NNEC - Jacksonian Democracy (Lesson)
Jacksonian Democracy
President Andrew Jackson and his supporters shared a political philosophy later referred to as "Jacksonian Democracy." It sought a stronger presidency and executive branch and a weaker Congress. Out of respect for the “common man,” it also sought to broaden public participation in government; it expanded suffrage (voting rights) to include all adult white males, not just landowners.
Another principle of Jacksonian Democracy was that politicians should be allowed to appoint their followers to government jobs as a way of limiting the power of elite groups (known as the "spoils system"). Jacksonians also favored Manifest Destiny and greater westward expansion of the United States.
Popular Political Culture
Jackson's presidential campaigns saw an increase in public participation in politics, and things got rough. Jackson's supporters accused his opponent of flattering European royalty and misusing public funds. The opponent accused Jackson of unfaithfulness in his marriage and being a bigamist, of massacring Native Americans, of illegally executing convicted soldiers, and of dueling. These accusations were publicized in songs, pamphlets, posters, and lapel buttons. A voter could find all these at the first-ever campaign rallies and barbecues. (Previously candidates didn’t actively campaign for political office. Candidates allowed their supporters to campaign for them. It was considered undignified and unseemly for a candidate to promote himself.)
Controversy and Andrew Jackson
Few presidents have been more polarizing, or popular, than Andrew Jackson. To many of the educated elites, he was a dangerous, poorly educated, and uncultured frontiersman who used populism to assert unprecedented power. However, to a majority of the American people he was one of them. He was so popular that he not only won the election to the presidency twice, but he also even received the largest number of votes in the presidential election that he ended up losing in 1824. Many Americans saw Jackson as someone who understood them and the things that they were concerned about. They admired his tenacity and willingness to use all the means at his disposal to accomplish his goals.
View the presentation on Andrew Jackson and the Jacksonian Era.
American Nationalism
As a people, Americans in Jackson's day believed in Manifest Destiny. They believed their nation was different than and superior to other nations because most Americans of that time shared the Protestant religion, the English language, ancestry, and culture. They believed it was their duty to expand the hold of their religion, language, ancestry, and culture all the way to the Pacific Ocean to remake all of North America as the Founding Fathers had remade its Atlantic coast. All together, these beliefs comprised American nationalism. The emerging but young republic was reflected in the outpouring of art from the period. View the presentation on Antebellum Art.
The End of the Jacksonian Era
1840 marked the end of Jacksonian America. A new political party formed to oppose Jackson, the Whigs, captured the presidency and defeated Martin Van Buren's run for re-election. Van Buren had served as Jackson's vice president, but his first term as president had been marked by an economic depression, the Panic of 1837. The Whigs were able to mimic many of the strategies of the Jacksonian Democrats and nominated William Henry Harrison (who like Jackson was a war hero-from the Battle of Tippecanoe and was the former governor of Indiana), and supporters portrayed him as a “common man” and used many of the elements of the new political culture. The Jacksonian Era had ended but not before it left an enduring stamp on American history.
"Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!" - This phrase was used by Whig campaigners in the election of 1840 when William Henry Harrison was running for president and John Tyler was his running mate. Harrison was the hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe. In the battle, Harrison destroyed the Indian confederacy led by Tecumseh, a Shawnee chief and his brother, Tenskawatawa, also known as "the Prophet" in Indiana in 1811.
John Tyler was called "His Accidency" after he became president following the Death of William Henry Harrison. It was the first time a president had died in office and some questioned his authority.
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