Andrew Jackson’s ‘Era of the Common Man’ or the ‘Jacksonian Period’ (1824-1845)
Andrew Jackson’s ‘Era of the Common Man’ or the ‘Jacksonian Period’ (1824-1845) starts at his inauguration, and ends as the Civil War begins. Jackson was the first president that was not born into wealth or education, but instead made his own wealth, and taught himself up to a prime education, a ‘self-made man’, as some may say, this and his military history made him the defining figure of his age. Although, he downplayed his past successes to make him more like the ‘common man’, and appeal to the voters, his past, and his future changes to political policies, economy, and the overall society, marks this special period as the Era of the Common Man. On a political level, Jackson changed the way the president is elected, by repeatedly pressing for the election of the President and the Vice-President to be left to the people, rather than the Electoral College, who he felt could not accurately capture the wants or needs of the people. To allow the common man to vote with greater ease, a great reduction of voting requirements happened, nearly all states eliminating the past requirement of land ownership. Some radical states, went sp far as to say that a man need not to be a taxpayer to be able to vote, these policies made the common’s man voice more powerful in the government.
Also during the Jacksonian Period the concept to look elsewhere then the elite politicians to fill jobs in government came about in Jackson’s ‘Spoil System’. The position filled in this system were often called ‘common men’, these men seemed to more accurately speak for the American population, than the rich, upper-class elites. These ‘common men’, were also the men Jackson would console with, instead of the actual presidential cabinet that was filled with the elite for political reasons. The addition of common men into the government further proves how much more the common man was represented in the Jacksonian Era, than in any other period before in American Government.
The ‘Nullification
Also during the Jacksonian Period the concept to look elsewhere then the elite politicians to fill jobs in government came about in Jackson’s ‘Spoil System’. The position filled in this system were often called ‘common men’, these men seemed to more accurately speak for the American population, than the rich, upper-class elites. These ‘common men’, were also the men Jackson would console with, instead of the actual presidential cabinet that was filled with the elite for political reasons. The addition of common men into the government further proves how much more the common man was represented in the Jacksonian Era, than in any other period before in American Government.
The ‘Nullification