Jackson's Political System

Emulating their British cousins, in the early years of the nation the US government was quite aristocratic. Most government officials came from wealthy families and were educated in elite private institutions and looked down on the unprivileged. Even voting was limited to white landowning businessmen. Quarter way through the 19th century the number of middle class americans began to grow due to westward expansion. People who were once ridiculed for their poverty were now fairly prosperous owning their own land but still found themselves inactive members of politics. They began to realize that the government was mostly controlled by the wealthy and mostly benefitted them. The 1824 presidential election results proved their sentiments even more because even though the War Hero of the West Andrew Jackson had the most electoral votes, the wealthy New Englander John Quincy Adams became President. When the next election came, the

In 1832 there was a proposal to renew its status as a federally regulated financial body that passed congress. The fact that it was a private corporation did not sit well with Andrew Jackson and his fellow Jacksonians because it was controlled by a few wealthy men. When the bill to recharter it arrived at Jackson’s desk, one of the reasons he vetoed it was because it gave the Bank control of the nation’s economy. The Bank would control how financial sources move within the nation and how they leave the nation. Jacksonian Democracy supported “laissez-faire” economics that called for minimal government interference or regulation of the economy. It especially opposed control by a select few and so the Bank was doubly against Jacksonian ideals. Andrew Jackson cited these reasons in his veto message which show that his veto reflected the core beliefs of Jacksonian