Jacksonian Democracy Dbq Essay

Kathy Dai
M. Galvin
AP USH Period 1 Jacksonian Democracy DBQ The Jacksonian democracy of the 1820s-1830s is often associated with an expansion of the political influence, economic opportunities, and social equality available to “the common man,” a concept of the masses which President Andrew Jackson and his newly founded Democratic party came to represent. The new administration certainly saw gains for the majority; namely, public participation in government increased to unprecedented levels, and several economic decisions were made to favor the people over monopolies. Beginning with their exaggerated portrayal of the “corrupt” 1824 election however, the Jacksonian democrats also left a legacy of substantial miscalculations …show more content…
The Jacksonians stuck with their vision of themselves in this sense, but opposing reactions to the veto pointed out that the attack on the bank was unnecessary and dangerous. Daniel Webster’s reply to the veto correctly asserted that by raising the alarm about an encroachment of economic freedoms, the Democrats were really harming the stability of the economy needlessly (C). Webster’s analysis was proven accurate by the Panic of 1837, during which a bubble of inflation caused by the end of the national bank was abruptly burst, and several years of depression followed. The recession and unemployment caused indirectly by Jackson’s cancelation of the national bank did more harm to public economic opportunities than good, despite the Jacksonians’ passionate belief in the threat that the Bank posed. Also in 1837 however, Chief Justice Roger Taney’s Supreme Court decision of Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge was a decisive victory for the Jacksonian ideal of equal economic opportunity. Taney interpreted a 1785 charter for a bridge on the Charles River loosely so that a new bridge could be erected across the same river, thus dispelling a monopoly and financially benefitting the people (H). The Jacksonians evidently believed in their roles as the protectors of economic equality, but the results

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Jacksonian Democracy Dbq Analysis