Andrew Jackson: The Course of American Freedom, 1822-1832 (Andrew Jackson)

Andrew Jackson: The Course of American Freedom, 1822-1832 (Andrew Jackson)
by Robert V. Remini

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Book Summary Information

Author: Robert V. Remini
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1998-03-05
ISBN: 0801859123
Number of pages: 504
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press

Book Reviews of Andrew Jackson: The Course of American Freedom, 1822-1832 (Andrew Jackson)

Book Review: Interesting details of Jackson's life and presidency
Summary: 4 Stars

Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Freedom, 1822-1832 begins with Jackson's return home from Florida, where he served as military governor, and goes through his first term as president.

There are many interesting aspects to Jackson's life covered in this volume, particularly his devotion to his wife Rachel and his devastating grief when she died a few weeks after he was elected president. But the part that I found the most interesting was how Jackson revived the American political system. In many ways he was the founder of the system we still use today.

The 1820s are often mistakenly referred to as "The Era of Good Feeling." James Monroe was president, and there wasn't really any organized opposition. As Remini documents, there was very little good feeling involved except for those officials who were lining their pockets at the expense of the public. Needless to say, there were many people who were upset and alarmed by the corruption and saw it as a real threat to the American republic (remember, it was only about 50 years since the Declaration of Independence and less than 40 years since the Constitution had been written). These Republicans wanted to restore the two-party system, reconstituting their party along the old Jeffersonian doctrines. They soon hit upon the idea of recruiting the most popular man in the country, retired General Andrew Jackson, to run for president.

Jackson was a military hero, but he was much more than a figurehead candidate. Jackson was also a brilliant instinctive politician and a strong, capable executive. But the rise of Jackson was about more than the candidacy of one man. The purpose, in Jackson's own mind as well as many others, was to connect his popularity with something large and more meaningful--the restoration of the republican principles of the Founding Fathers and a constitutional form of government that adequately protected the liberties of the people. Jackson built a party organization around himself that soon became the Democratic Party, the direct ancestor of the party that still exists today.

As president, Jackson discovered that the nation had changed greatly in the years since he was a boy soldier in the Revolution, and he adapted his ideas accordingly. He became president of an America that had become a sprawling land with an expanding population and a dynamic and complex economy in which industry was increasingly important. Instead of limiting power, Jackson instead changed the nature of power, shifting it (permanantly, as it turned out), from Congress to the presidency.

Before Jackson, "freedom" meant the right of the individual to enjoy the fruits of his labor without interference by government. During his presidency, freedom came to mean majority rule. A free society was one that conformed to the will of the masses. Since Jackson represented the people (something of a new concept), it followed that his program constituted their sovereign command--what we would today call a "mandate."

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Summary of Andrew Jackson: The Course of American Freedom, 1822-1832 (Andrew Jackson)

Available in paperback for the first time, these three volumes represent the definitive biography of Andrew Jackson. Volume One covers the role Jackson played in America's territorial expansion, bringing to life a complex character who has often been seen simply as a rough-hewn country general. Volume Two traces Jackson's senatorial career, his presidential campaigns, and his first administration as President. The third volume covers Jackson's reelection to the presidency and the weighty issues with which he was faced: the nullification crisis, the tragic removal of the Indians beyond the Mississippi River, the mounting violence throughout the country over slavery, and the tortuous efforts to win the annexation of Texas.

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