Jacksonian Democracy

Jacksonian Democracy

SWBAT identify minor characteristics of the Age of Jackson by reading comprehension and image analysis 

-Common Man

-Suffrage/Election

-Bank

The Rise of Andrew Jackson

Jackson grew up poor on the South and North Carolina border.  The British invaded the Carolinas in 1780-1781, and Jackson’s mother and two brothers died during the conflict, leaving him with a lifelong hostility toward Great Britain. He was ordered to shine the boots of a british soldier as a boy. When he refused, the soldier struck jackson on the face with his saber. leaving a lasting scar on his face.  He joined the Revolutionary war at the age of 13 and found himself moving up in rank until the Battle of New Orleans in 1814 where he became a national hero.

Poll

Which made Andrew Jackson more favorable for the people to like?

• He grew up poor

• He hated the British

• He was the hero at the Battle of New Orleans

Election of 1824

In 1824, Andrew Jackson created a new political party called the Democrats. Jackson won the popular vote in the Electoral College to win the electionn.

The contest was decided in the House of Representatives, with the help of Henry Clay they selected John Quincy Adams as President in what Jackson declared a “Corrupt Bargain.”

Open Ended

Click on the picture and describe the contrast of colors between the 1824 Election and the 1828 Election.

Rise of the Common Man

-Jackson was finally elected President in 1828. Jackson saw himself as a spokesman of the “common man” or the average American.

-Jackson's supporters were the “common people” – laborers, farmers, and frontiersmen. Many were just like Jackson and were Poor, White, Males who voted for him just for the fact that he was them.

Open Ended

Name two characteristics of Jackson's supporters

Spoils System

-Jackson believed the government should be more responsive to popular needs.

- Jackson favored the “spoils system.” Supporters who helped in his election campaign were appointed to government jobs in place of existing officials.

-His opponents made fun of his choices and consistently referred to them as his “Kitchen Cabinet”

Jackson's War on the National Bank

-Jackson greatly disliked the national bank. He thought it gave an unfair monopoly to wealthy moneyed interests in the Northeast.

-When he was re-elected in 1832, Jackson ordered the removal of all federal deposits from the National Bank. This had a crippling effect on the National Bank.

-Jackson ordered all funds be placed in state banks, which he felt were more agreeable to lending money to farmers.

-He refused to renew the National Bank’s charter.