AP U.S. History
November Group Project
THE ERA OF COMMON MAN
Cesar Badillo
Liezel Manalo
Michelle Nguyen
Angelica Ramos
Victoria Reyes
Prompt & Thesis
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The Jacksonian Period (1824 to 1838) has been
celebrated as the era of the “common man.” To what
extent did the period live up to this characterization?
The Jacksonian Period lived up to its celebrated
“common man” characterization through political,
economical, and reform movement aspects, agnizing
the common man as fundamental people for
government.
Political
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Presidency proved lineage did not ensure office
People identified themselves with Jackson
Reform Movements
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Policy includes ending Bank of U.S.
Pet banks to replace bank of the U.S.
Spoils system -- got rid of a lot of federals for his
common man supporters
Document A
Source: Andrew Jackson’s Veto of the Bank of the United States, Published July 10, 1832
My Fellow Americans – Michael Waldman, foreword by David Gergen page 28
It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their
selfish purposes. Distinctions in society will always exist under every just government.
Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth can not be produced by human institutions. In
the full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior industry, economy, and
virtue, every man is equally entitled to protection by law; but when the law; but when the
laws undertake to add to these natural and just advantages artificial distinctions, to grant
titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more
powerful, the humble members of society—the farmers, mechanics, and laborers—who
have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to
complain of the injustice of their Government.
Document B
Source: Cartoon, National
Geographic Almanac of
American History pg130
Document C
Source – Andrew Jackson, Proclamation On Nullification, published December 10,1832
My Fellow Americans pg 33
Fellow-citizens of my native State, let me not only admonish you, as the First magistrate of our
common country, not to incur the penalty of its laws, but use the influence that a father would over his
children whom he saw rushing to certain ruin. In that paternal language, with that paternal feeling, let
me tell you, my countrymen, that you are deluded by men who are either deceived themselves or wish
to deceive you. Mark under what pretenses you have been led on to the brink of insurrection and
treason on which you stand. First a diminution of the value of your staple commodity, lowered by
overproduction in other quarters, a the consequent diminution in the value of your lands were the sole
effect of the tariff laws. The effect of those laws was confessedly injurious, but the evil was greatly
exaggerated by the unfounded theory you were taught to believe—that its burthens were in proportion
to your exports, not to your consumption of imported articles. Your pride was roused by the assertion
that a submission to those laws was a state of vassalage and that resistance to them was equal in
patriotic merit to the opposition our fathers offered to the oppressive laws of Great Britain.
Document D
Title : Battle Plan – New
Orleans
Source - The Life of Andrew
Jackson
Document E
Source: Andrew Jackson, in his first message to Congress, delivered on December 8, 1829
Remini, page 185
Office is considered as a species of property, and government rather as a means of promoting
individual interests than as an instrument created solely for the service of the people. Corruption in
some and in others a perversion of correct feelings and principles divert government from its
legitimate ends and make it an engine for the support of the few at the expense of the many. The
duties of all public officers are, or at least admit of being made, so plain and simple that men of
intelligence may readily qualify themselves for their performance; and I can not but believe that
more is lost by the long continuance of me in office than in generally to be gained by their
experience. I submit, therefore, to your consideration when the efficiency of the Government
would not be promoted and official industry and integrity better secured by a general extension of
the law which limits appointments to four years.
Document F
Title: The Downfall of Mother Bank
Document G
Source: Excerpt from American Lion by Jon Meacham, pg. 46
“I have great confidence in the virtue of a great majority of the
people, and I cannot fear the result,” Jackson wrote in 1828.
As long as the government heeds the popular will, Jackson
said, “the republic is safe, and its main pillars—virtue,
religion and morality—will be fostered by a majority of the
people.”
Document H
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“The mischief springs from the power which the monied interest derives from a
paper currency which they are able to control, from the multitude of corporations
with exclusive privileges which they have succeeded in obtaining...and unless you
become more watchful in your states and check this spirit of monopoly and thirst
for exclusive privileges you will in the end find that the most important powers of
government have been given or bartered away….”
- Andrew Jackson, Farewell Address, 1837
Bibliography
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Meacham, Jon. American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House. New York:
Random House, 2008. Print.
Miller, James, and John M. Thompson. National Geographic Almanac of American
History. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2006. Print.
"President Andrew Jackson's Farewell Address." The Last Outpost. The Last Outpost,
2001. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <http://thelastoutpost.com/classics/andrewjackson/president-andrew-jacksons-farewell-address.html>.
Remini, Robert Vincent. The Life of Andrew Jackson. New York: Harper Perennial
Political Classics, 2009. Print.
Waldman, Michael, and George Stephanopoulos. My Fellow Americans: the Most
Important Speeches of America's Presidents, from George Washington to George W.
Bush. Naperville, IL: Source MediaFusion, 2003. Print.