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HISTORY

Subject : History
(For under graduate student.)

Paper No. : Paper-VII

History of USA

Unit, Chapter & Title : Unit- 1

Chapter- c
Evolution of American democracy

Topic No. & Title : Part 2

“Evolution of American democracy:
Jacksonianism”

Andrew Jackson: The Era of Good Feelings

Andrew Jackson was the most popular President of America in
the 19th century (George. G. Lankevich, 1996). So significant
were his presidential years that it has often been described in
many text books as the ‘Age of Jackson’.

Era of Good Feelings

The ‘Age of Jackson’ was also referred to as the ‘Era of Good
Feelings’. Euphoria swept the nation after Jackson’s victory at
the battle of New Orleans in January 1815 (Ron Olson, 2006).
The optimism and hopes of the American people ran high with
the firm control established by the Democratic-Republican
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party at the centre. Professor Palit has aptly described the

situation by pointing out that at last the bickering over the
constitution, and the Republican hangover, were things of the
past. In the meantime there occurred a silent inner expansion
that brought Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee within the
folds of the American Union. Many also believed that America
was fast becoming a great nation, spurred by economic
growth (Ron Olson, 2006). In 1817 James Monroe described
this change as the ‘happy situation for the United States’,
while the Boston newspaper reported it as an ‘era of good
feelings’ (Ron Olson, 2006).

Election of 1828
Since everyone had more or less benefited from the new
developments everyone was in a good mood. In this general
atmosphere of good mood the Mid-West found a new voice.
They were now eager to break the gentleman farmer and
aristocratic cycle of presidency ruling America. Hopes of a
new America made them rally their support for a non-blue-
eyed boy, a hero riding on horseback, (Alan Axelrod, Charles
Phillips, 2007) who happened to be Andrew Jackson, the first
non-aristocratic President of America. The West instantly
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supported Andrew Jackson when he fought the election of

1828 and emerged victorious with a handsome majority.
Surprisingly enough even the hardcore New Yorkers
supported Jackson in his bid for presidency. In there being
strong contenders like Henry Clay, John Q. Adams, and Henry
Crawford, during the 1824 elections, it was Jackson who won
the day. The main reason behind this was that none of these
Presidential contenders were as popular as the hero of New
Orleans (Carol H. Behrman, 2004).
Andrew Jackson was inaugurated as the seventh president of
America on 4th March 1829. People swarmed into Washington
to witness Jackson take oath to his office. Most of the
presidents before Jackson had belonged to wealthy and
aristocratic families. But it was for the first time that a
people’s own president was taking office, which explains the
huge crowd that turned up at the Capitol to watch the
ceremony (Carol H. Behrman, 2004). As the newspaper Argus
of Western America reported “It is a proud day for the people.
General Jackson is their own President.”
Jackson was a radical Democratic-Republican. He was the
hero of the hitherto unheard voices. The class he represented
was aptly described by him in his electoral manifesto, as
being comprised of the planters, the farmers, the mechanics
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and the labourers. This submission of Jackson has often led

historians to mark his government as being representative of
the West against the East. However this accusation is
baseless as Jackson’s presidency rested as much on the
western planters and farmers as it did on the eastern
labourers, mechanics as well as business tycoons. Jackson
unlike his predecessors had no hang ups about the higher
class against the lower class, or the west against the east. He
was a truly national representative, a Federal representative
of the people.

Early Life
In order to comprehend the Presidency of Andrew Jackson, or
‘Old Hickory’ as he was more commonly known, (to the
Americans),one has to trace the early influences that shaped
his mind, and laid the foundations of his personality,
conceptions, and perseverance, that won him the admiration
of the world, as being the undying monument of faith. (Philo
Ashley Goodwin, 1835).
Andrew Jackson was born in Waxaw district of Marion, in the
state of South Carolina, on the 15 th of March 1767 (Philo
Ashley Goodwin, 1835).
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Born of the southern soil Jackson had all the peculiar qualities
of a typical prairie boy. Gambling and drinking were common
vices that he inherited from his southern ancestry. He
amassed a lot of wealth as a land speculator, which helped
him to establish himself as a distinguished planter of the
south. According to Professor Palit he had befriended during
this period, many a rancher, land speculator and land shark,
which explains why his southern friends were equally active in
voting him to Presidency.
Jackson’s military career was a meteoric one. In 1802 he was
elected Major-General of the Tennessee militia. Ten years
later he was appointed as the Major-General of the U.S
militia. His victory against the British in the battle of New
Orleans in 1815 won him much kudos amongst the people of
America. It was this victory that won him the nickname of
‘Old Hickory’.
The unique loyalty circle that was created by Jackson helped
him to win the support of land speculators, land sharks,
planters as well as common men. The rise of Jackson to
power has often been maligned by the traditionalists like
Richard Hofstadter (“American Political Tradition and the Men
Who Made It”) as the rise of a ‘rural parvenu’. This however
appears to be a mistaken and biased notion. Discoursing on
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this particular notion Professor Palit says, “everybody has to

