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Additional resources for this
issue of History Now
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Print Resources
Several of the episodes in Jackson’s career touched on
by Dr. Feller are dealt with at greater length by other authors
in this issue. I refer you to my resources for each of those essays
[see the navigation menu to the right].
I’ll begin my list of general resources on Andrew Jackson
with the work of Robert V. Remini, one of the nation’s best
known Jackson biographers. His book-length studies began with:
The Election of Andrew Jackson. Philadelphia: Lippincott,
1963.
Andrew Jackson. New York: Twayne, 1966. Brief one volume study.
The Revolutionary Age of Andrew Jackson. New York: Harper
& Row, 1976.
Next came his three volume biography published 1977-1984:
Vol. 1. Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Empire,
1767-1821. New York: Harper & Row, 1977.
Vol. 2. Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Freedom,
1822-1832. New York: Harper & Row, 1981.
Vol. 3. Andrew Jackson And The Course Of American Democracy,
1833-1845. New York, N.Y.: Harper & Row, c1984.
This was followed in 1988 by a 412-page condensation of the three-volume
study. Harper’s published another edition this year, incorporating
more recent scholarship:
Andrew Jackson. New York: Harper & Row, 1988.
These Jackson biographies are also worth your attention:
Brands, H. W. Andrew Jackson, His Life and Times. New
York: Doubleday, 2005. Sympathetic biography of Jackson by a Texas
scholar.
Burstein, Andrew. The Passions of Andrew Jackson. New
York: Alfred A. Knopf: Distributed by Random House, 2003. A controversial
and decidedly unsympathetic portrait of Jackson.
Ellis, Richard E. Andrew Jackson. Washington, D.C.:
CQ Press, c2003. Part of the American Presidents Reference
Series.
Parton, James. Life of Andrew Jackson in Three Volumes.
New York: Mason Brothers, 1859-1860. This, the first serious life
of Jackson, was so popular that Parton followed it three years
later with a one-volume condensation. Parton’s study is
available in a variety of modern reprints.
Schlesinger, Arthur M. The Age of Jackson. 1945. Winner
of the Pulitzer Prize for History.
Wilentz, Sean. Andrew Jackson. New York: Times Books.,
2005. Part of the American Presidents series, this brief
(195 page) study is good reading and good history.
Like so many American political leaders of the 18th and 19th
centuries, Jackson is the subject of a “papers project.”
These volumes have appeared to date:
Ely, James W., Jr., and Theodore Brown, Jr., eds. Legal Papers
of Andrew Jackson. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press,
c1987
Smith, Sam B., et al., eds. The Papers of Andrew Jackson.
7 vols. to date. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, c1980-
.The series has completed publication of Jackson’s papers
through 1829. The current editor-in-chief is Daniel Feller, the
author of the essay you just read.
These books examine specific periods or aspects of Jackson’s
public life:
Belohlavek, John M. "Let The Eagle Soar!": The Foreign
Policy of Andrew Jackson. Lincoln: University of Nebraska
Press, c1985.
Cole, Donald B. The Presidency of Andrew Jackson. Lawrence,
Kan.: University Press of Kansas, c1993. Part of the distinguished
American Presidency series.
Meacham, Jon. American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White
House. New York: Random House, 2008. Lively biography intended
for the popular audience.
The nation in Jackson’s time is examined in these recent
works:
Feller, Daniel. The Jacksonian Promise: America, 1815-1840.
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995.
Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation
of America, 1815--1848. Oxford University Press, 2007. This
book won a 2007 Pulitzer Prize for History.
Reynolds, David S. Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson.
New York, NY: Harper, c2008.
Smith, David A., comp. Presidents from Adams to Polk,
1825-1849: Debating the Issues in Pro and Con Primary Documents.
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2005.
Watson, Harry L. Liberty and Power: The Politics of Jacksonian
America. New York: Noonday Press, 1990. A book about party
politics, it also contains sections on the Bank of the United
States, slavery, the Indians, and the changing role of women.
Wilentz, Sean. The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to
Lincoln. W.W. Norton & Co., 2005.
You have a choice of several excellent studies on the Nullification
Crisis of Jackson’s Presidency:
Ellis, Richard E. The Union at Risk: Jacksonian Democracy,
States' Rights, and the Nullification Crisis. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1987. By one of Jackson’s best known biographers.
Freeling, William W., ed. The Nullification Era: A Documentary
Record. New York: Harper & Row, 1967.
_____. Prelude to Civil War: The Nullification Controversy
in South Carolina, 1816-1836. New York, Harper & Row
[1966]. Both of the Freeling books are out of print, but they’re
worth tracking down.
Peterson, Merrill D. Olive Branch and Sword: The Compromise
of 1833. Peterson. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University
Press, c1982.
Internet Resources
One of your first stops should be “Andrew Jackson on the
Web,” Tim Spalding’s extraordinary directory of Web-based
resources for Jackson:
http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/jackson/
You and your students will certainly want to go to the Gilder
Lehrman Institute's online textbook, Modules on Major Topics in
American History, for its excellent section on Jacksonian Democracy
and Jacksonian America:
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/teachers/module.php?module_id=151
The Digital History website has made my life easier by providing
a helpful list of documents from the Gilder Lehrman Collection
dealing with Jacksonian Democracy, furnishing links to these texts
and images as well:
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/jacksonian/documents.cfm
And don't miss Digital History's online “teaching resources”
links:
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/resource_guides/
content_teaching.cfm?tpc=9
I’ll warn you to skip the “Images” page, however
-- none of the links work!
The White House Historical Association has a fine presentation
of eyewitness accounts of life in the White House during the Jackson
era:
http://www.whitehousehistory.org/04/subs/04_b_1828.html
See "The People’s President" essay, and then
be sure to check on the link to documentary resources:
http://www.whitehousehistory.org/04/subs/04_b_1828a.html
PBS does itself proud with the materials offered on the education
segment of its website for its Andrew Jackson documentary:
Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil & The Presidency. [Alexandria,
Va.]: PBS Home Video, c2007 -- You may want to start by using
the links to “Themes” from the home page:
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/andrewjackson/
You’ll find very sound essays on a variety of topics there.
Don’t ignore the other links – "Special Features,"
for instance, includes additional essays, portraits, a great collection
of political cartoons, and interactive maps:
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/andrewjackson/features/
There are conventional lesson plans and “WebQuests,”
as well in the Education section. Although they’re all designed
for both middle school and high school students, the array of
documents and images in the high school plans is far richer. You
won’t need much imagination to figure out how to use them
for younger students as well:
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/andrewjackson/edu/
Best of all, if you just scroll down to the bottom of the Education
page, you’ll find the link to “Resources” –
there you’ll get a convenient list of every document, image,
and Website mentioned in the various teaching tools as well as
links to other Websites. My hat’s off to them for this feature!
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