Essays

The Age of Jackson

The essays in this section have been written by leading scholars of American history. They provide additional depth on events and ideas referred to in the introductory essay and, in some cases, different interpretations by historians looking at the same events. These essays are particularly useful in introducing your students to one of the most exciting aspects of studying history—understanding the past from a variety of perspectives.

John Quincy Adams (Philadelphia: P. S. Duval, n.d.) (LOC LC-USZC4-5801)

Adams v. Jackson: The Election of 1824

Author: Edward G. Lengel Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels:
Narrative and Correspondence, by William J. Duane (1838). (GLC02144)

Andrew Jackson and the Constitution

Author: Matthew Warshauer Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
A Vindication of the Character and Public Services of Andrew Jackson, 1828 (GLC)

Andrew Jackson’s Shifting Legacy

Author: Daniel Feller Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Rachel Jackson, ca. 1824, attributed to Mary C. Strobel. (GLC02793.019.02)

Female Trouble: Andrew Jackson versus the Ladies of Washington

Author: Catherine Allgor Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
The front of the Alamo, 1922. (LC-USZ62-87798)

Remembering the Alamo

Author: Char Miller Curriculum Subjects: Geography, Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Patent signed by James Buchanan, May 28, 1846. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)

Technology of the 1800s

Author: Brent D. Glass Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Mace in the House Chamber (Office of the Clerk, US House of Representatives)

The Culture of Congress in the Age of Jackson

Author: Joanne B. Freeman Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
William Walker, ca. 1855–1860, by Mathew Brady (LC-USZC4-10802)

The Filibuster King: The Strange Career of William Walker, the Most Dangerous International Criminal of the Nineteenth Century

Author: T. J. Stiles Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Geography, Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Indian peace medal, 1829. (GLC02772.02)

The Indian Removal Act

Author: Elliott West Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

When Myth and Meaning Overshadow History: Remembering the Alamo

Author: Linda K. Salvucci Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels:

Women and the Early Industrial Revolution in the United States

Author: Thomas Dublin Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Essays from Other Sub-Eras

Million Native American March, 2003, Washington, DC. (Carol Highsmith, LOC)

A New Era of American Indian Autonomy

Author: Ned Blackhawk Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Abraham Lincoln and Jacksonian Democracy

Author: Sean Wilentz Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Reader in a cigar factory, Tampa, Fla., by Lewis Wickes Hines (LOC)

Bridging the Caribbean: Puerto Rican Roots in Nineteenth-Century America

Author: Virginia Sanchez Korrol Curriculum Subjects: World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Detail from a Harper’s Weekly cartoon by Thomas Nast, February 26, 1870. (LOC)

Education Reform in Antebellum America

Author: Barbara Winslow Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Religion and Philosophy Grade Levels:
Bank note from the Bank of the United States dated December 13, 1840. (GLC01994)

Getting Ready to Lead a World Economy: Enterprise in Nineteenth-Century America

Author: Joyce Appleby Curriculum Subjects: Economics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Family in Chinatown, San Francisco, CA. (LC-G4085- 0192 <P&P>)

History Times: A Nation of Immigrants

Author: Gilder Lehrman Institute Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Grade Levels: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Indian Removal

Author: Theda Perdue Curriculum Subjects: Geography, Government and Civics Grade Levels:
Fragment of Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech, ca. 1857. (GLC02533)

Lincoln and Abolitionism

Author: Douglas L. Wilson Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels:
Walt Whitman, 1863 (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Lincoln and Whitman

Author: David S. Reynolds Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics, Literature Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Lincoln at Cooper Union

Author: Harold Holzer Curriculum Subjects: Art, Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865. (GLC06044)

Lincoln’s Civil Religion

Author: George C. Rable Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics, Religion and Philosophy Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Abraham Lincoln, by Mathew Brady, February 27, 1860. (GLC05136.01)

Lincoln’s Religion

Author: Richard Carwardine Curriculum Subjects: Religion and Philosophy Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
“National picture: Behold oh! America, your sons . . .” 1865. (LC-DIG-pga-04149)

Natural Rights, Citizenship Rights, State Rights, and Black Rights: Another Look at Lincoln and Race

Author: James Oakes Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Photography in Nineteenth-Century America

Author: Martha A. Sandweiss Curriculum Subjects: Art, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Cornelius Vanderbilt, ca. 1865. (GLC05151)

Robber Barons or Captains of Industry?

Author: T. J. Stiles Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Geography, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Proclamation by the Mayor, San Francisco, CA, April 18, 1906 (GLC 04967.01)

San Francisco and the Great Earthquake of 1906

Author: Robert W. Cherny Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Geography, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The Impact of Horse Culture

Author: Elliott West Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Geography Grade Levels:
John Marshall and Roger B. Taney (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs)

The Marshall and Taney Courts: Continuities and Changes

Author: R. B. Bernstein Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Letterhead from Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, 1910, detail. (GLC)

The Myth of the Frontier: Progress or Lost Freedom

Author: John Mack Faragher Curriculum Subjects: Art, Economics, Geography, Literature Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The Rise of an American Institution: The Stock Market

Author: Brian Murphy Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
[Dividing the] National [Map]. [Cincinnati], 1860. (LC-DIG-ppmsca-33122)

The Road to War

Author: Chandra M. Manning Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics Grade Levels: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Nathaniel Hawthorne, ca. 1860–1865. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs)

The Scarlet Letter and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s America

Author: Brenda Wineapple Curriculum Subjects: Literature Grade Levels: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Note of 1 shilling, 6 pence, printed in the colony of New Jersey, 1776. (GLC)

The US Banking System: Origin, Development, and Regulation

Author: Richard Sylla Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Detail of a broadside promoting women’s suffrage. (GLC08963)

Why We the People? Citizens as Agents of Constitutional Change

Author: Linda R. Monk Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
The County Election, based on a painting by George C. Bingham, 1854. (Gilder Leh

Winning the Vote: A History of Voting Rights

Author: Steven Mintz Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Justice of the Plains: The Movement Westward, John S. Curry (LC-DIG-highsm-02850

Women of the West

Author: Virginia Scharff Curriculum Subjects: Geography, Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+