A Companion to Colonial America (Blackwell Compnaion to American History Series) Book

An excellent scholarly work by Dangerfield, covering the period 1812-1829 (or, basically from the War of 1812 up to Andrew Jackson's election to the Presidency). Dangerfield goes in-depth into the negotiations with Great Britain to end the War of 1812. He then talks about the political climate of the U.S. at that time. Much is made of the agrarian interests vs. the Eastern bankers who wanted high tariffs. Dangerfield also gives mini-biographies of the many political titans that dominated the scene back then: Clay, Adams, Jackson, Madison, Monroe, Gallatin, Calhoun, Rush, and Van Buren.

James Monroe's administration is thoroughly reviewed - Dangerfield highlighting how "The Era of Good Feelings" was more of a misnomer than a truth as there was a lot of underlying, sectional tension in the country. Dangerfield does a good job dissecting the disputed election of 1824, the vicious background of Andrew Jackson, the piety of John Quincy Adams, and the political gamesmanship of Martin Van Buren.

I am not giving this more stars only because I found this to be a dense read at times - Dangerfield really explores U.S.-British relations and it is easy to get lost with all of the personalities and issues involved, for example. Plus, he used some uncommon words such as "verdant" and "casuistry," which is a good thing because it forced me to learn what those words meant, but it slowed me down in reading.