The politics of individualism : parties and the American character in the Jacksonian era
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Bibliographic Information
The politics of individualism : parties and the American character in the Jacksonian era
Oxford University Press, 1991
- : pbk
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"First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 1991"--T.p. verso
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
In the fifty years following the Revolution, America's population nearly quadrupled, its boundaries expanded, industrialization took root in the Northeast, new modes of transportation flourished, state banks proliferated and offered easy credit to eager entrepreneurs, and Americans found themselves in the midst of an accelerating age of individualism, equality, and self-reliance. To the Jacksonian generation, it seemed as if their world had changed practically
overnight. The Politics of Individualism looks at the political manifestations of these staggering social transformations.
During the 1830s and 1840s, Americans were consumed by politics and party loyalties were fierce. Here, Kohl draws on the political rhetoric found in speeches, newspapers, periodicals, and pamphlets to place the Democrats and the Whigs in a solid social and psychological context. He contends that the political division between these two parties reflected the division between Americans unsettled by the new individualistic social order and those whose character allowed them to strive more
confidently within it. Democrats, says Kohl, were more "tradition-directed," bound to others in more personal ways; Whigs, on the other hand, were more "inner-directed" and embraced the impersonal, self-interested relationships of a market society. By examining this fascinating dialogue of parties, Kohl
brings us bright new insight into the politics and people of Jacksonian America.
by "Nielsen BookData"