American History Too!

This third episode of American

History Too! is all about one man – the seventh President of the United

States, Andrew Jackson (1829-1837).  In

particular, we debate Jackson’s role in the removal of Native Americans from

their ancestral homes in the East to newly allotted land west of the

Mississippi in the 1830s.

Before jumping into the Indian controversy, we bring you up

to speed with what’s being happening the US since our last podcast on the

Constitution – all in two minutes!  We

then dive straight into work of historian Francis Prucha and explain – with the

help of other historians such Mary Young and Jon Meacham – why his attempt to

rehabilitate Jackson’s image is greatly flawed.   We also debate Jackson’s legacy with regards to

the Native Americans – is Jackson a game changer or merely a colourful

character?

In addition, Richard Nixon is mentioned an obscene amount of

times for a nineteenth century podcast, Malcolm misguidedly attempts to rank Jimmy

Carter in the higher echelons of American presidencies, and we most definitely do not discuss the tariff. 

Finally, we answer our listener Francesca’s question on

whether – as suggested in The West Wing

– Andrew Jackson really did have a big block of cheese in the White House.

We hope you enjoy this third episode (which also features

improved audio quality from our first two efforts) and please let us know if

you have any comments, questions, or suggestions.

Cheers,

Mark & Malcolm

(Contact us on Twitter at @ahtoopodcast or by email at ahtoo@outlook.com)

Reading List:

         Francis

Paul Prucha, ‘Andrew Jackson’s Indian Policy: A Reassessment’, Journal of American History  56 (1969), pp.527-539 (available on JSTOR).

         Mary

Young, ‘The Cherokee Nation: Mirror of the Republic’, American Quarterly, 33 (1981), pp.502-24.

         Ronald

N Satz, "Indian Policy in the Jacksonian Era," in Leonard Dinnerstein

and Kenneth T. Jackson (eds.),  American Vistas 1607-1877 (New York and

Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1995), 211-227.

          Jon

Meacham, American lion: Andrew Jackson in

the White House (New York : Random House, 2008)

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