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A time of immense change and political involvement, the antebellum years of the early 1800s is one of the most intriguing time periods of America’s history. Harry L. Watson’s incredible book, Liberty and Power: The Politics of Jacksonian America, details the ups and downs of politics during Jacksonian America. Watson does a great job on explaining how the eighteenth century concept of republicanism transformed nineteenth century America in the form of a ‘market revolution.’ Social, political and economic changes were the center of life during Jacksonian America. Watson’s synthesis is a must-read for anyone interested in Jacksonian politics.
President Harrison was a war hero known for his successes against the Indians and the British during the battles of Tippecanoe in 1811 and the battle of Thames in 1813. Harrison was a part of the Whig party, therefore, he did not believe in Jackson’s idea of central government so he convinced the people to change their minds. He was elected the president on March 4, 1841, and died a month later April 4, 1841. Harrison died at the age of sixty-seven and was about to turn sixty-eight, his health and age were the main cause of his death. Overall, he was the first president to die in office.
Jackson vs. Clay Andrew Jackson vs. Henry Clay: Democracy and Development in Antebellum America is a book written by Harry L. Watson. Harry L. Watson writes the different stances of the presidential race in the Antebellum Era in America. He is very unbiased in his writing, clearly stating each presidential candidate. Andrew Jackson’s beliefs are clearly democratic, meaning he believed that a growing wealth and power in the business community may erode the equality of ordinary citizens. This party was also known as the ‘Jackson Party’.
Stephen Douglas, an advocate of popular sovereignty, and Abraham Lincoln, a Republican candidate, were both running to represent Illinois in the United States Senate. These two men met in a sequence of seven debates before they battled for office of presidency in the election of 1858. Slavery eventually became the main issue discussed repeatedly in each of the debates, due to the Mexican War adding new territories left to be assessed as free soil or not. During this time, the Compromise of 1850 was a temporary fix to the sectional issues for the states that made the decision to participate in the extension of slavery. However, the Missouri Compromise of 1854 brought the issue back up again.
During the 1820 's and 1830 's, American political life was transformed as more and more working men were allowed to vote and hold office. Jacksonian Democrats expanded economic opportunity and political participation for the "common man" (white factory workers, craftsmen, and mechanics, small farmers, and land-hungry frontiersmen). Jackson was the first president to view himself as a representative of "the people". As such, he expected to exercise expanded executive powers as the expense of the legislative and judicial branches. The ruling political and economic elite must be removed, he said for "the people" are "the government, the sovereign power" in the United States, and they had elected him president.
William Henry Harrison was the ninth president to serve in office. He was also the oldest president elected at the time and the first to die in office as well. Harrison was born into a well-connected family, and having his father and brother both to serve an important role in Congress, Harrison was bound to be a part of the “planter aristocracy” (American). Surprisingly, William originally went to college studying classics and medicines. William changed career paths and took up the military services before taking a role in the government (Bio).
The founders of the United States did their best to create a government that would not allow erroneous decisions to greatly harm the nation. They set a percent of presidents being politically sound and well-known; their beliefs for how the nation should be handled were essential to their campaign. President Andrew Jackson, however, did not follow this system, instead winning primarily by his personality and popularity amongst the common American. While his actions in office often appeared to be for the people, most had a hidden selfish side to them that he easily covered up. With the election of 1828, Jackson radically changed American politics, focusing them more on public appearance and personal character than on intelligence and political views, making personality just as, if not more important than the actual politics of a political term.
DBQ - Democracy in colonial America Essay The Democracy in colonial America was a work in progress with it’s democratic and undemocratic features. These features include “The Rule of Law, Individual or Human Rights, and Equality. One Democratic feature of colonial America is The Rule of Law.
Thoughts on American Democracy Today (A Discussion of Thomas Jefferson’s Thoughts on American Democracy Today) A lot of things have changed since Thomas Jefferson. Many of those being he would agree on and some he would not. An example being the American democracy today, it is much different from when he was in office. Thomas J. Baldino states about the American democracy today, “For Americans to engage in reflective democracy, thinking deeply about our values, and how we might better live by them. ”(Baldino).
As President, Jackson was the first direct representative of a common man, who lived in poverty during his life. During his presidency, the property requirement to vote was abolished. This then allowed all white men who were poor or rich
Bellamy’s Nationalist America in Looking Backward 2000-1887 shows an America without poverty. There were not masses of sick people without insurance, or twenty-five year olds drowning under crushing piles of student debt. There was absolute freedom from the constraints that money binds most people. The high cost for this system was the personal freedom to do as one wanted with his own life. Perhaps the most important freedom given up was the ability to do as one chose with the years of his life.
Andrew Jackson was from the west, and not a politician making him more of a common man than previous presidents. Serving in the military, being manly, and having a nickname “Old Hickory” made him relatable to the people. Presidents like George Washington, in contrast, came across as other worldly with their wealth, and education. The similarities to Jackson encouraged civilian participation in government. Coinciding with universal white male suffrage that came about in the 1820’s, the percentage of eligible voters that cast a ballot was higher in the 1828 election than any previous election.
His success allowed him to purchase a massive plot of land outside of Lexington with the dream of building a large plantation. At the plantations peak, it held over 60 slaves with 600 acres of land. As his career in law progressed, Henry Clay began dipping his foot into politics. Like most other men in Kentucky, Henry became a member of the Democratic Republican Party.
Thomas Jefferson had his own ideas concerning how he wanted the government to function. Thomas Jefferson mainly focuses on farmers, he wanted the farmer to stay self-sufficient, personally independent, and not attach to anyone when it came to their independence. Jefferson’s Democrat was talked about in the newspapers, which was well recognized throughout the globe. I believe that Jefferson meant well and look out for the poor man, but he went about it the wrong way.
The era of Andrew Jackson which was nicknames the era of the “common man” certainly lived up to its name. As the seventh President of the United States, Jackson had a major effect on the life of the common man, in such a way that the life of the common man would never be the same again. Jackson’s aim, after the manner in which he was defeated in the Presidential Election of 1824, despite receiving more popular votes than John Quincy Adams who took on the office, was to reduce the power and the authority of the elite. When he came into power after the 1828 election Jackson began to carry out his proposals. Jackson expanded the voting right to all men, in accordance with the Declaration of Independence of 1776 which declared that “all men are created equal” instead of just the elite.
