The Age Of Jackson Summary

The Age of Jackson by Arthur Schlesinger Jr. is a book that is best described as a history of ideas, and particularly of the idea of democracy as it expanded in the 1830s and 1840s, embracing universal suffrage and economic as well as political egalitarianism. The book very much reflects the time in which it was written and the debates which it was part of, and, like much history of the period, seeks to refocus discussion of American history away from themes of frontier and nationalism.

Schlesigner's voice in the book is clear and open. His own biases and prejudices are on the surface, not hidden and not given any claims of a "disinterested" scientific approach. Yet his research and his mustering of support are thorough and meticulous, and
Perhaps, however, it is just as important to examine ideologies that go beyond the Jacksonian economic perspectives and focus on underlying religious and moral views. Schlesigner also wrestles briefly, and less successfully still, with the impact of immigration and the opening of the frontier on the development of American political ideas. In doing so, at the end of the book, however, he is more laying out the areas needing further work than attempting to actually tackle the issues in
For example, there is again an alliance between economic and religious conservatives as there was in the Harrison/Van Buren election. Other reviewers have criticized, for example, Schlesigner's finding of common cause with the radical Jacksonians given Schlesinger's predilection for "big government" liberalism; yet Schlesinger is very clear and insightful in showing how that the Jacksonian opposition's early view of limited government was inspired by the clear alliance of government and business at the time to the detriment of the common person, and that the view of government involvement developed significantly as the Jacksonians consolidated power and then watched it dissipate. We are once again in an era where the conservative party is increasingly the party of a bigger, more expansive and intrusive government, one which actively promotes policies geared toward conservative causes and business interests, and where liberals are, once again, more often the voice of governmental restraint. Schlesinger's analysis is helpful in tying together the development of differing approaches to government all in a common attempt to serve and respond to egalitarian social concerns. Schlesigner also is careful to call out the discontinuities between Jacksonian Democracy and the New Deal, highlighting in particular the struggles of the Jacksonians with