It is not in wantonness, that we speak.—but in the sadness of our hearts, we are compelled to declare,—that while we yield our confidence to the present Chief Magistrate in very different degrees, we are unanimous, and unhesitating in the opinion, that Andrew Jackson is altogether unfit for the Presidency, and that his election would be eminently dangerous,—that while we cheerfully accord to him his full share of the glory, which renders the anniversary of the 8th of January a day of joy and triumph to our land,—we must, in the most solemn manner, protest against a claim to civil rule, founded exclusively upon military renown,—and avow, that nothing has occurred in the history of our country, so much calculated to shake our confidence in the capacity of the people for self-government, as the efforts, which have been made, and are yet making, to elevate to the first office in the nation, the man, who, disobeying the orders of his superiors, trampling on the laws and constitution of his country, sacrificing the liberties and lives of men, has made his own arbitrary will, the rule of his conduct….

Gen. Jackson has lived beyond the age of 60 years, and was bred to the profession best calculated to improve and display the faculties, which civil employment requires;—yet the history of his public life, in these employments, is told in a few brief lines, on a single page of his biography. He filled successively, for very short periods,—the office of member of the Tennessee Convention, which formed their State constitution,—representative and senator in Congress,—judge of the supreme court of Tennessee,—and again senator, in the Congress of the United States. Here was ample opportunity for distinction, if he had possessed the talent, taste and application suited for civil eminence. But he resigned three, and passed through all these stations, acknowledging his unfitness in two instances,—manifestly feeling it in all,—and leaving no single act, no trace behind, which stamps his qualification above mediocrity.

For civil government,—and in no station more emphatically, than in that of President of the United States,—a well governed temper is of admitted importance; Gen. Jackson's friends lament the impetuosity of his, and all the work has evidence of its fiery misrule.

To maintain peace and harmony, in the delicate relations existing between the government of the Union and the various State governments, in our confederacy, requires a courtesy and forbearance in their intercourse, which no passions should disturb….

[Our claims] in accusing General Jackson of being unmindful of their [law and constitution] voice…will be acknowledged by impartial posterity, when they review the history of his Indian campaigns—and especially when they read the stories, of the cold blooded massacre, at the Horse-shoe [Bend]—and of the decoyed and slaughtered [Seminole] Indians at St. Mark's [Florida]….

[W]e regard Gen. Jackson, as wholly disqualified for the Presidency, and look to the prospect of his election with forebodings.

Source: Proceedings of the Anti-Jackson Convention, Held at the Capitol in the City of Richmond, with Their Address to the People of Virginia (Richmond: Franklin Press, 1828), 17–19.