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Impact of jacksonian democracy
Impact of jacksonian democracy
Impact of jacksonian democracy
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The Jacksonian Era was a time of great change for American citizens and the federal government of the United States itself. This period of time that started with Andrew Jackson’s election in 1828 is sometimes known as the “democratization of politics” for the United States, and many documents can be analyzed to conclude if this statement is true. Democracy is commonly known as the people's right to vote, and Jackson gave many more opportunities for Americans to vote. The majority of Americans wished for the removal of Native Americans and these Indians were very unpopular among American citizens, so, for his people, Jackson did all he could to rid America of the Indians through the Indian Removal Act. Jackson did what was beneficial for American civilian’s wants, needs, and finances. The positively evolving rights to vote, the removal of unwanted Indians, and keeping lower and middle class citizens on the forefront of Jackson’s mind led to the Jacksonian Era being a time of democratization of politics. The right to vote in the United States of America had always been a very important part of its society. The 1800s had brought about a different way of voting in the United States for white American men. The qualifications were …show more content…
The 19th amendment granted women the right to vote and was ratified in 1920 during Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat’s, presidency. Because of Jackson’s democratization of politics and his increasing want for more American citizens to be able to vote, women were finally granted this right less than a hundred years after his presidency. Jackson was determined to let his people help make government decisions and maintain their rights and this made the Jacksonian Era a democratization of politics because of the advancing opportunities to vote, the Indian removal, and being advantageous to the individual, middle and lower class people’s finances, wants, and
It is agreeable that the Jacksonian Democrats perceived themselves as strict guardians of the United States Constitution. It is not agreeable with how they went about preserving the political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of economic opportunity they stood for. While trying to create this balance, Jackson used tactics favorable only to his opinion. Jackson’s main idea was to rid of aristocracy, giving the power to the poorer classes, standing against rich white men. The flaw in their scheme was that the people who came up with this idea were all rich white men.
Under the Jackson Administration, the changes made shaped national Indian policy. Morally, Andrew Jackson dismissed prior ideas that natives would gradually assimilate into white culture, and believed that removing Indians from their homes was the best answer for both the natives and Americans. Politically, before Jackson treaties were in place that protected natives until he changed those policies, and broke those treaties, violating the United States Constitution. Under Jackson’s changes, the United States effectively gained an enormous amount of land. The removal of the Indians west of the Mississippi River in the 1830’s changed the national policy in place when Jackson became President as evidenced by the moral, political, constitutional, and practical concerns of the National Indian Policy.
During Jackson's Presidency suffrage rights were limited to white males that owned property and were wealthy. With Jackson's presidency, a new type of democracy was proposed. This was a democracy that extends the suffrage rights to all white males irrespective of their social/economic status. However, this new and extreme proposal for that time brought a political disagreement regarding whether the extension of suffrage was proper and beneficial for the American society. Suffrage was extended because people were all created equal and all contribute to the society regardless of their wealth and property ownership. Many were in favor of extending suffrage rights, though many were against it to. Among the arguments that were pro extending suffrage, such as how it would be for the common good, the most valid argument was that a person's virtue and morality should determine voting eligibility rather than owning property, while the poorest arguments against extending suffrage were that it would jeopardize property and minority rights, release debtors from prison, and encourage wicked politicians.
Jacksonian Democracy Between the years of 1775 and 1825, the United States government was hypocritical with respect to their Native American policy. The government, at most times, claimed to be acting in the best interest of the Native Americans. They claimed that their actions were for the benefit of not only their own citizens, but for the Native Americans, too. These beneficial actions included relocation from their homeland, murder in great numbers, rape, and a complete disregard for the various cultures represented by the Native Americans. While the nation was still very young, it issued the Northwest Ordinance. This document told the Native Americans that they should not feel threatened by this new nation because good faith shall always be observed toward the Indians. The United States told the Native Americans, with this document, that they were dealing with a just and humane country. Despite these humane intentions, in 1790, Native Americans pleaded with President Washington about the cruel treatment they were receiving. The Indian chiefs wrote to Washington to inquire as to why they were being punished. They referred to the American army as the town destroyer. Obviously the Untied States was not acting in the good hearted manner and just way it had declared it would in 1787. Americans, as they moved westward, tried to rationalize its brutal treatment of the Native Americans. In 1803, Jefferson set two goals in regard to dealing with the Native Americans. His first goal was to convince them to abandon hunting and become educated in the ways of the white man (i.e. agriculture or raising stock). He said that they would see the advantages of this better life. In reality, Jackson wanted to control the amount of land the Native Americans occupied. He also spoke of leading them to civilization and to the benefits of the United States government. Jefferson presented these goals as being advantageous for them. In actuality, these goals put the Native Americans at a sizable disadvantage. In 1811, an Indian chief
One reason why Andrew Jackson was not democratic was because of his mistreatment of the Native American. Today, the population of Native Americans are significantly less than when Jackson served as the leader of the free world. From the early 1830’s until 1840, Jackson forced 5 separate Indian tribes onto a small piece of land (Doc L). A likely reason for this sudden move
The nineteenth amendment is the right for women to vote no matter the color or way they are. But it led to women's suffrage movement which was women trying to get the right to vote. Which was followed by many rights that they were given but it wasn’t given
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
After decades of fighting for women’s suffrage, the 19th amendment was ratified in 1920 which guaranteed women the right to vote; leading another step towards gender equality. Great women suffrage leaders such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton finally received a result from their years of hard work to gain support for women’s suffrage
Democracy in the United States became prominent in the early to mid 19th century. Andrew Jackson, the 7th president of the United States, was inaugurated in 1829 and was best known as the person who mainstreamed democracy in America. Because he came from a humble background, he was the “genuine common man.” (Foner, pg. 303) He claimed he recognized the needs of the people and spoke on behalf of the majority [farmers, laborers]. However, critics of Jackson and democracy called him “King Andrew I” because of his apparent abuse of presidential power [vetoing]. These critics believed he favored the majority so much that it violated the U.S. constitution, and they stated he was straying too far away from the plan originally set for the United States. Because of the extreme shift of power to the majority, the limiting of rights of the few [merchants, industrialists] and the abuse of power under Jackson’s democracy, the foundational documents set in the constitution was violated, and the work of the preceding presidents were all but lost.
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 democracy.
Topic: Jacksonian Democrats viewed themselves as the guardians of the United States Constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of economic opportunity.
"After 1815 Americans transformed the republic of the Founding Fathers into a democracy. State after state revoked property qualifications for voting and holding officethus transforming Jefferson's republic of property holders into Andrew Jackson's mass democracy. Democracy, however, was not for everyone. While states extended political rights to all white men, they often withdrew or limited such rights for blacks. As part of the same trend, the state of New Jersey took the vote away from propertied women, who formerly had possessed that right. Thus the democratization of citizenship applied exclusively to white men. In the mid19th century, these men went to the polls in record numbers. The election of 1828 attracted 1.2 million voters; that number jumped to 1.5 million in 1836 and to 2.4 million in 1840. Turnout of eligible voters by 1840 was well over 60 percenthigher than it had ever been, and much higher than it is now." (Remini, 1998)
Then with the election of Andrew Jackson in 1828 came a new political party known as democracy or Majority Rule which helped to increase the fairness of government system by giving more power to the average American rather than to only the elite. He pointed out the corruptions in the banking system He focused on the Rights and needs of the common men of the nation with affordable land for the common man but with it came the further forcing out of the Native Americans from their Native land with “The Indian Removal Act”