Andrew Jackson

The United States of America has had many presidents that Americans agree were either great or awful, while some fall into a mediocre category of irrelevance. In many cases a national consensus has been reached on men like Abraham Lincoln and James Buchanan. But the president with the most controversial legacy might be "Old Hickory", Andrew Jackson. In his lifetime, Jackson came to represent what middle class Americans viewed as the quintessential American. Jackson had a modest upbringing, served as a teenager during the American Revolution, became a war hero during the War of 1812, and championed populism and the common American during his presidency. He also embodied courage and manliness, famously carrying a bullet from a duel in his body for decades until his death. On the other hand, critics continue to charge that Jackson's legacy is irreversibly stained by his stances on slavery and Native Americans. Jackson opposed the idea of secession but helped keep the antebellum slave system in place, but he is most notorious for his forcible removal of thousands of Native Americans, the best known being the Cherokees' "Trail of Tears". When the Supreme Court ruled that the state of Georgia could not impose laws upon the Cherokees, Jackson is popularly quoted (though apocryphally) as dismissing the decision, "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it." With Jackson as controversial today as ever before, the dueling narratives over his legacy often overshadow the man.

This eighth volume of Andrew Jackson's papers presents more than five hundred documents, many appearing here for the first time, from a core year in Jackson's tumultuous presidency. They include Jackson's handwritten drafts of his presidential messages, private notes and memoranda, and correspondence with government officials, Army and Navy officers, friends and family, Indian leaders, foreign diplomats, and ordinary citizens throughout the country. In 1830 Jackson pursued his controversial Indian removal policy, concluding treaties to compel the Choctaws and Chickasaws west of the Mississippi and refusing protection for the Cherokees against encroachments by Georgia. Jackson nurtured his opposition to the Bank of the United States and entered into an escalating confrontation with the Senate over presidential appointments to office. In April, Jackson pronounced his ban on nullification with the famous toast to ""Our Federal Union,"" and in May he began an explosive quarrel with Vice-President John C. Calhoun over the latter's conduct as secretary of war during Jackson's Seminole campaign of 1818. Also in May, Jackson delivered his first presidential veto, stopping federal funding for the Maysville Road and declaring opposition to Henry Clay's ""American System."" In July, Jackson's refusal to use his pardoning power to save an Irish-born mail robber from the gallows provoked a near-riot in Philadelphia. By the end of the year, Jackson was preparing for his reelection campaign in 1832. Meanwhile the sex scandal surrounding Peggy Eaton, wife of the secretary of war, lurked throughout, dividing Jackson's cabinet, sundering his own family and household, and threatening to wreck the administration. Embracing all these stories and many more, this volume offers an incomparable window not only into Andrew Jackson and his presidency but into 1830s America itself.

This original and timely book focuses on critical issues surrounding work and labour in Canada. It examines changes to the labour market and in the workplace, with a strong empirical component based on the most recent Statistics Canada data. An ideal text for Sociology of Work, and a wide range of courses in Labour Studies and Industrial Relations programs across Canada.

A first-hand glimpse into daily life on the Western Front that is riveting, informative and poignant. Hector Jackson left his family's British Columbia farm in 1915 to fight in World War I. Recounted through 130 descriptive letters, Jackson's idealistic adventure descended into the gritty reality of trench warfare when, as a newly-commissioned officer, he was catapulted into the Battle of the Somme. Against the odds, Jackson survived many of the great battles of the Western Front, to be awarded the Military Cross for gallantry under fire at Passchendaele and rise to the rank of captain. Gassed just ten days before the war ended, he joined the river of wounded flowing from the battlefield. Photographs illustrate the unique story told in these letters, from Jackson's farm life, through military training, to the grim existence of the Western Front. Andrew Jackson's introduction and historical narrative, along with helpful notes, weave these letters into a dramatic chronicle.