The political campaign was dominated by the personal abuse that partisans flung at both candidates. Jackson was accused of being the son of an English prostitute and a mulatto, and he was accurately labeled a slave trader who trafficked in human flesh. A series of pamphlets known as the Coffin Handbills accused him of having murdered 18 white men, including the soldiers he had executed for desertion and alleging that he stabbed a man in the back with his cane. They stated that he had intentionally massacred Native American women and children at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, ate the bodies of Native Americans he killed in battle, and threatened to cut off the ears of congressmen who questioned his behavior during the First Seminole War.
The political campaign was dominated by the personal abuse that partisans flung at both candidates Jackson was accused of being the son of an English prostitute and a mulatto and he was accurately labeled a slave trader who trafficked in human flesh A series of pamphlets known as the Coffin Handbills accused him of having murdered 18 white men including the soldiers he had executed for desertion and alleging that he stabbed a man in the back with his cane They stated that he had intentionally massacred Native American women and children at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend ate the bodies of Native Americans he killed in battle and threatened to cut off the ears of congressmen who questioned his behavior during the First Seminole War