Andrew Jackson by Robert V. Remini, Book Review Example

Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the US and remained in the history of the United States as a very controversial and extraordinary person who did much for the state and was distinguished by unique personal qualities. There surely are many works dedicated to his activity and personality as Jacksonian era is studied as a separate epoch in the history of the US. This is why taking a detached, grounded view at Andrew Jackson’s period of governing is important to formulate a more or less reasonable opinion on the subject.

One of authors who took an active interest in the life and activity of Andrew Jackson is Robert V. Remini – this writer produced a series of works about the seventh President of the US. The most famous works are Andrew Jackson: A Bibliography, The Jacksonian Era, The Legacy of Andrew Jackson: Essays on Democracy, Indian Removal and Slavery, Andrew Jackson: The Course of American Empire, 1767-1821(3 volumes) etc. Such a great number of works on one subject supposes high authority of Remini in the subject to which he devoted a considerable period of time and work. So, the subject of the present paper is to consider one of Remini’s works that is titled Andrew Jackson and represents a brief account of Jackson’s life before the Presidency as well as his activities in the course of being the US President. The work was written in 1966 and still is widely recognized as the best, the fullest and the most grounded work on Andrew Jackson.

The point that the author is trying to prove throughout the whole work is that Andrew Jackson is a very important personality in the whole course of the US history, which surely stands to reason. Andrew Jackson came to power in the period of time when there was no stability in the newly-born country and the identity of the US nation only began to form. Jackson rules the initial acquisitions of the US, including Texas, and was an active participant of military actions both during the war for Independence and further on. His explosive character was not always destructive, and many times it allowed Jackson to achieve his goals for the country acting on the verge of the law but still succeeding, which was evaluated highly only many years after those events. In the point of Jackson’s significance the author is surely right and every reader of the book produced by him will accept the point upon finishing it.

However, the second part of Remini’s argument can hardly be accepted by all readers and critics, which is also considered one of the major remarks upon reading the book. Remini tries to prove that Jackson was a loyal, democratic man who did only good for the country and who cared only about the interests of his nation in all his actions. This point sounds even more improbable with Remini’s account of the military actions and genocide towards Indians that Jackson arranged before and during his Presidency (Remini 148), his vengeful and aggressive nature and his paternalism, his self-confidence that crossed all possible borders when he pursued his own goals and not the ones of the country (Remini 14, 18). These points speak for the wrongfulness of Remini’s point of view, making him fail to prove the overall positive personality of Jackson.

Remini himself starts the work about Jackson from the most characteristic behavior that the US President expressed in hard moments of his life when he cried on reading the assaulting words about his mother:

“It would have been more characteristic had he stood up and roared his rage, summoned the vile penman to the field of honor …for Jackson did have a monumental temper, which when roused could hurl itself with fearful fury against those who displeased him. When he chose, he could flood a room with the gorgeous sounds of Anglo-Saxon expletives” (Remini 1-2).

The inability of Remini to prove that Jackson was a positive person is determined by many facts from Andrew Jackson’s biography that witness about his explosive character and unlawfulness of many actions that he took for doubtful reasons. First of all, it is important to remember that he was of low origin and did not belong to the nobility of the USA of the 18^th century. He won his fame and recognition of the nation in the war actions – Jackson was famous due to his deeds at the battlefield and won the reputation of a brave man who was able to inspire people (Remini 51). But in fact he was a humble man who did not receive proper education and who could not boast good manners, which was evident in the course of all his life and activity. One more fact speaking against Jackson is that he was a southerner and not only had slaves (Remini 18) but also was a slave trader (Remini 43), which was totally unacceptable in the course of anti-slavery movement that already started to originate in the USA.

One more negative trait of Jackson was that he appeared an agile duelist. Several duels that he won were recollected in Remini’s work – this was a duel with Avery (Remini 18) and with Dickinson (Remini 38). This hobby could not be called a positive trait of a person who took a considerable political position and further on became the US President, so the appropriate conclusions on what kind of person Jackson really was could be done from these facts. To crown it all, one should recollect the extremely aggressive attitude of Jackson towards Indians and the excessively harsh policy towards them that he took upon becoming the President. Jackson was for Indian removal from the territory of the US (Remini 121) and even adopted the Indian Removal Act (Remini 148).

Remini, as it has already been mentioned, is considered one of the best researchers of Jackson’s personality. The present book is an excellent proof of this fact because of the great literature research Rimini had conducted in such libraries as the Columbia University Library, the Library of Congress, the Harvard University Library, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the New York Historical Society, the Princeton University Library etc. (Remini 227). In addition, such significant works as accounts of Parton, Eaton, Kendall and Harris were taken as the historical basis for facts included in the book. One should also consider the personal correspondence of Jackson (to Nathaniel Macon of 1795, to James Jackson of 1819, to Sevier of 1797, to Jefferson of 1806 etc.).

In general, the major emphasis made by Remini is directed at the personal correspondence of Andrew Jackson with many outstanding personalities. Some other works are the American State Papers, Military Affairs, Florida Historical Quarterly etc. Authors who are mentioned in Remini’s account are Dangerfield, Gadsden, Ward and Bassett. This is only a part of the tremendous volume of literature processed by Remini on the way to writing the Andrew Jackson’s biography, but they already allow the reader to understand how seriously he approached the subject and grounded the work.

It goes without saying that the book is aimed for reading for school studies in history as well as for studying by students of history courses who are going through the Presidency topic in the US history. It is hard to say whether some people would choose such literature for pleasure as the book is concentrated on many historical facts and does not represent fiction at all. This is why one can say that the initial aim of adequate rendering of facts concerning Jackson’s place in the history is surely fulfilled – the book gives a proper account of all chronological events that took place in the USA during Jackson’s Presidency and includes many related facts that also represent number one historical importance. For example, many facts about the War for Independence, the military actions concerning acquisition of new states, treatment of Indians, politics during Jackson and after his resignation are included in the account. The student taking up Remini’s book to study the personality of Jackson and the era in which he worked and lived will surely get as much information as he or she will need for the classes, and even more. Not only political and personal information is included in the work – Remini also included many economic and social facts that helped him characterize the end of the 18^th century very vividly. The agile manner in which the book is written lets it be not as boring as the majority of concise historical accounts are, letting it be remembered and appreciated by the students and not remain only one more assigned book for the history course.

Works Cited

Remini, V. Robert. Andrew Jackson. Harper Perennial; First Perennial Library Edition, 1969.