Defending the Union

This essay contends that we can better understand Andrew Jackson's distinctive account of federalism by looking outside the Jeffersonian and Jacksonian political traditions. More appropriate peers for Jackson, as a constitutional statesman, are John Marshall and Abraham Lincoln. Existing treatments of Jackson miss these connections because they focus primarily on his roles as party leader and reformer, to the neglect of his constitutional statesmanship. A major cause of this neglect is the apparent inconsistency between Jackson's “nationalist” account of the Union in the Nullification Proclamation and his advocacy of “states' rights” elsewhere, a tension that can be resolved by a closer reading of Jackson's rhetoric. Among other things, this redefinition of Jackson's legacy demonstrates that there is no necessary tension between a strong union and meaningful limits on federal power; nor is there a necessary affinity between narrow construction of federal power and state-compact theory

Constitutional law · Federalism · Jeffersonian democracy · Law and economics · Nullification · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Proclamation · Rhetoric · Sociology · Theology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Philosophy · Political Theory and Influence

• Constitutional Text and Institutional Development

  Matthew S Brogdon•American Political Thought•2016

  Incluir item

• Neither Nullification nor Nationalism

  Sean Beienburg•American Political Thought•2018

  Incluir item

• Calhoun and Conservative Reform

  John G Grove•American Political Thought•2015

  Incluir item

• Political Jurisprudence and the Role of the Supreme Court

  Matthew S Brogdon•American Political Thought•2017

  Incluir item

• The Federalist

  Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Fletcher Wright et al.•Federalist•1961

  Incluir item

• The Union at Risk

  Norman D Brown, Richard E Ellis•Journal of the Early Republic•1987

  Incluir item

• Correspondence of Andrew Jackson

  Erik McKinley Eriksson, John Spencer Bassett•The Mississippi Valley Historical…•1926

  Incluir item

• The Myth of the Modern Presidency

  Kendrick A Clements, David K Nichols•Journal of American History•1995

  Incluir item

• The Union at Risk

  Richard B Latner, Richard E Ellis•The Journal of Southern History•1988

  Incluir item

• The Presidency of Andrew Jackson

  Marc W Kruman, Donald B Cole•Journal of American History•1994

  Incluir item

• The Concept of a Perpetual Union

  Kenneth M Stampp•Journal of American History•1978

  Incluir item

• The American Constitution

  H G Nicholas•International Affairs•1949

  Incluir item

• States' Rights and the Union

  Michael Les Benedict, Forrest Mcdonald•American Journal of Legal History•2000

  Incluir item

• Andrew Jackson and the Judiciary

  Open Access•Richard P Longak P•Political Science Quarterly•1956

  Incluir item

• The American Constitution

  Wilfred E Binkley, Alfred H Kelly et al.•The William and Mary Quarterly•1949

  Incluir item

• The Papers of Thomas Jefferson

  Merrill D Peterson, Julian P Boyd•The William and Mary Quarterly•1962

  Incluir item