History Jacksonian

Jacksonian Democrats During antebellum America, the Jacksonian Democrats were created. This was a group that viewed themselves as protectors of the common people. A powerful executive whose goal was to destroy aristocracy in America, Andrew Jackson, ruled the Jacksonian Democrats. (Schlesinger) Strangely, this group was not made up of the common people. The Jacksonian Democrats were a wealthy group that supported equality between white men, enacted radical economic policies, and disregarded any capabilities of the federal government.

Many say that the group was not the introducers of democracy in America but rather users of the system for their own benefit. During the early 1800's, the United States was growing at a rapid pace. A market revolution took place as cash-crop agriculture and capitalist manufacturing replaced the artisan economy. However, this prosperity created a split between the industrializing, urban north, agrarian, rural South, and the expanding West. The Jacksonians passed the Tariff of 1828, creating opportunities for western agriculture and New England manufacturing.

(Latner) But this tariff crushed the South. Andrew Jackson and the Jacksonians felt that the U.S. bank placed too much control in the hands of a selected, rich group. So Jackson vetoed the bank's recharter in 1832, in an attempt to benefit the poorer, blue-collar workers. Federal money was then placed in "pet" state banks. Jacksonians believed that this veto would increase the economic equality of the United States. Jackson believed that the bank was monopolistic, therefore unconstitutional, even though the bank was declared constitutional in 1819.

(Sellers) In Jackson's opinion, this monopoly would favor the wealthy citizens and be detrimental to the poorer citizens. Therefore, the bank was not allowing for economic equality. The effect was destabilizing to the national currency. It decreased specie in markets and displayed favoritism in Jacksonian policies. This effort failed and ultimately spred inflation, which the Treasury Act of 1840 could not stop. Jacksonians tried to assist whites through economic policies but was not successful.

Jacksonian Democrats believed that they were defending the common man but many people ended up seeing them as an inefficient and corrupt group. Their attempts to further reform movements wound up decreasing economic opportunity. While they supported state rights and individuality, they were also strong nationalists. For example, in the Nullification Crisis, Jackson threatened to use force against the nullifiers. In addition, he issued a proclamation, which prevented South Carolina from nullifying federal tariffs. Jackson went against state rights by doing this.

(Latner) This demonstrates how Jackson took his powers of presidency beyond what was allotted to him in the Constitution. The Jacksonians justified this action by saying that the Constitution called for a single nation and not a league of states as South Carolina was doing. Therefore, the Jacksonians felt he was defending the Constitution. Jacksonians strived to preserve the unifying principles that the Constitution contained, but acted in contempt of it when they asserted the overwhelming power of the executive branch.

Jacksonian democracy did allow more people to vote than ever before and made government more directly responsible to the people. Finally, they established a strong executive, directly responsible to the people, and increased faith in government. Overall, Jacksonians honestly attempted to help common Americans. It is true that the Jacksonian Democrats often violated the U.S. Constitution and the ideals of political democracy, individual liberty, and economic opportunity. However, they did these things with the best of intentions.

They took the initiative to protect the interests of the common man and as long as the Constitution did not violate these interests, the Jacksonian Democrats did not violate the U.S. Constitution. The Jacksonians felt that it was in the interest of the common man to issue the "Indian Removal Act" yet it was clearly a violation of the Constitution. The majority of the people in the U.S. were against Indians, as Indians proved to be a threat to westward expansion.

The Supreme Court ruled this act as unconstitutional as it violated the treaty of New Echota, but Jackson did not care. He ignored this, which was a ground for impeachment. However, the majority of Americans was happy with his actions and did not mind that he ignored the Constitution. His title remained. The.