Customer Reviews

Andrew Jackson: The Course of American Empire, 1767-1821. Vol. 1 (Volume 1)

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This is the first book in a trilogy of Andrew Jackson and it is a magnificent book. So many biographers bury their subject and forget that most readers what to know who their subject *was*, not merely what they *did.* Remini doesn't fall into this trap. He gives the reader a well-grounded and detailed look at Andrew Jackson as a man: his foibles, passions and prejudices, as well as his extreme ambition and vacillating brilliance.

Remini strikes a beautiful balance when examining Jackson's private life and military/political life. His examination of the Battle of New Orleans is absolutely riveting, and he weaves Jackson in and out of the narrative with rare poise and skill. The reader can actually picture Jackson in the midst of this battle, feel his emotions and understand the decisions he made. When a biographer can paint such a vivid picture, the reader will always be rewarded.

This is an excellent book for the entire spectrum of people interested in Jackson. Whether you are a neophyte or an established Jacksonian historian, there is much to enjoy, as well as new material. The footnotes and bibliography are excellent resources and lead to additional sources for the reader. The minute I finished this, I bought the second volume, "Andrew Jackson: The Course of American Freedom, 1822-1832," also available on Amazon. This first volume is truly an outstanding book

Whew!

It is hard to believe at the conclusion of this work that the hero's greatest days are still ahead of him, that there are two volumes yet to follow. [Remini notes that he had enough material for three more volumes, actually.] The first volume alone would have exhausted anyone who lived it and left the reader wondering how Old Hickory had anything left for an encore.

This first volume carries us to 1821, the 55th year of Jackson's life, when he resigned after an eleven-week stint as military governor of the newly acquired Florida Territory. By this point in the Jackson saga, one would not be surprised if the General slipped home quietly to Tennessee to die in the arms of Rachel. It had been a long, busy, troubled life.

Born in Carolina-which one is uncertain-Jackson's family was one of many in the South that suffered tragedy at the hands of British troops during the Revolution. Jackson himself was all of 13 when he joined the local militia and briefly spent time as a prisoner of war. When he returned home, sick and exhausted, his mother inexplicably left him alone and feeble at home while she traveled to Charleston, S.C., to tend other prisoners of war. While serving at Charleston his mother died of cholera. Jackson may have been a fearless young scrapper on the battlefields, but Remini summarizes his Revolutionary experiences as painful and permanently scarring.

Remini describes Jackson as a generally angry and depressed man throughout his ensuing adult life. He studied law and developed a practice in eastern Tennessee. He acquired a taste for land speculation and, in order to protect his investments as well as to enhance his reputation, he was an ardent supporter of the state's militia. It is fair to say that both Jackson's personal fortunes and those of Tennessee depended to an inordinate degree upon the strength of the state militia, which stood between the citizenry and the very real threats from hostile Indians, the British and the Spanish in the absence of wholesale federal protection.

It would be easy to imagine that Jackson's reputation rose steadily with the fortunes of his state. But Jackson never lived by convention. He was headstrong, brash, and frankly amoral. He involved himself in enough scandal to terminate four careers, let alone one. For starters, he "rescued" Mrs. Rachel Robards from an unhappy marriage without the benefit of the court. A number of his land deals turned sour or suspect. During his Congressional tenure in the 1790's he was alternately cantankerous and absent. In 1806, after serving a term as a justice of the state's superior court, Jackson engaged in a duel with Charles Dickinson over what was essentially a bad gambling debt. Dickinson, the better marksman, fired first and broke several of Jackson's ribs. But Jackson remained standing, and with Dickinson standing helpless in front of him, Jackson coolly killed him. Even by frontier standards, it was a ghastly event that left Jackson a social pariah for several years.

How low had the Jackson fortunes fallen? Consider that Jackson was forced to ride the coattails of Aaron Burr, of all people, back to respectability in Tennessee. Burr enjoyed considerable popularity for a time in Tennessee as he put together his "western expedition." Jackson came within a whisker of getting himself entangled in Burr's treasonous adventure. But as has been the case of many American politicians, what really saved Jackson's career was war, the long undeclared struggle with the Creek Indians and of course the War of 1812, which raised the name of Jackson to timeless hero. Remini depicts Jackson as a good, not great, military commander who used his advantages wisely: speed, familiarity with the Tennesseans who formed the bulk of his army, and a willingness to accept help from anyone, even local pirates. It did not hurt that the British made his job easier by peculiar military tactics, but such British arrogance had not detracted from Washington's victories, either.

Jackson himself was not convinced that the treaty with the British would establish permanent security for Tennessee and the lands south to the Gulf of Mexico. He thus devoted the next six years to what can only be described as a "cleansing" of what is now the southeastern United States. Despite Remini's objectivity and attention to detail, it is not always clear whether Jackson was acting upon his own initiative or upon orders from Washington. The federal government was certainly squeamish about Jackson's hamfisted diplomacy, if one can call it that, in his dealings with the Spanish in western Florida. Jackson was motivated by a deep conviction that Florida belonged to the United States regardless of what Adams and Onis might put to paper.

The Indian issue is more problematic. Jackson believed that Indians could not coexist with Anglo Saxons unless they settled and became farmers. Those Indians who wished to continue their ages old nomadic lifestyle would have to be relocated west of the Mississippi under Jackson's peculiar brand of eminent domain: move or be killed. The white men might refer to Jackson as "Old Hickory;" the Indians, more insightfully, spoke of him as "Sharp Knife." Remini describes several meetings between Jackson and regional Indian chiefs with a note of sadness, as well he should; Jackson relocated friends as well as enemies. From today's vantagepoint, this episode of Jackson's life is a reminder that American expansion carries its historical baggage of shame. Remini is not bashful about calling James Monroe to task for his posturing throughout this dirty business.

Remini subtitled this volume, appropriately enough, "The Course of American Empire." Andrew Jackson's fighting men knew him as "Old Hickory." History will better remember him as "Manifest Destiny Incarnate."

This first instalment in Remini's biography is not only the most detailed accout I have read, it is also the most human. Most biographers of Jackson paint him as simply the first super-patriot in american history. After reading this and it's companion volumes one sees just how much Jackson changed this contry that we all love so. Remini shows how J set us on the course of first continental, then international conqest. Without his seizure of the floridas there would have been no precedent for the future "annexation" of the remainder of the land we now call the United States. Anyone interested in american history would do well to study Jackson's life as well as his carrer in public life. Remini's biography is definetly the place to start.

One might argue that the hallmark of great men is that they fundamentally and permanently alter the world they inherited - its beliefs, its practices, its conception of itself. Andrew Jackson is one of those extremely rare individuals.

In this first of three volumes, which he subtitles "The Course of American Empire," Remini highlights the central role that Jackson played in opening up the early American frontier in the first decades of the 19th century. Long before the expression "Manifest Destiny" ignited the expansionist and nationalist passions of Americans in the 1840s, Andrew Jackson fought single-handedly - and occasionally circumvented direct military orders, the Constitution, local judges, and officially recognized international treaties - to advance American territorial expansion along the southern border and promote the removal of the Spanish, British and myriad tribes of native Americans.

Other salient events that Remini chronicles in this volume include Jackson's humble roots and tragic childhood during the American Revolution in the Carolinas; his move westward to the Tennessee territory to start life anew as a lawyer; the "facts" behind Jackson's much-disputed relationship with his wife, Rachel; his entry into local politics and emergence as a militia leader; his military exploits against the Creeks, the British at the Battle of New Orleans and the Seminoles; and, of course, the many duels, fist-fights and other outlandish events of his early life that he somehow managed to survive.

Much of Volume I reads like a "wild west" novel, but Remini is careful to accentuate how Jackson's natural rough hewn character, along with his experience on the frontier, melded to shape a political philosophy that ultimately altered the course of American government. There is little direct reference to the principles that would become known as Jacksonian Democracy in this volume - an undying faith in the virtue and wisdom of the people, the inviolability of the Union, the pernicious effects of deficit spending and "soft" currency, etc. - but it is easy to understand how and why Jackson cherished those ideals after reading the story of his early life.

Finally, it must be noted that Remini assiduously avoids holding Jackson's conduct in relation to slavery and the Indians to modern standards. In all fairness, that is understandable and not especially offensive. However, Remini does neither himself nor Jackson any service by going out of his way to stress how relatively humane (in Remini's mind) the president was to his human chattel and explaining that he really had the Indians best interests at heart when he forced them from their land to the barren plains of modern day Oklahoma. In this volume and the others, Remini offers some strongly worded criticism of Jackson's political, military and social performance, but his many heinous crimes against humanity are treated with kid gloves throughout.

Remini really has done something impossible and that is take a biography and make you sorry that the book has ended. Well, actually I am rather excited that I have two more volumes of this wonderful text to read.

Jackson really comes across as a true american hero with a definite attitude and you gather respect for the man as he really championed our country's expansive borders.

If you are a history-presidential buff then you have to read this book.

In the first of three volumes, Remini carries Jackson from birth to the tragic loss of much of his family in the Revolution, through his early years in politics, his duels, and the Battle of New Orleans, up to his term as first American Governor of the territory of Florida, acquired by his own military victories.

Remini admires Jackson, and argues persuasively for his huge historic importance - not just President Jackson, but the younger Jackson of this book, responsible for acquiring a large chunk of what ultimately became the Southeast USA in several Indian wars and treaty negotiations, the campaigns of the War of 1812, and his subsequent attacks on the Spanish colony of Florida. Many historians have condemned Jackson for siezing Florida without the explicit approval of the Monroe administration; Remini is convincing in his argument that Monroe must have known and encouraged Jackson's actions, although he was careful not to say so directly, since Spain and the US were not at war.

