President Jackson’s presidential campaigns of 1828 and 1832 were both successful and won him the presidency. One large factor of its success was the way Democrats campaigned on behalf of Jackson. The Whig party viewed how successful the strategies that the Democrats employed were to winning the presidency. The Whigs as a result employed the same strategies during the campaigns of William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor. Although the Democrats and the Whigs were rivals in the 1840 and 1848 elections. The Whigs employed similar strategies to the ones employed during Jackson’s two successful campaigns, but there were a few key differences that separated the Democrats and Whigs in their form of campaigning. William Henry Harrison was the …show more content…
Harrison became an active participant in his campaign by giving public speeches. He through such an act was the first person to do such a thing ever when running for president. He campaigned and delivered 23 speeches, he even went as far as to drink cider while campaigning in order to prove his cider and log cabin image (M Pg.40). Jackson in contrast did campaign behind the scenes but never actively campaigned for himself (Wilentz Pg.160). Harrison in his 1840 campaign won and so during the 1848 campaign for Zachary Taylor they once again used tactics once used by Democrats and the Jackson …show more content…
The Whigs once again choose a decorated war hero just like Jackson. At the time Zachary Taylor was the most celebrated man in America due to him being part of the Mexican-American War (Wilentz Pg.331 &M Pg45). Making him a perfect candidate for the Whigs. Once again they built an image for their nominee of being a man for the people. Unlike Jackson, Taylor running for president was his first time being involved in any politics. However, both ran on a vague platform to an extent. Jackson in his 1828 election ran on a platform of reform, but when it came to major issue he was quite vague, this vagueness helped him because it allowed him to mold to the image the people wanted (M Pg.34). For Jackson, it overall hurt his opponent, Adam, because since he was a former president his actions as president revealed his stance on major issues. Vagueness was also employed by Zachary Taylor, but to an even greater extent. Taylor was given to platform at all by the Whigs, in order to keep him out of political controversy (M Pg.45). Once again this helped him because in such vagueness it was difficult to criticize him on his stance on major
These are just a few examples of how Jackson's past may have contributed greatly to his presidency; he had hatred towards many rivals and not to mention the British. Another soon to be rival on Jackson's list was John Quincy Adams; this was because in the election of 1824, Adams and Henry Clay made what Jackson called "a corrupt bargain" And this caused Jackson to lose the 1824 election which he believed he had rightfully earned.
Supporting the Democratic Party they believed “government should adopt a hands-off attitude toward the economy and not award special favors to entrenched economic interests” (Foner, p. 380). These views were opposed by parties like the Whigs which believed that the American national government should be strengthened. Foner states “Whigs united behind the American system, believing that via a protective tariff, a national bank, and aid to internal improvements, the federal government could guide economic development” (Foner, p. 381). Jackson’s opposition to the stronger national government essentially created opposing sides to the development of America. Jackson’s strong stance on issues like the national banks and government is what accounted for hostilities that he stirred up among people with opposing views. Though these beliefs created hostility from opposing views they were also what created such a strong following from the Democratic
Zachary Taylor, elected in 1849, only served sixteen months in office as president of the United States. Zachary Taylor was a commemorated war general for his roles within the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, Seminole Wars, and the Mexican War. Yet, it was only after the Mexican War did he get public recognition and received a nomination by the Whig Party for president. Taylor never officially finished his education and never seemed to particularly care for politics. Besides his own election, he had never voted and he did not even vote for himself. Taylor was a peculiar candidate, he had no political experience whatsoever and to be potentially be a president shocked many. Fortunately for him, former president Martin Van Buren caused a split of votes between himself and Lewis Cass. He also happened to be slave owner, which appealed to many Southerners. It wasn’t until he was elected that his ideals were revealed. Due to his time with the army, he had a strong nationalist ideology as his main goal was to preserve the unity of the Union. Taylor supported slavery, yet the idea of expanding slavery was not apart of his agenda.
Election of 1828 – John Quincy Adams ran against Andrew Jackson for the second time. This time, Andrew Jackson won with 178 votes while Adams only had 83. For the first time political campaigns were used to gain supporters. Jackson held speeches, barbecues, and other entertainments/parties. During this election, more people voted and passion over reason was a new way to vote.
