Andrew Jackson's Expansion Of Democracy

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Andrew Jackson was inaugurated as president on March 4, 1829. Throughout his two terms of presidency, he was very influential. Jackson’s policies on relocating the Indians, diminishing the national bank, extending voting rights, and expanding democracy.

First of all, Andrew Jackson had always wanted the Indian tribes that continued to live in the eastern states and territories of the United States to move west, beyond the Mississippi, and out of the way of the expanding white settlement. This viewpoint was shared by many white westerners because they feared that endless conflict and violence would continue without their removal. However, as a result of a Supreme Court decision, only the federal government had the legal authority to …show more content…

Jackson stated that democracy should offer “equal protection and equal benefits to all white male citizens and favor no region or class over another. In addition, Jackson used the Spoils System, to target the officeholders who had been in place for a generation or more. He dismissed about 1/5th of the federal office holders. Jackson and his administrations helped make the right of elected officials to appoint their own followers to public office an established feature of American politics. Jackson also resented the congressional caucus because he believed it favored elites. In 1832, Jackson’s followers staged a national party convention to renominate Jackson for president. They believed power would rise directly from the people and not aristocratic political conventions. Socially, this resulted in a continuation of the suppression of African Americans, Indians, and women, which was an effort to preserve the white-male democracy. On the other hand, this spread opportunities to whites in the West and South. Economically, the middle class received an economic advantage. Politically, this resulted in those who were in the electoral college to be more similar to the average American person, or “common man”. This relates to the common day economic struggle of the disappearing of the middle class. However, this is more due to the fact that the financially top 10% of American citizens own 90% of the American wealth. This is more of an economic struggle, rather than a political struggle as it was in the

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