"We are in a bad box General; I’m dead against giving away a dollar, but as you say, needs must when the devil drives!"
"I’ts hard to part with our surplus, but the people are too strong for us!"
"What the devil shall I do Matty, with this Bill? – if I veto it the cursed Whigs are strong enough to pass it!!"
Drawn On Stone [Political Prints from the 1830's and 1840's]
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E. W. Clay
Caucus on the Surplus Bill
Publisher: H. R. Robinson
Lithograph
1836		 Clay ridicules President Andrew Jackson (right) and his allies, Vice President Martin (Matty) Van Buren (left) and Jackson’s legal advisor and former Secretary of the Treasury Roger B. Taney (center) for their reluctant support of the Surplus Bill.  The bill directed surplus federal funds gained from land sales in the west to be distributed among the states.  Clay implies that Jackson, who initially opposed the bill, folded under popular pressure and the realization that the Whigs in Congress had the votes to override a veto.