What were the major arguments used, pro and con, in the debate over expanding suffrage during the Age of Jackson? Which arguments were most valid? There was many arguments between the two conflicting sides over the expanding suffrage during the Age of Jackson. So, what is suffrage? Suffrage is the right to vote. It was a major debate during the Age of Jackson. Jackson was born in the Carolinas. Carolina at the time was an agrarian state. Jackson supported both, the agrarian society and the common man. Before Jackson, suffrage was only given to the majority who owned a certain amount of land. It was not a big problem because a majority of people owned land before Jackson. By the time Jackson took his place as president, cities grew and land became harder to own. After Jackson took his place, the western frontier states were the first to start allowing all white males to vote. Politicians in the East were influenced and wanted more voters so they, too, revised their constitution to take away the property ownership requirement for voting. The state that had the most difficult time adapting was Virginia. Virginia was an aristocratic state so the aristocrats rejected the ideas of letting the common people have suffrage. A long time after most states dropped the property requirement for voting did Virginia finally drop the requirement in 1851. This tells us that aristocrats with land supported the property ownership requirement and people with little or no land supported the opposite. Major arguments were made by Nathan Sanford, James Kent, and George Bancroft.
Nathan Sanford was a New York Senate, delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention, and Chancellor of New York. New York held a convention to revise the state const...
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...te. The landowner votes and a president with radical ideas is elected. The next thing that happens is, the country falls into chaos. If the law allowed all white men to vote, then there would be no corrupt politicians. The masses could choose the president that is best for people as a whole.
These people made some major arguments in the debate of expanding suffrage. People like Sanford made arguments that were invalid in my opinion. The result of this debate ended with the expansion of suffrage. Now, all white men can vote. I think Bancroft’s argument was the best in expressing my views, but I think Kent’s argument was the most persuasive out of them all. The expansion of suffrage led to more public involvement with the government which is good in many ways. After the expansion, polls could be now written, and people could read and hear more about political parties.
Throughout the 1830-1840’s the opposing governmental parties, the Jacksonian Democrats and the Whigs, undertook many issues. The Whigs were a party born out of their hatred for President Andrew Jackson, and dubbed his harsh military ways as “executive usurpation,” and generally detested everything he did while he was in office. This party was one that attracted many other groups alienated by President Jackson, and was mainly popular among urban industrial aristocrats in the North. On the other hand, the Jacksonian Democrats were a party born out of President Andrew Jackson’s anti-federalistic ideals that was extremely popular among southern agrarians. A major economic issue that the two parties disagreed on was whether or not the United States should have a National Bank. Along with the National Bank, the two parties also disagreed on the issue of the Protective tariff that was enforced to grow Northern industry. Politically, the two parties disagreed on the issues of Manifest Destiny, or expansion, and ultimately Slavery. While the two parties essentially disagreed on most issues, there are also similarities within these issues that the two parties somewhat agree on.
Throughout American History, people of power have isolated specific racial and gender groups and established policies to limit their right to vote. These politicians, in desperate attempt to elongate their political reign, resort to “anything that is within the rules to gain electoral advantage, including expanding or contracting the rate of political participation.”(Hicks) Originally in the United States, voting was reserved for white, property-owning gentleman
The Jacksonians and President Jackson proved to be both keepers and offenders of political democracy. Jacksonians did not protect political democracy for non-white men. The Cherokees and African Americans were persecuted almost entirely by the Jacksonian Democrats. They protected the interests of the poor and rich white-man; protecting the interests of farmers, mechanics, and laborers by keeping the rich from gaining too much power. Jackson and his democrats did a great deal to protect the common man. Universal Manhood Suffrage was also an important factor in the political democracy of the United States. By giving all white men the right to vote it helped lessen the power of the upper class.
By the time Jackson came to power, the nation had been drastically changed by the Industrial Revolution. The simple, pastoral, agricultural lifestyle was being replaced by the manufacturing world, of cities and factories. Politically, the nation was in great turmoil. There was still an everlasting debate among men in power, over what should prevail, the rights of the states, or the rights of the Federal Government. If not for several personal reasons, Jackson would have been a staunch advocator of states rights. The right to vote was still a major issue, the middle class feeling robbed of power in governmental decisions, the upperclass feeling threatened by the growth of the middleclass. However, Jackson brought with him many new ideas and principles. Since he himself had very modest roots, he sympathized with the middle and lower classes. He had worked for everything he had of value in life, and he acknow...
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 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
Democracy, a new form of government, a government for the people, was seen in different lights. As time progresses, the government becomes firmer in its regime and doctrine, yet keeps the same focus; for the people. The United States was created for the people, and by the people, and the need for the people to continue to be the main focus was crucial. However, once Jackson was elected president, the idea of people staying the main focus of government began to falter. Those who support Jackson wished for something in return, and Andrew Jackson supported the rights of the spoils system, thus giving his people the seats they thought they deserved. However, as time went on, the focus on the people slowly changed to what those in those special seats wanted. Jacksonian Democrats, who viewed themselves as the guardians of the United States Constitution under the presidency of Andrew Jackson claimed to have held the interest of the common people in high regard, altering not only our Forefathers’ electoral processes but the government as a whole. However, through their actions toward their common people, the uprooting of Native Americans, and the fatality of a national bank, they eventually created a larger mess than just a “kitchen cabinet” could withstand.
