The Big Picture: Who, What, When, Where & (Especially) Why
Andrew Jackson: Hero and Villain, Democrat and Tyrant
Historians just can't seem to agree about Andrew Jackson. Some see him as a hero; others believe he was a
villain. Some portray him as the common man's warrior, a president who attacked a political system that
ignored the people's will. Others say that he was a political tyrant, an executive bully who disrespected the
processes and institutions essential to republican government. Some celebrate his liberal defense of individual
rights; others condemn his racist removal of 90,000 Indians. Some view him as a great nationalist who saved the
Union by denouncing nullification. Others claim that he weakened the nation by supporting Georgia in its
defiance of the Supreme Court.
The problem is that all of these conclusions are true.
Jackson ran for president in 1828 determined to restore the will of the people to politics. He believed that
Washington power brokers had ignored the people's wishes in 1824 when they deprived him of the presidency
despite winning a plurality of the popular vote; true democracy, he felt, would not be realized until America's
political processes were significantly reformed. As a candidate, Jackson built a political organization that
reached out directly to the public, and as president he attacked the institutions that he believed deepened
divisions between the rich and the poor.
But Jackson also showed little patience for political processes and institutions that interfered with his
"democratic" agenda. He encroached further upon the legislative process than his predecessors, advancing a
theory of presidential power that many believed threatened the separation of powers essential to republican
government.
Jackson showed greater respect for individual political and economic rights than any previous president. He
sought to increase the number of offices directly elected by the people, and he sought to restore an economic
system that protected the rights of small producers rather than corporations and the wealthy.
But when Native Americans turned to the federal government to support their territorial claims, even winning a
Supreme Court ruling that affirmed those claims, Jackson turned a deaf ear. He ignored three decades of
government precedent, and a clear Court ruling, while implementing a removal policy that displaced over
90,000 people.
Jackson took on the state of South Carolina, denounced its nullification theories, and threatened to bring in the
United States army to enforce federal law. In doing so, he broke with his vice-president and alienated a portion
of his southern political base. He accepted an alliance with politicians he did not respect and who did not
respect him. And he outlined an original theory of the Union that would serve Abraham Lincoln when he faced
a similar secessionist crisis thirty years later.
But Jackson also weakened national authority by siding with the states' rights arguments of Georgia in its battle
over federal Indian policy. He undercut the authority of the Supreme Court, approving of Georgia's efforts to
circumvent the will of the Court in its assertion of federal law.
In short, Jackson was a confusing figure. He was a democrat and a tyrant, a nationalist and a supporter of states'
rights. He defended the political and economic rights of common people but ignored the territorial rights of
Native Americans.
The Age of Jackson 1828-1836: The Good, the Bad, the Evil
1.
2.
3.
4.
How could democracy simultaneously expand and decrease? What role did Jackson have in both?
How did the masses of Americans participate in politics?
How did American Indians react to the growth of the U.S. under the Jackson administration?
What characterizes “Jacksonian Democracy”?
DEMOCRATIC
REVOLUTION
Between 1820 and 1840, a DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION transformed American politics
with INCREASED VOTER PARTICIPATION and OFFICE-HOLDING. Two important
features of this democratization were:
 The emergence of the second-party system of Democrats and Whigs
 The importance of a candidate’s popularity with the "common man" in determining the
outcome of elections.
ELECTION
OF 1828
Popular Politics
The Election of 1828 was the first presidential contest where popular votes determined the
victor. The election also inaugurated modern-day electioneering, as many state-level
candidates gave speeches, held barbecues attract voters, and included “stump speeches” and
partisan newspapers.
 Both sides used character assassination, or rumors and investigations into the “real
lives” of the other candidate
 Showed a new approval of political parties, solidified party loyalties
By 1828, party labels appeared, with Andrew Jackson's followers assuming the name of
Democratic Republicans, and those in the Adams-Henry Clay coalition calling their party
the National Republicans.
 By 1836, Jacksonians simply referred to their organization as the Democratic Party,
and the National Republicans had evolved into the Whig Party.
JACKSON’S
POPULARITY
Image:
Military Hero
Frontiersman
Champion of the
People
Reality:
Wealthy
Lawyer/Judge
Cultured
Gentleman
JEFERSONIAN
V.
JACKSONIAN
DEMOCRACY
Jackson's election was a victory for the common man (the small farmer and city worker) over
the aristocracy of money, factory, and land. The common people viewed Jackson as one of
their own. Since Jackson opposed special privilege and campaigned as the champion of the
people, his election is often referred to as the Revolution of 1828.
 By 1828, most states had removed property and religious qualifications for office
holding and voting, increased the number of elected state and local offices, and gave
the people a greater check upon elected officials by shortening their terms of office.
 Beginning with the election of 1832, instead of being named by a caucus of a few
party leaders, the candidate of each party was named by a number of active party
members at a nominating convention. Presidential electors (Electoral College) of all
but one of the states were chosen directly by the voters instead of by state legislatures.
JEFFERSON
JACKSON
 Believed that capable, welleducated leaders should govern in
the people's interest.
 Represented an agricultural society.
 Limited democracy to its political
aspects
 Believed that people themselves
should manage their governmental
affairs.
 Represented a rising industrial
society as well as an agricultural
one
 Expanded democracy from its
political aspects to include social
economic aspects
Jackson held that the President, the only nationally chosen official, was the servant of the
people, elected to further their interests and protect their rights. To achieve these purposes,
Jackson used his powers vigorously:


