"A Most Law-defying, Law-obeying Citizen"

[Net-Illustrated] Poem:

["OLD HICKORY" in binary numbers] > 01101111 01101100 01100100 00100000 01101000 01101001 01100011 01101011 01101111 01110010 01111001 

> “has invented a new and useful improvement in the Construction of a back for a Forge & for most other fires where a blast is needed.”

7

THIS IS NOT PHOTOSHOP [cut & paste]; a meditation on selectivity

∞

"Let it be signified to me through any channel (say Mr. John Rhea) that the possession of the Floridas would be desirable to the United States, and in sixty days it will be accomplished."

[HANG THE BRITISH!][no attribution/just retribution]

A gin for representaton, blood & Chickasaw

A territory for taking, binding wounds & onwards,

Driving, evicting, Cherokee & Nullification,

Biddle & Crockett, Houston & New Orleans

The poetry of the raid & treason, veto, for 

"The farmers, mechanics and laborers," TECHNE

Unleashed, formidable & a menace; fury,

Manifesto, against injustice, but "I will kill

it!" Plurality & radicals, Seminole, what can we

Know of his bones today, of his intentions, you

In your cars, of an age of cholera & devastation,

Unabstracted & not remotely virtual, the meaning

Of "Ubiquitous" a cosmos bygone, gone beyond,

Form equal emptiness, tending the fields, bound.

"Who is this General Jackson? To what state does he belong?" 

∞

A BOOM BANG & A BUST

8

∞

"My God would not have smiled on me, had I punished only the poor ignorant savages, and spared the white men who set them on."

[DEVOLVE! DEVOLVE!]

Contrary and cantankerous, a leader and killed by lead

You killed the bank, it did not kill you, the assassin

Did not kill you, killed red men and, yes, slaver, 

& Also proved devotion in love, your Rachel

The brightest star in your celestial vision...til

Woe unfathomable, still another life to finish,

The end & a tomb in the backyard of a house,

A Hermitage, statehood of the mortal, God.

Down with all cowards & equivocators!

Abscess, denunciation & the Duel! Lodged

You ribs, next to your heart, animus, anima,

Lost, the "painful facts"...

"until all is done, nothing is done."

∞

9

∞

[THIS]."almost incredible victory"

Fierce in battle, a gambler, a man of means, wrought 

By the times, or self-propelled, a willing subject, born

Of the Carolinian Waxhaw clan to the dead son of a

Son of a linen draper from Carrickfergus, his ma's line

Weavers of linen, birthed in a log cabin, no less, 

American dream, his education such as it was &

It was perfunctory, from a field-school, the basics,

Public, as such, providing the pioneer child, imperfect

Letters, to serve him the rest of his storied days, & 

The infant rebellion soon consumed them all, devouring

Brothers & Mother, & Andy would be taught hate by

A saber, & survival of deep wounds, & eventually

The succor of the reckoning, from Camden to Natchez.

OLD HICKORY

∞

10

∞

He would be Sharp Knife & no saddler, a lawman, Indian Killer

"the most roaring, rollicking, game-cocking, horse-racing, card-playing, mischievous fellow" 

A prosecutor of frontier justice in what would be 

Tennessee, "Great Crooked River"

"Just inform Mr. Jackson. He will be sure to do his duty, and the offenders will be punished."

Strapped before the camera, scarred by a sword 

Swung by an officer of the Crown of Britain, 

Orphaned, racing to the scene of carnage, 

Engine of whisky & revolution, & acquisition

South, hounded by the horror of failure,

Of bankruptcy, of infamy of being 

Nothing in the cosmos, a mote to

Emerge in finery, unimpressed 

You threw parties, challenges,

Destroying and owning as you go,

Hanging the opposition, a plotter

Beset by scoundrels, you coder,

Unraveling chain of command,

Toggling massacre with autonomy,

"will of the people"

Unstoppable by Law, romancing 

Virtue, the weak your charge,

To be a statesman, unfettered by now,

Only now to be ordained and installed,

To stand against your kind with pirates,

The red coats made redder and grim,

No amount enough to pay for it all,

[in]"specie circular" 

& No wonder the greatEST minds of 

The Continent quaked at the notion

Of this BEAST, besting the enforcers

Of Power, a crusade against Tyranny,

Intolerant of disunion but by power

Forging alliances in a New World, 

The object of criticism 

The cartoon, portrait 

The 7th one

"Do they suppose that I am such a damn fool as to think myself fit for president of the United States? No, sir, I know what I am fit for. I can command a body of men in a rough way, but I am not fit to be president."

∞

11

∞

"turning the rascals out"

Judge me not, when I am gone

No longer of this world to defend

Myself or the nation I love or freedom.

Pray a path to heaven for me & mine

At the pinnacle of the obelisk, a Heaven

For a heathen {Who is these FACES}

"Our Federal Union: it must be preserved"

Where all is Right and the pain ends,

Enemies nowhere within range of guns

& blade, the sweetness of Tennessee 

Breeze in the evening & dinner prepared,

My bound papers by the desk to gather

A circle of friends and confidants, 

No cause for offense nor redress,

No complaint nor recourse, Freed

From memory of slaughter and mayhem,

The stench of corpses, no powder 

Nor flame, a prisoner no more

∞ 

 The principal of these is the protection of their persons, property, and religion, until they shall be incorporated into the union, and become entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States.

  In performing this important part of my functions, I have endeavored to pursue the spirit of our political institutions. I have made no discrimination of persons; my house has been surrounded by no guards; no one has been kept at a distance by repulsive formalities; all have had free admission, and found a ready ear when they required my aid for the protection of their rights.  The American government, at the same time that it is the freest, is perhaps the strongest in the world; because the most wealthy and most powerful in society are as weak in opposition to it, as the most humble and obscure. It knows no distinction between an ex-governor and a peasant. In the course of my short administration, one case has unfortunately occurred, which required the exertion of that authority, which is no respecter of persons. 

> Addendum: [F*CK TOCQUEVILLE]

...

Mr. Serrurier presented us yesterday evening to the President of the United States. The latter is General Jackson; he is an old man of 66 years, well preserved, and appears to have retained all the vigor of his body and spirit. He is not a man of genius. Formerly he was celebrated as a duelist and hot-head; his great merit is to have won in 1814 the battle of New Orleans against the English. That victory made him popular and brought it about that he was elected president, so true is it that in every country military glory has a prestige that the masses can't resist, even when the masses are composed of merchants and business men. The President of the United States occupies a palace that in Paris would be called a fine private residence. Its interior is decorated with taste but simply, the salon in which he receives is infinitely less brilliant than those of our ministers. He has no guards watching at the door, and if he has courtiers they are not very attentive to him, for when we entered the salon he was alone, though it was the day of public reception; and during our whole visit but two or three persons entered. We chatted of things that were insignificant enough. He made us drink a glass of Madeira wine, and we thanked him, using the word Monsieur, like the first comer. People in France have got an altogether false idea of the presidency of the United States. They see in it a sort of political sovereignty and compare it constantly with our constitutional monarchies. Of a certainty, the power of the King of France would be nil if it were modeled after the power of the President of the United States; and the authority of this President would be a thousand times too large, did it resemble that of the King of France. I visited today the Senate and the Assembly of Representatives of the Union. These two political assemblies meet at the Capitol, a very fine palace and truly worthy of being cited as a magnificent monument. Even so the Americans exaggerate its merits greatly; they often ask foreigners candidly if there exists in Europe anything that can be compared to their Capitol. The aspect of the debates is grave and imposing; rarely do political passions intrude so as to make the debates disorderly.