The Roots of American Individualism: Political Myths in the Age of Jackson.

• Author: Hoff, Samuel B.

Zakaras, Alex. The Roots of American Individualism: Political Myths in the Age of Jackson. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2022. X + 418 pages. Hardcover, $31.63.

Alex Zakaras, an associate professor of political science at the University of Vermont, explores how American individualism perpetuated myths that were most prominently manifested in the Jacksonian era. Tapping a variety of sources, he demonstrates that both Democrats and Whigs during the aforementioned period defined their own version of individualism as it pertained to economic, political, social, intellectual, and moral components of society.

Containing a total of eleven chapters, the book is split into four parts. The first two chapters include an Introduction and identification of three foundational myths, all of which sought to express what it meant to be American. Today, we view the Jacksonian period as a critical time for the formation of popular narratives due to its features, which included the advent of mass democracy and economic changes caused by new technologies, infrastructure projects, expanding credit, and increasing demand for products. The myths, which conveyed a utopian vision of America, encompassed that of the independent proprietor, the rights-bearer, and the self-made man.

Part I covers three chapters and explains the independent proprietor myth through which American society is seen as a province of independent persons who control their own livelihoods. The enemies of independent proprietors during the Jacksonian Era comprised anything which could be attacked as aristocratic, such as banks, factory owners, and land speculators. While white men were included as part of this myth, Native Americans, Black Americans, and women were excluded.

Part II combines three chapters and deals with the right-bearer myth, defined as Americans united by a shared desire to secure natural rights against political oppression. Like the independent proprietor myth, mostly Democrats enunciated this myth. It emphasized the value of labor, the importance of the free market, and the perpetuation of natural rights. Scottish political ideals influenced the latter areas, through Protestant religion and Newtonian scientific concepts. While the rights-bearer myth was ostensibly liberal, it too excluded anyone other than white men, according to the author.

Part III is structured as a single chapter and describes the myth of the self-made man. This myth was more associated with the...