Franchise FAQ

how did the franchise change during jackson's time

by Jannie Becker Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago
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Voters, not state legislatures, began to choose presidential electors. This expansion of the franchise has been dubbed Jacksonian Democracy, as the election of Andrew Jackson in 1828 became symbolic of the new “politics of the common man.”

Even while states were moving toward denying free blacks the right to vote, the franchise was expanding for white men. All states admitted to the Union after 1815 adopted white male suffrage, and between 1807 and 1821, others abolished the property and tax qualifications for voting.

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What changed during the Jackson era?

The Jackson Era, running from around 1820 to 1845, was a time of rampant growth and regional diversification. World views and ways of living changed as quickly as in the 20th century. Transportation was revolutionized and the foundation of a manufacturing economy was laid.

How did the political system change during the Age of Jackson why?

Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of the United States. He served two terms in office from 1829 to 1837. During Jackson's presidency, the United States evolved from a republic—in which only landowners could vote—to a mass democracy, in which white men of all socioeconomic classes were enfranchised.

How did Jackson's presidency change American society?

Jackson laid the framework for democracy, paid off the national debt, gained new lands for America, strengthened relationships with foreign nations globally and issued a new currency.

How did Jackson's election change politics?

The campaign of 1828 was a crucial event in a period that saw the development of a two-party system akin to our modern system, presidential electioneering bearing a closer resemblance to modern political campaigning, and the strengthening of the power of the executive branch.

What important transition in American politics took place during the Jacksonian era?

What important transition in American politics took place during the Jacksonian era? Democratic rhetoric made it necessary for candidates to appeal to common people.

What were two key events of Jackson's presidency?

Andrew Jackson - Key EventsMarch 4, 1829. Jackson Inaugurated. ... April 13, 1830. Tensions between Jackson and Calhoun. ... May 26, 1830. Indian Removal Act. ... May 27, 1830. Jackson vetoes Maysville Road bill. ... April 1, 1831. Peggy Eaton Affair. ... July 4, 1831. French spoliation claims. ... July 10, 1832. ... November 1, 1832.More items...

How did Jacksonian Democracy transform America?

Expanded suffrage – The Jacksonians believed that voting rights should be extended to all white men. By the end of the 1820s, attitudes and state laws had shifted in favor of universal white male suffrage and by 1856 all requirements to own property and nearly all requirements to pay taxes had been dropped.

Why was Andrew Jackson significant in US history?

He was the first man elected from Tennessee to the House of Representatives, and he served briefly in the Senate. A major general in the War of 1812, Jackson became a national hero when he defeated the British at New Orleans.

What made Andrew Jackson different from other presidents?

Unlike other famously strong Presidents, Jackson defined himself not by enacting a legislative program but by thwarting one. In eight years, Congress passed only one major law, the Indian Removal Act of 1830, at his behest. During this time Jackson vetoed twelve bills, more than his six predecessors combined.

What was the major issue in Jackson's reelection campaign?

Two years earlier, President Andrew Jackson (pictured) had vetoed an act to re-charter the Bank of the United States. That veto became a major issue in his 1832 reelection campaign, in which he decisively defeated Senator Henry Clay.

Why is Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill?

Andrew Jackson first appeared on the $20 bill in 1928. Although 1928 coincides with the 100th anniversary of Jackson's election as president, it is not clear why the portrait on the bill was switched from Grover Cleveland to Jackson. (Cleveland's portrait was moved to the new $1000 bill the same year).

What was Jacksonian Democracy and why was it important?

A movement for more democracy in American government in the 1830s. Led by President Andrew Jackson, this movement championed greater rights for the common man and was opposed to any signs of aristocracy in the nation.

What new political parties came into the Age of Jackson apex?

During the contested election of 1824, followers of Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams began calling themselves National Republicans, and backers of Andrew Jackson emerged as Democratic Republicans. By the election of 1828, the Jacksonians had become known simply as the Democrats.

How did Jacksonian Democracy transform America?

Expanded suffrage – The Jacksonians believed that voting rights should be extended to all white men. By the end of the 1820s, attitudes and state laws had shifted in favor of universal white male suffrage and by 1856 all requirements to own property and nearly all requirements to pay taxes had been dropped.

Which of the following most likely describes how a politician in the Age of Jackson would have described these maps?

Which of the following MOST LIKELY describes how a politician in the Age of Jackson would have described these maps? Henry Clay would have said they illustrate how the Industrial Revolution benefited Americans most when they focused on developing their own regional resources.

What are two reasons why people thought Jackson would be different from previous presidents?

He had a more limited education than previous presidents. Because of his direct campaigning, he had more support among “common men” than previous presidents. He disliked the power of the “Eastern aristocracy.”

How Did Andrew Jackson Persuasion Corrupt

In Andrew Jackson’s time, there was a great deal of cultural and political phenomena that made his populist agenda relevant to the people of the United States. For example, one of the prominent concerns among Americans during Jackson’s era was the rampant corruption which had become prominent throughout the Monroe administration.

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This concern about the farmers led to president Jackson supporting their belief that the nation should use silver or gold to back the currency not just banking notes. This

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Guiding Questions

What changes in voting participation are evident in the election of 1828?

Learning Objectives

Examine how voting participation changed in the first half of the 19th century.

Where did the Workingmen's Party take place?

The Workingmen’s Party, for example, organized in the major northeastern cities and in dozens of small, industrial towns in New England. Workingmen’s parties were part of the emerging labor movement and were made up primarily of skilled craftsmen whose trades were being industrialized.

What is the cartoon about workingmen?

The Workingmen’s Party cartoon illustrates disillusionment with and dissent from the sharply divisive politics of the age. It suggests that the corruption of both the Whigs and the Democrats will lead to the oppression of the poor.

What was the Jacksonian movement?

Socially and intellectually, the Jacksonian movement represented not the insurgency of a specific class or region but a diverse, sometimes testy national coalition. Its origins stretch back to the democratic stirrings of the American Revolution, the Antifederalists of the 1780s and 1790s, and the Jeffersonian Democratic Republicans.

How did the Jacksonians influence American politics?

Having tapped into the disaffection of the 1820s and 1830s and molded it into an effective national party, they advanced the democratization of American politics. By denouncing the moneyed aristocracy and proclaiming the common man, they also helped politicize American life, broadening electoral participation to include an overwhelming majority of the electorate. Yet this very politicization would ultimately prove the Jacksonian Democracy’s undoing. Once the slavery issue entered the concerns of even a small portion of the electorate, it proved impossible to remove without trampling on some of the very egalitarian principles the Jacksonians were pledged to uphold.

What is Jacksonian democracy?

Jacksonian Democracy. An ambiguous, controversial concept, Jacksonian Democracy in the strictest sense refers simply to the ascendancy of Andrew Jackson and the Democratic party after 1828. More loosely, it alludes to the entire range of democratic reforms that proceeded alongside the Jacksonians’ triumph—from expanding ...

What did the oppositionists believe about the market revolution?

The oppositionist core, however, came from a cross-class coalition, strongest in rapidly commercializing areas, that viewed the market revolution as the embodiment of civilized progress. Far from pitting the few against the many, oppositionists argued, carefully guided economic growth would provide more for everyone. Government encouragement—in the form of tariffs, internal improvements, a strong national bank, and aid to a wide range of benevolent institutions—was essential to that growth. Powerfully influenced by the evangelical Second Great Awakening, core oppositionists saw in moral reform not a threat to individual independence but an idealistic cooperative effort to relieve human degradation and further expand the store of national wealth. Eager to build up the country as it already existed, they were cool to territorial expansion. Angered by Jackson’s large claims for presidential power and rotation in office, they charged that the Jacksonians had brought corruption and executive tyranny, not democracy. Above all, they believed that personal rectitude and industriousness, not alleged political inequalities, dictated men’s failures or successes. The Jacksonians, with their spurious class rhetoric, menaced that natural harmony of interests between rich and poor which, if only left alone, would eventually bring widespread prosperity.

How did Jacksonianism grow?

Jacksonianism, however, would grow directly from the tensions it generated within white society. Mortgaged farmers and an emerging proletariat in the Northeast, nonslaveholders in the South, tenants and would-be yeomen in the West—all had reasons to think that the spread of commerce and capitalism would bring not boundless opportunities but new forms of dependence. And in all sections of the country, some of the rising entrepreneurs of the market revolution suspected that older elites would block their way and shape economic development to suit themselves.

What were the Jacksonians' best weapons?

The people’s best weapons were equal rights and limited government —ensuring that the already wealthy and favored classes would not enrich themselves further by commandeering, enlarging, and then plundering public institutions. More broadly, the Jacksonians proclaimed a political culture predicated on white male equality, contrasting themselves with other self-styled reform movements. Nativism, for example, struck them as a hateful manifestation of elitist puritanism. Sabbatarians, temperance advocates, and other would-be moral uplifters, they insisted, should not impose righteousness on others. Beyond position-taking, the Jacksonians propounded a social vision in which any white man would have the chance to secure his economic independence, would be free to live as he saw fit, under a system of laws and representative government utterly cleansed of privilege.

What was the Jacksonians' policy thrust?

The Jacksonians’ basic policy thrust, both in Washington and in the states, was to rid government of class biases and dismantle the top-down, credit-driven engines of the market revolution.

How did Andrew Jackson influence the American people?

However, as rules changed to allow all adult, white males to vote, Jackson’s popularity grew along with the country’s new interest in politics, and especially in the white manhood suffrage that grew with his early presidency. In addition, his presidency brought forward some rights for women, including the right to earn money and take jobs for themselves if needed. However, most of these jobs were in the factories made popular by industrialization, and were not ideal wages or working conditions (most also allowed excessive child labor). In addition, his time in office led to increased land transportation to support a strong industrial and agricultural economy within the nation. For the most part, all of these helped the American people. They not only allowed the majority to succeed, but they also helped them better understand politics through Andrew Jackson’s

What Is Andrew Jackson's Presidency?

Additionally, Andrew Jackson gave most people the opportunity to have a voice in the government. Furthermore, he changed the way people elected presidents and helped the lower class white men gain a say in voting. Andrew Jackson 's presidency was successful in increasing the quality of life for people in lower classes but increasing their voices and improving their economic

How Was Industrialization Affected By The Industrial Revolution?

While industrialization brought about an increased volume and variety of manufactured items and an improved standard of living for some , it also resulted in often bad employment and living conditions for the poor. Education was poor, the rich had private tutors. There were of course schools and several universities. They were basically for the rich. The industrial Revolution brought changes in the world.

How did the Spoils system work?

Firm control over local politics by political party machines greatly diminished electoral competition and fostered an environment in which a system of "spoils" thrived. The practice during this time was for elected officials to reward loyal supporters with government jobs - particularly in an effort to win broad support from immigrant communities. Widely accepted in its era, this "spoils system" was largely promulgated by the Tenure of Office Act of 1820. This legislation effectively limited the terms of many federal employees to four years in an effort to render public office more accountable. However, the adverse effect of the measure was the implementation of political appointments based on partisan allegiance rather than capability

Was Andrew Jackson a Democrat?

Today, Andrew Jackson is known far and wide in the United States as having been a large advocate of democracy. He proclaimed himself a Democrat, and while running for president, he campaigned that he would change the system to help directly represent the people instead of through representatives. Being a Democrat running against a Republican, most people would think that Andrew Jackson would be the most anti-republican person ever. However, that was not entirely the case. Jackson was neither anti-republican nor the most Republican person one can imagine.

How did racial tensions affect popular culture?

Racial tensions also influenced popular culture. The white actor Thomas Dartmouth Rice appeared on stage in blackface, singing and dancing as a clownish slave named “Jim Crow.” Many other white entertainers copied him. Borrowing from the work of real black performers but pandering to white audiences’ prejudices, they turned cruel stereotypes into one of antebellum America’s favorite forms of entertainment.

What were the causes of the 1830s riots?

Racial and ethnic resentment thus contributed to a wave of riots in American cities during the 1830s. In Philadelphia, thousands of white rioters torched an antislavery meeting house and attacked black churches and homes. Near St. Louis, abolitionist newspaper editor Elijah Lovejoy was murdered as he defended his printing press. Contemplating the violence, another journalist wondered, “Does it not appear that the character of our people has suffered a considerable change for the worse?”

How many free blacks lived in America in the 1830s?

During the 1830s, furthermore, the social tensions that had promoted Andrew Jackson’s rise also worsened race relations. Almost 400,000 free blacks lived in America by the end of the decade. In the South and West, Native Americans stood in the way of white expansion.

What did white people do in the 1830s?

Some whites in the 1830s, however, joined free black activists in protesting racial inequality. Usually, they lived in northern cities and came from the class of skilled laborers, or in other words, the lower middle class. Most of them were not rich, but they expected to rise in the world.

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Understanding

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Between the 1820s and 1850, as more white males won the right to vote and political parties became more organized, the character of American democracy changed. It became more partisan and more raucous, a turn that bred ambivalence and even discontent with politics and the dominant parties.
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Teacher’s Note

  • The richest document of the three, The County Electionis a reasonably reliable depiction of elections of this period. It tells us who participated and who was excluded from election rituals. It illustrates how the parties induced voters to come to the polls and vote for their candidates. They supplied alcohol: note the three stages of inebriation — still conscious in the left corner, about t…
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Background

  • From the 1820s through the 1850s American politics became in one sense more democratic, in another more restrictive, and, in general, more partisan and more effectively controlled by national parties. Since the 1790s, politics became more democratic as one state after another ended property qualifications for voting. Politics became more restrictive as one state after another for…
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Analysis

  • For each image, before posing the content-specific questions listed below, we recommend that you have students conduct a general analysis using the following four-step procedure. 1. Visual Inventory:Describe the image, beginning with the largest, most obvious features and proceed toward more particular details. Describe fully, without making evaluations. What do you see? Wh…
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Follow-Up Assignment

  • Ask your students, either in discussion or in a written assignment, to analyze George Caleb Bingham’s Stump Speaking(oil on canvas, 1853-54) in terms of the changes that occurred in American politics between the 1820s and the 1850s. 1. How does Bingham’s Stump Speakingreflect changes that occurred in American politics between the 1820s and 1850s? If yo…
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