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To Honor Andrew Jackson Brass Cannon and Mortars for Bronze Statue in Washington, D.C.
To Honor Andrew Jackson Brass Cannon and Mortars for Bronze Statue in Washington, D.C.
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To Honor Andrew Jackson Brass Cannon and Mortars for Bronze Statue in Washington, D.C.

This handwritten report of the speech of Congressman John A. McClernand of Illinois was prepared for publication in the Daily National Intelligencer on February 20, 1847. The day before, McClernand had urged Congress to grant four brass cannon and two mortars that General Andrew Jackson had captured from the Spanish in Pensacola in 1818 to the Jackson Monumental Committee for use in creating an equestrian statue of Jackson. The resulting statue was dedicated in 1853 in Lafayette Park north of the White House.

[ANDREW JACKSON.] Manuscript Document, Report of John A. McClernand's Speech in Congress, [February 19, 1847]; appeared in Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, DC), February 20, 1847, 3:1. 3 pp., 8" x 12.375". Some toning; glued to scrapbook pages.

Complete Transcript
Mr. McClernand then rose & said
Mr. Speaker:
I rise for the purpose of presenting the memorial of the Jackson Monumental Committee of this City, praying Congress to place at the disposal of that Committee four brass cannon and two brass Mortars, weighing in all, 4,930 pounds to be used as material in constructing a monument to General Andrew Jackson, and to ask for the memorial the favorable consideration of this honorable body. Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon the members of this Committee for their zeal and public spirit in so noble an enterprize, or upon the country for the promptness and liberality with which they have responded to it. To this extent they have disproved the charge, if it be not altogether untrue, that Republics are ungrateful.
The Committee represent that they are now assured ample means may be obtained by voluntary contributions to ensure the early completion of the monument. They state that the column of Napoleon, formed after the model of that of the Emperor Trajan, is made of the cannon taken by Napoleon at the battle of Austerlitz—that the Equestrian Statue to Wellington, now in course of completion, is to be made of the brass pieces captured by that general at Waterloo; and it satisfactorily appears, that the pieces asked for are the same which were captured by Gen. Jackson, in a gallant and brilliant affair at Pensacola in 1814, and that they are now "unserviceable." From these considerations, the Committee appeal to Congress to devote these pieces to the purpose of perpetuating the form of the illustrious chief whose skill and valor gave them to his country.
This disposition of these trophies is peculiarly appropriate. Not that "sculptured stone" or "ever during brass," can add to the imperishable renown of Andrew Jackson; but because it is just that a statue raised by a grateful people to the memory of a departed hero, should embody in its form, a part at least, of the tokens of his victories. It is not only sanctioned by custom, but is eminently proper as a means of perpetuating the influence of the virtuous and patriotic examples of "the illustrious dead."
This is not the proper occasion to pronounce a formal eulogy upon the man whose last aspirations were for the welfare, the glory, and happiness of his country. But I may be allowed to say that Andrew Jackson was no man of a common order. Left fatherless and friendless in his youth, he wrote the word "Excelsior" upon his crest, and pushed his way upward and onward to power and distinction—from the rank of a private to that of a general, and from the position of a citizen to that of Chief Magistrate of the republic. The name of Jackson—the indomitable—the strong-willed—the honest—the unflinching—the man of iron—has become a house-hold word to his countrymen—an invocation of patriotism and duty to all lands. What he said and did is written on that record of words and deeds accumulated from the wisdom and heroism of ages, and there, as a lesson and incentive to posterity, it will be written forever.
E[n]dowed, perhaps, with a less bold and subtle philosophy than Jefferson—with a less dazzling and theoretic genius than Napoleon, he was the equal of them both in energy and concentration of purpose—their superior in the attribute of common sense. His principles were lofty and stern—proof alike against power and corruption. As Aristides, he could have written, unmoved, the ballot of his own ostracism, or watched untempted, by the flickering torches of night over the treasure which strewed the field of Marathon. As a general he was active and daring, yet vigilant and judicious. To constancy and fortitude he added impetuous and almost romantic valor. At the battle of New Orleans he won the crowning glory of his military career. There he confirmed the great truth proclaimed upon the classic plains of Platae—the pre-eminence of free states, in the defense of their hearth stones and independence over the unwieldy Empires of crowned conquerors. As it is the habit of a free people to delegate great authority to one man, who is the reflex of the popular will—the individualized Argora through which the voice of a nation is heard in after ages, so it is not to be wondered that Jackson, with such qualities as he possessed, should have been that man to the people of his time.
The pride we feel in the man is not a partizan pride. It arises from what he did for his country. There are many in this Hall who bearded him—unsuccessfully, it is true, but fearlessly—when he was wrapped in his pride of power and place, and wielded, with boldness and energy, the sword of State. But this arose from honest diference of opinion. It was not discreditable to them nor him.
All that fierce denunciation, generated and sustained by party zeal, has passed away with its cause. There is no vandal hand to tear away the first leaf in his chaplet of laurel; and the smoke of detraction which was to obscure his fame has passed away forever.
I have no more to add. I am confident that the prayer of the memorialists will be granted by this honorable House.

