“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