Encounters
''refractory'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜encounter｜ENC｜20260904134559-10-•
In another epistolary assault, “William Walters” reportedly urged Congressman May to admit publicly that in 1832 he had written a letter recounting the story of a corrupt bargain involving two Whigs, George Forquer and John Calhoun, who allegedly agreed to switch parties in return for appointment to government offices. In his supposed reply, “May” expressed anxiety that “the people of the West are too independent and highminded to submit to our dictation.” But Martin Van Buren, the Democrats’ presidential candidate in 1836, assured him that in time they would come around: “He says the people of New York proved somewhat refractory when the harness was first put upon them, and frequently kicked out of the traces, and occasionally broke the heads of their drivers; but by a free use of the whip and spur, holding a tight rein, and making examples of a few of the first offenders, they became so docile and gentle, that he could guide them without reins by the crook of his finger, or wink of the eye.” In Washington the system worked well: “Every thing that is determined by our chief is promptly executed, right or wrong. This thing of political honesty, which our opponents stickle so much about, has long since been ‘expunged’ from the vocabulary of our party.” Blubberhead regretted that May’s opponent would be John Todd Stuart: “This I have been dreading for a long time. You know he has ever been a thorn in our side, and that all our efforts to break him down, have failed.”
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃
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