Jacksonian Era Dbq Analysis

Starting in 1828 the United States experienced the “Jacksonian Era”, where Andrew Jackson, the first recognized democratic president, lead our country. His time of rule is often looked at as of time of “democratization of politics.” This means that the government was becoming representatives of the people's voice, and this is exactly what Jackson believed in. He showed his democratic beliefs through many things throughout his presidency. The democratization of politics is very evident in the Jacksonian Era through things such as voting, Indian removal, and being financially in favor of the people’s wants and needs individually, rather than as a whole, because although many times he was harsh in his ways, his end goal was to ensure the people

As time went on voting was subject to only very specific people. In the first graph (document one) it shows qualifications needed to vote in the U.S. These qualifications ranged from white men only, who owned land, to no qualifications at all, depending on the state. In the second graph (document two) the number of states with race exclusions, and the number of states in the union are represented. The purpose of this is to show how many states each certain number of years has race exclusions when it comes to voting. “A ‘Corrupt Bargain’ or Politics as Usual” (document three) was written by John Quincy Adams during the Election of 1824, after the electoral votes were counted, but before the House of Representatives final decision. It was written to defend himself against the accusations of a corrupt bargain. In these examples it is obvious that voting, while excluding Indians and black Slaves, was open to anyone who wanted to qualify for it. Throught the Corrupt Bargain it seems that Democracy was lacking, because in this case, majority did not rule, which proves that in the following Jacksonian Era Democracy

Andrew Jackson’s “Veto of the Bank” Bill (document six)in 1832 was created to nullify the charter of the second national bank.This move was for people of the lower and middle class, because the bank’s key benefactor was foreigners, which were not people of Jackson’s concern. “The Force Bill” (document seven) was written to give the president the power to end nullification with military force. This bill was needed because South Carolina raised a militia and threatened to secede from the union. “A French Traveler Reports on American Society” (document 8) was written by Alexis de Tocqueville, speaking of the democratic patterns he saw when he came to the United States. These points show that the moves Jackson made, even though sometimes radical, were in the best interest of the citizens, and in Tocqueville’s eyes it was palpable that democratically was now how the government