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History Jacksonian Term Paper

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...

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…

Sources used in this document:
Bibliography

Schlesinger, Jr. The Age of Jackson. 1945.

Latner, R. The Presidency of Andrew Jackson. 1979.

Sellers, Charles. The Market Revolution: Jacksonian America, 1815-1846. 1991.
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