American Lion

American Lion

Review by Sanford Levinson

The subtitle of this book is important: This is not a “life and times” book that offers a full panorama of American political and social development in “the Age of Jackson.” For that, one should consult Sean Wilentz’s deservedly praised The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln. Instead, Meacham offers a laser-beam focus on “Andrew Jackson in the White House.”

Jackson had, of course, been famously denied the White House by the House of Representatives after the 1824 election. Even though he came in first among the four major candidates, he did not have the electoral vote majority needed to win. Instead, the House chose John Quincy Adams, who received the support of the man who came in fourth (Henry Clay) and thus was ineligible to be considered by the House. Jackson viewed himself as the victim of a corrupt bargain—Clay became Adams’s Secretary of State—and he immediately began plotting his revenge, attained in his 1828 victory.

Vivid chapters set out Jackson’s famous “war” against the Bank of the United States, whose extension he vetoed in 1832 just prior to his successful campaign for re-election against the detested Clay (who himself viewed Jackson as a basically Caesarist dictator); he ultimately destroyed the Bank by removing federal deposits and placing them instead in state banks. To do this, he had to fire his Secretary of the Treasury, who thought Jackson was behaving irresponsibly, and the Senate actually passed a vote of “censure” against what they viewed as his extraordinary (and, from their perspective, illegal) high-handedness.

As Meacham notes, Jackson became the first American president to use the constitutional veto power in order to attain his policy objectives. Among all presidents prior to Jackson, John Quincy Adams noted, “Not more than four or five Acts of Congress have been [vetoed] by six Presidents.” Jackson had “rejected four in three days.” And, in firing Secretary of Treasury Duane, Jackson became the first president to demand the resignation of a member of his Cabinet for refusal to follow presidential “orders.”

There was, of course, also the showdown with South Carolina over tariff policy, which many people believed would result in immediate civil war. Meacham is unsparing in his portrayal of Jackson’s insistence on Indian removal from the East to what was then the American west. (Nor, of course, did he question the sanctity of slavery.) A constant in these controversies, and others set out by Meacham, was the capaciousness of Jackson’s conception of presidential power, reinforced by his almost mystical belief that he was the personal representative of the (white) American people at large.

Meacham also tells the touching personal story of Jackson’s relationships with his nephew and his wife, Andrew and Emily Donelson (who became central to Jackson following the tragic death in 1828 of his beloved wife, Rachel). Less touching, but certainly fascinating, is the story of the “Peg Eaton affair,” where soap-opera-like snubbing of the “unsuitable” mate of Jackson’s Secretary of War had significant political consequences.

A well-researched and well-written book, this should be appreciated by academics and general readers alike.

Hardcover: 512 pages

Publisher: Random House Inc. ( November 18, 2008 )

Item #: 93-3342

ISBN: 9781400063253

Product Dimensions: 6.25 x 9.25 x 1.02 inches

Product Weight: 32.0 ounces