The Importance Of Jacksonian Democracy

Jacksonian Democrats viewed themselves as the guardians of the United States Constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of economic opportunity. However, the Jacksonian Democrats were in a catch 22. In order for them to protect the interests of the common man, they at times had to violate the very things for which they stood. By doing this, the Jacksonian Democrats stressed the importance of the power of the common man, at times by violating their own principles.

true liberty and equality, the millions of women. Blacks, Native Americans, immigrants, and other minorities in America continued to languish in a society that ignored their rights. Furthermore, during the Age of Jackson, enslavement of Blacks, the ultimate form of inequality, was at a new high in America. At the same time, enormous disparities of wealth existed between rich merchants, industrialists and planters, and their lowly workers: immigrants. Blacks, and the common man. While these contradictions typified America, Jacksonian democrats viewed themselves as guardians of the Constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of opportunity. But how could anyone be a successful guardian of these ideals while contradictions such as those previously mentioned exist? The answer is that Jackson and his followers must have been what they said they were only to a certain extent. The Jacksonian Democrats were, to some extent, champions of the Constitution, democracy, liberty, and equality.

Jacksons democracy mirrored an agricultural and industrial society. He believed that all people should be able to manage the government. Jackson wanted to expand his democracy beyond the political aspects to make sure the social and economic parts were added, and during his time in office, many reforms came about. Women's rights, abolition of slavery, care for the mentally unstable, and free education were some of the reforms that appeared during his time in office. Although Jackson didn't directly make the reforms, the attention that was given to the common man allowed the reforms to happen. While Jackson’s democracy reflected on agricultural and an industrial society, Jefferson’s reflected just an agricultural society. His democracy feared the consequences of industrialization, which is why he stuck to an agricultural society. Jefferson thought that the well educated and elite should rule their government, but did provide education for the poorer who wanted to work in office. His democracy limited itself chiefly the political powers. Jackson and Jefferson both had a different taste in democracy, which is what made them so

The creation of the Democratic Party and the abolishment of the national bank are a few of the several decisions Andrew Jackson made that benefited the U.S. Using the time between elections, Jackson’s supporters created the Democratic Party which would represent common people, such as ordinary farmers, workers, and the poor (Hart et al 259). The creation of this new political organization gave common people the right to

Jacksonian Democrats help create a more democratic America and because of this, believed themselves to be many things, real and fictional. In most cases they perceived themselves as defenders of equal economic opportunity, even though they sometimes put their own interests before those of the people. They also thought of themselves as guardians of political democracy, while at the same time using class differences to their advantage and emotionalized speeches, lacking real intellectual merit, to stir support. Jacksonian Democrats felt that they were the protectors of the Constitution and of individual liberties but many times they put their rivalry with the Northeastern industry and Whig politics before these things. While Jacksonians

The Jacksonian democracy of the 1820s-1830s is often associated with an expansion of the political influence, economic opportunities, and social equality available to “the common man,” a concept of the masses which President Andrew Jackson and his newly founded Democratic party came to represent. The new administration certainly saw gains for the majority; namely, public participation in government increased to unprecedented levels, and several economic decisions were made to favor the people over monopolies. Beginning with their exaggerated portrayal of the “corrupt” 1824 election however, the Jacksonian democrats also left a legacy of substantial miscalculations

Citizens were becoming more involved with their politics. This was mostly due to Jackson being more like the working class voters and sharing many of their same views and getting them involved through various rallies and other get together's. They greatly accepted his theory of democracy and that it should offer “equal protection and equal benefits” to all white males and favor no region or class.

Despite the outcome I fully believe that the election of 1828 did in fact, create a democratic revolt of the people because of the social and political backlash that the election created. The election of Andrew Jackson as President in 1828 marked the beginning of an era known as Jacksonian Democracy or the Age of the Common Man. The changes in politics during Jackson's presidency provided various social and economic changes.

     During the administration of Andrew Jackson, the United States was a nation of change both politically and socially. American society was a society of opportunity. Americans felt that, given a chance, they could make a better life for themselves. This was the era of the common people, the era of democracy. Andrew Jackson appealed to the American people because he stood for values many regarded with favor. However democratic Jackson may seem, he was more tyrant-like than any of his predecessors. His major offerings to the nation included majority rule and a popular presidency, however offered no benefits to women, African Americans, nor Native Americans. Jacksonian Democracy was

Along with rotation, the Jacksonian Democrats reestablished the spoils system. Jackson fired any previous office holder who was not a loyal Democrat. He would then appoint a Democrat to that position. The spoils system and rotation were advances toward greater political democracy, because they showed that one man is just as good as another is.

The Jacksonian Democratic Party and the Whig Party each, exemplified different beliefs on the role of the federal government in the economy and towards westward expansion in the 1830s and 1840s. However, the Jacksonian, laissez faire supporting Democrats and the economic nationalistic Whig party shared almost no beliefs except for the removal of American Indians in the areas their supporters wished to settle. The lack of similarities is because the Whigs formed their own party to oppose President Jackson’s strong-armed leadership style and policies which earned him the nickname “King Andrew.” The Jacksonian Democratic Party evolved out of the Democratic-Republican Party in the early 1800s, the core of its membership was composed of farmers, immigrants, and white Southerners. The Whigs formed in 1834 and lasted for 20 years, they were the major political party that opposed Andrew Jackson. The Whigs were created based upon the Federalist beliefs in a strong federal government and adopted many Federalist and National Republican policy ideas, including federal funding for internal improvements, a central bank, and high tariffs to protect the growth of manufacturing enterprises. Overall, the Jacksonian Democratic agrarian Party and the industrialization supporting Whig Party had different beliefs toward the role of the federal government in the economy and towards westward expansion.

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.

Andrew Jackson started the Democratic-Republican Party. Many of his followers were from the East Coast. He was probably the most popular president to date because he thought of himself to be a friend of the “common man”. The newly created Democratic Party reached out to the common people and in return they got involved in the party. Jackson like Jefferson believed too strong of central government would jeopardize the people’s freedom and liberty. He continued Jefferson’s fight against the Bank of the United States. A bank ran by the Federal government would hurt the East Coast at the expense of the rest of America. Issues like the Bank of the United States created sectionalism in America. Most policies Jackson issued made sectionalism more evident.

Jeffersonian and Jacksonian Democracy both have roots dating back to the Era of Good Feelings, when James Monroe created a golden climate of liberalism and national unity. As a result of the War of 1812, Monroe spoke of his policies and beliefs and in 1817, peace, liberty, prosperity, and progress flourished throughout the nation (Garraty 200). The Era of Good Feelings came to an end because of the “corrupt bargain” in 1824. The transition from Jeffersonian to Jacksonian Democracy involved scandalous events that undermine the authority of the president and the government itself. Each Democracy had different views: politically, socially, economically and religiously. Jackson’s idea of democracy, furthermore, is an accurate representation

Political democracy was one of the resurfacing interests during the Jacksonian Era. Jacksonian Democrats saw it as their duty to protect the government run