Trump and the Jacksonian Tradition
By Sean Evans, Chair and Professor of Political Science
Feb 3, 2017 -
By placing a portrait of Andrew Jackson in the Oval Office, Donald Trump is claiming leadership of the Jacksonian tradition in America. This populist nationalist tradition, according to scholar Walter Russell Mead, has always competed with the Jeffersonian, primarily libertarian, tradition, the Wilsonian tradition that promotes liberal, cosmopolitan values, and the Hamiltonian tradition that seeks to advance business interests.
The Jacksonian tradition differs from these other traditions in several ways. First, Jacksonians see the United States as a nation bound together by the social, cultural, and religious values of ordinary, historically white, Americans and is best illustrated by the melting pot that assimilated immigrants and made them “Americans.” This position contrasts with Wilsonian liberals who support multiculturalism which emphasizes what makes us different from each other and Jeffersonians who view American identity based on the idea of liberty.
Second, this emphasis on nationhood leads to a concern with promoting the physical security and economic well-being of ordinary Americans while allowing Americans to live as they wish. Thus, Jacksonians support the police and a strong military to provide security, government programs that help the working and middle class, and civil liberties that protect law abiding citizens. However, Jacksonians will not extend tolerance, respect, and aid to those they feel are not community members, like illegal immigrants, or who violate community norms, like criminals and those who do not work. In foreign policy, Jacksonians believe the international system is anarchic and violent and so we must protect our interests because that is what all nations do. This belief leads to trade policies that protect American workers and a more nationalistic foreign policy.
These positions contrasts with Wilsonians who believe in social democracy at home, global institutions to solve international problems, and emphasizing our common global humanity over our national identity. Jeffersonians generally agree with Jacksonians on civil liberties and a more isolationist foreign policy but differ in extending civil liberties to non-Americans and desiring a minimal government. Jacksonians also differ from Hamiltonians who support economic globalization.
Third, Jacksonians reflect a different cultural, political, and economic class than the other traditions that sometimes leads to a mutual disregard that makes understanding difficult.
The current rise of Jacksonian populism results from a fear that elites are not pursuing the people’s interests. Jacksonians see liberals embracing identity politics for every group but them and eagerly promoting dramatic social and cultural transformations. They see conservatives supporting economic globalization and government bailing out Wall Street but not Main Street. Fearing being sold out, they turn to a strong leader with simple solutions (e.g., Trump) who will look out for American interests first.
While Trump’s character faults will likely undermine his ability to reorient American politics, Jacksonians will continue to play an important role in American politics because Jeffersonians, Hamiltonians, and Wilsonians cannot govern alone while their policy differences make it very difficult to work together. These traditions individually overlap more with Jacksonians and so must form a coalition with them to be politically successful.
Ironically, these traditions need Trump’s supporters who will decrease their traditions’ own ideological extremism. The Jacksonians will constrain Jeffersonian libertarianism by only supporting reforms of middle class entitlements if they protect average Americans, force Hamiltonians’ to focus more on small business and national economic growth over the interests of multinational corporations, and make Wilsonian idealists exchange economic and social transformation for incremental change that lifts all people.
This column originally appeared in the Feb. 3rd edition of The Jackson Sun