Jackson Jefferson Compare/Contrast

One area where Jefferson and Jackson can be compared similarly is in politics. Jefferson believed that eligibility for people of office should be among egalitarian citizens, or people who are not of high social status (property owners). Rather, a person who is charismatic, talented, and honest should be considered for office as a leader. Similarly, Jackson, “a man of the people”, shared this belief with Jefferson that the egalitarian point of view among citizens of the United States helped empower a democracy. Instead of being a hard-edged, uncompassionate leader who lacks regard for the opinions of the American people, a governing leader should be personable, and more importantly accepting of the views of the American people. This in turn would strengthen democracy. In other words, Jefferson and Jackson were mainly about the people and wholeheartedly believed in pushing for equality.
Jefferson and Jackson also viewed the election process with a similar take. They were elected president in different ways. In Jefferson’s era, the majority of votes determined the appointment of the president, and the vice president was determined based on the next most votes. This is different from Jackson’s era, where he experienced an Electoral College mishap, so he was not elected president even after earning a majority of the popular votes in 1824. However, Jackson would eventually be elected in 1828, the next election, but he still called for the abolishment of the Electoral College. Though their paths to presidency were quite different, Jackson and Jefferson shared similar views on the process.
Jefferson and Jackson also had differing views on education. Jefferson believed that an educated nation could govern itself, which is evident in his passing of “The Bill of Education”, which would help the less wealthy people receive an education. He felt that elementary school was the most important part of an education. On the other hand, Jackson felt that public education made