democracy in america. what were the social bases for the flourishing democracy of the early...
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Democracy in America
What were the social bases for the flourishing democracy of the early mid-nineteenth century?
What efforts were made in this period to strengthen the
economic integration of the nation?
In what ways did Andrew Jackson embody the democratic
nationalism of this period?
• What were the major expressions of nationalism and sectionalism in this period?
• Why was the Bank War so central to the Jacksonian period?
David Crockett
• 1818 Justice of the Peace
• 1821and 1823 State Legislator
• 127, 1829 and1833 US House of Representatives
• Bragged about skill as bear hunter
• Ridiculed fancy dress of his opponents
• Condemned closed-door political caucuses
• Praised grass roots democracy
“I can out-shoot, out-drink, and out-debate anyone who
opposes me.” -David Crockett
“Yes fellow citizens, I can run faster, walk longer, leap
higher, speak better, and tell bigger lies than my
competitor, and all his friends, any day of his life.”
-David Crockett
Beginning with Kentucky 1792, western states began to relax or abolish property requirements for
adult male voters.
Vocabulary changed:Candidates hit the campaign trail, gave stump speeches along the way, and supported their party’s platform with its planks (positions on the issues).As candidates they supported pork-barrel projects that would benefit their constituents at home.
Stump Speaking (1850) George Caleb Bingham
Stump Speaking (1850) George Caleb Bingham
In America, where the privileges of birth never existed and where riches confer no peculiar rights on their possessors,
men unacquainted with one another are very ready to frequent the same places and find neither peril nor advantage in the free interchange of their thoughts.
~Alexis DeTocqueville, Democracy in America
David Crockett became known as Davy Crockett
Tommy Jefferson?
1790= 100,000 Americans lived west of App. Mtns.
1840= 7 million
Westerners attacked centralized, eastern-based institutions of
wealth and privilege
Western Settlers Scorned
• the privately held Second Bank of the US
• Federally sponsored internal improvements (turnpikes and canals)
Supported Andrew Jackson
• Person who would battle the eastern financiers
• Support white settler’s claims to Indian lands
• Represented that ordinary people would have a political voice and access to economic opportunities.
Jackson’s campaign began the day the 1824 election was settled
and continued until 1828!
Republican Party Split
National Republicans
Democratic Republicans
Rally Cries for Jackson
“Bargain and Corruption!”
“Huzza for Jackson!”
“All Hail Old Hickory!”
Jackson no frontier man, but a wealthy planter!
Mudslinging of 1828 Election
• “General Jackson’s mother was a Common Prostitute, brought to this country by the British soldiers! She afterwards married a Mulatto man with whom she had several children of which number General Jackson is one.”
-anti-Jackson newspaper
“Oh no he didn’t!”
Rachel Jackson
Bigamist?Adulteress?
Jackson convinced these accusations killed her!
Adams Critics
“gaming tables” “gambling furniture” for the “presidential
palace”
Presidential Elections1824= 25% eligible voters participated
1828= 50%
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-november-19-2008/
jon-meacham
Inauguration Gala for President Jackson 1829
“On their arrival at the White House, the motley crowd
clamored for refreshments and soon drained the barrels of
punch, which had been prepared, in drinking to the health of the new Chief magistrate. A great deal of glassware was broken, and the East Room was filled
with a noisy mob.”
Limits on democracy?Contradictions?
Rise of social classes?
• Business and factory managers received salaries, not wages
• Wives were full-time homemakers and mothers
The Lady's Magazine, or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex, Appropriated solely to their Use
and Amusement, 1823
Age of the Common Man
• Full of contradictions
– Jackson Indian fighter, yet adopted Indian boy
– Foe of privilege, yet owned slaves
– Self-professed champion of farmers and artisans, yet expressed contempt for their reps. In Congress
– Expanded the power of the Executive branch.
1820s Contradictions
• National leaders pursued a more democratic form of politics and supported a system based on class and racial differences.
