six black coffins at the top of the pamphlet and claimed that Jackson had ordered the execution of six militiamen during the Creek War. Another twelve coffins were displayed further down the page to represent regular soldiers and Indians who were put to death under Jackson’s command. This refers to the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, when Jackson attacked the Red Stick fortification. Roughly 800 of the 1000 Red Stick warriors were killed in the battle. There also was a drawing of Jackson assaulting and stabbing Samuel Jackson “in the streets of Nashville.”

A pamphlet published at a later time accused Jackson of committing adultery with his wife. Jackson’s wife Rachel had applied for a divorce from a previous marriage in 1790. According to Jackson, he and his wife married in 1791 and they realized two years later that her divorce was not granted until 1793. This does mean that Jackson had been “married” to another man’s wife for a couple of years. January 1794, Jackson and Rachel were legally married in a ceremony. Jackson was furious about the attacks and got further involved by writing to newspaper editors giving them guidelines on how to counter the attacks. Jackson’s wife Rachel suffered a heart attack and died before Jackson’s inauguration. He blamed his political enemies and tensions for her death.

A "Supplemental account of some of the bloody deeds of General Jackson," attributed to Virginia Congressman John Taliaferro, accused Jackson of "atrocious and unnatural acts"; such acts including slaughtering 1,000 unarmed Native Americans, taking a nap in the midst of their corpses, and eating a dozen of them for breakfast. The author went on to speculate about how Jackson might similarly treat American governors and Congressmen were he elected President.

The 1824 Presidential election was the start of tensions leading up to the 1828 election. At the time four men were running for office: John Quincy Adams, William Harris Crawford, Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson. Once the election came around, Jackson led in both popular vote and electoral vote; however all the men lacked a majority in the Electoral College. The House of Representatives was to cast one vote to decide the election by the state’s delegation. Henry Clay was eliminated from the vote, he moved his House influence to support John Quincy Adams. John Quincy Adams landed the presidency with the majority in the Electoral College and appointed Henry Clay as Secretary of State. People objected in the country and Jackson’s supporters called it a “corrupt bargain.”

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