Andrew Jackson vs Henry Clay or The Cultural Origins of the French Revolution

Andrew Jackson vs. Henry Clay: Democracy and Development in Antebellum America

Author: Harry L Watson

This dual biography with documents is the first book to explore the political conflict between Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay - two explosive personalities whose contrasting visions of America's future shaped a generation of power struggle in the early Republic. ln a clear, even narrative that outlines the economic, social, technological, and political dynamics of the early nineteenth century, Watson examines how Jackson and Clay came to personify the opposition between democracy and development. Following the biographies are twenty-five primary documents - including speeches from the Senate floor, letters to the new president, and Jackson's famous bank veto - that parallel the narrative's organization and immerse students in the debates of the day. Also included are headnotes to the documents, two maps, portraits of both figures, a chronology, a selected bibliography, and an index.

Booknews

A double-barrelled biography of the political rivals that Watson (history U. of South Carolina-Chapel Hill) sees as embodying competing visions for the future of the US: democracy and development. On the way he outlines the economic, social, technological, and political dynamics of the early 19th century. He also includes 25 primary documents, among them, speeches from the Senate floor, letters to the new president, and Jackson's bank veto. Distributed in the US by St. Martin's Press. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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The Cultural Origins of the French Revolution

Author: Roger Chartier

Renowned historian Roger Chartier, one of the most brilliant and productive of the younger generation of French historians now refashioning the Annales tradition, attempts in this book to analyze the causes of the French Revolution not simply by pinpointing its 'cultural origins' but by investigating the conditions that 'made it possible because conceivable.'Translated by Lydia G. Cochrane.

Library Journal

Chartier offers a challenging, authoritative synthesis of both old and new interpretations. Readers will be struck particularly by his recognition of studies done by English-language scholars. Three American historians who have especially influenced Chartier are Keith Baker (who has stressed the emergence of public opinion as a potent force with which the crown had to contend in the 18th century), Robert Darnton (who has shown that the hack writers of Grub Street were just as important as the major Enlightenment figures), and Dale Van Kley (who has demonstrated the significance of the political and religious controversies of the 1750s for the events beginning in 1789). Chartier argues that the Enlightenment was only one element in a wide range of cultural developments contributing to the secularization, the skepticism, and the decline of the crown's esteem in the decades prior to the Revolution. For scholars and specialists.-- Thomas J. Schaeper, St. Bonaventure Univ., N.Y.

Booknews

Chartier, a highly respected young French historian, describes the cultural conditions that made the French Revolution possible by first making it conceivable, and questions the assumed link between the transformations of the 18th century and rupture of the revolution. Translated from the French. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)