From the Editor
In the decades immediately following the War of 1812, the face of America
changed. Population grew and young Americans far outnumbered their parents.
For many the West beckoned, and settlers poured into the region west of
the original thirteen colonies until they reached the mighty Mississippi
River. Pride, optimism and a keen nationalism replaced the founding generation’s
anxiety about the survival of thirteen separate and often quarreling states.
An American school of art was flourishing; an American dictionary assured
citizens that the English they spoke was not the English of their former
masters; roads and canals linked the backcountry and the coastal towns
and cities; and above all, politics had become the domain of the common
man, as universal while male suffrage appeared to triumph over older restrictive
rules of citizenship.
To many, the future looked bright. At the same time, a new anxiety crept
into the American psyche: slave states and free states eyed each other
warily, political parties fostered professional politicians rather than
disinterested leadership, and the pursuit of profit and material goods
appeared to some citizens as a sign of moral decay and the decline of
the republic.
This was the world of Andrew Jackson. In his lifetime the abolitionist
and nascent women's rights movements began to demand a place in the body
politic. Old institutions, perceived as elitist by some, would crumble
– the most famous of them, the Bank of the United States, destroyed
by the president himself—causing economic instability. In the aftermath,
Americans would discover that the direction of social mobility could be
downward as easily as upward. For many historians, the hero of the Battle
of New Orleans is the symbol of his age: contradictory and controversial,
beloved and despised, democrat and, to Native Americans, oppressor.
In this issue of
History Now, five leading historians examine
the myth and reality of the man and his era. As an overview, Dan Feller
provides the first essay, "Andrew Jackson’s Shifting Legacy."
Here he traces the changing evaluation of the man and his presidency as
historians reinterpret the era. In “The Indian Removal Act,”
Elliott West introduces us to Native American cultures and to the government
policies and expansionist impulses that threatened them. He shows us the
tragic consequences of white society’s land hunger and the government’s
willingness to satisfy this demand. In “Andrew Jackson and the Constitution,”
Matthew Warshauer reexamines the contradictory character and reputation
of our seventh president through a close analysis of Jackson’s interpretation
and application of the Constitution. Warshauer demonstrates Jackson’s
willingness to overstep or ignore the Constitution when he felt the survival
of the country required it. Catherine Allgor examines the larger social
world of the nation’s capital in “Female Trouble: Andrew Jackson
vs. the Ladies of Washington,” an essay that reveals the influence
of women despite their exclusion from formal political power. The social
networks created by the wives and daughters of congressmen and senators
allowed them to play key roles in dispensing patronage, arranging political
deals, and shaping policies. As Allgor shows us, Jackson discovered the
power of these elite women in what came to be known as the "Peggy
Eaton Affair." In Joanne Freeman’s essay, “The Culture
of Congress in the Age of Jackson,” we are given a view of America’s
political leadership that may come as a surprise. Rather than dignified
debate and erudite discussion, Freeman recounts a rough and tumble world
of insult-hurling, scuffles, brawls, and the brandishing of weapons on
the House and Senate floors. This atmosphere of violence and volatility
stemmed from more than a code of personal honor; it reflected the highly
charged and divisive issues that faced the nation in the age of Jackson.
Our interactive feature in this issue, entitled "Andrew Jackson Learns
of the Chehaw Affair," provides teachers with documents that describe
the Georgia militia’s attack on a Chehaw village in 1818, as reported
by Brigadier General Thomas Glascock to then General Andrew Jackson. As
always, lesson plans for elementary, middle and high school as well as
for AP History classes are provided with links to sources that can be
used in the classroom. In addition, our archivist Mary-Jo Kline provides
an annotated guide to a wealth of additional materials for your use.
As the end of the year approaches, we at
History Now wish you
the happiest of holidays and the brightest of new years.
Carol Berkin
Editor
Carol Berkin
Editor,
History Now
Carol Berkin is Presidential Professor of History at Baruch College
and The Graduate Center, City University of New York. She is the author
of several books including
Jonathan Sewall: Odyssey of an American
Conservative, First Generations: Women in Colonial America, A Brilliant
Solution: Inventing the American Constitution, and
Revolutionary
Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence.
Editor - Carol Berkin, Associate
Editor - Lesley S. Herrmann, Managing Editor - Karina Gaige, Designers
- Brian Santalone and Ana Giron, Archivist - Mary-Jo Kline, Contributors
- Catherine Allgor, John P. Duckhorn, Daniel Feller, Joanne Freeman,
Bruce Lesh, Roberta McCutcheon, Philip Nicolosi, Elizabeth Berlin Taylor,
Matthew Warshauer, Elliott West, and Elise Stevens Wilson.
