Liberty and Power The Politics of Jacksonian America

More than two decades after its first publication, Liberty and Power remains one of the most definitive sources on Jacksonian America to appear in the last century. In this enduring and impressive work, Harry L. Watson argues that the policy disputes of the nineteenth century significantly influenced the future of the Republic and the nature of its society and economy. With raucous political debates that often seemed to pit those who defended the ideals of liberty against those who asserted power, the clash between the leaders of the United States led to intensified public involvement in politics and enduring political parties. Updated to address twenty-five years of new scholarship, the book includes a new preface and afterword and an expanded bibliographic essay. Liberty and Power remains the best introduction we have to the age of Jackson. Book jacket.

Harry L. Watson, a professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is the author of Jacksonian Politics and Community Conflict and An Independent People.