The Roots of American Individualism (eBook)

Political Myth in the Age of Jackson

Alex Zakaras (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2022
432 Seiten
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-22630-9 (ISBN)

Infos

A panoramic history of American individualism from its nineteenth-century origins to today's bitterly divided politicsIndividualism is a defining feature of American public life. Its influence is pervasive today, with liberals and conservatives alike promising to expand personal freedom and defend individual rights against unwanted intrusion, be it from big government, big corporations, or intolerant majorities. The Roots of American Individualism traces the origins of individualist ideas to the turbulent political controversies of the Jacksonian era (1820-1850) and explores their enduring influence on American politics and culture.Alex Zakaras plunges readers into the spirited and rancorous political debates of Andrew Jackson's America, drawing on the stump speeches, newspaper editorials, magazine articles, and sermons that captivated mass audiences and shaped partisan identities. He shows how these debates popularized three powerful myths that celebrated the young nation as an exceptional land of liberty: the myth of the independent proprietor, the myth of the rights-bearer, and the myth of the self-made man.The Roots of American Individualism reveals how generations of politicians, pundits, and provocateurs have invoked these myths for competing political purposes. Time and again, the myths were used to determine who would enjoy equal rights and freedoms and who would not. They also conjured up heavily idealized, apolitical visions of social harmony and boundless opportunity, typically centered on the free market, that have distorted American political thought to this day.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 11.10.2022
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Systeme
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Theorie
• Schlagworte: abiogenesis • abolitionism • Accountability • Advocacy group • African Americans • Aglaiocercus • American capitalism • American Colonization Society • American dream • American Empire (series) • American Equal Rights Association • American Exceptionalism • American middle class • American Modernism • american nationalism • american political thought • American Revolution • americans • American Slavery as It Is • American System (economic plan) • American Vision • American Way • Americas • Amherst College • aristocracy • Articles of Confederation • Art in America • barack obama • behalf • bigotry • Career • caste • Central Committee • Citizenship • Citizenship of the United States • civil liberties • code name • Colonialism • colored • Conquest of Mecca • Conscience • Constitutionalist (UK) • contexts • culture of the united states • David Brion Davis • decentralization • democracy in America • diplomatic mission • Doctrine • economic freedom • elitism • entitlement • Equal Protection Clause • eric foner • Exegesis • Federal government of the United States • Fundamental Rights • George Washington • Gilded Age • Global Justice • Government • Great King • Harriet Martineau • Harvard University Press • History • House • Identity politics • Ideology • Immanence • imperialism • Import Duty • income • Individual and group rights • Individualism • Inheritance • Institution • Intellectual history • israelites • jacksonian democracy • Jefferson Memorial • John Locke • Joseph Stiglitz • Judeo-Christian • landed property • Le Corbusier • Legitimacy (political) • Liberalism • Liberalism in the United States • Manifest Destiny • Marcus Garvey • Martin Van Buren • Meritocracy • moral agency • Moral conversion • Moral high ground • My Country • National Enquirer • national identity • Nationalization • Natural and legal rights • Naturalization • New Nation (United States) • North America • Oligarchy • Ownership • Ownership (psychology) • Oxford University Press • Pamphlet • paternalism • Political Philosophy • Politician • Politics • politics of the united states • Populism • Pretext • protectionism • Protestantism • Puritans • Putorana Plateau • Rabbinic Judaism • Race and ethnicity in the United States • racial hierarchy • racial integration • Racism • Radicalism (historical) • Regulation • Republicanism • rhetoric • Richard Posner • Right of self-defense • rights • Ruskin House • Secession in the United States • self-concept • Self-ownership • slave power • Slavery • Slavery in the United States • Social Darwinism • Socialism • Society • Society of the United States • State law (United States) • states' rights • Stephen Macedo • Structure and Agency • Supporter • tariff • The Federalist Papers • The Individualist • Thomas Robert Malthus • Thought • Toleration • transcontinental railroad • Tribe (Native American) • United States • United States Bill of Rights • united states declaration of independence • United States nationality law • United States territory • usufruct • Wealth • Western Europe • West Indies • Whigs (British political party) • white americans • William Ellery Channing • William Goodell (abolitionist) • William Lloyd Garrison • Yale University Press
• ISBN-10: 0-691-22630-X / 069122630X
• ISBN-13: 978-0-691-22630-9 / 9780691226309