The Roots of American Individualism: Political Myth in the Age of Jackson

by Alex Zakaras

A panoramic history of American individualism from its nineteenth-century origins to today’s bitterly divided politics

Individualism is a defining feature of American public life. Its influence is pervasive today, with liberals and conservatives alike promising to expand personal freedom and defend individual rights against unwanted intrusion, be it from big government, big corporations, or intolerant majorities. The Roots of American Individualism traces the origins of individualist ideas to the turbulent political controversies of the Jacksonian era (1820–1850) and explores their enduring influence on American politics and culture.

Alex Zakaras plunges readers into the spirited and rancorous political debates of Andrew Jackson’s America, drawing on the stump speeches, newspaper editorials, magazine articles, and sermons that captivated mass audiences and shaped partisan identities. He shows how these debates popularized three powerful myths that celebrated the young nation as an exceptional land of the myth of the independent proprietor, the myth of the rights-bearer, and the myth of the self-made man.

The Roots of American Individualism reveals how generations of politicians, pundits, and provocateurs have invoked these myths for competing political purposes. Time and again, the myths were used to determine who would enjoy equal rights and freedoms and who would not. They also conjured up heavily idealized, apolitical visions of social harmony and boundless opportunity, typically centered on the free market, that have distorted American political thought to this day.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, American History, Philosophy, Cultural

432 pages, Hardcover

Published October 11, 2022

Reviews

[Katie Huffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay yes fire I learned a lot I did fr have to turn on my brain to understand but! Illuminating to understand that our particular brand of American dishonesty is old and well-worn. The push for a common-man president is also not recent, which feels both reassuring and frightening. I think Zakaras does a really good job of illustrating how these myths aren’t just political tools, but psychological ones, and they pervade the foundations of our national identity. The idea that social and economic shortcomings originate in personal character failures as opposed to federal policy inadequacies. The persistent commitment to a meritocracy in conservative thought. The fear that government intervention begets an entitlement society.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two chapters in I went online and bought his first book as well.

[Rachel Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars