Essay about DBQ Jacksonian Democracy

Submitted By w2338hseller
Words: 481
Pages: 2

An almost breathless silence, succeeded and the multitude was still,—listening to catch the sound of his voice, tho' it was so low, as to be heard only by those nearest to him. After reading his speech, the oath was administered to him by the Chief Justice. The Marshal presented the Bible. The President took it from his hands, pressed his lips to it, laid it reverently down, then bowed again to the people—Yes, to the people in all their majesty. And had the spectacle closed here, even Europeans must have acknowledged that a free people, collected in their might, silent and tranquil, restrained solely by a moral power, without a shadow around of military force, was majesty, rising to sublimity, and far surpassing the majesty of Kings and Princes, surrounded with armies and glittering in gold. . . .

The injustice of your new principle of "Reform" would have been too glaring had it been at once boldly unfolded; and hence is it that it was brought out by degrees. At first it was pretended that those only who had made use of office as an engine for electioneering purposes were to be "reformed away." But when it was discovered that there were in place very many of your own friends who had been guilty of this unconstitutional impropriety; as you have been pleased to call it, who, contrary to any feeling of gratitude or sense of duty, had stung the bosom which warmed, and the hand which fed them, making use of their office in the gift of Mr. Adams, as the means of furthering your designs upon the Presidency to his exclusion, and that your rule was a "two-edged sword," which, if honestly borne, would "cut upon both sides," it was soon carefully withheld, and finally gave way to a much more comprehensive scheme of reform.
(1832)