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