Andrew Jackson

A Rhetorical Portrayal of Presidential Leadership

Amos Kiewe

• Publisher: University of Tennessee Press
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781621904489
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Andrew Jackson’s presidency and legacy have been the subject of much study. His career and life, particularly his actions as America’s seventh president, still reverberate in our culture today. Yet Amos Kiewe mounts a groundbreaking intervention into Jackson studies by focusing his critical lens on a little-studied aspect of the populist leader’s 1830–31 campaign and subsequent presidency: his creative use of the press. Jackson was a force for reinvention, cannily directing his speeches—like no previous candidate—to the public at large and garnering unprecedented newspaper coverage throughout his campaign and time in office. By focusing on public addresses, Kiewe is able to trace Jackson’s rhetorical political maneuvering through his early campaign and the major trials of his presidency.

With nuance and deep examination of Jackson’s rhetoric, Kiewe dispels the myth that Jackson was not an articulate writer, thereby clarifying historical perceptions of his presidency and relationship to the public at large. Tracing Jackson’s initial plans for the presidency through his campaign and early time in office, Kiewe sheds light on Jackson’s ambitions, viewpoints, and strategies and deepens the scholarship on the Tennessee soldier and statesman.

Andrew Jackson: A Rhetorical Portrayal of Presidential Leadership offers significant insight into one of America’s most famous—and infamous—presidents, and adds new and critical information to the study of rhetoric and politics in the United States.

Amos Kiewe is a professor and chair of the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies at Syracuse University. He is the author or editor of seven books including most recently Confronting Anti-Semitism: Seeking an End to Hateful Rhetoric and FDR’s First Fireside Chat: Public Confidence and the Banking Crisis.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction. Andrew Jackson: Pragmatic but Principled Rhetoric
• Chapter 1. A “Military Chieftain” and the Campaign Rhetoric of 1824
• Chapter 2. The First Inaugural Address: Projecting an Audience
• Chapter 3. The First Annual Message to Congress: A Blueprint for an Ambitious Agenda
• Chapter 4. The Maysville Road Bill Veto: An Early Warning
• Chapter 5. Nullification and Rhetorical Economy: Andrew Jackson’s Management of a National Crisis
• Chapter 6. Andrew Jackson and the Indian Tribes: An Uncompromising Approach
• Chapter 7. The Bank Veto and Rhetorical Leadership
• Chapter 8. The Second Inaugural Address: A Watershed in Presidential Power and Popular Effect
• Chapter 9. From Chief Magistrate to President
• Chapter 10. Images of Old Hickory: Visual Rhetoric in the Service of Politics
• Chapter 11. Parting Counsel: Andrew Jackson’s Farewell Address
• Chapter 12. Jacksonian Democracy and Rhetorical Entity
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index