The Faults of the Age of Jackson Essay

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.

Although he thought that the people should have a say in government he didn 't fight for slaves, women, or Native Americans to have their opinions heard. In fact he signed the Indian Removal Act, which moved Cherokee tribe out of Georgia into an Indian reservation in the West. Actually the Supreme Court ruled this unlawful in the case of Worcester v. Georgia in 1832, but when Georgia ignored the ruling Jackson didn 't complain. Jackson had a chance to stop the trail of tears from happening and saving about four thousand Cherokee Indians. Jackson believe the people in charge of the bank of the US were crooked and the bank would needed to be crushed. So, when the bill for the charter for the Second Bank of the United States came up he immediately vetoed it. He then decided to deposit the federal fund of the United States in pet 23 pet banks. Nicholas Biddle the head of the back fought back as hard as he could but Jackson was determined and frankly he didn 't listen to anyone but the people. Jackson issued his own form of paper currency (banknotes) that were backed by Specie Circular, which was usually silver or gold coins. The extreme inflation of the economy started after Jackson dismantled the Second bank of the US. The inflation was caused by the banks issuing banknotes that were unbacked by the Specie Circular. This was a big part of starting the Panic of 1837, it wasn 't the only reason but one of the biggest. When building our country the founding

Andrew Jackson changed how the people of his time viewed politics. When Jackson was elected in 1828, he saw himself as someone who represented the common man. He owned a farm, but not a huge plantation, and he had no formal education or a college degree. As a result of Jackson being elected as president, politics became very popular in the middle and lower classes. Jacksonian Democracy was the emergence of popular politics and showed that the government was no longer just for the wealthy elite. Jacksonian Democracy of the 1820s and 1830s led to a sense of equality between all social classes of American citizens, and prompted Jackson to terminate the Bank of the United States that had been seen as a bank of the wealthy. In the same way, office holding positions were opened to every white male, which created a shift to the government being for the common man.

Throughout Andrew Jackson’s presidency, he sought to represent the common man, but in doing so has negatively affected the American people. Many of the decisions that Jackson made were thoughtful resolutions to complex conflicts that threatened to dismantle the Union. Though he resolved conflicts, the effects of his decisions were felt beyond their benefits. Decisions made by Andrew Jackson such as the veto of the Second National Bank, which was positive in theory but ultimately led to severe shortcomings economically, questioned the ideas of the Jacksonian Democrats. These Jacksonian Democrats were guardians of the United States Constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of economic opportunity for the most part; however, there were pitfalls with their ideas.

In fact, he was the foundation for the formation of the modern Democratic Party. British visitor to the United States Harriet Martineau described this in Document D (Society in America), “I had witnessed the controversies between candidates for office on some difficult subjects, of which the people were to be the judges.” Furthermore, when Jackson first entered office, he used the “spoils system,” or rotation of major governmental officeholders, as a legitimate use of political democracy. He supported his veto of the Bank charter, although unconstitutional, by pointing out that the Bank directors were not chosen democratically. Instead, as Document B (paragraph 3) illustrates, the government chose five directors and the a few, wealthy citizen stockholders chose the remaining 25. These directors were obviously not chosen in a democratic manner; and when Jackson “killed” the Bank, he also got rid of this undemocratic election process. Yes, Jackson did make sure to protect white male suffrage, but rather than conferring with the popularly elected officials, he listened mainly to the advice of close friends and unofficial advisers, also known as his “Kitchen Cabinet,” including Amos Kendall and Francis P. Blair. This almost defeated the purpose of popular elections. Although he protected political democracy in the above manners, Jackson

Jackson instated the spoils system to get his supporters into as many governmental positions as possible. He consistently used his unauthorized "Kitchen Cabinet" for advice instead of his real cabinet. And, he ignored the Supreme Court in their decision about the Cherokees.