The years between 1825 through 1850 were filled with reforms ranging from political reforms to religious reforms. This era is commonly known as the Jacksonian Era. Prior to the Jacksonian Era, the early 19th century was classified to be a period of extreme instability. The Jacksonian Era involved many new ideas such as King Mob, the spoils system, expansion towards the West, and the Bank War. These characteristics of the Jacksonian Era brought stability and set a foundation for which its people could start reform movements. Even though not all these reforms were successful, they all had the goal of expanding democratic ideals.
Shayna Chenoweth, Mrs. Abrams/Mr. Gazette, 8th Grade Social Studies/English, March 28, 2014 Jacksonian Democracy “We are beginning a new era in our government. I cannot too strongly urge the necessity of a rigid economy and an inflexible determination not to enlarge the income beyond the real necessities of the government,” Andrew Jackson once said (“Andrew Jackson Quote”). Although Andrew Jackson accomplished many things during his presidency, he should never be considered for the Presidents Hall of Fame. This all started with his abuse of the spoils system. With Jackson as President, he promised “equal protection and equal benefits” for all Americans, well, all white Americans.
Jacksonian America was known as a form of democracy that was based on the interest of the common man, limitations of the federal government, the western expansion and settlement. It was named after President Andrew Jackson and purposed to form a democracy party which would make the state more of a republic then a monarchy. Jacksonian America had brought major changes to society and politics by creating a modern democratic party. When in office, Jackson and his governments view on native people had become the foundation of the Indian removal. This removal within states was known as the Indian Removal Act in 1830. This removal had disregarded Washington’s policy which aloud Indians to settle in the southeast as they were considered American Indian. As the Cherokee vs. Georgia case confirmed that natives were dependent people who needed protection, the act had been put into practice. When the act was passed Jackson had believed that the lands which once belonged to the Indians could be used by his benefit, which can provide future votes during elections.
There are three reasons that Andrew Jackson won presidency. After the corrupt bargain where Adams and Jackson tied in popular vote, Clay became the factor for who would receive the honor of United States president. Adams promised Clay that if he voted for him than Adams would grant Clay the position of secretary of state, a position that usually the person holding will become president the following term. Americans did not trust Clay and Adams. To top it off, previous presidential elections did not concern the public. First, because you had to be a white man who owned property to vote, and two, the people knew that all the candidates for president usually had the same morals, background, and standards. Therefore, t...
The seventh president of the United States, Andrew Jackson, was born on March 17, 1767 in Waxhaw, South Carolina. Growing up, he was educated in an “old field school” in South Carolina and at the age of 13, joined the army as a courier boy. After the American Revolutionary War, Jackson found himself as an orphan. Both of Jackson’s brothers and mother had either succumbed to death during the war or illnesses that they could not overcome, leaving Jackson at the age of 14 to live with relatives. After studying law in North Carolina, Jackson was admitted to the bar in 1787 and practiced until he became solicitor for present day Tennessee. In 1788 he moved to Nashville and became a prominent lawyer. After the Panic of 1795, which ended the prospering business boom after the American Revolution, Jackson was left with his land, naming it The Hermitage. Jackson lived as a cotton planter with a handful of slaves, in-between the business of his political endeavors. After marrying Rachel Donelson in 1791, they would later remarry in 1794 after finding that her first marriage to someone else was not legally ended. This would later be ammunition to his opposition who claimed Rachel to be a bigamist and him a wife stealer.
As president, Andrew Jackson sought to act as the direct representative of a common man. As a child, he received a periodic education, took on reading law for approximately two years, and then became a lawyer in Tennessee as a teenager. Jackson flourished greatly in buying and using slaves for common laboring, some even considered him to be a racist. He served briefly in the Senate, became the first man elected from Tennessee to the House of Representatives and became major General in the War of 1812. It was then that Jackson acquired the status of a national hero when the defeat of the British at New Orleans.
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 have much correct in their view of themselves as guardians of political democracy, equal economic opportunity and individual liberty, they were often more important in developing these concepts than protecting them.
It used to be that the only people who were able to vote in our democracy were white men who owned land. According to the article “The Nineteenth Amendment Grants Women Full Suffrage: August 18,1920” it states, “It was widely assumed that, among married couples, wives would share the views of their husbands and one vote by the husband in effect expressed both spouses’ views” (2). The argument against allowing women to vote was that your husband or father would tell you who to vote for any way so why vote and secondly, women had limited rights on their own. Women were known as second class citizens. A numerous amount of people who were religious opposed the idea of giving women the right to vote. They believed that according to the Bible, women have to listen to what their husbands say. The article also includes that many liquor industries were afraid that if women were granted suffrage they would make alcoholic beverages illegal due to the fact they were big supporters of the
Although they were fighting for a worthy cause, many did not agree with these women’s radical views. These conservative thinkers caused a great road-block on the way to enfranchisement. Most of them were men, who were set in their thoughts about women’s roles, who couldn’t understand why a woman would deserve to vote, let alone want to vote. But there were also many women who were not concerned with their fundamental right to vote. Because some women were indifferent in regards to suffrage, they set back those who were working towards the greater good of the nation. However, the suffragettes were able to overcome these obstacles by altering their tactics, while still maintaining their objective.