Jacksonian Democrats
The 1920s and 1930s were a time when the Jacksonian Democrats dominated the politics in the United States. The Jacksonian Democrats, followers of Andrew Jackson, claimed to be the guardians of the United States constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of economic opportunity. This group clearly violated their views of themselves by a considerable amount as being guardians of these things, and they also significantly dishonored the views that others had of them as well, of being admirable men that were trying to do good things for their country. The Jacksonian Democrats rarely followed what was stated in the constitution, and did not protect individual rights for many of the citizens of the United States. There were a few cases where these men did in fact live up to the expectations of them, but in general, they swayed very far away from the group they said they were in order to get Jefferson elected as president. When Jefferson wrote that “all men are created equal,” that was what he based his political party off of. Citizen’s rights were something that was very important to him, and Andrew Jackson followed closely in his footsteps when he presented himself as a man that wanted the central government to have as little power as possible, and the people to have a large say in the government. When Jackson lost the election in 1824 by the vote in congress, it gained him a large amount of respect from the people, and it showed when he got elected in 1828. Andrew Jackson was a man that had a very strong opinion, but when he got put into office, the pressures that the nation put on him forced him to lay off some of his beliefs and do what was best for his country.
The Jacksonian Democrats viewed themselves as diligent followers and protectors of the United States constitution. The Constitution was a document setting all of the basic guidelines for our nation to be run by, and it split power between the branches of government, all while giving people a say as well. However, Andrew Jackson believed that the government should receive as little power as possible, and all decisions should be made by the people of the country. As a president, this did not end up working out so well for him. The demands of the nation were not able to be met with the views that Jackson and his follows believed in. Jackson acted in ways that gave the government power over the people when he did things such as sending troops to control South Carolina when they tried to secede from the Union. South Carolina was upset about the Tariff of 1828 being passed to help out the manufacturing in New England because it hurt the south greatly. They were so angered that they tried to nullify the tariff. Jackson passed the nullification and force bill that said they could not do that, they got angry and threatened to break away. The act also stated that Jackson could use the force of the military to control the issue, and he did just that. This showed that Jackson took the opportunity to give the government power over the state which he had presented as something that was originally something that was against his beliefs. Jackson and his followers were forced by the pressures of the nation to give up their beliefs, and to do what they thought was the right thing for the country.
For the Jacksonian Democrats, protecting the political democracy was them doing something that they felt very strongly about. The people having rights were something they strongly believed in, and they wanted to protect people’s opinions, and give power back to the people in the government. In the election of 1824, Andrew Jackson won the majority of the votes from the people; however, he did not get all of the electoral votes he needed. This issue then went to Congress, where the members voted. This action took away the power of the people of the country. By doing this, the government gave the power to itself, and this went against
