Historical developments between 1820 and 1840

¶ … American history between the years of 1820 and 1840. This period of time was just after what historians have labeled as the Era of Good Feelings because the nation had been consumed with the recovery of the War of 1812 which lead to a truly nationalistic sense of values and togetherness. Not to be out done, the period between 1820 and 1840 also had its own unique label. The period was known as the Era of the Common Man or as a time that was presided over by Andrew Jackson who was known as the President of the Common Man. This report therefore tries to present some of the characteristics of the era and examine events of the time to verify or contradict the label. In other words, based on the evidence, was it appropriate to call this period the Era of the Common Man and why or why not?

Last of the Gentry

The nation was founded on the motivations and desires of the revolutionaries who fought for the Republic. The original political spectrum that was the foundation of our nation was based on a 'gentry' style of politics. "The American sense of obligation is exemplified in the development during the Middle Period of an almost obsessive concern with the historic patterns of American politics. During the 1830s and 1840s, political partisans of every hue appealed to the history of American political parties to influence contemporary political choices by relating them to the choices made by the generation of 1776, or that of 1800. (Welter 26)

This particular gentry's brand of leadership made its last stand in the elections of 1824. "The demise of this system came about when Andrew Jackson lost his initial bid for the Presidency. One of four candidates chosen by congressional caucus, and running as a war hero after his victory in the Battle of New Orleans, Jackson led the other three in popular and electoral votes, but lacked a clear majority. The election went to the House of Representatives and John Quincy Adams became President in 1824." (Brulatour, Meg)

The gentry leadership was beginning to age or pass away and the majority of voters in the United States of the time were beginning to migrate further west past the Allegheny Mountains. Upon having lost the election of 1824, Andrew Jackson regrouped and made a concerted effort to obtain the support from the new so called 'westerns' who had gradually become over a third of the nation's population.

Jackson built his support based on the fact that he was the voice of the common man and the east coast gentry was not in tune with the wishes and desires of the masses. "The two-party system began to take shape. Former Jeffersonian Republicans became Jacksonian Democrats. Henry Clay and Daniel Webster helped organize the Whigs to resist the power of "King Andrew." Eligible voter participation in the presidential races more than doubled, jumping from a mere 27% in 1824 to 58% in 1828, and 80% by 1840. It did not drop below 70% through the end of the century. Voter eligibility restrictions concerning property and tax payment were relaxed and people pressed for a more open political system." (Brulatour, Meg)

When the next election came around, Andrew Jackson was a force to be reckoned with and therefore was elected President of the United States. The era of the common man thus began with the President who represented a more democratic base on the lines of Jeffersonian style politics.

Andrew Jackson and the Common Man

Andrew Jackson was born in South Carolina in 1767 and died in 1845. He has the unique distinction of having been elected as the first true Democratic president. "In 1844 Nathan Appleton (one of the principal founders of the Waltham mills) argued that the United States was distinguished from Europe by the difference between "labor in action" and "labor in possession, with labor in possession representing claims made on the European economy by privileged idlers. Similarly, in describing the early career of Patrick Tracy Jackson (another of the Boston Associates), John Lowell made much of the fact that Jackson had been a "working- man" all his life, contrary to the "aristocratic notions" of his youth. Hence the friends of less eminent men of business had no difficulty in visualizing them as men of toil. (Welter 118)

His success in office as the nation's seventh President can be demonstrated by his reelection four years later as his overall term in office was from 1829 to 1837. His platform was that he represented the common man and therefore he was known as a president who pursued all of his policies aggressively for the little guy. Although slavery was a major issue, the main policies he pursued where mainly about Native Americans and the Second Bank of the United States.

The election of Andrew Jackson was a turning point in American politics. As noted, Jackson was the first true Democrat elected to office. The support received from western farmers and eastern workers signified that the wealthy oligarchy from Boston and Virginia who had lost touch with the masses. New voting changes such as most states removing or reducing the property qualifications restrictions allowed for more average citizens to hit the polling booths. To these average or common voters, Jackson was touted as the representative of a new age an even Jackson saw himself as the spokesman of the people who needed to fill this new role.

Indian policies

The American farmers and those migrating west needed new laws and policies regarding the Native American Indians and the rights of land ownership. As a nation, Americans basically needed more space at the expense of the Indian nations. In a devastating turn of events for the common man and expansionism, in a court ruling in 1832, the Worcester v. Georgia case set a precedence that Indians were not subject to the laws of the states and therefore had certain obligatory rights that superseded land usurping farmers and homesteaders. President Jackson in an obvious support of the common man simply refused to enforce rulings based on the Worcester v. Georgia outcome.

