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Democracy of america mid 19th century
Andrew jackson biography and achievements essay
Andrew jackson biography and achievements essay
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Democracy and Andrew Jackson The founding fathers of the United States modeled the government on the principle of representative democracy, a form of government in which the people rule through elected government officials. However, they greatly distrusted the masses to sensibly vote for the leaders of the nation, and so they created the electoral college who directly voted for the president based on, But not limited to popular vote. Additionally, voting for the at the time was restricted to the land owning white males. In the early 1800’s, as states began to lift the voting restrictions, more and more people were permitted to vote. Simultaneously, around the 1820’s, Andrew Jackson, already a popular war hero of the battle of New Orleans, …show more content…
Although his actions regarding the ‘Corrupt Bargain’ and Native Removal Act aligned with democracy, Jackson was no true advocate of democracy. And, although Jackson defended his reasoning behind his attack on the National Bank and his spoils system as democratic, he committed a breach to democracy. Therefore, Jackson’s policies defined a half and half mixture of democracy and anti-democracy. Democracy began to rise during the mid 1820’s. A chart from History Statistics of the United States revealed that for the election of 1816, in each state the electoral college members were appointed by the state legislatures. For the election of 1824, more states began to use the people as a method of electing the electoral college members (Doc 1). In that election, Andrew Jackson won the popular vote, however, the self interested electoral college scattered the votes among the four presidential candidates: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and William Crawford. Thereby, the election was sent to the House of Representatives. Crawford suffered a stroke, and Clay, finishing last in the electoral college dropped out. But, Clay used his influential position as Speaker of the House to turn the election in his favor. And, he personally did not want the
In order to understand and analyze the forces that shaped politics during this time period, political changes must first be examined. One of the biggest changes during this time period was the change in the number of voters. Between 1812 and 1840, the percentage of eligible voters in the United States presidential elections almost tripled, increasing from 26.9 to 80.2 percent while the percentage of states allowing voters to choose presidential electors more than doubled, rising from 44.4 to 95.8 percent, shown in Document A. By 1840, Rhode Island was the only state that didn’t allow all free men to vote.
For the most part, the connection between the Presidential election process of 1788 and the present Presidential election procedure are both determined through the Electoral College process. The Electoral College process made sure people played a crucial role in the selection of the President of the United States. As was previously stated, I have expounded on the process of how the President is elected; the vital role that people played in the election, and the responsibility of the House of Representatives in response to the
He was democratic in economic ways because the policy of the agreements made peace with Great Britain . Also because Andrew Jackson made transporting goods stronger so it was easier to trade across rivers and along states and cities. Lastly , Andrew Jackson was democratic in economic ways because of the spoil system the Native Americans had to leave their land so that the Indian Tribe can take over while they take over the Native Americans will build factories and cities . As according to Document letter F facts prove that Andrew Jackson is a democratic man. Andrew Jackson wanted to have a domestic chance were he didn’t want the bank to have a law with Congress. WIthin the domestic change he wanted to have a presentation to the bank. An example of this is that the Treaty bank by some stockholders have no longer danger to liberty. Although this document supports the Andrew Jackson was democratic he could be undemocratic becuase the people must pay their crops to other sinless as a way of kind taxes. Lastly, Andrew Jackson was democratic, and this can be proven in geographic evidence . Andrew Jackson was economic in democratic ways because turnpikes were made to be able to travel to land to lands. This turnpike helped the travelers a lot easier to transport goods and communicate better with others. The turnpikes happened and occurred because of Andrew Jackson that wanted to
...resentatives would choose the new president from the top three candidates (“Amendment Twelve: Election of President and Vice President”). Due to these terms, Henry Clay was eliminated as a possible choice to become the president. It was now between Jackson, Quincy Adams, and Crawford. However, just because Clay was out of the election, it didn’t mean that he wouldn’t play a major role in how it eventually turned out. Clay wanted to have as much power as possible. When being president wasn’t an option anymore, he turned to the remaining candidates in hope of striking a deal that would give him the influence that he so desperately sought. The most promising candidates were obviously John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. Clay openly detested Jackson. He did not believe that he was qualified to be the next leader of the country. (Gould, Lewis, Ohshinksy, and Soderlund).
