A-Mouldering in Our Graves?

Abstract: This essay reflects on the challenges of using the past to make the present more legible to students who may be alienated by the implications. Always susceptible to abuse, historical analogies are even more fraught in an era of intense polarization. Nevertheless, Andrew Jackson's rise to the presidency with the support of "the common man," the implementation of the spoils system, racialized conceptions of citizenship, distrust of professional expertise, partisan suspicion of the loyalties of the US military's officer corps, and isolationist foreign policy impulses all resonate in the present crisis. The essay further notes similarities between the sectional reaction to John Brown's execution in 1859 and partisan reaction to the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, observing that the earlier case produced secession whereas the latter has resulted in an assault on progressive orthodoxy regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and, indeed, the truths of American history.