Historical Background
In July 1845, one month after Andrew Jackson's death on June 8, John L. O'Sullivan of New York, editor of the United States Magazine and Democratic Review, called for a private subscription to erect a bronze equestrian statue of Jackson in Washington, D.C. In September, O'Sullivan and Secretary of State James Buchanan met with President James K. Polk to request that he join a committee to raise the funds. He declined but agreed to head the subscription list. Later that month, the Jackson Monument Committee was established to raise the funds. Members of the committee included John Peter Van Ness, a former congressman from New York and former mayor of Washington; James Hoban Jr., the son of the architect of the White House; Postmaster General Cave Johnson; and Benjamin B. French, commissioner of public buildings in Washington.

After delivering this speech on February 19, 1847, Representative McClernand introduced a resolution to place four brass cannon and two brass mortars at the disposal of the Jackson Monument Committee. The House passed the resolution the same day and sent it to the Senate for concurrence. Senator Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania introduced the resolution in the Senate on March 1, but a senator from New Jersey objected on behalf of Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, who was absent, and the Senate tabled the motion. Senator John A. Dix of New York reintroduced the petition on July 31, 1848, and the Senate passed it on August 7. In the House, a Maryland Congressman objected to melting down "national trophies," such as the cannon Jackson captured from Pensacola. The resolution was amended to exclude national trophies, and both houses passed it on August 11.

In 1848, the Committee commissioned self-taught sculptor Clark Mills (1810-1883) of South Carolina to create the statue. Mills carefully studied horse anatomy and used his own thoroughbred horse, Olympus, as a model for Jackson's horse Duke, training Olympus to rear on its two hind legs in his studio. He even borrowed Jackson's uniform, saddle, and bridle from the Patent Office, which kept them as relics. Although McClernand describes the cannon as having been captured in 1814, Jackson actually removed the four cannon, cast in Madrid in 1748 and 1773, from Pensacola during his 1818 occupation of the city. The four cannon that Mills initially obtained from the Federal government included two named for Visigoth kings of Spain and two named after Greek gods. Congress in 1850 voted to place them "at the feet" of the Jackson monument to show "how harmless are the thunderbolts of kings when hurled at men of iron, whose armor is the patriotism inspired by the Republic." They initially rested in the grass for several years before being placed on new wooden gun carriages, which have since been replaced several times. When a second group of cannon proved unsuitable because they had too much tin in them, Mills ultimately cast the statue using copper and brass supplied by the U.S. Navy.

Mills made his castings in a temporary foundry on the Ellipse, with the assistance of his enslaved apprentice Phillip Reid, and it was the first bronze statue cast in the United States. Mills cast the horse in four parts and the statue of Jackson in six parts. The 15-ton statue, about a third larger than life, is also notable as the first equestrian statue to be balanced solely on the horse's hind legs. It rests on a marble base, to which was added in 1909 Jackson's famed toast from 1830, "Our Federal Union, It Must be Preserved."

The sculpture was erected in Lafayette Park in front of the White House and dedicated on January 8, 1853, the thirty-eighth anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois was the principal orator for the occasion, which President Millard Fillmore and his cabinet attended. Mills made replicas for New Orleans in 1856 and Nashville in 1880, and he went on to cast the statue of Freedom that adorns the top of the U.S. Capitol rotunda.

In 2020 and 2021, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents the District of Columbia, introduced legislation to remove the statue of Jackson because of his ownership of slaves and responsibility for the deaths of thousands of Native Americans.

John A. McClernand (1812-1900) was born in Kentucky but moved with his family to Illinois when he was young. He was largely self-educated and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1832. That same year, he also served in the Black Hawk War. In 1835, he founded the Shawneetown Democrat newspaper. He served in the Illinois House of Representatives in 1836 and from 1840 to 1843. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat from 1843 to 1851. He was a political ally of Senator Stephen A. Douglas, also of Illinois. He returned to Congress from 1859 to 1861. At the beginning of the Civil War, he raised the "McClernand Brigade" in Illinois and was commissioned as a brigadier general of volunteers. He commanded troops under General Ulysses S. Grant at the Battles of Belmont, Fort Donelson, and Shiloh in 1861 and 1862. He commanded troops in the expedition against Vicksburg, but there was much friction between him and other commanders throughout the Vicksburg campaign. Grant finally relieved him of command in mid-June 1863, two weeks before the fall of Vicksburg. President Abraham Lincoln, wanting the support of Illinois War Democrats, returned McClernand to field command in February 1864 in Louisiana, but illness limited his role in the Red River Campaign. McClernand resigned from the army in November 1864. He played a prominent role in Lincoln's funeral in April 1865. He served as a district judge in Illinois from 1870 to 1873 and served as president of the 1876 Democratic National Convention.

National Intelligencer (1800-1870) was a prominent newspaper published in Washington, DC. In 1800, Thomas Jefferson, then vice president and a candidate for the presidency, persuaded Samuel Harrison Smith, the publisher of a Philadelphia newspaper, to open a newspaper in Washington, the new capital. Smith began publishing the National Intelligencer, & Washington Advertiser three times a week on October 31, 1800. In 1809, Joseph Gales Jr. (1786-1860) became a partner and took over as sole proprietor a year later. From 1812, Gales and his brother-in-law William Winston Seaton (1785-1866) were the newspaper's publishers for nearly fifty years. From 1813 to 1867, it was published daily as the Daily National Intelligencer and was the dominant newspaper of the capital. Supporters of the administrations of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe, Gales and Seaton were the official printers of Congress from 1819 to 1829. From the election of Andrew Jackson to the 1850s, the National Intelligencer was one of the nation's leading Whig newspapers, with conservative, unionist principles.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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