Andrew Jackson, unlike other politicians, didn’t grown up prestigious and wealthy from a political family. He gained his political status all on his own. Andrew Jackson, before his run in office, became a lawyer and later a planter;. He entered the War of 1812, and was considered a hero. After this, he dedicated a large part of his life to politics. He believed in things like majority rule, and equality among commoners. Andrew Jackson believed in ideas such as strong states, less of a federal government, and staying out of slavery issues. These characteristics were what set him apart from other aristocratic politicians during his time.
The presidential campaign of 1828 was definitely unlike any other election that had come before it. Many things had changed. By 1828, all but 2 of the 24 states chose their presidential electors by popular vote, rather than leaving the choice to state legislatures, thus further expanding popular participation in the political process. Not only had the election process changed, but the people who were allowed to vote allowed to vote took a turn. By 1821, 21 of the 24 states in the Union had adopted universal suffrage- the unrestricted right to vote- for white men. Another thing that made this election special is that it was the first true mudslinging contest. Adams accused Jackson of being a military tyrant, gambler, and a drunkard that was morally unfit for high office.
The rivalry between the Democrats and the Whigs was important because it started the Second Party System that we have in America today.
Looking at the ballots of 1828 and 1832, Andrew Jackson was clearly labeled as a Democratic Republic, a party founded by Thomas Jefferson. These Democrats supposedly believed in the ideas of a limited central government, states’ rights, and protection of the liberty of individuals. However, based on these principles, tyrannous “King Andrew I” may not be as democratic as one may think. Jackson shifted the Presidency to a more personal style, by vetoing anything that disagreed with his own beliefs, rather than the beliefs of the people. Through the Indian Removal Act, the Spoils System, and the Bank War, Andrew Jackson revealed himself to be a non-democrat who cared more about himself than the people. And among these people, natives and slaves were given the least liberties out of all the racial groups in America at the time.
The presidential campaign for Andrew Jackson had started early—on February 9, 1825, the day of John Quincy Adams’s controversial election by the House—and it continued noisily for nearly four years. Even before the election of 1828, the temporarily united Republicans of the Era of Good Feelings had split into two camps. One was the National Republicans, with Adams as their standard-bearer. The other was the Democratic-Republicans, with the fiery Jackson heading their ticket. Rallying cries of the Jackson zealots were “Bargain and Corruption,’’ “Huzza for Jackson,’’ and “All Hail Old Hickory.’’ Jacksonites planted hickory poles for their hickory-tough hero; Adamsites adopted the oak as the symbol of their
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.
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.
Second, Andrew Jackson had very successful political career. After he resigned from being a senate, he once again was reelected to the U.S senate in 1822. After that the state group rallied around him, and then the he was nominated for the U.S presidency by the Pennsylvania convention. Even though Andrew Jackson was the
After becoming a national hero, Andrew Jackson wanted to further his career in politics. Jackson had held office in the government before, but not for any significant time period. Jackson decided to run for president against John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and William Crawford in 1824, but he lost. However, he did receive the most electoral and popular votes and when this happens, the vote goes to the House of Representatives. Henry
In the Election of 1848, Martin Van Buren ran his campaign on abolitionism and as the Free Soil Parties candidate. Lewis Cass, a Democrat, ran on the idea of compromise within the colonies and really strived to get an equal balance between both the North and the South. But in the end, a Southerner who ran under the Whig party, Zachary Taylor, ended up winning the election. This was one of the first elections with the organized Free Soil party and was an important piece in why the two party system would eventually crash and eventually lead to the Union falling apart in 1861.
They called themselves National Republicans. The others stood for states' rights, tariffs that were for revenue only, and an independent treasury. They took the name Democrats and elected Andrew Jackson to the Presidency in 1828 and 1832. Those who opposed Jackson questioned his dissolution of the Bank of the United States, his internal improvement policies, his stand against South Carolina during the nullification crisis, and his policies on rotation in office and the spoils system. By the election of 1836 the National Republicans and others opposed to Jackson's policies had come together to form a new party, the Whigs. Since Jackson believed in a strong executive