Books, Maps, and Politics: A Cultural History of the Library of Congress, 1783-1861

Chapter Four. Jacksonian Democracy and the Library, 1829–1843

106 CHAPTER FOUR g Jacksonian Democracy and the Library, 1829–1843 The election of Andrew Jackson to the presidency in 1828 marked a shift in American political culture that is evident in the history of the Library of Congress, most visibly in the dismissal of George Watterston and the appointment of John Silva Meehan to the post of Librarian. The change in stewardship from a novelist with culturally nationalistic impulses to a self-effacing bureaucrat meant that the cultural authority of the position of Librarian of Congress declined precipitously. But Meehan was part of a larger trend in American politics that devalued high culture, championed the unlettered common person, and looked skeptically at federal agencies, an atmosphere that contributed to lost opportunities at the Libraryas Congresscontinuedtodevelopcollections on a narrow acquisitions model. While the press lobbied for a national library, Congress refused to acknowledgeresponsibilityforprovidingone or for doing much else to promote the cause of American literature— such as legislating on behalf of international copyright. The expanding print culture of the era came to include women, who participated in the literary culture of the nation both as readers and as writers. The national political culture, on the other hand, officially remained off-limits to them. When women in the 1830s mounted controversial challenges to this ideology, resistance was registeredinsubtleways jacksonian democracy and the library, 1829–1843 107 at the Library of Congress. Accounts of women at the Library and decisions made by the Joint Committee on the Library suggest that administrators respondedtothe incursionofwomenintothepublicspace of the Library of Congress by creatinga “women’s corner”oflightreading and illustrated books. Directing women’s attention toward a class of books that had nothing to do with the political purposes for which the Library had been founded diminished the threat these patrons represented to the separate-spheres ideology of the day. Librarian John Silva Meehan and the Politics of Cultural Authority On 28 May 1829 newly elected President Andrew Jackson dismissed George Watterston and appointed one of his political backers, John Silva Meehan, as Librarian of Congress. A printer by trade, Meehan had no special qualifications for the post. He had been the publisher of a weekly Baptist newspaper in Washington before inaugurating the publicationof the United States’ Telegraph, a boisterously pro-Jackson newspaper, in 1826; Duff Green took over the journal within a few months. Meehan accepted the new job at the Library as a reward for establishing the newspaper and supporting Jackson’s 1828 presidential campaign.1 Rewarding supporters with political patronage positions was consistent with Jackson’s stated intent to reform the federal bureaucracy. Believing that an entrenched bureaucracy was inimical to democracy and that any man of average intelligence was competent to administer government affairs, Jackson instituted the so-called spoils system of officeholding on the federal level. Ironically, though Jackson intendedforthespoilssystem to encourageahealthy rotation inoffice,Meehanwouldholdtheposition of Librarian for over three decades, through the administrations of nine presidents. Watterston’s dismissal is comprehensible in light of the broader context of 1820s national politics. The removal was an attack on Watterston’s political affiliations. During his tenure as Librarian, Watterston had formed a close relationship with one of Andrew Jackson’s chief rivals, Henry Clay. Clay had been Speaker of the House in 1824 and helped to swing that year’s presidential election to John Quincy Adams—though Jackson had won the most popular votes. When Clay was subsequently appointed secretary of state, traditionally a stepping-stone to the presidency , Jackson and his supporters famously decried a “corrupt bargain.” 108 chapter four Clay acknowledged in a letter to Watterston his regret that “friendship for me may have been one of the causes which led to this exercise of vengeance upon you” and also compared the dismissal with “that act by which the famous Alexandrian librarian [sic] was reduced to ashes.” On his own merits, Watterston supplemented his salary as Librarian by writing for the Whig National Journal, one of the most aggressive antiJackson newspapers and not incidentally the one that had led the attacks on the reputation of Jackson’s wife, Rachel (who died just before Jackson took office).2 Like many officeholders in Washington, Watterston found himself on the wrong side of the political fence with the ascendancy of Jackson. But the replacement of Watterston with Meehan involved more than mere partisanship. Competing visions of the federal government’s role in...