The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 91, July 1987 - April, 1988 Page: 461

                                
The Likenesses of Davy Crockett

nessee decided that it ought to have its own likeness of Crockett for its
historical collections, it commissioned an artist to make a copy of this
portrait. Its owner at the time, a grandson of Crockett, recalled that the
original was always thought by his "father and others" to be the "best
likeness" ever made of his grandfather.
After the completion of this portrait, Crockett did not sit for another
artist for some six years, at least as far as is known. Instead, it was dur-
ing that period that he began creating the public persona that was des-
tined for a brief moment in the mid- 183os to make him something of a
favorite among portraitists, and the remaining story of Crockett's like-
nesses cannot be told without first describing some of the factors that
contributed to the evolution of that persona.
When Crockett took his seat in Congress in late 1827, he did so as a
reasonably faithful ally of presidential aspirant and fellow Tennessean
Andrew Jackson. But following Jackson's inauguration as president in
March, 1829, Crockett's sharp disagreement with the Jackson men of
his state over a federal bill regarding the disposition of vacant lands in
his district led to a gradual alienation on this front. The crux of the
argument lay in Crockett's hope for making the lands in question avail-
able to settlers for a minimal fee or no fee at all and the wish of his pro-
Jackson opponents (led in the House by James K. Polk) to sell them at
higher rates, thus effectively barring so many of Crockett's cash-poor
constituents from purchasing them. As the debate over this issue be-
came more rancorous, Crockett's onetime loyalty to the Jackson camp
steadily diminished, and by 1830 he found himself increasingly allied
with the emerging anti-Jacksonians, who soon coalesced under the ban-
ner of the Whig party.7
In the midst of these events, Crockett began to be seen as something
of an exotic celebrity in the national political arena. Not only was he
becoming a fiercely vocal critic of everything for which Jackson and his
following stood, he was also voicing his opposition in a way that ap-
pealed greatly to the popular imagination. For Crockett cut a colorful
figure with his western drawl and penchant for frontier tales of der-
ring-do. Furthermore, he seemed to have an intuitive sense of show-
manship. Thus while others of similar background might feel com-
pelled to refine the rough edges that bespoke their humble origins,
Crockett was able to parlay such things as his lack of formal education
and indifference to good grammar into distinct assets.
6Robert H. Crockett to A. Nelson, Feb. 4, 1879 (Tennessee State Library and Archives,
Nashville).
7Stanley J. Folmsbee, "David Crockett, Congressman," East Tennessee Historical Society's Pub-
lications, XXIX (1957), 45-60.

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