Remini doesn't by any means try to whitewash Jackson. The man shown in these pages is impressive but often distinctly unpleasant. Remini quite directly calls him a 'bully', and the story of his feuds and duels shows a man who is ruthless and foolishly ill-tempered. The ugliest part of the Jackson story is his treatment of the native tribes; Remini offers some half-hearted apologias for Jackson's ruthless treatment even of those natives who fought with him in his campaigns, but tells the facts frankly enough that most readers will come to a harsher conclusion.

Remini shows that Jackson's famous victory in the Battle of New Orleans was a closer thing than is generally supposed. Jackson carelessly left a crucial avenue open to the British, and a more determined general would have marched on the city and probably taken it before Jackson had his defenses properly prepared. As it was, the British foolishly gave Jackson sufficient time to settle in and fortify his line, only then attacking it with disastrous results. Although this battle is often viewed as an afterthought (the Treaty of Ghent, ending the war, was actually signed a few days before the battle was fought), Remini also shows that a British victory would have had real, and catastrophic, consequences for the US.

Along with the colorful and often complex story of Jackson's life and activities, Remini fills in the story with good explanations of the conditions of the period. In particular, he gives a good explanation of the values and traits of westerners, and East-West conflicts, at an early time in the country's history when the Pacific was barely dreamed of and the 'Far West' meant the Mississippi.

Remini's writing is excellent, and the biography is detailed and exhaustively researched without being pedantic or boring.

This is the first of a three volume set but if this one is anything like the next two are going to be, I am going to really enjoy the other two books as well. It is obvious that there was a tremendous amount of work put into tracking down all the details of Jackson's life. There were things that I have never heard of before I read this book. It appears that the author left no stone unturned in evaluating Jackson's life from his family life to his political life. There is plenty of detail regarding everything in his life. This has almost got to be one the best books out there on Andrew Jackson. The reader gets to understand why Jackson makes the decisions he makes by the author pointing out what kind of character he was plus other circumstances in his life that made him the way he was. The maps in the book help as well to show areas where battles were fought or land claimed to expand the American frontier. There were countless times when the author included what Jackson actually said or what somebody else important to the subject at hand said about him. It is a well written-well researched book. This was a set of books that I decided that I wanted after some friends and I visited The Hermitage in Nashville in July of this year.

I almost picked a shorter book about Jackson rather than try to tackle this three volume set, but judging by the first volume there is no question I made the right choice!

This is one of the best biographies I've ever read; not only is the subject compelling, but it is superbly written and the balance of information (like the selection of anecdotes and quotes) is perfect. It even includes a timeline and family trees (why don't more authors do this?). Also, Remini isn't afraid to offer analysis as he goes; it makes the book more interesting and I think it ultimately makes it more objective because you understand his biases.

My only quibble, and this is very minor, is the author (or publisher's) decision to blank out the swear words. Jackson swore to great effect, and this quasi-censorship diminishes that effect a little.

Andrew Jackson is one of the more complicated figures in American history. On the one hand, his significance to the development of the United States as a nation is large. On the other hand, he was often a very unpleasant person.

This first volume in Robert Remini's biography follows Jackson's life from his childhood through his governorship of Florida. Along the way, we learn of Jackson's brief roles in both houses of Congress and his period as a judge; it is later, however, when he joined the military (becoming a general through politics rather than merit), that Jackson rose to nationwide prominence, especially his overwhelming humiliation of the British in the Battle of New Orleans and his later dealings with Indians and the Spanish which led eventually to the U.S. acquiring Florida.

His military victories made him one of the most popular people in American history, but Remini pulls no punches with Jackson's flaws, including his often brutal and bullying nature and his tendency to violence. The ambiguous circumstances involving how he married his wife Rachel would lead to nasty talk during his presidential campaigns and his killing of a man in a duel (was it murder?) wouldn't help either.

Having been previously exposed to Remini's writing through his brilliant biographies of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, I knew this book would be a pleasure to read, and it was. Remini has written the definitive biography of Jackson, very detailed but always objective and always entertaining. If you want to learn of this era and of one its pivotal figures, this is the book to read (plus the other two in the series).

This book did a spectacualar job of any biography's first mission: to provide enough information both on the pros and cons of the subject to allow the reader to form opinions of his own, even ones that disagree with those of the author. Remini does a fine job of detailing the accomplishments of Jackson, but he also admits willingly that Jackson was far from perfect, and generally makes no attempt to sugar-coat the flaws in his subject. But what's even more impressive, is that even in the case of events that HE is willing to cut Jackson some slack in passing judgement on, he gives sufficiently clear and unbiased reporting to enable me in several cases to decide that I am NOT. Further, in at least one case, his apparent opinion of the merits of Jackson's actions is harsher than mine is.

This volume covers Jackson's life from birth through his governorship of Florida; if the next two volumes are as good as this, I do not anticipate needing any other biographies of Andrew Jackson. I cannot rate this book any more highly for someone who would like to learn about one of our most controversial presidents, without having his flaws glossed over, but without ignoring his legitimate accomplishments, either.