The presidential election of 1828 is one of the most compelling
stories in American history: Andrew Jackson, hero of the Battle of
New Orleans and man of the people, bounced back from his
controversial loss four years earlier to unseat John Quincy Adams
in a campaign notorious for its mudslinging. With his victory, the
torch was effectively passed from the founding fathers to the
people. This study of Jackson's election separates myth from
reality to explain why it had such an impact on present-day
American politics. Featuring parades and public participation to a
greater degree than had previously been seen, the campaign itself
first centered on two key policy issues: tariffs and republicanism.
But as Donald Cole shows, the major theme turned out to be what
Adams scornfully called 'electioneering': the rise of mass
political parties and the origins of a two-party system, built from
the top down, whose leaders were willing to spend unprecedented
time and money to achieve victory. Cole's innovative study examines
the election at the local and state, as well as the national,
levels, focusing on New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Kentucky, and Virginia to provide a social, economic, and political
cross section of 1828 America. He describes how the Jacksonians
were better organized, paid more attention to detail, and recruited
a broader range of workers - especially state-level party leaders
and newspaper editors who were invaluable for raising funds,
publicizing party dogma, and smearing the opposition. The
Jacksonians also outdid the Adams supporters in zealotry, violence
of language, and the overwhelming force of their campaigning and
succeeded in painting their opponents as aristocratic, class
conscious, and undemocratic. Tracing interpretations of this
election from James Parton's classic 1860 biography of Jackson to
recent revisionist accounts attacking Old Hickory for his
undemocratic treatment of blacks, Indians, and women, Cole argues
that this famous election did not really bring democracy to America
as touted - because it was democracy that enabled Jackson to win.
By offering a more charismatic candidate, a more vigorous campaign,
a more acceptable recipe for preserving the past, and a more
forthright acceptance of a new political system, Jackson's
Democrats dominated an election in which campaigning outweighed
issues and presaged the presidential election of 2008.
General
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