Preview

andrew Jackson DBQ

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
943 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
andrew Jackson DBQ
Brian Kraft
12/5/12
Block D
DBQ
How Democratic Was Andrew Jackson? Andrew Jackson was one of the most popular US presidents of all time. He was president from 1829 to 1837. During this time the US was evolving, becoming more and more democratic. Jackson was from a poor family, and his father died before he was born. He was in the revolutionary war at the age of 13. Jackson was considered somewhat of a war hero. One great accomplishment of his military career was when he led American troops in defending New Orleans against the British. At the end of this battle there were 2,037 British troops killed and only 71 Americans. By the age of 21 Jackson became a lawyer, and at 29 years old he was elected as Tennessee’s first house member and one year later he was elected to the senate. In 1824 Jackson ran for president, and the popular vote was split four ways. When that happened the House of Representatives was supposed to decide the election. Jackson received the majority of the popular vote. One of the reps traded his electoral votes to John Quincy Adams so long as he made that rep the secretary of state. Jackson called this the corrupt bargain. A definition of democratic could be a person who believes in the majority rule, rule by the people and universal suffrage. After examining his actions on the following issues, it is clear that Andrew Jackson was democratic: Native Americans, elections and politics and African Americans. When it came to his actions on Native Americans Andrew Jackson was democratic. As stated in the definition of what makes someone democratic, that person must support majority rule. At this time the majority of the people were in favor in kicking out the Native Americans. Whether or not Jackson agreed with this idea he still had to do it, and he did. That is why he was democratic, because he abided by majority rule. Also Jackson was not forcing them out he was allowing the natives to stay, although those conditions may not have been the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    During the Age of Jackson, politics became much more democratic. The first president during this period was actually John Quincy Adams. In the election of 1824, Jackson actually held the most popular votes, but failed to have a majority because 4 candidates had run for office. Due to a corrupt bargain, the House of Representatives chose John Quincy Adams as president. The controversy of this election would lead to new, more democratic, policies. Firstly, around this time most states adopted universal white male suffrage, as opposed to before when there were property requirements to vote. This was unconstitutional because it put the government in the hands of the wealthy that owned property and not people from all social classes. More popular participation was used in nominating the candidates for a political party. Common people could now participate in the convention. A more democratic and direct method of voting for the president was new to the Age of Jackson. Instead of voting for legislatures who would vote for electors who would vote for the president, people would now directly vote for the electors. The Election of 1824 was the last election to only have one political party. After that, there were two political parties, which made the election fairer. Other smaller political parties were also allowed to have candidates run for president, even if there was no hope of winning. During the Age of Jackson, a larger number of state and local officials were elected as opposed to appointed to office. All of these democratic policies concerning the election of the president were employed during the Age of Jackson and made for less controversial elections.…

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Document D. Document D conveys to us that Harriet Matineau's had a favorable opinion of…

    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In 1829, Andrew Jackson was elected to be the 7th president. His promises were big, his changes were small such as equality democracy and true representation. This was not the lack of Jackson's ambition or drive, but the outcome of the many different challenges he faced. Now taking all this into consideration as I weigh out his pros and cons assessing Jackson's presidency. In my own opinion, his presidency was good nor bad, it was an even balance between keeping his promises, and dealing with presidential issues. His term is commonly know as the "Age of Jackson Democracy"; The irony in theses names is that it was simply those who supported Jackson meeting up together; it was not meant to be the start of forming presidential parties. In Mistakes…

    • 153 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    party. Jackson was not very nice in his dealings with the American Indians, and he is often blamed for the suffering of tribes :ex Trail of Tears. He served…

    • 156 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    andrew jackson

    • 586 Words
    • 2 Pages

    During Andrew’s military career he was appointed commander of the Tenn. Militia . Later he was appointed major general.…

    • 586 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Furthermore, politically, Jackson put in place the spoils system where he took out many people voted into government office in favor of those who supported his own partisan views. This in itself was a very corrupt decision that eliminated many people from the government that were put into office by way of democracy and instead, Jackson put in place people based on party loyalty who were not necessarily qualified for their job in place of competence and likability by the…

    • 376 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    As stated in the article, “He became a democratic symbol and founder of the Democratic Party, the country's most venerable political organization. During his two-term presidency, he expanded executive powers and transformed the President's role from chief administrator to popular tribune” (“Andrew Jackson” np). The quotation illustrates Jackson’s legacy as president, despite the issues he dealt with throughout his presidency. As founder of the Democratic Party that is a major political party in today’s politics, this fact shows he had a lasting, positive impact on the country. As a result of this management of the nullification crisis, he also altered the role and expectations of an American president, which exemplifies that he dealt with the situation effectively. Overall, his actions changed the presidencies of America into the more modern image that is familiar and seen in presidents…

    • 1080 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    andrew jackson

    • 575 Words
    • 2 Pages

    As President, Andrew Jackson worked to pull apart the Second Bank of the United States. The original Bank of the United States had been introduced in 1791 by Alexander Hamilton as a way of organizing the federal government's finances. This first Bank became invalid in 1811. It was followed by the second Bank, put together by James Madison in 1816 to reduce the economic problems caused by the War of 1812. Both Banks were involved in the growth of the U.S. economy, but President Jackson did not approve of the concept on ideal grounds. In President Jackson's opinion, the Bank needed to be abolished because it was unconstitutional. It also concentrated an excessive amount of the nation's financial strength. It exposed the government to control by foreign interests. It put too much control over members of the U.S. Congress. It favored northeastern states over southern and western states. President Jackson's opposition to the Bank was evident as a strong personal dislike.…