In one of the nations most horrific historical moves, President Jackson and the political supporters instituted the relocation of the Cherokee nation. The Trail of Tears as it was know literally had the once proud Cherokee nation and many other once powerful Indian tribes throughout the Southeastern United States force marched over one thousand miles to the desolate Oklahoma territories.

Banking

Jackson was obsessed with changing the existing banking structure that had been established by the 'Gentry' political system. He was staunchly against a re-charter of the Bank because banks represented a rich over poor flavor. Forever taking advantage of his position of common man politics, he went about righting the banking system which he saw as a tool used by the rich to oppress the poor. The existing process was known to constantly foreclose on farmers' mortgages while also restricting the issuance of paper money by local state bank systems. The fact that the current banking system was anti-Jackson and therefore was known for making loans to anti-Jackson politicians did not help matters.

Once in power, Jackson went about removing the existing banking process by redepositing government funds into what he saw as preferred local banks and thus destroying the main gentry's bank system. "Pursuing the bank war to its conclusion, Jackson found defeat in victory. Re-elected overwhelmingly on the bank issue in 1832, he soon removed all United States funds from the bank." (Pessen 104) the effect on the nation's average citizen's buying potential instantly shot up as new money was created and circulated what has been known as 'wildcat banks.' New loan opportunities became common place as expansion and land purchases got renewed vigor. "The federal deposits that Jackson had taken from Biddle were made available to several dozen state banks; these promptly used their new resources to start a credit boom." "The proportion of paper to specie lengthened, gambling in banks, internal improvements and public lands grew more frenzied, and the economic structure became increasingly speculative and unsound." (Pessen 104)

By 1836, land sale had increase to over twenty million acres. Considering that prior to Jackson's new banking policies, land sales ranged between only two and four million acres annually. Of course as is the case of increased monetary policies, inflation reared its ugly head but that did not curb the appetite of land speculators.

Of course the load opportunities were not just taken advantage of by private investors. Governmental and local state institutions also borrowed heavily in order to implement post war and other basic improvements. Other Jackson led policies also distributed any federal government surplus funds to the states which stimulated additional spending and of course more inflation. Even with these surplus infusions, the vast amounts each state borrowed continued to increase state indebtedness. Jackson banking policies put such as burden on the paper monetary system that to check inflation, his office changed the land purchase rules with the specie circular which from that point forward made land purchases only possible by gold and silver.

As is often the case, these good times could not last forever. Just like our modern day governmental debt being financed by foreign investment, Andrew Jackson and the nation faced reality when in 1837 foreign investors came to banks to collect. The speculative bubble of 1837 burst in what historians accurately termed the Panic of 1837. English and other European bankers called in the many outstanding loans the states had out as well as many private investors. Paying back these loans instantly crushed the nation's gold supplies which created a ripple affect where many local and state banks could not pay their debts, investors or the governmental reserves. These events lead to many forced bank failures and a national recession ensued.

The Missouri Compromise

In hindsight, we as a nation know now that the southern states who were in favor of slavery were prepared to defend their right to own slaves by forcing war, but during the Jackson era war was the furthest thing from anyone's mind. "In Jackson's day the chief agent of Southern power was a Northern man with Southern principles, Martin Van Buren of New York. It was he who put together the party coalition which Andrew Jackson led to power. That coalition had its wellsprings in the dramatic crisis over slavery in Missouri, the first great public airing of the slavery question in ante bellum America." (Pessen, 178)

In 1818, the new Missouri Territory had a large population that represented votes and potential admission into the Union as a state. The majority of the settlers of the territory had migrated there from the South so at the time it was assumed the state would become a slave state. But the northern anti-slave states proposed an amendment that passed and would therefore not allow the importation of slaves and it emancipated all slaves born in Missouri. The slave states were incensed and therefore slavery became a major item of concern during Andrew Jackson's terms in office.

One of the more important actions that affected the nation was the Missouri Compromise of 1820-1821. The compromise consisted of a combination of bills that first admitted Maine as a Free State and Alabama as a slave state. The number of free and slave states was off by one so the through a series of negotiated bills and measures, Missouri was added as a slave state but there was a stipulation that prohibiting slavery in the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase. Thus, Maine was granted statehood and Missouri was authorized to alter their constitution to allow slavery.