, Research Paper
In the 1820s, the politics began to change. The new society was becoming increasingly democratic. Many poorer whites were elected into office and common man begun to have a say in politics. The Jackson era was a rebirth of the United States; it finally became more democratic with the exception of slaves and woman who still had little rights. During this era, more people became involved in politics. Suffrage was extended to all white males and elsewhere land was easily attainable. People became more involved in politics for various reasons. Slavery issue got many southerners involved. The people who actually voted increased from 20s% to 70s%. More of the common people, especially from the west, were elected into various offices. Andrew Jackson was the first none rich northeast person was elected into office. Although he was not a brilliant president, he was greatly admired because he was considered one of the people, not like those few elitists from the northeast. To make the Bank of the US more democratic, he took out all the money and gave it to the state banks because under the treasurer Briddle, money was only lent to rich politicians. The destruction of the federal bank under Briddle symbolized the end to the elitist control of the government. The elections for office also became more democratic. Now Electoral College members were chosen directly by the voters, where as before, they were chosen by state legislature. The nominations were now in open meetings, where a party could nominate its best nominee; “King Caucus” was dead.
Although there were many positive issues connected with Jacksonian era, there were also many negative. Slavery was a major issue. Northerners relentlessly tried to abolish slavery, while southerners defended their right to slavery, especially because it was very profitable after invention of cotton gin. However, the most ludicrous idea was that although north tried to abolish slavery, they hated blacks, many of which were black and living in the north. Conditions free blacks were better off in the south, where there were no angry Irishmen competing for the menial jobs as they were. A famous quote used to show opinion toward the slaves and the free blacks were: “white southerners liked the individuals but hated the race,” while ” northerners liked the race but hated the individuals.” Women’s rights were also limited. Women were not allowed to own property especially after they were married. However, as for slavery, there were many women rightists, who unrelentingly battled for woman’s rights. Lucy Stone kept her maiden name after marriage and was considered a hero of her time, while Elizabeth Stanton organized a convention of 1848 where women’s version of Declaration of Independence was read: ” all men and woman are created equal ” Although during the Jacksonian era there were many negative issues, it was still considered the time when the US started to become more democratic, especially compared with their European counterpart, Britain. Although during this time, US was not fully democratic, it was on its way.