He had a "mass appeal" because he was himself a fighter who had many experiences in the westward frontier, and he related to those people like no president before him. What was really important about Jackson's election was that he had put together a coalition of enough voters from the west, the south, and the north, to beat John Quincy Adams, whose strength was mostly in the east. This election was called the "common man" era because ordinary hard-working people took offense at some of the wealthy that had "special privileges" (Faragher 249) in Washington and other eastern regions. Jackson was smart enough to tap into opinions of non-government officials, and he had his "kitchen cabinet" (friends of his who he felt had a better grasp of the common man's problems than higher-ups in his own administration) to keep him abreast of what people wanted and needed out there in the nation beyond Washington. This was a revelation for a president. Also, he used the veto and put a lot of pressure on Congress, including his refusal to allow federal funding to be used in states (he vetoed the Maysville Road Bill...

This was a negative thing for Jackson's legacy; it gave states the rights to over-rule the federal government in moving Indians to western reservations. But the other negative part of this, and Jackson seems cruel in hindsight, was the sending a federal army of 7,000 men to force the Cherokees to walk to Oklahoma. As many as a quarter of the 16,000 Cherokee Indians died along the way, which is to me, a black mark on Jackson's presidency. Another thing that happened during the Andres Jackson era was the emergence of a "two party system," which is what we have today. Prior to Jackson's presidency, there were always several parties soliciting votes and support, but the two party system became sort of institutionalized during Jackson's presidency.
Works Cited

Faragher, John Mack; Czitron, Daniel; Buhle, Mari Jo; & Armitage, Susan H. 2000. Out of Many: A History of the American People. Upper…