The Contributions Of The Jacksonian Era

The Age of Jackson, from the 1820 's to the 1830 's, was a period of American history full of contradictions, especially in regard to democracy. The period saw an immense increase in voter participation, nominating committees replaced caucuses, and electors began to be popularly elected. Yet, all of these voting changes affected only a minority of the American people: White, Anglo-Saxon males. So, though one can easily tell that White, Anglo-Saxon males were gaining

Andrew Jackson was like no other president before him. The previous presidents had one thing in common, they were all part of the founding fathers or in John Quincy Adam’s case was the son of a founding father. However Jackson was a plantation owner from the west who had no connections with the government. He also had different views from other presidents that made his presidency unique. Two things that separated Andrew Jackson’s presidency from previous presidencies were he reached out to the common people and he was disapproving of the Bank of United States.

In Chapter 10 the book discussed about the Jacksonian Era. During the Jacksonian Era there were several events and policies that occurred that lad the United States to major changes in our government and economics. The Jacksonians wanted to democratize the United States political procedure and try to grow the U.S. economic opportunity for those that would be seen as the “common man.” One of the events to have occurred during the Jacksonian Era was the Second Bank of the United States. The Second Bank of the United Sates was a national bank authorized by Congress, which became the largest business in the nation, which produced a stable currency. During the Jacksonian Era not only was there economic change, but there was territorial change.

A democratic society was on the rise and many Americans believed in equality but ignored enslaved African Americans. Government moved out of the houses of rich men and into the houses of the middle and lower- classes; education improved, suffrage laws were enacted, and newspapers were increasingly circulated. The political parties greatly changed; third parties began to rise, four candidates were chosen for one party, and Andrew Jackson lost his first election to John Adams. Adams lost his reelection to Jackson; both of whom created smear campaigns for each other, this improved voter turnout. Jackson represented the common man, throughout his presidency he served

Andrew Jackson had a big impact on American politics. Some people think that he influenced politics in a benefiting way, while other people dislike his ideas. It was because of him that there was a so called “Jacksonian Era.” This era lasted from 1824 to 1860. During this time, Jackson was President of the United States. It was an era that “addressed the inequalities in American society.” The Jacksonian Era was a crucial period of time in American history when the role of the President and Federal Government changed. Things like the Bank War, Missouri Compromise, Gold Rush, Seneca Falls Convention, Indian Removal Policy, a change in voting requirements and the split of the Democratic Republicans changed the United States forever.

Although there are many reason the Jacksonian period of 1824-1848 has not always been celebrated as the period of the “common man,” because it didn't live up to certain expectations such as women, Indians and slaves not having rights. Yet, the period should still be celebrated as the era of the “common man” because it lived up to its expectations by the significant impact it had on America's economic development, politics and reform movements.

The Jacksonian Era was often described as a time of “democratization of politics” in the United States. However, democracy, at this time, was only defined as equality and justice for white males. There were improvements that benefited the common people, such as universal male suffrage, but these excluded women, Africans, Indians, and the rest of the population in the country. In addition, Andrew Jackson was not very democratic as he violated the Constitution and used the authority of the government for his personal issues. Meanwhile, today’s American society is a true democracy because every citizen, despite sex and race, is protected and given equal rights and opportunities. Back then, the United States did not achieve true democratization because there was not equality among all the people and Andrew Jackson abused his power as president.

The documents in “The Age of Jackson”, fall into two themes, government development and territory advancement. The government development is the theme of “John C. Calhoun Argues for the Right of States,1828” in document one, “Daniel Webster Lays Out His Nationalist Vision,1830” in the second document, “Andrew Jackson Condemns the Right of Nullification and Secession, 1832” in the third document, “Historian George Bancroft Assert His faith in the Wisdom of the people, 1835” in the fourth document, “John L. O’Sullivan, a Democratic Newspaperman, Venerates Democracy and the “Democratic Principle” in the sixth document, and “Michel Chevelier, a French Visitor, Marvels at the pageantry of Policies, 1839” in the seventh document. Moreover, the territory advance is the theme of “Lieutenant-Colonial Jose Enrique de la Pena Defends Mexico’s Actions against the Texans” in the fifth document, “John L. O’ Sullivan Defines “Manifest Destiny” in the eighth document, “Senator Thomas Hart Benton Justifies White Supremacy” in the ninth document, and “Senator John Dix, Advance into Mexico” in the tenth document.

