In 1829 the popular Democratic war hero, General Andrew Jackson, became the seventh president of the United States,

In 1829 the popular Democratic war hero, General Andrew Jackson, became the seventh president of the United States,

Jackson won a second term in 1832. Throughout his eight years as president, Jackson worked to expand citizen suffrage, abolish the national bank, limit federal involvement in the economic affairs of states, and increase American territory.

In order to carry out to this agenda, Jackson decentralized and weakened the federal government, increasing executive power vis-à-vis Congress and the courts.

Cartoon mocking Jackson s Indian policies Chief Justice John Marshall In 1832 he famously defied the Supreme court by refusing to enforce the court s order to stop Georgia s unconstitutional Indian removal policies.

It is perhaps no surprise that Jackson s aggressive populism inspired Donald Trump to install a portrait of Andrew Jackson in the Oval Office

In 1832 Kentucky politician Henry Clay founded the anti-jacksonian Whig party

Clay felt the federal government should regulate and protect the national economy with tariffs and a national bank.

Clay also supported the aggressive development of an interstate commercial infrastructure of roads, canals, and improvements to rivers, which he dubbed The American System. As dissatisfaction with the Democrats grew, Clay s Whig party gained power and influence.

This anti Jackson cartoon, King Andrew, Born to Command (ca. 1833) reflects Whig attitudes. This cartoon pictures Jackson as an imperial president who places himself above the law and undermines the Constitutional powers of Congress and the courts.

The text asserts that Jackson s monetary policy would destroy our currency and substitute old rags payable by no one knows who, and no one knows where, and asks readers, Shall he reign over us, or shall the people rule?!

In the 1830s certain artists may have reflected such Whig fears of Jackson s imperialistic tendencies in their pictures. Art historian Angela Miller and others have argued that the most famous American painter of the period, Thomas Cole, imbedded an anti-jacksonian political messages into the landscape series, The Course of Empire, painted for the semi public New York picture gallery of Whig patron Luman Reed.

The Savage State The Savage State which begins the series, seems to make specific visual reference to America

The Savage State While the race of the savages is ambiguous, the natives live in tee-pee-like structures that resemble those of Native Americans, and the rugged scenery in the picture recalls Cole s American landscapes.

The Arcadian or Pastoral State The later pictures in series contain architecture and statuary that recalls that of ancient Greece and Rome. Considering the quasi American context of the first painting, Cole s imagery suggests the U.S. aspires to the greatness of these ancient empires

The Consummation of Empire Later images, however, suggest arrogance of power may lead the nation to suffer the same fate of that ancient empires. The Consummation of Empire resembles visions of Imperial Rome, depicting an impressive urban center overseen by an emperor....

The Consummation of Empire Details, however, representing decay and decadence, foreshadow the society s doom.

Destruction In Destruction storms and invaders destroy the city in scenes that recall various sacks of Rome.

Finally Desolation depicts the ruined and abandoned city reverting to a natural state. Desolation

The paintings were first displayed in the fall of 1836, just before the presidential election. Whigs such as Cole and Reed feared Jackson s vice president and protégé, Martin van Buren, (shown in this cartoon chasing Jackson) would win the November election and continue dangerous and imperialistic Jacksonian policies.

The exhibition of The Course of Empire may have functioned as a pre-election Whig warning of the consequences of a Van Buren presidency.

To the Whigs dismay, Martin van Buren won the 1836 election, but in his first year in office, the American economy collapsed with the panic of 1837

Many blamed the 1837 failure of local and state banks on Van Buren s continuation of Jacksonian policies.

Once again Whigs hoped voter remorse would lead to a change of leadership in the 1838 midterms and the upcoming 1840 election. In this cartoon, Van Buren is plagued by Jackson as Lady Macbeth and Banquo s ghost is the ghost of the National Bank.

Such policies were especially popular with western Whigs like the young George Caleb Bingham, who believed powerful Democrats in Missouri were resisting prog Bingham campaigned for the Whigs and painted banners in support of their agenda in 1840 and 1844. These banners were remarkably sophisticated, full of scene George Caleb Bingham, Self Portrait, 1835 Bingham mentions his opposition to Van Buren s monetary policies in a letter of 1837, and he campaigned for the Whigs and painted banners in support of their agenda in 1840 and 1844. At right is a ribbon from an 1844 convention in Rocheport, Missouri that Bingham attended.

Such policies were especially popular with western Whigs like the young George Caleb Bingham, who believed powerful Democrats in Missouri were resisting prog Bingham campaigned for the Whigs and painted banners in support of their agenda in 1840 and 1844. These banners were remarkably sophisticated, full of scene George Caleb Bingham, Self Portrait, 1835 Reports indicate that the artist s now lost banners from this convention were painted in the manner of fine art, and that they promoted Whig quest to associate their party with the western everyman.

Unfortunately for Bingham, the Democrats pulled off a surprise victory in the 1844 election. James K. Polk ran as a successor to Andrew Jackson, and was nicknamed Young Hickory.

Many in the slave states embraced Polk s plans for the annexation of Texas and saw the possibility of war with Mexico as an opportunity to expand slavery. Polk s aggressive stances towards Mexico and Oregon were seen as patriotic, and Polk promoted himself as a tough, no- nonsense Democrat, willing to take on foreign governments and expand America s international influence.

Many Whigs, however were horrified by the prospect that Polk would wage a war of conquest that might destabilize the nation.. Philip Hone, a New York Whig who was a supporter of the Art Union where Bingham s paintings were exhibited, described his feelings in his diary...

Among the many passages critical of Polk s election is this description full of landscape metaphors The bright star of Daniel Huntington, Portrait of Philip Hone, oil, ca. 1845-1850 hope would shine on the future# if the madness of the people did not interpose this pestiferous cloud of war to interrupt its rays. Diary of Philip Hone, Jan. 1, 1846

Portrait of Charles Hudson, anonymous engraving, ca. 1845-1870 The words Massachusetts Congressman and anti-annexation critic of Polk, Charles Hudson, were published in a pamphlet in the fall of 1845. The publisher was Horace Greely, editor of the New York Tribune.