Historian of the Early American Republic

Matthew G. Schoenbachler

Author & Professor of History, University of North Alabama

Matthew G. Schoenbachler writes about the political and cultural life of early America — from the street politics of the 1790s to the myths Americans have made of their own crimes and Cold War encounters. He is the author of Murder & Madness: The Myth of the Kentucky Tragedy and, with Lawrence J. Nelson, Nikita Khrushchev’s Journey into America.

Books

University Press of Kentucky · 2009

Murder & Madness

The Myth of the Kentucky Tragedy

In 1825, Jereboam Beauchamp assassinated Kentucky attorney general Solomon Sharp — and with his wife Anna spun a sordid murder into early America’s most enduring romantic myth. This book peels the myth away.

University Press of Kansas · 2019

Nikita Khrushchev’s Journey into America

With Lawrence J. Nelson

In September 1959, the Soviet premier became the first Soviet leader to set foot in the United States — a thirteen-day tour of Cold War America, from a Hollywood soundstage to an Iowa cornfield.

Current Research

Works in progress

Alongside his published books, Schoenbachler is at work on several new projects in the political and cultural history of the early American republic.

In Progress

Andrew Jackson’s Bank War

A new history of Jackson’s war against the Second Bank of the United States and the political fight that reshaped American finance.

In Progress

The Trans-Appalachian Origins of Jacksonian Democracy

Tracing the frontier roots of the political movement that carried Andrew Jackson to the presidency.

In Progress

Cannabis in Antebellum America

A history of hemp and cannabis use in the decades before the Civil War.

Schoenbachler is also a contributing author, with Eric Foner, Wendy Wall, and others, to The Norton Mix: American History (W. W. Norton, 2013), a customizable primary-source reader for the U.S. history survey.

About the Author

Matthew G. Schoenbachler

Matthew G. Schoenbachler is a professor of history at the University of North Alabama, where he specializes in the early American republic. He holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in history from the University of Kentucky and a B.S. in history and commercial music from the University of North Alabama, where he later returned to teach. His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including the Journal of the Early Republic.