Throughout the period of 1820-1830, Jacksonian Democrats created a vastly popular political party. They were, of course, led by Andrew Jackson, a war hero and a man of the people. Jackson's followers who created the party were also "for the people." Such ideals were shown throughout various times within the period. The democrats were essentially guardians of the United States Constitution and, similarly, were protectors of individual liberties. In addition to this, the Jacksonian Democrats promoted political democracy, and also the equality of economic opportunity. Thus, the Jacksonian Democrats clearly served as protectors of the people, their individual liberties, their Constitution, their economic opportunities and their political

Although the “Age of Jackson” wasn’t a time era, which brought forth a great political, social, or economic freedom and equality to the U.S., it did in fact put our country through a metamorphosis in our political lives of the nation. The start of a new presidency (Jackson’s presidency) was accompanied by huge numbers of Hickoryites (Jacksonian supporters) and official hopefuls. Many of these hopefuls were granted their desire of holding office, which is one of the changes brought into Washington by Andrew Jackson.

The presidency of Andrew Jackson was a popular era in the United States because he so easily appealed to the common man. The time period and current state of America had a great deal of influence on people's opinions of Jackson and his ideas. The country during this time was experiencing the enlightenment period. James Monroe was the current president and the American Revolution had just came to a close. Furthermore, America was in other words just “enjoying itself” and not much was getting done to improve the United States and its economy.

Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of the United States, elected in eighteen twenty-eight. Prior to his presidency Andrew Jackson was well known and favored for his success against the British in the war of eighteen-twelve. Upon election, Andrew Jackson became known as the people’s president gaining the majority of electoral votes over his opponent John quincy Adams.Throughout his presidency many events occurred that would shape America as a nation. During his time as President Andrew Jackson was both favored and hated by many individuals. His actions pleased certain groups of people, but would also cause for a loss of support amongst Americans. Jackson’s legacy would leave behind a strong willed group of supporters, known as the Democrat party, and the creation of opposed individuals known as the Whig party as well. His presidency would be viewed as time of improvements to some, but to others who strongly opposed his presidency, it would be seen as a time for unjust tariffs and conflict. Jackson’s presidency would be characterized by key events such as the Indian removal act, the nullification crisis, and the dispute known as the war against the bank, that would alter the nation forever.

Andrew Jackson is considered by many to be the first modern president that we have today. He considered the presidency as not just someone who just presides over everything but as one who’s job it is to represent the citizens that lived there. He believed that the presidency was much like being a congressman but instead of just looking out for in the interests of your district, he had to make decisions that would affect the entire country. This would lead him to veto many bills that he considered detrimental to the United States

While political reforms were key in characterizing the era of the “common man”, new economical developments that no longer only favored the wealthy elite were of great importance. The most notable of these economical developments during the Jacksonian Period was the elimination of the Bank of the United States. While this did lead to impaired credit and other complications for the government, it was done so to benefit the general population of America. (Document 1) The elimination of the Bank of the United States gave reassurance to the “common man” that now not only were the rich economically safe, so were they. Even now that land ownership was no longer a requirement to vote, many from the new working class, who could afford it now, due to

The government of the United States used its abilities to their best advantage, sometimes bending the rules. Implied power were always in sight as a growing country like we were in the time of 1789-1863. These powers helped our country grow in ways of succeeding or making mistakes and learning from them. America’s founders for the most part did uphold the founding principles. As a growing country it is inevitable for us to make mistakes. We had many great leaders that brought lots of valuable ideas that upheld the founding principles, and some we still live by today. George Washington carried and expressed the Jay Treaty. Thomas Jefferson upheld the founding principles with the Election of 1800, and lastly we can see Andrew Jackson had a positive impact with the Jacksonian Democracy.