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1828 Decent A Democratic Revolt Of The People Analysis

Decent Essays

A professor from UCLA’s history emeritus department, Daniel Walker Howe, not only a professor but also an author of The Political Culture of the American Whigs (University of Chicago Press, 1980) and Making the American Self: Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln (Harvard University Press, 1970). (Pg. 92) Included in the article, Did the Election of 1828 Represent a Democratic Revolt of the People?, was Daniel Walker Howe’s article, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848. Howe’s article disagreed that the 1828 election was the result of the American people pursuing a democratic revolt. Overall, some of his supporting evidence included; statements that there wasn’t a true democratic party fully established, he mentions …show more content…

After reading both sides, one may feel more comfortable with Howe’s point of view, because he made me feel that it was premature to claim that the 1828 was when the people wanted to make a transition to a democratic government. Some may find that it was premature, because one could conclude from the UCLA professor’s article that the term had only just started being used, and that they didn’t even always call themselves democrats. Also, it may appear that the term “democrat” was fully established even throughout the political atmosphere, so it seems to me to be inappropriate to say that Jackson’s victory was a democrat revolt of the people, because the reader could feel as the people don’t understand the difference between a republican and a democrat, but instead saw the difference between Jackson and Adams as people. This reviewer, however, agrees that this election was a pivotal transition in the American government and started the democratic political party, but doesn’t believe that it was intended that way by the voters, but a …show more content…

(Pg.88) Unlike Howe, Wilentz agreed that the election of 1828 was a Democratic revolt of the people, because he believed Jackson’s campaign focused on reforms. “Instead of a long list of positions and proposals Jackson’s campaign revolved around calls for “reforms,” a theme broad enough to unite disparate coalition without merely resorting to platitudes.” (Pg. 84) This statement contrasts with what Howe believed Jackson’s campaign platform was, Wilentz didn’t revolve his article around the personal aspects of the election, such as all the direct character attacks against each other, but instead he seemed to believe that the election was surrounded on the actual political issues and the candidate’s political stances. Readers could be convinced, because they feel as if he overlooked the effect that the personal character attacks had on the voter's’ choice for their president. While, some may have been concerned over the political issues how could the vast majority learn enough about a democratic party to know they want it to completely overtake the republican party in office at the time. Lastly, readers may feel as though there wasn’t enough time or a well enough established democratic party for the people to intentionally to want to overthrow the republicans in

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