POLITICAL
ASPECTS OF
JACKSONIAN
ERA


He employed the veto more than all the preceding Presidents together.
He prepared to use force when South Carolina challenged the authority of the federal
government
He refused to enforce John Marshall's decision prohibiting Georgia from seizing
Cherokee Indian lands (Indian Removal Act of 1830)
He believed that limited terms of office was democratic because it prevented a
permanent class of officeholders from becoming an aristocracy
Jackson's enemies referred to him as “King Veto” and “King Andrew I”. They called
themselves Whigs, as had the 18th century opponents, of monarchical power in England. To
the common man, however, Jackson remained both a valiant hero and a democratic servant.
 Jackson was the first president to use the spoils system widely, giving federal offices
to members of his party to gain support. A Jacksonian supporter coined the phrase,
"To the victor belong the spoils."
POLITICS OF
OPPORTUNITY
Western
Expansion,
Indian Removal,
& the Trail of
Tears
The Tariff of
Abominations
and Nullification
Carrot & Stick:
Lower Tariff +
Force Bill
The Bank War &
In his two terms as president, Andrew Jackson worked to enact his vision of a politics of
opportunity for all white males. The primary issues of his tenure were westward expansion,
Indian removal, nullification, and "war" with the second Bank of the United States.
When Jackson became president, a substantial number of Native Americans remained east of
the Mississippi River, and he wanted them removed. The government's attempt in 1832 to
relocate reluctant western Illinois tribes erupted into war and led to a major defeat for the
Indians.
 The government hoped to remove the southern tribes of Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw,
and Cherokee to the West to open their lands for white settlement and cotton
cultivation.
 Cherokee tried to stop encroachments through cases in the Supreme Court.
 Jackson repudiated the Court's decisions in their favor, and in 1835, the government
was able to make a treaty with a minority faction of the tribe, ceding to Georgia the
Cherokee's land in return for $5 million and land in present-day Oklahoma.
 When the majority of the Cherokee who did not recognize the treaty refused to move,
Jackson sent federal troops in the winter of 1838, to force them to move on a twelvehundred-mile journey west. Along this "trail of tears," nearly a quarter of the
Cherokee perished.
The federal government passed tariffs to protect American manufactures and raise revenue in
1816 and 1824, over the protest of southern congressmen who feared the effects the tariffs
would have on the southern export economy.
In 1828, a tariff passed for the benefit of the North brought controversy when Southerners
opposed the measure, labeling it the "tariff of abominations."
 South Carolinians, led by John Calhoun, decided to nullify, or make invalid, the
despised federal tariffs they believed were responsible for their state's economic
stagnation.
 In response, Jackson sent warships to Charleston and pushed through Congress a
Force Bill granting him the authority to use military force if necessary to uphold the
tariff laws.
 As tensions escalated, Henry Clay fashioned a compromise (Compromise Tariff of
1833) that got the South Carolinians the lower tariff they wanted.
The major political issue of Jackson's presidency was not the tariff but his war against the
Bank of the United States.
the Panic of 1837



DECLINE OF
DEMOCRATIC
PARTY
Van Buren
Election of 1840:
Victory for
Whigs
Democrats
and Whigs
Though the bank had had a stabilizing effect on the economy, Jackson considered it a
stronghold of elitism, concentrating great power in the hands of a privileged few.
Jackson vetoed a plan for the Bank’s recharter in 1832, creating popular antibank
sentiment. He ordered all federal deposits withdrawn and redeposited in selected state
banks.
A fury of speculation ensued, especially in land. In an attempt to control the economy,
Jackson issued the Specie Circular, which, along with other factors, crated the Panic
of 1837, and another five years of economic hard times followed.
Martin Van Buren's political acuteness earned him the nickname "the Little Magician."
Elected in 1836, the new president spent the bulk of his four years attempting to deal with the
Panic of 1837.
As the election of 1840 drew near, the Whigs anticipated victory. They settled on candidate
William Henry Harrison to oppose Van Buren. The 1840 campaign was one of the most
dramatic, participatory, and exciting in American history. Harrison and the Whigs won a
resounding victory in both the popular vote and electoral college. Democratic control over
American politics was temporarily over.
 Democrats put together a coalition of farmers, laborers, commercial men, and slave
owners who embraced personal liberty, free competition, and opportunity open to all
white men.
 The Whigs and third parties, were moralistic and favored state (government)sponsored entrepreneurship. National politics were heated and divisive in the 1830s,
and voter turnout was high because politics was where different choices about
economic development and social change were made.
Controversy over issues like slavery, free labor, and women's rights, led to the growth of third
parties in the 1840s and eventually undermined the Democratic-Whig party system.
DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS
The Jacksonian presidency was characterized by a “politics of opportunity” that served
some groups at the expense of others. Discuss how westward expansion, Indian removal,
nullification, and the "war" with the second Bank of the United States fit this pattern. In
each case, who benefited and who lost?
If the Democrats were the party of personal liberty, free competition, and opportunity,
why did they decline after 1840?
What campaign strategies were used in the election of 1828? To what extent are the
same campaign strategies used today?
Give examples of how recent elections have mirrored the pattern established in 1828 of
candidates projecting one image but in reality representing something quite different.
Determine whether the political, economic, and cultural developments of the Jacksonian
Era actually contributed to the well-being of the common people or simply helped
candidates to win elections.