Liberty and Power: The Politics of Jacksonian America

by Harry L. Watson

As an engaging and persuasive survey of American public life from 1816 to 1848, Harry L. Watson's Liberty and Power remains a landmark achievement. Now updated to address twenty-five years of new scholarship, the book brilliantly interprets the exciting political landscape that was the age of Jackson-a time that saw the rise of strong political parties and an increased popular involvement in national politics. In this enduring and impressive work, Watson examines the tension between liberty and power that both characterized the period and formed part of its historical legacy.

Genres: History, American History, Nonfiction, Politics, School, American, Presidents

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Harry L. Watson is the Atlanta Distinguished Professor of Southern Culture at the University of North Carolina. He is the author of Liberty and Power: The Politics of Jacksonian America and An Independent People: The Way We Lived in North Carolina, 1770–1820. His coedited books include Southern Cultures: The Fifteenth Anniversary Reader and The American South in a Global World.

Reviews

[Joseph Stieb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you want to understand Jacksonian Politics and the Second Party System? Do you want to comprehend complex, archaic issues like the Bank of the US controversy or the morphing of republican ideology? Do you not want to read Howe's titanic, if highly entertaining, What Hath God Wrought? Do you want a crisp, well-supported argument about how politics in this era developed? Read this book. It's not really for the general reader, but students of American history will both get a lot out of it and enjoy it. Thanks to my professor, Dr. Watson, for a clear account of an era I've always found confusing.

[Greg Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, elegant overview of Jacksonian America that avoids most of the usual compromises of a shorter work.

Less than 300 pages overall, Watson does a great job covering the changing political economy and events of the era, while also sketching out the various personalities and how they were shaped by it. Only caveat: the main body of the book itself was published back in 1990, but Watson bolsters his arguments with a postscript covering subsequent scholarship up to 2005.

[Udy Kumra · Rating 4 out of 5]

10/4/21: 4 stars. Pretty good book on Jackson-era politics. I enjoyed it overall.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is precisely the kind of book that I enjoy most and that is most beneficial to me as a high school history teacher. A concise survey of relevant scholarship and key trends of Jacksonian America, this book did a great job of clarifying for me some of the key economic, political, social and cultural events and trends of the 19th century. The book is also well-written and astonishingly easy to follow for a professional historian. I would recommend it for anyone who is interested in the forces that helped to create the United States into what it is today.

[Andrew Wehrheim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harry L. Watson has provided a very readable and substantive history of the developments and formation of the second American party system. He pays particular attention to the importance of republican ideology as well as the material impact of the Market Revolution and how these two forces helped to shape the Whig and Democratic Parties. He also centers his narrative, as the title implies, upon the person and ideology of Andrew Jackson and demonstrates how both the Democratic and Whig Party were formed in response to him and his political outlook. This is a very easy and engaging book to read that does a good job of incorporating the layers and complexity of thought during the Jacksonian era as well as that of modern scholars concerning the Jacksonian era.

I highly recommend this book for those interested in early American politics as well as the political environment that existed just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War.

[AFMasten · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my graduate students said it seemed old-fashioned political history. They wanted more social history (more about the lives of the workers, women, blacks, and others affected by these politics). They are never the focus, the politicians are. I've always loved Watson's description of the market revolution and all the changes it brought, but I must admit I found the chapters on Jackson less inspiring.

[Ryan Lurk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very objective historical review of the period. Would highly recommend for anyone that is more interested in the period of american politics rather than a biography of the man himself. It is refreshing to know that American politics has always been such a madhouse, even back to the decades following our countries founding.

[Hannah Lulu · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great explanation of pre-civil war America and the discourse and dichotomies of the predominate mindsets--including the beginning stages of a fully monied economy--that shaped our country and served as precursors to the civil war.

[MBethRock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative. The best party was the historiography afterward.

[Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for HIS-212. 3.5 stars. This actually wasn't terrible??? For being about Jackson, I'm pleasantly surprised by how it sucked me in.

[肥啾 H · Rating 3 out of 5]

To update notes later.

[Oolalaa · Rating 5 out of 5]

18/20

[Kaitlyn-is-Cool · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pure Garbage

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book quite a bit. Watson's narrative is very readable and engaging. His grasp of political development and the inner workings of the "second party system" is very informative, especially when he traces the essential issues and rhetoric into modern political issues, debates, etc. - something he does too rarely unfortunately.
To be honest, I actually decided to read this book to get a better grasp of the historical, political, cultural, etc. context of the beginnings of Mormonism. Too often, Latter-day Saints forget that that there was a whole country going through a vital process of development, self-discovery, and struggle with its identity while the LDS Church was also in its infancy and going through similar stages of its development. While Watson of course mentions some religious developments that are key to understanding this era of American history, religion is not a prominent player in his discussion. And it is often viewed as rather instrumentalist, meaning the political players use religious motives goals, themes, aspirations, and patterns to further political aspirations; or religious narratives become, in Watson's perspective, vehicles for political "evangelism" in one cause or another. This is unfortunate because it tends to lead readers to a rather minimalist view of the role of religion in American culture and politics, a view that other historians such as Frank Lambert, Mark Knoll, and many others , would object to.
But again, I still liked the book and found the information incredibly insightful and helpful for seeing Mormonism more clearly within the big picture of 19th century America. For example, non-LDS critics and LDS apologists on either side of the Kirtland Safety Society affair can't really explain what was happening without a thorough understanding and discussion of what was going on with the Bank Wars, the B.U.S. and the domestic and international factions that led to the Panic of 1837. Similarly, the contemporary developing understanding of "freedom of the press" with its perceived limits and implications in such episodes as how to handle slavery debates in Congress, abolitionist mail and newspapers, etc. forms a critical legal and Constitutional backdrop for the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor in 1844, an act for which Joseph Smith is roundly condemned by 21st century standards, but many Jacksonian political players would likely have been sympathetic toward, at least in principle perhaps.
I highly recommend this book!

