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The Birth of Modern Politics: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and the Election of 1828 (Pivotal Moments in American History) Reprint Edition

by Lynn Hudson Parsons (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars 132
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The 1828 presidential election, which pitted Major General Andrew Jackson against incumbent John Quincy Adams, has long been hailed as a watershed moment in American political history. It was the contest in which an unlettered, hot-tempered southwestern frontiersman, trumpeted by his supporters as a genuine man of the people, soundly defeated a New England "aristocrat" whose education and political résumé were as impressive as any ever seen in American public life. It was, many historians have argued, the country's first truly democratic presidential election. It was also the election that opened a Pandora's box of campaign tactics, including coordinated media, get-out-the-vote efforts, fund-raising, organized rallies, opinion polling, campaign paraphernalia, ethnic voting blocs, "opposition research," and smear tactics.

In The Birth of Modern Politics, Parsons shows that the Adams-Jackson contest also began a national debate that is eerily contemporary, pitting those whose cultural, social, and economic values were rooted in community action for the common good against those who believed the common good was best served by giving individuals as much freedom as possible to promote their own interests. The book offers fresh and illuminating portraits of both Adams and Jackson and reveals how, despite their vastly different backgrounds, they had started out with many of the same values, admired one another, and had often been allies in common causes. But by 1828, caught up in a shifting political landscape, they were plunged into a competition that separated them decisively from the Founding Fathers' era and ushered in a style of politics that is still with us today.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0199754241
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0199754243
  3. Edition
    Reprint
  4. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  5. Publication date
    July 19, 2011
  6. Part of series
    Pivotal Moments in American History
  7. Language
    English
  8. Dimensions
    9.27 x 0.79 x 6.28 inches
  9. Print length
    288 pages
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"'The Birth of Modern Politics' is short, smart, well-written and well-researched. Lynn Hudson Parsons is clearly a fair- minded and scrupulous historian. So it feels a bit churlish to point out that his fine new book is not about the birth of modern politics."--Washington Post

"The author pulls no punches as he tells the real story of the fighting man's world that was the 1820s, an unheralded decade in textbooks that well deserves the full treatment it gets here....When you can read crisply written history from a trained historian with something profound on his mind, why go with popularizers and pundits? The Birth of Modern Politics is both the anatomy of a campaign and a clever dissection of partisanship. It engages with competing interpretations and ably recovers the spirit of a usable past."--Baton Rouge Advocate

"Sharply focused introduction to an election that fundamentally changed the landscape of American politics."--Kirkus Reviews

"Engaging and accessible account....This worthy addition to the excellent Pivotal Moments in American History series will appeal to general readers in public libraries and to historians who might want to consider it for courses."--ForeWord magazine

"The election of 1828 modernized American politics. A two-party mass democracy replaced the patrician republic created by the Founders. In 1828, the Jacksonians skillfully burnished their candidate's image, while the followers of Adams emphasized their program for nationwide economic development. Lynn Hudson Parsons respects Adams, but Jackson engages his sympathies."--Daniel Walker Howe, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848

"The Birth of Modern Politics will become the indispensable work on the formation of the antebellum political system. Scholars of early America have long awaited a modern study of the election of 1828, and this volume will delight and inform specialists and general readers alike. Each page contains deft assessments, crisp writing, and provocative analysis. Together with John Quincy Adams, this elegantly crafted study establishes Parsons as the leading authority on the 1820s."--Douglas R. Egerton, author of Death or Liberty: African Americans and Revolutionary America

"Lynn Parsons' Birth of Modern Politics is much more than a marvelously entertaining and balanced account of the modernity of the 1828 election between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. In brilliantly contrasting the divergent paths the two political leaders took to that contest, he offers valuable insights into major issues in United States political history from the Revolution to the 1830s. He deftly highlights both change and continuity. In showing that 1828 was a 'tectonic shift' in the bedrock that underlay the nation's social, economic, and political landscape, Parsons also points in timely fashion--highlighted by recent presidential outcomes and candidates--to the birth of the long tradition of anti-intellectualism in American politics."--Ron Formisano, Professor of History, University of Kentucky

"[A] valuable resource...few other accounts present the story as thoughtfully."--Journal of Southern History

"A lively, deeply-informed and fast paced look at a presidential election that changed America and American politics."--Karl Rove

Book Description

A brilliant account of the presidential election that forever altered American politics

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; Reprint edition (July 19, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0199754241
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0199754243
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.03 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.27 x 0.79 x 6.28 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 out of 5 stars 132

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Lynn H. Parsons

Lynn H. Parsons

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4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
132 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Jason A. Miller
5.0 out of 5 stars The forgotten corners of our history
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2018
Verified Purchase
"One of the earliest letters we have of John Quincy Adams was written at the age of nine to his father, asking for advice and a notebook. The earliest letter we have of Andrew Jackson, written at the age of twenty-one, challenges a man to a duel."

"The two parties whose outlines began to form around Adams and Jackson in 1828 began a dialogue that in many respects continues today."

