Jacksonian Democracy Essay, Research Paper

Jacksonian DemocracyThe Jacksonian’s view of themselves is accurate in all but a few areas. Jacksonian democracy paved the way for more equality among the common people. Yetwith all the changes that were made during the Jacksonian, the equality that was achievedwas only held among the white men of the day. As illustrated in document G, individualliberties were still vehemently denied to people other than the white. Yet, mosteverything that Jackson did, furthered the development of political, social, and economicequality among the white race. Jacksonian democracy saw the burgeoning of many individualistic ideals such asthe beginnings of the labor parties. During the 1820’s and 30’s many states granted therights of voting to many workingmen, who in turn began to form labor party’s to gethigher wages, tolerable working conditions, ten-hour days, and public education for theirchildren. These newly formed parties rallied strikes to gain what they wanted, and wereviewed by the factories as illegal groups out to destroy the industry of america. In1842 the labor parties struck a blow to the factories by winning the supreme court caseCommonwealth v. Hunt in Massachusettes, which ruled that labor unions were not illigalconspiracies. This case was a signifigant sign of the times of Jacksonian democracy,because it struck a blow for the common man’s rights. When Andrew Jackson vetoed the bank bill, he was in reality giving more power

to the states, and in turn giving more power over economic issues to the common man. When Jackson did this he was met with bitter resentment at the hands of Daniel Webster,who coincedentally was the former director of the bank. In vetoing the bank bill he wasupholding the Jacksonian democrats views of themselves as liberators of the commonpeople, although in the end it wasn’t quite the right descision, because with all the thelittle banks taking control of money, it slowed the economy down and wound up hurtingthe common man more that it benifited him. Yet with all the Jacksonian democrats did for giving liberty to the common man,they neglected the rights of any other race than their own. With the removal of theNative Americans from soil that was rightfully theirs, there was a serious infringement onthe rights of these peoples. Yet if one looks at it in the context of history, it isn’t that badof a thing. For one must remember that to the white race the Indians were the devil’sbrothers and sisters, so to most people removing them was the most humane thing to do. Altogether, the age of Jacksonian democracy was a good time for the whitepeople living in America. With Jackson in office each day the common man would gaina little more foothold in the government of the United States. He would also get morecontrol over his individual, and money as the good days of Jacksonian democracy rolledon.