Andrew Jackson; The Common Man, Radical Innovationsand the Harmony of Political Practice
...was the vetoing of the national bank. As the archetype for the “common man” Andrew Jackson did not believe in power for the elite aristocrats, and he the national bank as a corrupt institution that violated a basic principle of Jacksonian Democrats: equality of economic opportunity. As shown in document B, the power of the bank was in the hands of twenty-five, only five of which were chosen by the government. Because foreign citizens and American aristocrats held the bank power, Jackson saw it as a threat to the everyday citizen, and if allowed to continue, would surely lead to “great evils to our country.” Jackson wanted the power to be in the majority of the people rather than the few he knew that power would subsequently lead to political power and then more importantly economic success. Daniel Webster, a federalist turned Whig, condemned Jackson’s veto message of July 11, 1832. Webster believed that Jackson’s veto attempted to turn the poor against the rich in a jealous power struggle. Webster went so far as to print Jackson’s veto message en masse on the eve of his 1832 re-election in an attempt to show Jackson’s true colors. However, Jackson prevailed, and was re-elected to a second term. Essentially, this was a north versus south power issue. The national bank aided northern merchant interests and did little for southern interests, especially cotton. Harriet Martineau’s account of New York further re-enforces this point of view. As she comments in document D “I was thrown into painful amazement by being told that the grand question of the time was ‘whether people should be encouraged to govern them, or whether the wise should save them from themselves.’” Had Martineau visited Charleston or another southern city, she would have witnessed southern democrats defying the idea of people not governing themselves. This was a fundamental difference between northern Whigs and southern Democrats. Jacksonian Democrats believed in individual liberty, and this meant individual governing. Having developed acquired the ideals of Hamilton and Jefferson into a well-rounded concept that would come to be known as democracy and benefit the common man. However, in 1835 chief justice John Marshall died, and Andrew Jackson appointed chief justice Roger B. Taney to the Supreme Court. Jackson now had assurance that judicial decisions would be based on Jacksonian Democratic principles. This notion became reality in the Charles River Bridge vs. Warren Bridge decision of 1837. As shown in document H, Taney chooses the expansion of economic opportunities over private property monopoly. Basically, Taney allowed competition (Warren Bridge) to enter the market place. This prevented the Charles River Bridge from having a monopoly, thereby keeping the power out of the hands of an elite few. Jackson believed the expansion of economic opportunity to be “the key to democracy.” Taney agreed and entered this principle into the judicial system. Taney also followed Jacksonian tendencies by taking a strict rather than loose interpretation of the constitution, stating the Charles River Bridge cohorts had not acquired a monopoly on the river. Document E portrays the northern Whig view that the uneducated masses must prove their superiority through violence if they cannot demonstrate politically or economically. This issue proved as a great example and developed the layout for Jackson’s combination of Jeffersonian and Hamiltonian ideals in contrasting big government with equal opportunity but now with the purpose to benefit the common man. Despite Jackson’s successes in advancing his group’s ideals, his presidency was marked with tarnishes. Document F shows the south’s animosity towards northern abolitionists, and their resolution that propaganda literature is illegal in South Carolina. This is a flagrant violation of the first amendment that Jackson ignored. Jacksonian democrats exposed about individual liberty and equality for law; however, this did not apply to blacks (free or slave), Indians, or women. Jackson did little to help others besides...