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Jacksonian America: Society, Personality, and Politics
A perennial choice for courses on antebellum America, Jacksonian America continues to be a popular classroom text with scholars of the period, even among those who bridle at Pessen's iconoclastic views of Old Hickory and his "inegalitarian society."
399 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 8, 2014
Despite his outrageously high opinion of his own worth, Edward Pessen was always an absolute charmer and gentleman with young undergraduates. He always responded to even the dumbest question as if it demonstrated the most penetrating intellect on the part of the person having posed it. He was in other words the perfect pedagogue making every effort to build the self confidence of his students. It is thus with some sadness, that I have to say that his book is a colossal waster of time.
Pessen loudly asserts Toqueville did not understand Jacksonian America. His prime line attack against de Toqueville was that American democracy was not nearly as egalatrian as de Tocqueville said it was nor was social mobility as easy as it was in opinion the Tocqueville. At this point Pessen has dug himeslf into a hole from which he will never be able to climb out of.
Tocqueville was referencing his native Europe when he asserted that America was characterized by social mobility and an egalitarian distribution of wealth. Indeed it was, the noble families of France and England had managed to retain into the nineteenth century their enormous landholdings acquired as par back as the twelfth century. All bishoprics, important civil service jobs and the commissioned ranks in the military were still reserved for the nobility. The only way open to commoners for social advancement were the highly risky fields of industry and commmerce. The nobles were certainly right to think that old money which was based on debt free land was better than new money was based on high leverage. Pessen is obviously making a fool of himself by asserting that Amercian was not egalitarian when he never makes it clear what he is comparing it to.
As far as I can tell, Pessen is using an utopian vision such as that presented by Edward Bellamy in looking backward when he states that Jacksonian America was not an egalitarian society characterized by high social mobility. This is a pathetic thing to observe. An historian attacks a political theorist on his home ground (i.e. history) and then fails to identify an appropriate historical point of reference.
Given the large number of high quality monographs that appear every year in the United States, there is absolutely no justification for continuing to teach this wretched book.
Pessen loudly asserts Toqueville did not understand Jacksonian America. His prime line attack against de Toqueville was that American democracy was not nearly as egalatrian as de Tocqueville said it was nor was social mobility as easy as it was in opinion the Tocqueville. At this point Pessen has dug himeslf into a hole from which he will never be able to climb out of.
Tocqueville was referencing his native Europe when he asserted that America was characterized by social mobility and an egalitarian distribution of wealth. Indeed it was, the noble families of France and England had managed to retain into the nineteenth century their enormous landholdings acquired as par back as the twelfth century. All bishoprics, important civil service jobs and the commissioned ranks in the military were still reserved for the nobility. The only way open to commoners for social advancement were the highly risky fields of industry and commmerce. The nobles were certainly right to think that old money which was based on debt free land was better than new money was based on high leverage. Pessen is obviously making a fool of himself by asserting that Amercian was not egalitarian when he never makes it clear what he is comparing it to.
As far as I can tell, Pessen is using an utopian vision such as that presented by Edward Bellamy in looking backward when he states that Jacksonian America was not an egalitarian society characterized by high social mobility. This is a pathetic thing to observe. An historian attacks a political theorist on his home ground (i.e. history) and then fails to identify an appropriate historical point of reference.
Given the large number of high quality monographs that appear every year in the United States, there is absolutely no justification for continuing to teach this wretched book.
February 13, 2010
Although its most recent edition is nearly thirty years old, this book is a model history in almost every respect. Chapters on the American personality and the new political system of the Jacksonian Era are excellent, and the rest of the book is a fine synthesis of the work of Douglass North, Herbert Gutman, Robert Doherty, and many others. The fact that it's beautifully written and well structured doesn't hurt its cause, either. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews