Jacksonian Democracy

4 Pages 988 Words

Democracy in Jackson’s Administration

In 1828, democracy changed with the election of Andrew Jackson for president. This democracy’s philosophy was that all governing that was necessary would be done directly by the people of America. Jacksonian Democrats viewed themselves as the guardians of the United States Constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of economic opportunity. This self-serving view was exceedingly hypocritical, as shown through the National Bank, the Nullification crisis, and the Native American’s Trail of Tears.
Andrew Jackson decided not to recharter the National Bank in 1832, stating that it was for the good of economic equality. This started what is known as the “Bank War.” In his veto message (Doc B), Jackson maintained that he was protecting United States citizens by not passing the recharter. His belief was that the Bank was monopolistic and therefore unconstitutional. However, the bank was declared constitutional in McCulloch vs. Maryland in 1819. He felt that this “monopoly” would favor only the wealthy and because it only used hard money, would devastate the poorer citizens in America. This is where his reasoning that it was not economically equal was derived from. Although some aspects of his argument were accurate, he failed to recognize the overall benefits of the National Bank, pointed out by Daniel Webster in his reply to the veto. (Doc C) The National Bank issued stable bank notes, expanded the country’s money supply, and produced an abundant amount of sound currency. The government benefited because it was a safe place to store, transfer, and distribute currency.
Jackson destroyed the Bank, causing class animosity, such as the riots in New York and Philadelphia described by Philip Hone, a businessman and Whig. (Doc E)
The controversy over nullification produced a crisis in 1832 over the Tariff of 1828. South Carolina, angry because of the...