start at some point or other. The aristocrats scoffed at him for
being an upstart, but as any person who came from humble
beginnings, was liable to be called an upstart, by those in
high places (the blue aristocracy), it would be doing Jackson
an injustice to malign him. ”Such notions have thus been
dismissed by Professor Palit, as biased.
Why then did the aristocrats later accept Jackson as their
President? In answer to this question, Professor Palit uses the
‘theory of circulation of elites’ of Vilfredo Paretto. This Italian
social scientist defined revolution in a new light in the 19 th
century. He opined that a revolution occurs when one elite
class replaces another. That is just what happened in the
1828 election, when Jackson or the ‘new elite’, took over the
earlier stronghold of the aristocrat. Since his influence could
no longer be avoided the aristocrats had no other alternative
but to accept him into their charmed circle.
Andrew Jackson was therefore a singular case of a man with
humble origin making it big in Washington. The meteoric rise
of Jackson to power became the embodiment of the American
dream that was to pervade every American mind and heart
for generations to come.
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Presidential Terms and the Measures Affected by

Jackson
The first term of Andrew Jackson in Presidency witnessed
several changes being affected in American society and
economy. During his term he accomplished a lot for the
betterment of the nation.
One of his early measures was to deal with The Bank of
United States situated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Nicholas Biddel, the President of the bank was one of the
most powerful men in the United States of America at that
time. He was so powerful that he was nicknamed ‘Czar
Nicholas’. Describing the extent of his power Professor Palit
says that he even had the power to make and un-make
presidents; and he more or less played the role of a lynchpin
in the making of the American government. With many
Congressmen and senators financially beholden to him, he
wielded great political power (www.reformation.org). He used
this power to prevent Jackson from winning the election.
Moreover the Bank of Nicholas Biddel was the sole bastion of
the aristocrats and the gentlemen;- it did not extend loans to
the common masses. Jackson was quite aware of these
corrupt practices and therefore he promised in his election
manifesto that he would draw every tooth and nail and then
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the stump of the ‘monster bank’, as he called the Bank of

United States.
He was determined not to renew the charter of the bank
when it expired in 1836 (www.reformation.org). Instead he
decided to put all federal money into 32 state banks. These
banks were as Professor Palit calls them the pet banks of
Jackson. Thus breaking the corrupt money trust of America,
he placed his trust in 32 state banks which were also to
provide loan to all, irrespective of their social status. This was
how he tried to break the corrupt money trust of ‘Czar
Nicholas’ and to prevent concentration of wealth in a handful
of people. This was how he ensured equal distribution of
American wealth.
The measure however did not prove to be fruitful because the
state banks in which Jackson had placed his trust failed to live
up to his expectations. They adopted malpractices and also
squandered federal money;- much of the which could not
even be traced. The beginning of a movement called loco
focoism prevented these wild card banks from succeeding
much and eventually they had to give up. So Professor Palit
calls this measure a ‘half cock measure’.
However in spite of all its shortcomings it was a noble
attempt on the part of the people’s President to give them a
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share of the wealth generated during the era of good feeling.

True the measure failed, but it managed to instil a new vigour
into the veins of the nation.
Another measure that he introduced during his presidential
term was the reduction of the tariff better known as the
Nullification crisis. The tariff of America had always been kept
high in order to protect the newly emergent industries of
America. Moreover as the earlier Presidents were mostly
aristocrats they kept the tariff high keeping in mind the
interests of those of their friends who were industrialists.
High tariff was necessary for the industries no doubt, but at
the same time it affected the agriculturists of America
adversely, as they failed to sell their agricultural products to
other nations who refused to buy goods from a country that
had raised such high tariff walls against their goods. Jackson
being a president who represented the common masses
decided to reduce the tariff which had risen to an all time high
of almost 32%. Under Jackson’s orders the tariff was reduced
to 18% which in turn helped the agriculturists to sell their
goods once again in the European continent.
The measure was successful, but Jackson failed to keep his
promise of destroying this monstrous system altogether.
However the partial reduction of the tariff helps to belie the
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accusation laid against him that he supported the West to the

