Dbq Jacksonian Democracy

During the Jacksonian era there were many different views on the rights and wrongs of the presidential actions. The Jacksonians thought themselves to be guardians of individual liberty, political democracy, the United States Constitution and the equality of economic opportunity. This in many cases can be argued that the Jacksonians were successful guardians of these four things.

During the presidency of Andrew Jackson do to his often radical was of thinking individual liberty was often not well preserved. In many cases Jackson's policy of guarding the Constitution often seemingly made it more difficult to at the same time protect individual liberty. During the period of the Indian Removal Act the individual liberties of the Native Americans were not with held. Even though when tried in the Supreme Court, Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia, the Cherokee were given the rights to their land. Jackson overrode the decision by upholding the Constitution allowing majority rule, forcing the Indians to the west of the Mississippi River. More often then not Jackson's rulings ignored the individual liberties of the citizens by instead helping to uphold the Constitution.

Through many of Jackson's vetos and highly discriminated decisions he was still able to maintain and protect the political democracy for the common man. Though Daniel Webster criticized Jackson's veto of the Bank of the United States, it was able to satisfy many people who were weary of the banks control. The veto stated the "exclusive privilege of banking" showing how the rich were able to have the most control and in turn were able to have a larger say politically. Webster in his reply to the veto says that Jackson if trying to turn the rich against the poor. Because of the veto many of the common people believed that he was also saving democracy by keeping the power of the rich at bay. When Harriet Martineau visited the United States she was able to witness the fairness of voting on candidates and that " the people were the judges." Universal Manhood Suffrage was also an import factor in the political democracy of the United States. By giving all white men the right to vote also helped to lessen the power of the upper class to make the system more democratic. Political democracy was often an important topic for Jackson so he was able to keep the power in the hands of the common man.

Seemingly the most important thing to Jackson was to uphold and protect the United States Constitution. So much so that often individual liberty was at stake. During the Nullification Crisis, Jackson helped to uphold the Constitution