Jacksonian Democracy
"Jacksonian democracy" refers to the period of time (roughly 1828–1840) dominated by the controversial presidency of Andrew Jackson (1829–1837). Jackson, a westerner and the hero of the Battle of New Orleans (1815), ran for the presidency in 1824 but lost to John Quincy Adams. He ran again in 1828 and won in a landslide.
Jacksonian democracy was the political movement toward greater democracy for the common man. Jackson's policies followed Jeffersonian democracy, which had dominated the previous political era. The Democratic-Republican Party of the Jeffersonians had become factionalized in the 1820s, and Jackson's supporters began to form the modern Democratic Party; they fought the rival Adams and anti-Jacksonian factions, which soon emerged as the Whigs.
While Jeffersonians favored educated men (though they opposed inherited elites), the Jacksonians gave little weight to education. The Whigs were the inheritors of Jeffersonian democracy in terms of promoting schools and colleges. In contrast to the Jeffersonian era, Jacksonian democracy promoted the strength of the presidency and executive branch at the expense of Congress, while also seeking to broaden the public's participation in government. Jacksonians demanded elected (not appointed) judges and rewrote many state constitutions to reflect these new values. There was usually a consensus among both Jacksonians and Whigs that battles over slavery should be avoided.
The Philosophy
Jacksonian democracy was built on the principles of expanded suffrage, Manifest Destiny, patronage, strict constructionism, and laissez-faire economics.
Expanded Suffrage
The Jacksonians believed that voting rights should be extended to all white men. By 1820, universal white-male suffrage was the norm, and by 1850, nearly all requirements to own property or pay taxes had been dropped. The fact that many men were now legally allowed to vote did not necessarily mean they would, and local parties systematically sought out potential voters and pulled them to the polls. Voter turnout soared during the Second Party System, reaching about 80 percent of the adult white men by 1840.
Manifest Destiny
The concept of "Manifest Destiny" was the belief that white Americans would inevitably settle the American West and expand control from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific and that the West should be settled by yeoman farmers. However, the Free Soil Jacksonians, notably Martin Van Buren, argued for limitations on slavery in the new areas to enable the poor white man to flourish; they split with the main party briefly in 1848. The Whigs generally opposed Manifest Destiny and expansion, saying the nation should build up its cities.
Patronage
Also known as the "spoils system," patronage was the policy of placing political supporters into appointed offices. Many Jacksonians held the view that rotating political appointees in and out of office was not only the right, but also the duty, of winners in political contests. It was theorized that patronage would encourage political participation by the common man and would make a politician more accountable for poor government service by his appointees. Jacksonians also held that long tenure in the civil service was corrupting, so civil servants should be rotated out of office at regular intervals. However, patronage often led to the hiring of incompetent and sometimes corrupt officials due to the emphasis on party loyalty above any other qualifications.
Strict Constructionism
Like the Jeffersonians, who strongly believed in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, Jacksonians initially favored a federal government of limited powers. Jackson said that he would guard against, "all encroachments upon the legitimate sphere of State sovereignty." This is not to say that Jackson was a states' rights extremist; indeed, the Nullification Crisis (described below) would find Jackson fighting against what he perceived as state encroachments on the proper sphere of federal influence. As the Jacksonians consolidated power, they more often advocated for expanding federal power and presidential power in particular.
Laissez-Faire Economics
Complementing a strict construction of the Constitution, the Jacksonians generally favored a hands-off approach to the economy, in contrast to the Whig program sponsoring modernization, railroads, banking, and economic growth.
Crises During Jackson's Presidency
Opposition to the National Bank
The Second Bank of the United States was authorized for a 20-year period during James Madison's tenure in 1816. Due to his strict constructionist policies, Jackson worked to rescind the bank's federal charter. Following Jefferson, Jackson supported an "agricultural republic" and felt the Bank improved the fortunes of an "elite circle" of commercial and industrial entrepreneurs at the expense of farmers and laborers. During his presidency, Jackson succeeded in vetoing the Bank's 1832 re-charter by Congress and withdrawing U.S. funds in 1833. The U.S. Senate censured Jackson on March 28, 1834, for his actions removing U.S. funds from the Bank of the United States. When the Jacksonians achieved a majority in the Senate, the censure was expunged.
Nullification Crisis
Another notable crisis during Jackson's period in office was the Nullification Crisis, or Secession Crisis, of 1828–1832, which merged issues of sectional strife with disagreements over tariffs. Critics alleged that high tariffs (such as the "Tariff of Abominations") on imports of common manufactured goods produced in Europe made those goods more expensive than ones from the northern United States, raising the prices paid by planters in the South. In 1828, South Carolina nullified, or declared void, the tariff legislation of 1828, and set in motion the right of a state to nullify any federal laws that went against its interests. Although Jackson sympathized with the South in the tariff debate, he believed it was important to maintain a strong union with effective powers for the central government, and the issue led to a bitter rivalry between Jackson and Vice President John C. Calhoun.
The relationship between Jackson and Calhoun was further strained by the Petticoat Affair, when the vice president's wife and several Cabinet members socially ostracized Secretary of War John H. Eaton and his wife, Margaret O'Neill Eaton. Following the Petticoat Affair, Calhoun and Jackson broke apart politically from one another and Van Buren replaced Calhoun as Jackson's running mate in the 1832 presidential election. In December of 1832, Calhoun resigned as vice president to become a U.S. senator for South Carolina.
Assassination Attempt
On January 30, 1835, what is believed to be the first attempt to kill a sitting president of the United States occurred just outside the United States Capitol. When Jackson was leaving through the East Portico after the funeral of South Carolina Representative Warren R. Davis, Richard Lawrence, an unemployed house painter from England, aimed a pistol at Jackson, which misfired. Lawrence pulled out a second pistol, which also misfired. Lawrence was restrained. Historians believe the humid weather contributed to the double misfiring.
Later, Lawrence told doctors that he blamed Jackson for the loss of his job. He claimed that with the president dead, "money would be more plenty" (a reference to Jackson's struggle with the Bank of the United States) and that he, "could not rise until the president fell." Finally, he told his interrogators that he was a deposed English King—specifically, Richard III (dead since 1485)—and that Jackson was his clerk. Lawrence was deemed insane and institutionalized. The failed assassination attempt led many to believe Jackson was blessed by the same providence that protected the young nation he governed, which in turn fueled the American desire to expand during the 1830s.
Jackson assassination attempt
This 1835 etching depicts Richard Lawrence's assassination attempt on Andrew Jackson.