A Companion to the Era of Andrew Jackson Wiley Blackwell Companions to American History Series

More than perhaps any other president, Andrew Jackson?s story mirrored that of the United States; from his childhood during the American Revolution, through his military actions against both Native Americans and Great Britain, and continuing into his career in politics. As president, Jackson attacked the Bank of the United States, railed against disunion in South Carolina, defended the honor of Peggy Eaton, and founded the Democratic Party. In doing so, Andrew Jackson was not only an eyewitness to some of the seminal events of the Early American Republic; he produced an indelible mark on the nation?s political, economic, and cultural history.

A Companion to the Era of Andrew Jackson features a collection of more than 30 original essays by leading scholars and historians that consider various aspects of the life, times, and legacy of the seventh president of the United States. Topics explored include life in the Early American Republic; issues of race, religion, and culture; the rise of the Democratic Party; Native American removal events; the Panic of 1837; the birth of women?s suffrage, and more.

Notes on Contributors ix

Acknowledgments xiv

Introduction: The President and His Era 1 
Sean Patrick Adams

Part I Young Andrew Jackson’s America 13 

1. Life on the Early American Borderlands 15 
Kevin T. Barksdale

2. The Foundations of Jackson’s Removal Policy: U.S.-Indian Relations, 1775–1815 37 
Tim Alan Garrison

3. The Old Southwest Becomes the Cotton Frontier 56 
Daniel S. Dupre

4. Andrew Jackson and the Legacy of the Battle of New Orleans 79 
Matthew Warshauer

Part II The Era of the “Common Man” 93

5. The Market Revolution 95 
Brian Phillips Murphy

6. Religious Revivalism and Public Life 111 
Eric R. Schlereth

7. Internal Improvements 130 
Stephen Campbell

8. Slavery and the Making of the Old South 154 
Robert H. Gudmestad

9. Creating a Democracy of Common Men 170 
Michael Zakim

10. The Ambiguities of Class in Antebellum America 194 
Brian P. Luskey

11. Antislavery to Abolitionism 213 
L. Diane Barnes

Part III Politics in the Age of Jackson 229

12. The Early Jackson Party: A Force for Democratization? 231 
Thomas Coens

13. The Myth and Reality of Andrew Jackson’s Rise in the Election of 1824 260 
Sharon Ann Murphy

14. The Elections of 1824 and 1828 and the Birth of Modern Politics 280 
John M. Sacher

15. “She’s as Chaste as a Virgin!”: Gender, Political Platforms, and the Second American Party System 298 
Nancy Morgan

16. The Rise of the Whig Party 328 
Frank Towers

17. The Fog of War: Jackson, Biddle and the Destruction of the Bank of the United States 348 
Stephen Mihm

18. The Nullifi cation Crisis 376 
Kevin M. Gannon

19. Native American Removal 391 
Andrew K. Frank

20. Radicalism in the Age of Jackson 412 
Joshua R. Greenberg

Part IV Jacksonian Legacies 433

21. Financial Panics in the Early American Republic 435 
Jose R. Torre

22. Immigration in the Jacksonian Era 454 
David T. Gleeson

23. Andrew Jackson’s West 474 
Eric J. Morser

24. The Rise of the Consumer in the Age of Jackson 489 
Wendy A. Woloson

25. The Rise of the “Common Woman” in Jackson’s America 509 
Nancy A. Hewitt

26. Fanfare for the Common Man? Political Participation in Jacksonian America 532 
Robert J. Cook

27. Manifest Destiny and the American Southwest 549 
Sam W. Haynes

Further Reading 569

Index 586

Sean Patrick Adams is Associate Professor of History at the University of Florida. He is the author of Old Dominion, Industrial Commonwealth: Coal, Politics, and Economy in Antebellum America (2004) and editor of The Early American Republic: A Documentary Reader (2008), as well as several articles on nineteenth-century American history.