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Best regards, Andrew Stewart Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Date: January 14, 2019 at 11:58:06 AM EST > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Subject: H-Net Review [H-FedHist]: Feller on Cheathem, 'Andrew Jackson and > the Rise of the Democratic Party' > Reply-To: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > > Mark R. Cheathem. Andrew Jackson and the Rise of the Democratic > Party. Knoxville University of Tennessee Press, 2018. 277 pp. > $24.95 (paper), ISBN 978-1-62190-453-3. > > Reviewed by Daniel Feller (University of Tennessee) > Published on H-FedHist (January, 2019) > Commissioned by Caryn E. Neumann > > In 2015, Mark R. Cheathem published _Andrew Jackson and the Rise of > the Democrats: A Reference Guide _in the ABC-CLIO Guides to Historic > Events in America series. In keeping with the series format, the book > offered a narrative overview of its subject along with a chronology, > short topical essays and capsule biographies, a selection of primary > documents, and a bibliographic essay, the whole clearly aimed mainly > at a classroom clientele. > > Cheathem has now republished the narrative overview and bibliography, > both slightly revised, in a University of Tennessee Press paperback > with a slightly different title, _Andrew Jackson and the Rise of the > Democratic Party_. Declaring that "the political climate of the > twenty-first century is remarkably similar to that of the Early > Republic," he sets out to show that rancorous partisanship, candidate > image-making, dirty tricks and mudslinging, corruption and fears of > corruption, ideological polarization, and histrionic rhetoric were > all rife in Andrew Jackson's day (p. 11). In fifteen quick chapters, > Cheathem traces how Jackson's personal saga converged with the > vestigial stages of Federalist/Jeffersonian party competition to give > birth to the Jacksonian Democratic Party and the democratic > antebellum political universe. > > Centering on Jackson and on such familiar national events as > presidential campaigns, the "corrupt bargain," Indian removal, > nullification, and the Bank War, Cheathem's narrative covers > territory that period scholars will find well trod. There is no great > pretense of anything new here, albeit also very little to disagree > with. As perhaps befits a student reference guide but less so a > stand-alone monograph, Cheathem does not advance much by way of > thesis beyond the familiar commonplaces. His copious footnotes show > him both working very close to the sources and keeping abreast of > current scholarship; yet he does not press for fresh insights, nor > offer arresting authorial judgments or novel points of view. A > prolific author on things Jacksonian, Cheathem has situated himself > to inherit the late Robert V. Remini's mantle as his generation's > leading authority on Jackson. _Andrew Jackson and the Rise of the > Democratic Party_ reminds one of Remini's later works, which offered > quick packages of conventional knowledge wrapped in breezy prose. > > Unfortunately, _Andrew Jackson and the Rise of the Democratic Party > _also in places recalls the later Remini's penchant for carelessness. > Stretching his narrative from the Federalist Era to the eve of the > Civil War, Cheathem covers a lot of ground very fast--indeed so fast, > especially toward the end, that to a novice reader some of it may not > make much sense. By contrast, the scholar who already knows the story > will detect a number of small mistakes, awkward locutions, and > unexplained terms. > > One particular use of careless language undermines the very title and > premise of the book. It is an unfortunate habit of Jacksonian > scholars to be unusually sloppy with party names--for instance, to > prematurely label the followers of John Quincy Adams in 1828 as > National Republicans, or Henry Clay's adherents in 1832 as Whigs. > Cheathem early on warns of these anachronistic labels, which muddle > the chronology and belie the uncertainty and contingency of events by > anticipating later outcomes. The issue is not merely one of > nomenclature but of substance: the moment at which a group of > cooperators find ground enough to unite under a common banner, > especially an ideologically charged one, is clearly of significance > in charting both their individual affirmation of political identity > and their formal organization as political partisans. > > Yet, even after alerting readers to the issue, Cheathem himself > confuses it by speaking of "Jacksonian Democrats" as early as the > 1828 presidential campaign, well before the label was coined and > years before it won general acceptance (p. 101). In his telling, the > Democratic Party does not "rise" but rather stands forth, already > fully realized, upon Jackson's election in 1828. > > It was not nearly that simple. Jackson's winning electoral coalition > evolved over time (and under his tutelage) into the Democratic Party, > but it was not the same thing. The men who backed Jackson in 1828 > mostly called themselves Jackson men or Republicans, not Democrats. > Jacksonians held their first national convention in 1832, to nominate > Martin Van Buren for vice president. Cheathem calls the > conventioneers "Democrats" (p. 183), but their official report of > convention proceedings gave no name at all, while thanking the > "Jackson republican party" in Baltimore for handling local > arrangements. During the 1832 campaign, Jackson himself began to > speak freely of Democrats and the Democratic Party, especially in his > correspondence with Van Buren. By then the words had indeed taken > firm hold in some places, notably New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, but > not in others, and for meaningful reasons. Not until 1835 would > Jackson's and Van Buren's adherents in national convention > finally--and while still using the word Republican--proclaim > themselves as the Democracy. By that time many one-time Jackson men > had left the fold. > > Cheathem makes hash of these complexities, and in so doing obscures > much of the story his title promises to tell. He misleadingly > identifies John C. Calhoun and Duff Green as Democrats in 1830, and > later speaks of Virginia during the 1832-33 nullification crisis as a > "Democratic stronghold" where "leading party members" like John Floyd > and John Tyler "were lukewarm or even hostile toward Jackson and Van > Buren" while "other Democrats" like Abel Upshur opposed the president > absolutely (p. 168). Given that fealty to Jackson was the first > defining feature of his party, this literally makes no sense. These > men were not Democrats, though they had once been Jacksonians. They > would have bridled at the very word "Democrat," since Jackson's > championing of majoritarian democracy was precisely the source of > their discontent with him. Particularly in Virginia but also > elsewhere, it took years for budding party organizations to > monopolize political space to the point where "Whig" or "Democrat" > represented binary and exclusive choices of affiliation. The "Rise of > the Democratic Party" was thus an elongated and highly contingent > process, far more so than readers will learn here. > > Still, overall _Andrew Jackson and the Rise of the Democratic Party_ > offers a serviceable introduction to its subject for student use. The > illustrations, retained from the earlier book, include some nice > contemporary cartoons, but several that are crammed with illegibly > small speech balloons do not make ready sense and are not explained. > However, the twelve-page bibliographic essay has been freshly updated > and is very good. Cheathem concludes about Jackson that his > "modern-day significance lies not in the way in which he epitomized > democracy; rather, his relevance stems from the way in which his > failure to embody democratic ideals during the nineteenth century > reveals twenty-first-century shortcomings.... The inability of > Jackson and his contemporaries to realize the fullest expression of a > democratic society should challenge us to examine whether the United > States has achieved that goal and, if not, to consider how we can > transcend our own societal prejudices" (p. 216). Well said. > > Citation: Daniel Feller. Review of Cheathem, Mark R., _Andrew Jackson > and the Rise of the Democratic Party_. H-FedHist, H-Net Reviews. > January, 2019. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=53260 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -- _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
