Jacksonian Democracy Dbq

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Jacksonian Democrats The period from Jackson’s inauguration as president up to the Civil War is known as the Jacksonian Era or the Era of the Rise of the Common Man. For the first time in the United States history a man born in humble circumstances was now President. The supporters of Andrew Jackson started a new party known as Jacksonians and took their own route. During the decades of the 1820s and 1830s, Jacksonian Democrats viewed themselves as guardians of the United States Constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of economic opportunity. Research has shown that individual liberty was not held up at all by the Jacksonians. After stating their beliefs it has become apparent that the Jacksonians did not entirely…show more content…
As the country changed, the voting process did also; the presidential election began with the nomination conventions whose delegates were chosen by the citizens rather than state legislators choosing electors for the convention. In addition, the new representation for voting including ninety percent of white males encouraged voting and political democracy. Kentucky was the first western state to enact white male suffrage without tax or property qualifications. Other western states followed, and by 1820, most of the older states had dropped their suffrage restrictions as well. By 1840, more than 90 percent of the nation’s white males could vote. However it was spectacular that voting was democratized for white men, political democracy was not entirely achieved because restrictions on free African American male voters grew tighter and women were excluded completely. However, Jackson undermined the new gratifying political process with the Spoil System. Jackson believed that any American could do any job in government, so he fired federal employees who worked for Adams and replaced them with his political supporters. Not only is firing innocent workers wrong, it is corrupt for a president to use his power in order to gain more power through the venal support system. Most were not qualified for their jobs. In reality, Jackson often avoided drawing upon the wisdom of his formal cabinet officials, but…show more content…
As part of the killing of the national bank he first vetoed the re-charter, withdrew ten million dollars in federal deposits and put them into “Pet Banks” in attempt to divide the power and money from one bank to multiple banks. However, even though Jackson attempted to make it more fair for citizens he truly ruined the American economy after the banks closed. The pet banks then printed more bank notes than they had gold and silver to back them up. Jackson believed in hard money and was fearful that the banknotes were not worth what they said and ordered all of the public to use hard money like gold and silver, known as the Specie Circular. The Bank War and the Specie Circular then ruined the economy and the government was no help. Many businesses shut down, over 800 banks collapsed, and the economy suffered for over six years and the government did nothing. Even though Jackson ruined the economy he attempted to helped because he believed the banks were a tool of the Easter Elite and concentrated the nation’s financial strength in a single institution, he had a just cause proving he was attempting to fix the corrupt economy. The case of Charles River Bridge vs. Warren Bridge showed another example of economic opportunity. Massachusetts had granted the Charles River Bridge company
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