The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-04-02
BOOKS OF THE RO[R
CHARLES IL. PECK DISCUSSES 1.-THE
dACNSONIAN EPOCH" EN-
TERTAININGLY
GREAT MEN OF THE PERIOD
Clay, Webster, Calhoun, BentOn,
Crawford and the Younger Adams
Mr.. Peck Discharges His Self
ImDOsed Task With Judicial
Fairness-A Valuable COntribu-
ton to Analytical Histories.

"The Jacksonian Epoch" Charles ID.
Peck Harper Bros. New York, For
sale by the St. Paul Book and Station
cry company, $3.50.
one wonders, as he reads the notes Vi
this book, at the courage, bordering upon
zudacity. of writer who dares to enter
this well-gleaned field and attempt to
gather from Ii anything that had not al
ready been gathered and threshed and
wfirnowed over and over again. No pc
riod of our history, probably, is so rich
in photography, histories, memoirs. biog-
raphies. autobiographies and mono
graphs as is this. Contemporaneously
with this work there comes from the
press the fifth volunme of McMaSter )
-'fis1ory of the American People COW
ering the same period, with its sweeplngs
of quaint incidents from all the hooks ana
corners of all sorts of literary deposits.
so promiscuously jumbled together that
one comes to feel for it the same puzzled
wonder that Lowell expressed for Ger
man sentences. -----+
So the reviewer turns to the preface.
where authors make their apologies. eX-
plantations and declarations of Intent, to
find that the purpose of the work Is 10
make an attempt to accomplish two Cd
iects-a critical survey of the political
history of the United States, particularly
in its parliamentary phase from the
presidential candidacy of Jackson to the
accession of Tyler, with a preliminary re-
view OF the preceding period beginning
with the origin of the war of 1872 and to
exhibit the influence of the men VINO
shaped events.
other writer's have attempted the lat
ter phase. the analysis of the influence
OF the men who were forceful in shaping
events but no work has aimed to con-
meet this with a critical survey both OF
men and events and herein lies the JUS
tification of this entry on well-tllied
field The title invites attention to the
fact that a period embracing the activi-
ties of men of the caliber OF Clay, Web
ster. Calhoun, Benton, Crawford and the
Younger Adams should have been so
dominated by the personality of one man.
intellectually the inferior of any of them
that an author, without apology, without
the consciousness of the need of any.
terms 1T the "JackSonian Epoch. 1t
IS unique. in this respect, for there Is no
other period which any one man has
made so distinctively his own as to have
his possession generally admitted. Nor
is the word epoch" unfitly used 1t
may well be doubted If the mass who
carried jefferson into power sensed the
democracy of the man. and 1t Is quite
certain that what of 1t he infused into his
followers had lost its strength by the
time Monroe brought about the EZRA of
was epOchal because in it there arose that
wave Of democratic sentiment that swept
away many of the barriers that had pre-
vented its expression. If nothing more
distinguished it than the assumption by
the people of the power of naming, in
popular convention, their candidates for
the presidency, 1t would still constitute
an epoch in our history.
The reader is impressed with the close
ness with which the author adheres to
his purpose declared in the preface, to
make "a critical survey and with the
judicial fairness with which he discharg
his self-imposed task One cannot
discover anywhere an indication that he
loses for a moment the judicial poise;
the attitude is remarkably well sustain
cd from the first to the last page. This
geNration IS far enough removed from
the men and events to be free from
those preJudices and predspositions
that made Jackson hero to his parti-
sans and a fend incarnate to his oppo-.
nents. and that made some men worship
the Mill Boy of the Sla e. es, and others
regard him a shiftt hypocrite, but
enough of the feeling of those days sur
wives to raise, wherever 1t exists, q re-
sentiment at the cool. dispassionate man.
characters and motives of the men whose
conflicts gave direction to the events that
made history. 1t is a valuable contribu-
ton to the analytical histories of the
library.