Jon Meacham won a Pulitzer Prize for this book, probably because it is well written, and most Americans know precious little about Andrew Jackson or the United States in the 1830’s. I, however, think the book suffers from the author’s spending too much time perusing the correspondence of the principal actors. The result is an emphasis on the interpersonal relations between Jackson and his surrogate family (his wife died shortly after he was elected president), while giving somewhat short shrift to the key political and economic issues of the day. Even when discussing the key issues, Meacham spends more ink on who was winning (Jackson almost always won) than on what were the merits of the disputes.

Jackson appointed John Henry Eaton as his Secretary of War. Jackson had been instrumental in introducing Eaton to his wife, Margaret. Margaret became a liability for both Eton and Jackson because she was intemperate and outspoken and because she seems to have married Eaton while still married to another man. Jackson had great sympathy for the Eatons, perhaps because their situation was somewhat similar to Jackson’s with his wife, Rachael, whom he may have married a little before her divorce.

Meacham expends many words on the Eaton affair as a public scandal and source of contention in his cabinet, and perhaps that is appropriate. At least one entire cabinet meeting was devoted to resolving how to deal with the issue. Indeed, Meacham attributes the success of Martin Van Buren and the failure of John C. Calhoun to influence Jackson to their respective stances on the Eaton affair. Yet, I can’t help thinking Meacham could have devoted more space to issues like Indian removal and the Bank of the United States and less to the question of which Washington wives were willing to exchange visits with the Eatons.

One issue Meacham does handle adroitly is that of the crisis over the tariff and South Carolina’s efforts to “nullify” it. Southern planters did not like having to pay Yankee manufacturers “exorbitant” prices for goods. Had not a comprehensive protective tariff been imposed upon them by the northern states, the goods could have been purchased from foreign suppliers at lower prices. Of even more concern to Southerners was the possibility that the northern states would use their leverage to restrict or eliminate slavery through legislation. Thus Calhoun and others promulgated a doctrine of nullification that would have permitted individual states to ignore federal legislation unfavorable to them.

Jackson saw the nullification theory as tantamount to the power to secede from the Union. Jackson asked for and received from Congress authority to enforce the tariff by military force if necessary. However, he was also instrumental in reducing the rates of many of the import duties. One of the main thrusts of Jackson’s second inaugural address was directed to opposing the nullification doctrine. Indeed, Abraham Lincoln analyzed Jackson’s address in formulating his own legal theories in opposition to the South’s later secession. The combination of the authorized military action, reduced duties, and Jackson’s eloquence was sufficient to defuse the nullification crisis, and the southern states did not ignore federal law for another twenty-four years.

In contrast to his coverage of nullification, Meacham says little about Indian removal (the forceful relocation of virtually all Indians from the southern states to lands west of the Mississippi) except to point out that Jackson was its leading proponent. (Georgians wanted their valuable land for themselves and the state legislature enacted laws designed to force the natives to migrate west. John Marshall's Supreme Court declared the Georgia laws invalid, but Jackson ignored this decision. When the Cherokees refused to leave, Jackson sent troops who forced them at gunpoint to sign a treaty giving up their lands. Three years later they were driven along the "trail of tears" to the barren wastes of Indian Territory (today's Oklahoma). Thousands died during or just after this journey.)

Even less satisfying is Meacham’s treatment of the controversy over the Bank of the United States, the brain child of Alexander Hamilton. We learn that Jackson was against it, saying it financed the political campaigns of his enemies, and that Nicholas Biddle, the Bank president, was for it. Nowhere does he discuss the merits of the bank (remember, this was before there was a federal reserve) or whether Jackson’s allegations of favoritism toward his rivals had any substance to them. Only one paragraph is devoted to the fact that a financial panic and severe depression struck the country only months after Jackson left office. Meacham mentions that there is “much historical debate” over the effects of Jackson’s economic policies, but doesn’t characterize or even describe the debate.

Meacham’s description of Jackson as a person is well wrought. He owned 150 slaves, and freed none of them, even upon his death. He was formidable and an exceptionally strong leader. After Jackson’s death, when one of his slaves was asked whether he thought Jackson had gone to heaven, the slave answered, “If the General wants to go, who’s going to stop him?”

He was the first president to use the veto power against legislation simply because he disagreed with it—prior presidents had vetoed only bills they thought were unconstitutional. He justified his exercise of power on the fact that the president was the only person elected by “all the people.” In those days, senators were elected by state legislatures. This exercise of power, however, included the tendency to reward those loyal to him and punish his enemies. But the conflicts were couched in such a way as to make it seem as if it were the will of the people versus a disdainful elite. Meacham does not analyze the repercussions of this type of populism.

Rating: This book focuses too much on the personal to the detriment of the political. In the current political climate, readers could benefit by learning about a president who claimed to represent the little people, and then used to office to go after his internal enemies no matter what the cost to country and decency. Those who choose this book should make careful comparison to other historical treatments of Jackson, in order to get the full story.

(JAB) ( )

This well written book focuses on the personal life of Jackson especially the role of his beloved niece and nephew. Jackson's life story is fascinating and, in many ways, the issues of his times were a "dress rehearsal" for the Civil War. ( )

I found this book good reading. It is magnificently researched, with really extensive page notes and a 13-page bibliography. Meacham effectively shows that there is much admirable about Jackson and his presidency, even tho Jackson's Indian removal policy is morally indefensible and Jackson was oblivous to the moral wrong of slavery. The book is nicely chronaolgical, and I found it was eminently readable--'dry' subjects like the war against the U.S. Bank and the removal of Government funds therefrom being ably and not over-exhaustingly presemted. I liked the book better than i expected to, since I did read Remini's magisterial three-vlume biogrphy of Jackson, and Schlesinger's The Age of Jackson--but that has been a while ago, and I found this book reading I much enjoyed ( )

Andrew Jackson is one of my favorite figures in American History. Unfortunately, this book doesn't really explain why.

American Lion concentrates on Jackson's presidency. Maybe it really was that unremarkable, but Meacham spends too much time doting on the largely uninteresting affairs of his associates and not enough discussing foreign policy or the forced removal of Native Americans beyond the Mississippi. Of the issues that are discussed at length was South Carolina's first attempt at seccession, and the destruction of the Second Bank of the US.

Jackson was very much a populist...Meacham tells us time and again that he was an ally of the people against the mechanations of the powerful elite. This laid the foundations of the Democratic Party. I didn't think he did a good job explaining how and why that mattered...how the common man benefited from the Bank destruction, or what they were thinking in the North when Calhoun and his cronies were trying to make a case for destroying the Union.

Meacham seemed intent on building sympathy for Jackson, beginning with the death of his beloved wife and the health problems and untimely deaths suffered by Jackson's inner circle and himself. I think Jackson would have mocked that characterization. He was a consummate hard-ass, who expected history to judge him favorably even if he was in a daily struggle. Kind of like this book. ( )

This was a pretty good book about former president Andrew Jackson. The biography was thorough and the reader really did get a chance to see what type of president Andrew Jackson was and the close people around him. The book did get a little slow at times which made it difficult to finish but it was worth it because there is a great deal of knowledge in this book that the reader gains. This is a great book for anyone who is particularly interested Andrew Jackson or American history. ( )