numerous books, including the critically acclaimed Henry Clay: The Essential American and the award-winning Washington’s Circle: The Creation of the President.The Heidlers applied the “Page 99 Test” to their new book, The Rise of Andrew Jackson: Myth, Manipulation, and the Making of Modern Politics, and reported the following:
Page 99 of The Rise of Andrew Jackson: Myth, Manipulation, and the Making of Modern Politics provides an overview of Jackson's 1818 invasion of Spanish Florida. While the event forms part of the background in the discussion of Jackson’s political viability, in a way, it defines an important facet of Jackson's quest for the presidency. A strange circumstance that recurs throughout the book is that of negatives — events that would have sunk any other candidate at any other time — becoming positives that burnish Jackson’s luster rather than tarnishing his reputation. His Florida foray was unconstitutional (he made war on a foreign power without congressional authorization) and could have been diplomatically disastrous, but the political establishment confronted in Jackson a man of enormous popularity and decided to let the matter pass. Meanwhile, those who did criticize Jackson came off as quibbling ankle biters and were a stark contrast in the public’s perception of Jackson as a man of action and an unabashed patriot. Widespread approval of Jackson’s invasion of Florida went far in convincing important political operatives that his national appeal was durable, and that realization urged on their redoubled and persistent efforts to put him in the White House, a goal finally achieved in 1828.Learn more about the book and authors at David S. and Jeanne T. Heidler's website.
My Book, The Movie: The Rise of Andrew Jackson.
--Marshal Zeringue
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