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ALS, three pages on two adjoining sheets, 8 x 10, September 11, 1834. Addressed from “Columbia” and marked “Private,” a handwritten letter to Colonel Samuel H. Laughlin, a prominent Tennessee Democrat and newspaper editor in Nashville, in part: “Your letter of the 9th is received. I regret that I could not visit the Hermitage with you, before the President's departure, on more accounts than one. I desired much to have seen him. I hope you will not fail to come out to our first Rail Road Convention on Monday. It is expected that Genl. Gaines and numerous other delegates – from the W. Districts and other parts of the State – will attend it. If this be so, (of which I know nothing except from the statement made by the action-men in the Rail Road project here) you would have an opportunity of meeting the leading men from different quarters; could compare opinions; and perhaps advance the interests of the party with which you are connected; and in this latter object I will not fail to interest myself. Besides, if it is perfectly convenient to you to come, I would wish much to see you, and have much political talking with you. The time is close to hand, when the state must take her stand,—and it is important that we should harmonize and act in concert; as I doubt not we will.
As to the controversy [with the Editor] which the Republican provokes with the Editor here I have already stated to you the grounds I will occupy. It shall defensive. Others may be misdirected…by their friends, against charges with which I have had nothing to do, but it must not, shall not be at my expense; – I think it not improbable that what…suggested to you is true – that Hall did not write his article. – I think it contains some internal evidence of the fact; but I had not suspected the person whom you mention. If he was concerned in it I agree with you that it is to be regretted that he had not something else to do, than to meddle himself in writing puffs and squibs for a newspaper.” In fine condition, with scattered light stains.
Written amid the political upheaval of Andrew Jackson's second term, the letter captures James K. Polk in a notable dual role in 1834: one of Jackson's foremost congressional allies as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and a leading Democratic organizer in Tennessee. Inviting influential editor Samuel H. Laughlin to meet with party leaders at a railroad convention and lamenting a missed opportunity to visit Jackson at the Hermitage before the president's departure, Polk stresses the need for unity as political divisions deepened, warning that "The time is close to hand, when the state must take her stand, – and it is important that we should harmonize and act in concert." His remarks offer a revealing glimpse of the challenges facing Tennessee Democrats as party loyalties hardened during Jackson's presidency.
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