disadvantage of the East. The tariff issue itself proved that he
was both for the East and the West; that is why he strived to
satisfy both the agriculturists of the West and the
industrialists of the East.
Some might feel that his action was nothing but a mere stunt
to win more support and votes. But Professor Palit is of the
opinion that all the American presidents and more so Andrew
Jackson were more of nationalists than politicians. So
whatever action he betook was mostly done in the greater
interests of the nation as a whole.
Another nationalist measure that Jackson undertook was the
construction of the national highway from Maysville, in
Kentucky to Nashville, in Tennessee. In the interest of
business and commerce it became necessary that these two
towns be connected. The two states demanded that the inter-
state road be built with state funds and not with federal
funds. Although he was an ardent supporter of state rights he
did not agree to this proposition. Keeping in mind the greater
national interests, he decided to build the road with federal
funds, thus constructing the national highway connecting the
two commercially important towns.
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The fight that Jackson had with the Cherokee nation is also of
great importance in studying and understanding his
presidency. Though he claimed to be a president of the
people his concept of people was narrow, as it was restricted
to the white population of America only. He hesitated to
include the Blacks and most importantly the Red Indians, the
natives of America. He felt that the Red Indians were not fit
to have an independent enclave of their own (Francis Paul
Prucha, 1986), and ruled that since Georgia, the home of the
Cherokees has benefited much from federal measures and
had become a flourishing state. so it must be opened for all
immigrants and must not be kept as a separate constituency
for the Cherokees. He said “If, as is the case you have been
permitted to abide on your lands from that period to the
present.......it is not thence to be inferred, that this was
anything more than a permission......,nor is it a circumstance
whence, now to deny to those states, the exercise of their
original sovereignty” (Francis Paul Prucha, 1986).
The Cherokees were not ready to budge and they refused to
give up without putting up a fight. As the relations between
the federal government and the Cherokees became
embittered, they decided to take the case to the Supreme
Court before the then chief justice, John Marshal. Marshal’s
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judgement branded Jackson’s act as being high-handed and

that of the Cherokees as arrogant. He thereby tried to strike a
compromise between the two parties to arrive at a peaceful
settlement. But Jackson remained adamant in his decision,
and remarked that ‘it was Justice John Marshal’s decision, so
let him enforce it.’ Anton Chaitkin thinks this was
representative of the loud chauvinistic character of Jackson.
The second term of the Jacksonian presidency witnessed the
Texan problem. Texas had always been a highly coveted land
amongst the Americans and a necessary piece in their move
for westward expansion. In 1829 President Jackson had
offered five million dollars to Mexico in exchange for this vast
but mostly under populated land (Jaime Suchlicki, 2001).
When Mexico declined the offer more American immigrants
were settled in Texas at the behest of the President. This
move helped Jackson to increase the American population of
Texas who later demanded accession to the United States of
America.
It was no doubt a clever move that Jackson made. But the
undesirability of having it included as a slave state made him
reconsider this decision. Moreover he was not desirous at this
stage of getting embroiled in a war with Mexico. So in order
to avoid any immediate conflict with Mexico, Jackson granted
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independence to Texas in 1837. This helped to avert a war

with Mexico for the next ten years (Jaime Suchlicki, 2001).

Estimate
A fair estimate of Andrew Jackson’s Presidency requires an
assessment of all the measures and changes he introduced
within the government. These measures were both
democratic and federalist in scope.
However Robert Remini and Arthur Schlesinger Jr. have
chosen to characterize him in their books, as a nationalist
rather than a federalist. He had all the makings of a president
who rode on the crest of the waves when he took decisions.
This is further proved by the fact that new faces and new
people, (as Professor Palit describes it), were making their
appearance in the government. Hitherto unheard voices were
now being raised. So the evolution set apace by the American
Revolution was now at a greater stage of democratisation.
Although Jackson had his share of rivals and men who
disliked him; yet there prevailed a general consensus during
his tenure. This general consensus helped him to win a
second term at the White House. It is true that his measures
had certain shortcomings, but they were all part of his efforts
to build a new nation. This he achieved sufficiently well, and
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Merrill Jansen has credited Jackson with the making of a new

nation.
Edward Paysant, a New Left historian is of the opinion that
Jackson’s age witnessed the dawn of radical democracy. But
Professor Palit thinks that it was an evolutionary nationalist
government and not quite a radical democratic government.
New faces and new people participated in the government no
doubt but that was because westward expansion had brought
in more land to the American Union. But as Red Indians,
Blacks and women were not given the right to participate in
the government, it would be an exaggeration to say that
Jackson’s government was a radical democratic government,
although there is no denying that it was Andrew Jackson who
brought into existence the American democracy as we know it
today.