He made the Native Americans feel unwelcomed in their own country by taking their land and shipping them off were they would not bother a white man. Jackson also changed the voting system to benefit his own needs while in office. He was also overwhelmed by the amount of power he possessed and eventually succumbed to the temptations of selfishness. Although President Andrew Jackson was certainly not democratic, he allowed future presidents to learn from his mistakes so that history does not repeat itself. His time as president offered guidance to the true democracy America uses today in its
An extraordinarily ordinary man, a “democratic autocrat, an urbane savage, an atrocious saint” Andrew Jackson provided the means for Americans to better understand themselves (Parton PBS). Over time the perception of Jackson and his demeanor has been changed. As one historian stated, “at one time, [when they looked at Jackson] they saw the frontiersmen, the poor boy made good, the classic self-made man” (Feller PBS). In modern times, Jackson has become a more unsavoury figure; namely due to his reputation for displacing Native American tribes and repurposing their land for American settlements and communities. Still, the debate over who Andrew Jackson was, or perhaps is, can be described as a contemporary one. Nonetheless, his actions, and vociferous reactions, make Jackson a very divisive figure in American politics. Cogently stated by historian “He is an inescapable American, but of what kind?” (Feller PBS).
Andrew Jackson was like no other president before him. The previous presidents had one thing in common, they were all part of the founding fathers or in John Quincy Adam’s case was the son of a founding father. However Jackson was a plantation owner from the west who had no connections with the government. He also had different views from other presidents that made his presidency unique. Two things that separated Andrew Jackson’s presidency from previous presidencies were he reached out to the common people and he was disapproving of the Bank of United States.
The Jacksonian Democrats had at least one misconception about themselves; they did not strive to guard the individual liberty of all Americans. They were yet to break away completely from the old beliefs that one race was superior to another. However, they did have some clear perceptions of the purpose they served. They protected the Constitution and the rights it gave to Americans by promoting equality of economic opportunity and by advancing political democracy.
One example of how President Jackson shirked his responsibilities to the Indian people was by ignoring the Supreme Court’s deci...
Jackson’s spoils system opened government positions to only his supporters and he had little tolerance for
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. 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. 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. in other ways, Jackson and his followers clearly failed to live up to their ideals.
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.
He was elected by popular vote. Jackson wanted to cater to the common people. Jackson was the first president to become a democrat. The other presidents before him were either a federalist, democratic-republican or a republican. He vetoed more than twelve bills than his six predecessors. He wanted to make sure his people were treated fairly. The first president, George Washington, to the sixth president, John Quincy Adams, only vetoed nine bills. The first six presidents before him were wealthy and educated. Andrew Jackson did not have much money and felt education was not really necessary. Overall, Jackson seemed to be a hero compared to the other presidents before him.
Jackson was a strong opponent of the unequal and aristocrat dominated economic structure of most of America. He was very against the Bank of America because he believed it to have a monopoly on banking and felt that it was owned and run unjustly by wealthy aristocrats who were not always Americans (B). It must also be noted however, that while the Bank of America was undoubtedly corrupt (Nicholas Biddle is known to have given sums of money to close friends, and was also known to regularly bribe newspapers and similar media.) it also did what it was supposed to do very well. It provided money and credit to many of the lower classes that Jackson defended, and also was the source of much economic growth. As a result of this veto Jackson established pet banks in many Western areas to try to appease his main group of supporters and build up the rivalry between the agrarian South and West and the industrial North (C). Many immigrants found that one of the first things they discovered upon entering America was a sense of economic equality and lack of poverty, which are exactly the things Jackson was working towards (D). The case Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge decided that a charter given a person or group to do a service does not allow that group to have complete rights over this service. This decision supports the Jacksonian Democracy ideas that the rights of the community are more important than the rights of business (H).
One of the Jacksonian Democrats’ attempts to reduce the influence of the rich was by vetoing the charter to the Bank of the United States. Jackson stated his reasons in Document B mainly as a precaution of...