    • 575 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Andrew Jackson is an Autocrat because even though he said he was a Democrat, he barely showed that in his actions. The only Democratic thing he did was give more power to the lower farmers, but after that, Jackson became a tyrant. He kept the bank money for himself (Doc. National Bank Controversy 1, 2, and 3) and drove indians out of there land, even though they had the right from previous documents to stay (Doc. Indian Removal 1, 2, and 3). The crueler part about the Indian Removal was that his adopted son was a Creek Indian and Jackson killed the Creek Indian kind by removing them from their homes (Doc. Indian Removal 3). He did not follow the documents in the past (Doc. Indian Removal 1) stating that certain Indians could stay in their land,…

    • 244 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Andrew Jackson was a one man show unless it came to putting on a fake smile to “win” over his followers support. If something that he saw posed as a threat to his ideas then it was no good. Take cooperation’s or businesses for example, Andrew Jackson and most of his Democratic followers feared the growing economic and political power exercised by some corporations. Their ability to amass wealth, through banking and manufacturing operations, and to influence and even coerce individual citizens, posed a threat to the Jeffersonian ideals that Jackson held dear. So once again, those companies threatened his power and he did not like that.…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    DBQ: Jacksonian Democracy

    • 764 Words
    • 2 Pages

    I agree with the Jacksonian Democrats on the topic of Political Democracy. As Andrew Jackson points out in Document B, "It is easy to conceive that great evils to our country and its institutions might flow from such a concentration of power in the hands of a few men irresponsible to the people" and further more, "It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes.". He was criticized for his own actions by Daniel Webster in Document C, where he called him hypocritical and irresponsible. Webster claimed that Jackson was bad for the country and was not satisfying the needs of the majority. However, this is less fact, as it is pure criticism by Webster, one of Jackson's biggest critics. In spite of these claims of power abuse, Jackson used a system of rotation of office to keep the members of equal power. Regardless of Jackson's efforts to give power to the people, "the grand question of the time was 'whether the people should be encouraged to govern themselves, or whether the wise should save them from themselves.'" As stated in Document D. Political Democracy was a priority for Andrew Jackson and he successfully established a government to protect it.…

    • 764 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After the Battle of New Orleans, Andrew Jackson (“Old Hickory”) first became publicly recognized as a war hero and an Indian fighter. Very few people, if any, probably predicted he would one day become the president of the United States; but he did! In the election of 1828, Jackson campaigned as an authentic man of the people and was elected president by a landslide. During the campaign, Jacksonians created a new political party—the Democrats, the first modern one created, that supported Jackson and his run for office. Upon Jackson entering office, America saw the birth of a new era of mass democracy. Jacksonian Democrats viewed themselves as the guardians of the United States Constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of economic opportunity. This was true to an extent, but Jackson and his followers did have some flaws.…

    • 2077 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He was born of low class parents in bad financial standings, and also, to whom had next to no education with not a single relation to any politically important people. In other words, this guy had a lot of really tough adversities to overcome in order to achieve what he would soon perform. Soon, Jackson saw his first days of heroic might and popularity, which was the result of a great victory to which many of all americans had sought great joy in, the War of 1812. From this mighty performance, Jackson had accrued a strong relation and trust with the so called “common people”. To help explain what the “common people” were comprised of; like Jackson, this category of people were also not fortunate to live among or be connected with the important rulers, or in better terms, the cool group of Founding Fathers. Due to Jackson attracting such a large and strong relationship with these “common people”, his popularity skyrocketed. So at this time in which the popular vote influenced the electors strongly, Jackson managed to ascend to the position of such presidency. President Jackson offered much reform to the democratic motives and methods. These can range anywhere from the expanding of the suffrage, reaching to the restructuring of federal institutions. One way in which President Andrew Jackson would soon carry out these principles would reflect in the enacting of a war upon the Second Bank of the United States. Jackson wanted to find a way to remove the few rich, unelected private bankers who seemed to have a strong hand, or influence on the nation’s…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    According to his enemies, Andrew Jackson behaved more like a dictator/king than a democratic president. Jackson and his followers became the basis of the Democratic-Republican party, later known as the Democratic party. He believed in the spoils system, supported the common man, and equality for all people regardless of their social class. Although he had such positive features, he had some negatives as well. Jackson removed Native Americans from their homeland by signing the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which created the “Trail of Tears,” vetoed the National Bank (B.U.S), and was pro-slavery. Although a common man himself, Jackson became successful as president. This was one of his biggest motives to support the common man, rather than the wealthy, whom he believed shouldn’t have all of the power. One of the reasons Jackson removed Native Americans was because he didn’t consider them as American citizens. How democratic was Andrew Jackson? Before we answer this, let’s find out what democracy truly means. By definition, democracy is a form of government made up of the equality and voice of the people. To Jackson, democracy meant the all branches & agencies of government must listen to and follow the wishes of the people. So was Andrew Jackson democratic, undemocratic, or both? Perhaps he was democratic in some ways and undemocratic in others.…

    • 1354 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although President Jackson was a champion of democracy and egalitarianism, there are some instances where he takes advantage of his presidential powers and uses him for his own benefits and beliefs and not for the good of the country. President Jackson did a lot of good for the early Democratic Party though. He helped expand voting and focused on destroying monopolies like the national bank that he believed were harming the nation. He did however take manners into his own hands at times. For instance disregarding Supreme Court rulings. Enacting Military action on a state and Vetoing bills like the Maysville road that would’ve helped the union, but since he didn’t approve he vetoed it.…

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays