Andrew Jackson and His Era
“Jacksonian Democracy”
- 1790-1840s, state’s changed voting laws:
- state constitutions lowered/abolished property requirements
- by 1840, suffrage for most white men
- electoral college elected by popular vote
- free black men disenfranchised
- transformed US politics
- first modern party organizations
- national coordination, local organizing and mobilization
- courting the popular vote
- rhetoric (especially partisan newspapers)
- entertainment, alcohol, coercion
- patronage, “spoils”, bribes
- politics and elections often chaotic and violent
Andrew Jackson and the “Jacksonian Democracy”
- controversial, but a symbol of the era
- Jackson was among the first to understand and exploit changes in politics
- charismatic persona:
- rugged individualist, indian fighter
- populism: an advocate for the “common man”
- key founder of the democratic party
- first modern US political party
- frightened most traditionalist elites