Watson’s Andrew Jackson vs. Henry Clay is one of the greatest dual bibliographies of political personalities to be written in the early 19th century setting. The book entails a plethora of arguments regarding democracy and development of the United States in the first half of the 19th century. The setting of the book covers an important aspect of the American history between 1812 and 1850 (Watson, 1998). This error covered the national political environment during the 1812 War and the territorial crisis of 1850. The 1812 War was a military conflict between the United States and the United Kingdom and some of its colonies in North America. One of the reasons that prompted the US to declare the war was economic restrictions imposed by the war between France and the British. Ultimately, this war shaped the rise of generals such as Andrew Jackson. 1852 was characterized by territorial wars between the North and South. The stalemate led to the Nebraska-Kansas Act of 1854. This historical era is what characterized the events that are presented in the book. The author’s argument is on the contributions of the two political antagonists, Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay, in shaping the United States. The main thesis is that the clash between the two personalities is what shaped the key national issues between 1812 and 1952 in regards to commitments to banking, national political culture, unions, and internal economic development in the United States. This shows that the clash between the two personalities was advantageous to the United States as the outcome was positive.
Every author presents evidence to support the thesis he or she develops in any piece of work. In this book, Watson applied his expertise as a professor of history by summing up insurmountable evidence to support his arguments and conclusions. In writing the biographies of the two political antagonists, he had to attach various documents as evidence in support of the arguments made regarding the bank tariffs, political culture, and the economic development within and outside the US borders. The author provides 25 primary documents following the biographies. The documents are inclusive of letters to the new president, portraits of the two personalities, maps, senate speeches, and Jackson’s bank veto. Watson decided to use the documents as attachments to the biographies of the two figures to give a deeper meaning to his sentiments on what they did, what they said, and how they did and said something. In addition to the physical evidence, Watson also refers to different people within the administration and outside Jackson’s administration and quotes what they did and said about the two figures. These pieces of evidence are adequate enough to convince any school of thoughts that Watson applied his prolific attribute as a writer in writing the book. Every writer is required to provide significant evidence and substantiate the evidence in whichever means that is highly objective from the audience’s perspective.
The use of evidence in any piece of literature or writing takes different forms depending on how it persuades the audience. Watson used diverse evidence in this book to illustrate the events that took place in the era when the two figures were actively involved in the US politics. For instance, the bank veto is attached as evidence to support the author’s argument on Jackson’s influence on the banking sector at that time in history. The 1832 bank veto was an opposition to the Bank of the United States in response to banking proposals that would allegedly hurt the common citizen and contrary to the constitution of the United States (Watford, 1998). In addition to this document, there are other documents from both sides that the author used objectively to add credibility to his arguments. The engagement between Jackson and Clay are presented by various excerpts of their speeches within the political arena of the United States. Other speeches evident in the book originated from the senate. When one talks about the contribution of the two figures in shaping the political and economic development of the United States, it becomes easier to refer to the speeches on democracy. Therefore, the book is realistic in the manner in which it covers the arguments and conclusions on the two personalities. The documents are reliable and their sources easily retrievable. This technique of writing adds substantial objectivity that is required in any piece of writing, especially in writing biographies of prominent figures. The reader can easily substantiate the information given in the book by referring to other historic sources and documents that are easily accessible to the public. Fortunately, the evidence provided in this book can be retrieved from other sources; therefore, boosting the reliability and credibility of the concussions made by the author.
There is no doubt that Watson’s evidence supports his arguments. There are several instances within the book that show he uses the evidence to corroborate his assertions. For instance, when he says that Jackson and Clay clashed severally on matters pertaining democracy and development agendas, he provides speeches to support the argument. Moreover, Watson attaches the bank veto document to support his argument on how the banking issues were handled by President Jackson. The other evidence such as essays and letters also indicate the perceptions of different people during the antebellum era. The politics of that era were defined by the approaches used by the political leaders to shape their destiny in politics. For example, Clay relied on the bank veto to argue that Jackson was selfish and lacked special interest for the American society. This is the reason that affected Jackson’s 1994 presidential bid as he luckily won by a very small margin as compared to the previous election. In other matters, Watson’s evidence in the book conforms to the basics of what the reader expects and what he or she wants to know. Therefore, it is appropriate to postulate that the evidence offered in the book is timely, strategic, and very effective in supporting his arguments. The evidence enhances the credibility and reliability of the thesis and arguments presented by Watson in the book.
In conclusion, appreciation of the era that follows the antebellum America (1800 – 1850) is appropriate to create a relationship between the two eras. The civil war (1861 – 1864) came next after the antebellum era. The war erupted when seven states from the south declared their secession from the rest of the United States to form a confederate. The prompted the death of over 500, 000 people, destruction of property, and left hundreds of thousands injured. It can be argued that the happenings in the antebellum era either directly or indirectly set pace for the civil war. However, there is lack of evidence to support the argument.
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