A Jackson Man: Amos Kendall and the Rise of American Democracy

8 Jackson

8 jacksn Late in September Desha was happy to find that Kendall had “mended” enough to “walk about the house.” For some time the governor and Richard M. Johnson had been trying to bring him into the Jackson camp. On being asked in August whether he would support Jackson or Adams in 1828, Kendall had snapped back that he intended to remain neutral. Still critical of Jackson, he said that he “disliked” the general’s “violent . . . tyrannical disposition ,” his lack of “capacity,” and his “moral character, particularly the way he obtained his wife.”1 But the Jackson men thought they could bring him around. When Washington publisher Duff Green, an early Jackson supporter, visited Kentucky in September, several Jacksonians assured him that Kendall could be induced to join the party. Johnson said flatly that Kendall would come out for Old Hickory as soon as he could raise $1,500 to pay off his debt to Clay. Green did not talk with the sick Kendall, but he told Johnson that he was willing to advance the money.2 When Desha arrived to talk politics, Kendall was of several minds. He had never cared much for Jackson, and he valued his relationship with Adams ’s secretary of state Henry Clay. But he had also gone on record as a westerner opposed to Adams, and the chance to pay off his loan was appealing. Ideologically, he had started as a nationalist Republican in line with Adams and Clay but after 1819 had adopted the states’ rights, strict constructionist views of many of the Jackson men. In the end political pressure was decisive. Kendall was well aware that the 1. Desha to Kendall, 6 May 1831, “Correspondence between Governor Joseph Desha and Amos Kendall,” 12–14. 2. Duff Green, Facts and Suggestions, Biographical, Historical, Financial, and Political. Addressed to the People of the United States (New York, 1866), 29; Globe, 8 Oct. 1834. 96 A Jackson Man: Amos Kendall and the Rise of American Democracy New Court party was losing its fight with the Old Court and needed the infusion of strength that the Jackson movement was bringing. He also knew that almost all of his New Court friends, now even Francis P. Blair, had gone over to Jackson. Desha increased the pressure. The Jacksonians, he said, already had newspapers in Louisville and Lexington and were determined to have “a thoroughgoing Jackson paper” in Frankfort. Either Kendall could come out for Jackson in the next two days or the Jacksonians would set up their own newspaper. Knowing that Frankfort was not big enough for another press, Kendall hesitated for only “a few moments” and then gave in. He told Desha that he suddenly felt “strong enough to write” and would “compose a column” supporting Jackson.3 On October 4 Kendall announced that he was backing Jackson because he considered the general’s beliefs more Jeffersonian than the “consolidating principles” of Adams. Even now he refused to cut loose from Clay. He said that he owed much to the Clays and reminded his readers that while he had opposed Adams for president in 1824, he had backed Clay. To avoid any misunderstanding he wrote Clay, assuring him that he would never cast “any imputation ” on his “integrity or honor.” With this qualified endorsement of Jackson, Kendall became the last prominent public figure in Kentucky to go over to Old Hickory. The move was more out of weakness than strength.4 The local Jacksonians were delighted. Desha was confident that “however mincing” Kendall might be at first, he would soon “warm to the cause” and “do the subject justice.” Johnson told Jackson cheerfully, “Kendall deserves great credit for his independence. He is equal to Duane at his best.” This was strong praise, for William Duane had won Jackson’s admiration when he was indicted under the Sedition Act for his Jeffersonian writings. The Adams men reacted differently. According to publisher William W. Worsley of Louisville, Kendall cared only for money and would “write for that man, or that party, which pays him best.”5 Both sides overstated the case. Kendall was hardly being independent, and his decision was as much political as financial. In the short run the shift cost him money because it put his federal printing contract, worth $300 a year, 3. “Correspondence between Governor Joseph Desha and Amos Kendall,” 14. 4. Argus, 4 Oct., 1 Nov. 1826; Kendall to Clay, 11 Oct. 1826, Clay, Papers, 5:776. 5. “Correspondence between Governor Joseph...