May 10, 2015 Biography of Andrew Jackson Is Subject of Book Program

“Andrew Jackson, Southerner” Offers Reassessment of President as “Old Hickory”

Press Contact: Guy Lamolinara (202) 707-9217
Public Contact: Center for the Book (202) 707-5221
Contact: Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or ADA@loc.gov.
Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or ADA@loc.gov

History has often depicted Andrew Jackson as a frontiersman who struggled to overcome the obstacles of his backwoods upbringing and helped create a more democratic America. A new biography casts him in a different light, as an elite Southern gentleman.

Mark R. Cheathem will discuss and sign his biography, “Andrew Jackson, Southerner” (Louisiana State University Press, 2013), on Tuesday, May 12, at noon in the Montpelier Room, located on the sixth floor of the James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. This Books & Beyond event is co-sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and the Library’s Manuscript Division, which houses the Andrew Jackson Papers and where Cheathem did much of his research. The event is free and open to the public; no tickets are required.

According to Cheathem, Jackson “ensconced himself in an exclusive social order by marrying the daughter of one of [Nashville’s] co-founders, engaging in land speculation and leading the state militia.” These ventures enabled Jackson to own several plantations cultivated by the labor of almost 200 slaves. His military successes eventually propelled him into the national political arena in the 1820s, where he won two terms as president.

Mark R. Cheathem is an associate professor of history at Cumberland University and the author of “Old Hickory’s Nephew: The Political and Private Struggles of Andrew Jackson Donelson.”

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PR 15-085
2015-05-11
ISSN 0731-3527