The Evolution of Democracy from Jefferson to Jackson
Democracy is a process rather than a conclusion: its goals are, therefore,
never fully realized. This country made significant progress toward
democracy in the years from Jefferson’s election in 1800 until Jackson’s
hand-picked successor, Martin Van Buren, left office after the election of
1840. By our own standards, Jacksonian Democracy had many defects.
Political:
Suffrage: Jefferson believed that a property requirement was a test of
character that a man of initiative should be able to meet; by Jackson’s time,
property requirements for voting had been erased.
Office holding: Jefferson believed that the educated elite should rule,
although he proposed education for all to prepare poorer individuals for
public office; Jackson believed all men were qualified to hold office and that
political positions should be rotated.
Nomination of president: In Jefferson’s time, candidates were chosen by
caucuses of political leaders, but nominating conventions were introduced
during Jackson’s time.
Economic:
Chosen class: Jefferson said the yeoman farmer was the “chosen class”
while Jackson included in that group the planters, farmers, laborers, and
mechanics.
Industrialization: Jefferson originally feared the consequences of
industrialization, but Jackson accepted industry as essential to the American
economy.
Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge decision: In Jefferson’s time
corporate charters were granted to favorites of state legislatures and often
implied monopoly rights to a business: Roger Taney, Jackson’s appointee as
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, ruled in the Charles River Bridge
decision that corporate charters should be available to all who chose to risk
starting a business.
Bank of United States: For different reasons both disapproved of the Bank;
Jefferson, originally at least, disagreed with a loose interpretation of the
elastic clause, while Jackson saw the bank as a monopoly of the rich.
Social:
Slavery: Jefferson, who owned slaves, saw slavery as an evil that time would
eradicate; Jackson, too, owned slaves but seemed little interested in
abolition.
Women and Native Americans: Neither man saw women or American
Indians as equals; Jackson had a particularly negative attitude toward
American Indians.
Education: Jefferson, an educated man himself, believed education was
necessary for office-holding and for preparing citizens for participation in a
democracy; Jackson had little education and believed education was
relatively unimportant.
Social mobility: Jefferson believed that education and ambition were keys to
success; however, he was never able to build support for his proposed
system of public education. Jackson ended the Bank and, with it, control
over credit, and the Charles River Bridge decision, handed down by Taney,
opened opportunities for individuals to get corporate charters and thus raise
on both the economic and social ladders. Jackson, a self-made man, believed
his economic progress had accounted for his own upward social mobility,
and others could follow his example.
Religion:
Separation of church and state: Most state constitutions had eliminated
established churches after the Revolution. Massachusetts, the last state to
maintain an established church, ended the practice in 1834.