[Eric Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

By far, the most concise yet thorough synthesis on Jacksonian era politics. As Stieb said, this is "What Hath God Wrought" Lite, but very much zeroed in on the political narrative (while placing politics well within the context of social and cultural developments across the early republic). Watson's principal argument is that behind all the boisterous partisan rhetoric of the era was a "serious policy debate" over the future relationship between liberty and power in the young United States. While Jacksonians usually lined up in defense of individual liberties and western expansion, and Whigs (primarily in opposition to Jackson) championed the use of governmental power to qualitatively "improve" the republic (and its moral character) without quantitatively expanding it, Watson is careful to illustrate how, for individual voters, the partisan calculus usually came down to local factors. Still, the advent of national political parties while contemporaneous shifts in the economic and social fabric of the country were causing increasing levels of anxiety for many, allowed for broad cross-sectional and cross-regional political alliances to arise. Because the Market Revolution touched every corner of the United States, albeit in vastly different ways, Americans had the beginnings of a common language with which to converse and debate over the changes they saw in their society and the directions they hoped the republic would move. As a narrative history, Watson's work is difficult to concisely review or summarize. Suffice it to say, however, that this is by my estimation still the very best Jacksonian era primer out there. (I'm a bit biased, perhaps).

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather flat read, in terms of writing style, but a very good synthesis of Antebellum American politics. Watson examines (what he terms) America’s exceptional legacy of democracy, through the shaping of antebellum political policy disputes. Watson considers economic issues of banks, the nature of currency, tariffs, and federal surplus, in terms of the professionalization of politics and the solidification of the two party system. He also considers the role of evangelical religion, the cult of domesticity, sexual politics, and popular symbolic nostalgia in the campaign of Harrison. Yet, according to Watson, Jacksonian ideology dominates the era, establishing the critical legacy of a political ideology concerned with the balance of power, that would lead to the Civil War and influence Populism in the second half of the nineteenth century. In his afterword, Watson confronts social historical criticisms of the market revolution paradigm.

[Gregory Pedersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't think I would enjoy reading this book as much as I did, as it was an assigned reading for one of my graduate-level history classes. I found this book to be highly informative, enlightening, and actually rather readable for a political history format. Watson offers a concise and in-depth analysis of the politics prior to, during, and immediately following the Jacksonian era of American government. That moment in history is where modern American politics was derived from. I would recommend this book to anyone who wishes to learn more about the development of our nation's political system. Watson's account is unbiased and well-rounded, and I would argue that this book is an excellent piece of historical scholarship.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full review coming soon. Suffice it to say that this is an outstanding book on Jacksonian America and a political evolution that still affects Americans today. It's well-written, concise, and covers a plethora of scholarship from the 1980s and early 1990s. It's also organized in such a way that teachers and instructors could easily develop solid argumentative lectures on the period 1815-1850. This book deserves wide readership. Scholars will particularly appreciate the extended afterword and bibliographic essay, while general readers will enjoy Watson's engaging style.

[T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for class, thus was forced to take it at a slower pace than I would have if left to my own devices. Watson does an admirable job including enough background as to not leave his less informed readers behind in the unfamiliarity of the Jacksonian era of US politics. If not for the sometimes jarring insertion of his own opinions (especially on the Presidency of Marin Van Buren), this book may have gotten higher rating from me. All in all, an enjoyable read and a nice place to start if one is looking to learn more about the state of American politics in the Antebellum period.

[Mathew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Watson does a great job of explaining how the U.S. moved from the Jeffersonian ideal of an Agrarian Economy to a Market Economy and the impact of this change on American politics and culture between 1820-1850. Topics of particuliar interest include; polarization of North/South relationship, increase of Federal power, comparison of wage labor to slavery and the building of transportation infrastructure.

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

***2.5 stars***

Kind of a flat read. Covered all the details that one would expect about this amazing era, but it felt a little "text-booky." I've gotten spoiled by some of the other historians I've been reading lately (Ellis, Elkins, McCullough), ones who dare to sprinkle some personality into their prose. Makes for a more enjoyable read.

[Kyle Worlitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly had to read this one for class. It was a decent overview of the subject. Nothing really to criticize here in that it was a fairly balanced presentation. It reaffirmed my views on Andrew Jackson. He is 25% hero, 75% monster.

[Jared Lovell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of good information packed into a fairly short volume. Does a pretty good job of trying to wade through all of the complexities Jacksonian era politics and the formation of the second two party system. It is not devoid of some of the typical mainstream views of this era. But overall, helpful.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best descriptions of Jacksonian American political history. Still relevant today; the basic tension between these two concepts is ever with us.

[Drew Dickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely one of those books that shapes how I see the world. A great political history of Jacksonian America that explains the continuing tensions between American concepts of freedom and order.

[Thomas Mackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This work is a reasonable brief survey but I prefered What God Hath Wrought as a survey.

[Lillian]

I would have finished reading it if I had time. A thorough analysis of early 1800s America, following the "agrarians vs. merchants" theory.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super engaging read about Jacksonian politics. Would recommend to nerds.

[Christopher Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, compelling, and educational. I found the afterword, with its blow-by-blow historiographical overview of the concept of a "Market Revolution," especially useful.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good, readable book. My only complaint would be that I wish the author explored more in detail the major events Jackson had to deal with during his presidency. You get a very broad idea of what was going on politically in American culture in this book.