The roots of American individualism : political myth in the age of Jackson / Alex Zakaras.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zakaras, Alex, 1976- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845.

Jackson, Andrew.

Individualism--United States.

Individualism.

United States--Politics and government--1815-1861.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (432 p.)

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2022]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

"Individualism is a defining feature of American public life. It has many manifestations: it is evident in the prominence of individual rights in American public discourse, in Americans' enthusiasm for the market as a vehicle for personal freedom, and in the enduring American mythology of the self-made man. Most of all, it is manifest in the way Americans envision the drama of politics itself. Liberals and conservatives alike tend to imagine the individual standing proudly against an array of encroaching forces: big government, big corporations, intolerant majorities. The highest aim of politics, in this preeminent view, is to protect individual freedom and dignity from unwanted intrusion. This book investigates the origins of these tendencies in American political culture. It argues that they rose to dominance during the Jacksonian Era (1820-1850), as Americans came to grips with two great changes that swept through their society: the coming of democracy and the "market revolution" as historians have termed it. Both of these transformations, which crested in the first half of the nineteenth century, reshaped the way Americans thought about their politics and led them to challenge and revise many of the founders' political assumptions. It was during this period, as they came to see the United States as a free market democracy, that Americans fully embraced the individualistic narratives that have shaped our political thought and culture for the last two centuries. The book explores these dominant narratives-or myths-and their political and intellectual legacies in detail. To bring them into focus, it plunges into the lively and rancorous world of everyday political debate: into the stump speeches, newspaper editorials, sermons, and magazine articles from which Americans in the Jacksonian Era learned about their politics and forged partisan identities"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

1 Introduction

2 Foundational Myths

Part I. The independent proprietor

3 Republican Origins

4 Jacksonian Independence

5 Democracy

Part II. The rights-bearer

6 Producers’ Rights

7 The Free Market

8 Rights against Slavery

Part III. The self-made man

9 Freedom in the Conservative Mind

Part IV. Aftermath

10 Industrialization

11 Conclusions

Appendix: On the Meaning(s) of Individualism

Notes

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780691226309

069122630X

OCLC:

1333084675