The Life of Andrew Jackson: "Ask nothing but what is right..."
Written: Apr 29 '01 (Updated Dec 31 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Brilliant scholarship; easy to read, conversational style
Cons: An abridgment of a much larger biography; way too short!
The Bottom Line: A good but all too brief abridgment of Robert V. Remini's masterful three-volume biography of Andrew Jackson
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| mkp51's Full Review: Life of Andrew Jackson Books |
Okay, trivia fans: without peeking now... whose portrait appears on the American twenty dollar bill?
a.) Alexander Hamilton
b.) Benjamin Franklin
c.) Andrew Jackson
d.) Andrew Johnson
If you guessed c.) Andrew Jackson, you are correct! No, you don't win a twenty dollar bill, or anything else for that matter... just the satisfaction of knowing a bit of "currency trivia."
I used to wonder just why Andrew Jackson's portrait was selected for our currency. I mean, George Washington on the one dollar bill, Abe Lincoln on the five, and Ben Franklin on the one-hundred dollar bill... those I understand. But "Old Hickory" on the twenty?!?...
...Then I read Robert Vincent Remini's masterful biographies of Andrew Jackson. Now I understand.
Robert V. Remini is probably the foremost American historian on Andrew Jackson and the Jacksonian age. The Life of Andrew Jackson, written in 1988, is an abridgment of his masterful three-volume biography comprised of Andrew Jackson: The Course of American Empire; Andrew Jackson: The Course of American Freedom; and Andrew Jackson: The Course of American Democracy.
As abridgments go, The Life of Andrew Jackson is decently written. It encapsulates the long and controversial life of Andrew Jackson clearly and succinctly. Unfortunately, it has one glaring flaw: it lacks much of the fine detail I look for in presidential biographies.
Normally, I shy away from reading single volume abridgments of multi-volume works. In this particular case, I ended up reading the shorter version after I had finished Remini's longer, more detailed triptych. I wanted to see if Remini had included any new information since he completed his earlier three-volume work in 1984.
Although this review concerns itself primarily with The Life of Andrew Jackson, it will, of necessity, incorporate a great deal of information from Remini's brilliant three-volume Jackson biography as well.
In these works of outstanding scholarship, the portrait of Andrew Jackson that emerges is indeed a stunning one. Remini manages to explode just about every myth I've ever heard about Andrew Jackson. Here are two examples:
MYTH: Jackson was an uneducated hick from the backwoods of Tennessee – a wild-eyed, bushy-haired fanatic who arrived in Washington to take the reins of government bedecked in coonskin hat, moccasins, and leather shirt and breeches.
FACT: Jackson was a reasonably well educated man by early nineteenth century standards; an eloquent, although not very polished writer; and a man imbued with courtly, gentlemanly southern manners who dressed in well tailored clothes that mirrored the upper class style of the day.
MYTH: When Jackson became President, armed with his "To the victor belong the spoils" slogan, he immediately threw out all federal employees hired during the presidency of his predecessor, John Quincy Adams, and replaced them with his backwoods Tennessee cronies.
FACT: Jackson was elected President in 1828 on a platform of "reform and retrenchment." Prior to his election, the federal government had become rife with corruption. In order to weed out the corrupt, Jackson instituted a policy of "rotation" in office. Only about 1,000 out of 11,000 federal employees lost their jobs. In fact, it was a political enemy of Jackson’s – New York senator William Marcy – who initially made the statement "To the victor belong the spoils of the enemy."
So, who was this extraordinary man who became our nation's seventh chief executive? Andrew Jackson was born in 1767 in South Carolina; his father died when he was a toddler. His mother, hoping young Andrew would become a minister, insisted he get a good education. By age 12, he had seen action in the Revolutionary War; he had been wounded and taken prisoner by the British. He had seen two brothers and his mother die during the war, either from wounds or disease.
As a young man, he moved to Tennessee and moved up the ranks of society, first as a lawyer, then a judge, and finally as major general of the Tennessee militia. He speculated in land sales and became wealthy. He married the great love of his life, Rachel Donelson. (There were allegations of wife-stealing and bigamy.)
Jackson, always a man of fiery temper and a high sense of honor, engaged in several duels, killing at least two men and receiving serious wounds that caused him lifelong pain.
Jackson gained national stature as a military hero. He led American expeditions in the Creek and Seminole Wars, forcing those Indian tribes to sign treaties agreeing to move west of the Mississippi River. He led another expedition that completely reduced Spanish influence in Florida and ultimately led to the American acquisition of Florida from Spain. His most famous victory came on January 8, 1815, at the end of the War of 1812. It was there he led American forces to an overwhelming victory over the British in the battle of New Orleans.
From 1815 to 1824, Jackson steadily gained in the admiration and popularity of the American public. In 1824, he was nominated for president, but lost the election to John Quincy Adams in the first election to be decided in the House of Representatives. (Jackson won the popular vote but no candidate won in the electoral college. Ultimately a political deal between Adams and Congressman Henry Clay handed the election to Adams.) Four years later, Jackson was elected overwhelmingly on a platform of reform, retrenchment, and return to "republican" principles.
Throughout Jackson's eight years as President, he was a champion of majority rule in America. He passionately believed that the office of President was the only one that represented all the people, and that the president must be obedient to the will of all the people. This belief, combined with the effects of the industrial revolution, transformed the United States from a "republican" form of government to the democracy we know today. It also resulted in the re-emergence of strong political parties after the "Era of Good Feelings." Jackson's party became the Democratic party that lasts to this day. His political opponents evolved from "National Republicans" to "Whigs," and finally, in the 1850’s, under the leadership of Abraham Lincoln, to the Republican party we know today.
As a result of Jackson's presidency, the executive branch became in practice the equal of the legislative branch in real power and stature. In areas where the Constitution was silent or ambiguous, Jackson simply claimed for the chief executive many prerogatives formerly claimed by Congress. His political enemies in the Senate, their passions aroused by Jackson's expansion of executive power at their expense, engineered a successful vote of censure against him. To this day, Jackson is the only president to be censured by either house of Congress. Yet, Jackson ultimately got away with expanding executive power because the people that elected him continued to support him.
Jackson proved himself an exceptionally capable chief executive and skilled administrator. His presidential terms were marked by several important events. Jackson saw to the destruction of the Bank of the United States, which he saw as a tool of the economic elite and an enemy of democracy. He headed off the first serious attempt by a state to secede from the union. His foreign policy, based on the philosophy "Ask nothing but what is right; permit nothing that is wrong," gained for the United States of America greatly increased respect among the nations of the world.
Not everything Jackson did was admirable. He saw to the rigorous enforcement of treaties that removed tens of thousands of Indians from their tribal lands and into the vast plains beyond the Mississippi River. He was a slave owner who treated his slaves with humanity; still he traded in human flesh. In the twenty-first century, we see these actions as reprehensible; in Jackson's time, they were considered completely acceptable.
When Andrew Jackson died in 1845, at age 78, his legacy was vast indeed. He left behind an America transformed by democratic principles; a nation which had taken its rightful place among the nations of the world; a nation of peace and prosperity. But, also a nation about to be riven by the simmering dual controversies of states’ rights and slavery.
Robert V. Remini's biographies of Andrew Jackson are imbued with the highest degree of scholarship, and brilliantly capture the essence of this towering figure in early nineteenth century American history. Because Remini uses a wonderfully conversational writing style, the pace of the story never flags and the reading never becomes dry or stuffy. That's true even when Remini discusses political and economic issues.
Remini covers all aspects of Jackson's life – the personal as well as the military and political – with equal depth. We are introduced to his loyal, loving wife Rachel, a woman who deplored her husband's long absences from their great plantation, The Hermitage, and who tragically died on the eve of Jackson's ascendancy to the Presidency. His only son, also named Andrew, was a man who shared almost none of his father's high sense of responsibility or honor. We also meet Jackson's friends – most notably, Martin Van Buren, a New York politician with a calm demeanor and pragmatic outlook about as far removed from Jackson's as possible; the man who became Jackson's unlikely political ally and his hand-picked successor as president.
For the most part, The Life of Andrew Jackson (and the three-volume Andrew Jackson biography which forms its source) is a well balanced, comprehensive, and unbiased account of the life of one of our nation's greatest presidents. Occasionally, Remini lapses into a tone approaching veneration, but always seems to find a proper balance between Jackson as an admirable figure and Jackson as a man with feet of clay. Sometimes Remini appears to make Jackson look good at the expense of other notable figures in American history – men like James Monroe, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster.
The Life of Andrew Jackson’s primary flaw is its brevity. I think Remini cut far too much detail from this abridgment to do Jackson the level of justice he deserves. The abridgment simply touches too lightly on many aspects of Jackson’s life and times. I almost got the feeling that The Life of Andrew Jackson was deliberately made too short in order to encourage readers to opt for the three-volume set.
MY VERDICT: If you only want to familiarize yourself with the basics of Andrew Jackson, without going into any substantial detail, The Life of Andrew Jackson is the ideal book for you. In its 360 pages, you'll find a neat, brief encapsulation of the man and the president. If you’d like the broader, "meatier," more detailed story of our nation’s seventh president: skip The Life of Andrew Jackson and go directly to Andrew Jackson: The Course of American Empire; Andrew Jackson: The Course of American Freedom; and Andrew Jackson: The Course of American Democracy.
Recommended:
Yes
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