Table Of Contentthe roots of american
individualism
The Roots of American
Individualism
po liti cal myth in the
age of jackson
alex zakar as
prince ton university press
Princeton & Oxford
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Tess
contents
Acknowl edgments ix
1 Introduction 1
2 Foundational Myths 12
part i. the in de pen dent proprietor 33
3 Republican Origins 35
4 Jacksonian In de pen dence 54
5 Democracy 81
part ii. the rights- bearer 105
6 Producers’ Rights 109
7 The Free Market 132
8 Rights against Slavery 160
part iii. the self- made man 199
9 Freedom in the Conservative Mind 203
vii
viii contents
part iv. aftermath 241
10 Industrialization 243
11 Conclusions 268
Appendix: On the Meaning(s) of Individualism 287
Notes 295
Index 399
acknowl edgments
in the eight years it took me to write this book, I benefited im mensely
from the help and generosity of others. I had four terrific undergraduate re-
search assistants, each of whom contributed valuable evidence and detail to
the manuscript: Sophia Billias, Brendan Hersey, Carrie Madden, and Audrey
Oliver.
My colleagues and my department at the University of Vermont have been
consistently supportive and encouraging. I want to thank Bob Taylor and Pat-
rick Neal in par tic u lar, who helped me think through all stages of this proj ect
and who read and commented on drafts of each and every chapter. Amani
Whitfield offered me very helpful advice and feedback on many diff er ent parts
of the manuscript. Melanie Gustafson gave me incisive comments on chap-
ter 10 and pointed me toward relevant lit er a tures.
I received funding from the University of Vermont’s Humanities Center,
whose support in 2019–20 allowed me to make valuable pro gress on the manu-
script in its later stages. I also benefited from a generous grant from the Louis
Rakin Foundation, which enabled me to or ga nize a manuscript workshop in
2019. I’m grateful to the Yale Department of Po liti cal Science and to Steven
Smith in par tic u lar for hosting me during my sabbatical in 2013–14.
A number of scholars beyond UVM read part or all of the manuscript, and
I learned a g reat deal from their comments and suggestions. I want to thank
Joshua Lynn most of all for his sustained and detailed comments on the entire
manuscript. Josh was exceptionally generous with his time— and his consider-
able expertise— over the last several years. Along with Amani and Josh, Harry
Watson, Jason Frank, and Timothy Breen also participated in my manuscript
workshop in the summer of 2019, and each gave me excellent feedback and
advice— I am very grateful to all three. Many o thers have read and commented
on chapters of the manuscript over the years, including W ill Barndt, Eric Beer-
bohm, Josh Cherniss, Yiftah Elazar, Bryan Garsten, Lisa Gilson, Michael
ix
x acknowle dgments
Lienesch, Luke Mayville, Susan McWilliams, Danilo Petranovich, Jim Read,
Jeff Sklansky, Steven Smith, and Jack Turner.
I am deeply grateful to the librarians at the University of Vermont’s Howe
Library, who provided substantial help and support throughout this proj ect.
I am especially indebted to Lisa Brooks and Sarah Paige, who tracked down
countless obscure sources for me.
Special thanks, also, to Rob Tempio at Prince ton University Press, who
believed in this book and helped me bring it to fruition, and to the press’s
anonymous reviewers, whose thoughtful comments helped me improve and
reshape the book in impor tant ways.
Portions of chapter 7 were previously published in Alex Zakaras, “Nature,
Religion, and the Market in Jacksonian Political Thought,” Journal of the Early
Republic 39, no. 1 (2019): 123–133, and appear courtesy of the Society for
Historians of the Early American Republic and the University of Pennsylvania
Press.
This book reflects the influence of a g reat many teachers who have influ-
enced my thinking over the years and inspired my love for the history of ideas.
In par tic ul ar: Tom Goepel, Joel Greifinger, Pratap Mehta, Tyler Roberts, Louis
Miller, Philip Fisher, Seyla Benhabib, Jonathan Allen, George Kateb, Stephen
Macedo, Jeff Stout, Philip Pettit, Charles Taylor, and both my parents, who are
gifted and passionate teachers in their own right.
Fi nally, I would be nowhere without the love and support of my f amily: my
wife, Tess, and daughter, Charlotte, my parents, and my brother Michael.
Every day, they remind me of what’s r eally impor tant. They also contributed
significantly to the book itself: Mom’s trained editorial eye helped me figure
out the book’s structure and draw out its main storylines; countless conversa-
tions with Dad pushed me to sharpen and refine my ideas; Tess lovingly pro-
tected my research time, even through the pandemic’s stresses, and her astute
questions and insights helped me improve the book in many ways.
