Avenging the People
Andrew Jackson, the Rule of Law, and the American Nation
Seiten
2020
Oxford University Press Inc (Verlag)
978-0-19-008838-5 (ISBN)
Oxford University Press Inc (Verlag)
978-0-19-008838-5 (ISBN)
The most powerful American of his time, Andrew Jackson saw himself as the people's "great avenger." Yet his ideas also limited the people's sovereignty, imposing one kind of law to inflict one sort of "justice." Drawing from new evidence about Jackson and the southern frontiers, Avenging the People boldly reinterprets the man and his age.
Most Americans know Andrew Jackson as a frontier rebel against political and diplomatic norms, a "populist" champion of ordinary people against the elitist legacy of the Founding Fathers. Many date the onset of American democracy to his 1829 inauguration.
Despite his reverence for the "sovereign people," however, Jackson spent much of his career limiting that sovereignty, imposing new and often unpopular legal regimes over American lands and markets. He made his name as a lawyer, businessman, and official along the Carolina and Tennessee frontiers, at times ejecting white squatters from native lands and returning slaves to native planters in the name of federal authority and international law. On the other hand, he waged total war on the Cherokees and Creeks who terrorized western settlements and raged at the national statesmen who refused to "avenge the blood" of innocent colonists. During the long war in the south and west from 1811 to 1818 he brushed aside legal restraints on holy genocide and mass retaliation, presenting himself as the only man who would protect white families from hostile empires, "heathen" warriors, and rebellious slaves. He became a towering hero to those who saw the United States as uniquely lawful and victimized. And he used that legend to beat back a range of political, economic, and moral alternatives for the republican future.
Drawing from new evidence about Jackson and the southern frontiers, Avenging the People boldly reinterprets the grim and principled man whose version of American nationhood continues to shape American democracy.
Most Americans know Andrew Jackson as a frontier rebel against political and diplomatic norms, a "populist" champion of ordinary people against the elitist legacy of the Founding Fathers. Many date the onset of American democracy to his 1829 inauguration.
Despite his reverence for the "sovereign people," however, Jackson spent much of his career limiting that sovereignty, imposing new and often unpopular legal regimes over American lands and markets. He made his name as a lawyer, businessman, and official along the Carolina and Tennessee frontiers, at times ejecting white squatters from native lands and returning slaves to native planters in the name of federal authority and international law. On the other hand, he waged total war on the Cherokees and Creeks who terrorized western settlements and raged at the national statesmen who refused to "avenge the blood" of innocent colonists. During the long war in the south and west from 1811 to 1818 he brushed aside legal restraints on holy genocide and mass retaliation, presenting himself as the only man who would protect white families from hostile empires, "heathen" warriors, and rebellious slaves. He became a towering hero to those who saw the United States as uniquely lawful and victimized. And he used that legend to beat back a range of political, economic, and moral alternatives for the republican future.
Drawing from new evidence about Jackson and the southern frontiers, Avenging the People boldly reinterprets the grim and principled man whose version of American nationhood continues to shape American democracy.
J.M. Opal is Associate Professor of History at McGill University. He is the author of Beyond the Farm: National Ambitions in Rural New England and the editor of Common Sense and Other Writings by Thomas Paine.
Acknowledgments
Introduction: In Our Blood
Chapter 1: States of Nature
Chapter 2: A Nation of Laws
Chapter 3: Extreme Frontiers
Chapter 4: I Love My Country and Government
Chapter 5: The Hour of National Vengeance
Chapter 6: The People's Choice
Conclusion: Submit to Nothing
Abbreviations
Notes
Index
| Erscheinungsdatum | 18.03.2020 |
|---|---|
| Zusatzinfo | 21 hts |
| Verlagsort | New York |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 234 x 155 mm |
| Gewicht | 476 g |
| Themenwelt | Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Neuzeit (bis 1918) |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte | |
| Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte | |
| Recht / Steuern ► Rechtsgeschichte | |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Theorie | |
| ISBN-10 | 0-19-008838-9 / 0190088389 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-19-008838-5 / 9780190088385 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
Mehr entdecken
aus dem Bereich
aus dem Bereich
Giordano Bruno - ein ketzerisches Leben
Buch | Hardcover (2024)
C.H.Beck (Verlag)
CHF 41,85
das dramatische 16. Jahrhundert
Buch | Hardcover (2024)
Rowohlt Berlin (Verlag)
CHF 47,60