Jackson was a supporter of the working class; he was viewed as a true liberal democratic. The Second Bank appeared to be monopolistic and aristocratic. This did not coincide with Jackson’s views on politics, economics, and society. Jackson did not

In the years leading up to 1828 the power was extended to the common man and Andrew Jackson became president of the United States. When war broke out between Britain and the US, Jackson's leadership lead American forces to victory in new orleans,earning him National fame as a military hero. Since 1812 andrew jackson rode the wave of nationalism and populism, which would later help him become the “people’s president.” When deciding who our next president will be, a question americans ask is how democratic is the candidate. Andrew Jackson was a very democratic man who supported the people opinions and valued their individual voices.

Within the Jackson administration, Jacksonian Democracy impacted further advances in the political process by the “common man” and minorities, the economic stability of the nation, and created sectionalism. These impacts were caused by the end of white men voting restrictions, creation of the spoils system, vetoing of National Bank policies, distribution of currency to “pet banks,” fairness of laws for states and enforcing Indian Removal.

After being warned about his “criminal tendencies”, Jackson refused to listen and hired Swartwout because he was an early supporter. Rather than appointing someone worthy of the job, Jackson gave it to Swartwout because he was a supporter, this was selfish and unfair to worthy candidates for the job. “ No one man has any more… right to(government jobs) than another”(Jackson). This quote from Andrew Jackson shows that he preached equality instead he used government power selfishly. Furthermore, Andrew Jackson closed the second national bank because it was owned by the richest class. He did this in hopes to inflame the poor against the rich. This unreasonably attacks the richest class of men. Closing the bank, made it hard for those people who relied on the bank to support their

The Bank for Jackson motivated poor people against wealthy Americans who would take advantage of the poor people for their selfish purposes.Jackson’s words kind of encouraged a class war between the rich and the poor people. Jackson vetoed the Bank after it was passed by both Senate and the House of Representatives, and this show how Jackson had too much power, and that he is taking freedom away and not treating people equally as Webster replied to Jackson’s Bank veto (Doc

Jackson’s main goal as president was to rid the country of aristocracy, by giving more power to the lower class, and less to the wealthy, creating a plane of equal economic opportunity. Attempt to reduce the influence of the rich can be seen in document B, when Jackson vetoes a charter to the Bank of the United States (Doc.

Andrew Jackson didn't favor the federal bank believing in the corruptness of it even using word such as "Monopoly" and evils" (Doc. A) to describe the inner workings of it. When it came to removing the federal bank Jacksonian's believed that removal of it could make it so that the "selfish purposes" of he rich could be less assessable and less destructive to liberty. Document B even takes it a step further saying wealth is a "seed of jealousy" that Andrew Jackson, described as head, is planting into the Jacksonians to spark classes against each other. Theoretically they believed they where doing justice In bring the rich to a common ground but in practice really showed signs of jealousy and not doing much economic

Jacksonian DBQ The Jacksonian rhetoric of political democracy, individual liberty, and economic opportunity was certainly one full of contradictions. Politically, while the administration promoted majority rule and increased participation in politics, the only people benefitted from the policies were the members of its own. The Jacksonians were not egalitarians of any kind, doing little to challenge racial discrimination and supervising one of the harshest attacks on Native American tribes. While they strove to protect equality of economic opportunity by attacking elitist organizations such as the federal-owned BUS and Charles River Bridge monopoly, the economic utopia never became more than a dream in such that the measures acted as a springboard for a string of devastating economic downturns (for example, the Panic of 1837).

As shown in Document A, prior to Jackson, workers and poor citizens felt that they had not been properly represented in the political system. Jacksons introduction of the party based voting, simplified the voting process significantly. This made it easy for everyday people to vote; along with the lowered property restrictions on voting, the number of people voting for the man to represent them and their country skyrocketed. This aside, the populist approach of Jackson can venture too far into politics, creating corruption. Such an example is the spoils system. Allowing people to buy their way into the government created an undemocratic system where the government can be run by people who have no idea what to do. Jackson’s view of himself as a guardian of political democracy extends to a certain point, however his crossed the line with the patronage