"Needin' his help they didn't vote blind, They put Davy in because he was their kind, Sent up to Nashville the best they could find, A fightin' spirit an' a thinkin' mind. Davy -- Davy Crockett, Choice of the whole frontier!"*

POLITICKIN'

(If you can't out-argue your opponent, give his speech first)

"... When I set out electioneering, I would go prepared to put every man on as good footing when I left him as when I found him. I would therefore have me a large buckskin hunting shirt made, with a couple of pockets holding about a peck each ... in one I would carry a big twist of tobacco, and in the other my bottle of liquor; for I knowed when I met a man and offered him a dram, he would throw out his quid of tobacco to take one, and after he had taken his horn, I would out with my twist and give him another chaw. And in this way he would not be worse off than when I found him; and I would be sure to leave him in a first-rate good humour."
-- David Crockett, "A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett."

   In 1818, at a frolic to kick off a political campaign, David is asked if he'll act as First Major to Captain Matthews, who is running for Colonel. David says "I have done my share of fighting, and I want nothing to do with military appointments."
   But then David finds out that Matthews actually plans to have his son run for First Major, and is just making sure that David doesn't run. David assures Matthews that he will not to run against his son -- he's going to run against Matthews for Colonel instead. "As I had the whole family to run against any way, I was determined to levy on the head of the mess," he later explains..
   David steps up on a stump and gives his first speech, winning over the crowd with his jokes and stories. He wins the election, and is now the Colonel of the 57th regiment of Militia in Lawrence County.
   David finds he enjoys politics so much that in 1821, he campaigns for the legislature. While campaigning, he always waits to speak until after his opponents, so he can learn the local issues. If he's forced to talk first, he tells a few jokes, then invites everyone to the nearest bar -- with the drinks on him.
   David's popularity soars, and he is elected to the Tennessee state legislature. Dressed simply, like any frontiersman, David is laughingly introduced as "the gentleman from the cane" by an elegantly dressed rival from an older, more populous district, James Mitchell. Humiliated, David obtains a fancy Cambric ruffled collar, like Mitchell wears. He pins it to his coarse shirt and goes back into the session. After Mitchell delivers a speech, David rises to rebut, puffing out his chest and doing a nasty impression of his rival. The entire Congress bursts into laughter, and Mitchell flees the building.
   David works hard in his first Congressional sessions. He champions the poor farmers in his district, pushing legislation to help frontiersmen to buy the wild land they settle on, and introduces a bill that protects their land from government warrants. He is victorious with bills that promote ironworks in his congressional area, and one that provides tax relief for "Mathias, a free man of color," and other constituents. He unsuccessfully opposes a measure that makes it impossible to redeem slaves from bondage (although Crockett, like Jefferson before him, owns several slaves while championing their rights). Meanwhile, he becomes well-known for his down-home, humorous speaking style, and is quoted regularly in newspapers around the state. His popularity soars, and he becomes friends with leading Tennessee politicians such as Sam Houston and James K. Polk.

Personal Information Census Image Name:   Crockit, Mr. David Township:   Not stated County:   Lawrence State:   Tennessee Year:   1820 Roll:   123 Page:   205 (2nd page down View image View blank 1820 census form SOURCE: Fourth Census of the United States, 1820. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1820. M33, 142 rolls.

   But tragedy strikes yet again. This time a flood destroys David and Elizabeth's mills and distillery on Shoal Creek. After years of building a healthy business, and gaining political fame, he is suddenly destitute once more. Politics will have to be set aside as David must find a way to pay off his debts.
   In 1822, his term over, David returns home to move his family to better hunting lands, outside of the district and forty miles from the nearest town. His political career is put on hold as he prepares to start over yet again. The canebrake country in which the Crocketts make their home is known as the Shakes, because of devastating earthquakes and hurricanes that struck the land between 1811 and 1813. These natural catastrophes have created giant fissures in the earth, damned rivers, and even caused the Mississippi River to flow backwards in certain spots. The crevices have filled with plant and animal life, and the area is now abundant with food and game, a hunter's paradise -- and Crockett is King. Tales of his backwoods exploits are told around local campfires, then eventually will spread to newspapers, published as anecdotal stories. During the rest of the year he kills 105 bears to feed and clothe family and friends, and tales of his hunting prowess spread throughout the region.

"You have heard of the celebrated Loco Crockett 'who can whip his weight in wild cats,' 'jump higher, fall down lower and drink more liquors than any man in the state?'"
--William Alexander Graham, 1826

   Crockett reinvents himself politically as a wild backwoodsman. "I don't want it understood that I have come electioneering. I have just crept out of the cane, to see what discoveries I could make among the white folks," David says.
   He uses the 'brag and boast' hyperbolics of the Mississippi flatboatmen that he's met on his river adventures, claiming to be "half-horse and half-alligator," and wading the Mississippi with a steamboat on his back.
   He campaigns in five counties against a rich doctor named William E. Butler.
   One evening, David eats at Butler's mansion, then in his next speech says: "Fellow citizens, my aristocratic competitor has a fine carpet, and everyday he walks on truck finer than any gowns your wife or your daughters, in all their lives, ever wore."
   During the umpteenth stump debate, Crockett uncharacteristically asks to speak before Butler, and the reason soon becomes clear -- David has memorized Butler's speech and delivers it before he can.
   David is easily elected, but now must represent ten different counties. He works hard in the legislature, winning several important legislative victories for poor land owners. In one notable instance, he adamantly opposes a bill "to preserve the purity of elections." In response he offers an amendment to prohibit any person from selling spirituous liquors "by retail" in connection with an election.
   Now known throughout the state, David is urged to run for the U.S. Congress against Colonel Adam Alexander. But the better-funded Alexander narrowly beats Crockett, who really has no money for a state-wide campaign. So David attempts to improve his financial lot, starting a stave business.
   Between bear hunts, in the spring of 1826, David attempts to run two boats of 30,000 staves to New Orleans, but they wreck on the Mississippi River. Crockett is nearly killed, pulled from below deck of the sinking ship without any clothes. Stranded in Memphis, David meets wealthy Marcus Winchester, who takes immediately to David and urges him to run for Congress again.
   Winchester bankrolls Crockett's next campaign with a loan of $250, and David appears all over the state, stumping with his usual tales of grinning animals to death and jumping rivers.
   David's opponent, Colonel John W. Cooke, attacks David on the grounds of decency (namely drunkenness and adultery). But for every charge Cooke makes, David makes up a worse one about Cooke.
   Finally Cooke plans to trap Crockett by presenting witnesses to refute him to the next debate. Crockett steps up, out-doing himself with slanderous accusations, then starts to sit. Suddenly he steps back, announcing that his opponent has planned to trap him and has even brought witnesses. "Fellow citizens, I did lie. They told stories on me, and I wanted to show them, if it came to that, that I could tell a bigger lie than they could. Yes, fellow citizens, I can run faster, walk longer, leap higher, speak better, and tell more and bigger lies about my competitor, and all his friends, any day of his life!" David then proposes that both sides drop all the accusations, and invites the crowd to the local tavern for a drink before Cooke can rebut. He leaves to cheers.
    Cooke withdraws from the race, saying he would not consent to represent people that would applaud an acknowledged liar.
   1827: David is elected the House of Representatives, serving in the Twentieth Congress.