"The Election of 1828" is based upon the belief that it analyzes the first "modern" U.S. Presidential election, with competing political parties, ad hominem attacks and aggressive campaigning, and fund-raising, campaign rallies, and campaign stops. The two participants -- Northerner Adams, son of the second President and a formidable public servant himself, against southerner Jackson, a plain-spoken rough-and-tumble military hero -- were a complete mismatch, and even though they were both nominally Republicans, had little in common either personally or politically.

By the parlance of today's time, Adams would be considered a big-government progressive who under-utilized his powers of office during his lone term (not completely dissimilar to Barack Obama), while Jackson would be an avowedly small-government conservative who would aggressively expand his powers in office in order to carry out his policies. This certainly has resonance today -- it did when I first read this book back in 2014, and is even more resonant today in 2018. Adams was one of the last of the original Federalists (the party of Alexander Hamilton, and the one implicitly claiming George Washington himself), while Jackson, whose campaign was orchestrated by Martin Van Buren (the Lee Atwater or Karl Rove of his day) ran on anti-Federalist themes that make him a forerunner to the modern Republican party. The terms "Federalist" and "anti-Federalist" have very inverted meanings today, with the current "Federalist Society" and its advocates espousing a strictly anti-Federalist agenda, as Jackson and Van Buren would have understood them in 1828.

Obviously the reader of this book knows the outcome of the election in advance -- Adams loses badly, although he obtains a modicum of revenge by returning to Congress and serving there for another almost two decades; Jackson serves two tumultuous terms, leaving his successor Van Buren with an untenable one-term Presidency, and now has a much-debated historical legacy. The excitement then lies not in the result, but in how well the goings-on in 1828 match up with modern times. The author here milks all this material for a fairly short book, spending half the material on the run-up, and the other half of the book on the campaign, the election results, and the aftermath, but there's still a lot to interest the reader.

While there are longer and more magisterial tomes out there now on both Quincy Adams and on Jackson, "The Election of 1828" is a very good introduction to the two men, and a good overview as to the state of American politics in the first election after the deaths of Adams the first, and Thomas Jefferson. Things are not so different today.
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J. Hughes
4.0 out of 5 stars A Nice Read
Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2012
Verified Purchase
Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams have always been two of the more interesting historical figures in american history. Jackson is a man that should be celebrated on one hand, and villanized on the other. John Q. is also fascinating as he was a brilliant man who really accomplished nothing of any value during his four years as President. Parsons does a very unique job weaving the seams of this story together and creating a cohesive and fun read on these candidates. This election of 1828 was one that really fired up the engines of bipartisanship in politics and help to shape the process that is so visible even today.

First, I will start with the positive attributes of the book before discussing the negative. This book is obviously not a biography of either man. The role of this book is to break into the story behind the story which led to a ferocious election in 1828. However, Parsons paints a unique picture of both men. She traces the origins and stories of both in a very clear and linear path. While I have learned about Jackson in history class this gave me some more information about his background. His life as a youth is not one that anyone should envy. He was the son of immigrants who endured the loss of literally everyone in his family. His climb to success was of course perilous as everyone knows that Jackson had a volatile temper. Parsons also laid a nice introduction for John Q. He is one that in some ways had a sad life. While he was born into privilege and well-loved, it seems that his life was not really his own and he was being trained for his future during his entire lifetime.

She also did a nice job developing the storyline as it was neither rushed nor drawn out. She traces the steps and the burgeoning friendship of two unlikely friends. The chasm of differences between Jackson and Adams could not be more pronounced and their mutual admiration is an unusual story. The alliance between them was not merely political and it seems that they had developed a genuine respect for one another. It was in fact the election of 1824 that caused a breach between the two of them. Henry Clay throwing his weight to gets Adams elected enraged Jackson and brought about the accusation that the process had been corrupted, hence the name "corrupt bargaining." Of course, Adam's presidency was able to accomplish very little. His educated manner and polished style really made Americans more disconnected from Adams and his policies as well as ideals widened the rift between he and Jackson. The media and the election process severed their friendship and introduced a more pronounced ugliness in politics.

Parsons makes the argument that this was the election that really shaped modern electioneering with the mudslinging, cheap shots and party bases. To a certain extent she has a valid point. However, she failed to elaborate that the election 1800 with Jefferson was charged with political fire and had its own divisive factions. She did bring up but it seems that she played it down a little. While Adam's father stated that parties were negative for America it does not seem that he meant it and while she gives much of the rhetoric of the early fathers she does not always discuss the ways in which they contradicted their own ideas. It is true however that Martin Van Buren "the little magician" really fired up a base for Jackson and helped institute a set of practices that helped foster strong political partisanship.

Overall, the book was well done. It is a short book in comparison but I think it accomplishes the mission that it sets out to do. All things in the book lead up to the year of 1828. The implications of that year do have long lasting effects on the modern process. I agree that political parties create a situation that is good for the party but not always for the community. Communities are often the victims of the political process and this was one the reasons the fathers were against them.... at least in theory. Unfortunately, it is a fact of human nature that people always find reasons to divide and the story of our nations history is no exception.
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