Andrew Jackson Democracy

Superior Essays
Although a democracy is just a system of government, it represents so much more. Technically, a democracy is a system of government that is controlled by the people where anyone who is eligible to vote can elect representatives, but democracy also symbolizes equality and the unity of a nation as one collective group. Instead of everyone having their own opinions and only disagreeing with each other, a democracy allows for the people to act as one group. This form of democracy became a popular form of government in America after the Jeffersonian era ended in 1800. From this point on, becoming a democracy became a major objective in the presidencies to follow. Specifically, President Andrew Jackson played a major role in how democracy was changing …show more content…
A political cartoon titled “King Andrew I” is a picture showing Andrew Jackson dressed as a king while holding the veto of the national bank. Portraying Jackson as a king shows that he had the most power over everyone else, which is the opposite of a democracy. After Jackson vetoed the national bank, the Whig party became a prominent opposition for the Democrats. The Whigs would create political cartoons, like this one of Jackson portrayed as a king, in order to display Jackson as a poor president so that people would not re elect him in the following election. This political cartoon is showing that by vetoing the bank, Jackson is abusing his power as president and going against not only the Constitution, but also the judiciary of the states. It is apparent that the Whigs wanted to portray Jackson’s veto of the bank as a power that monarchs carry out, not presidents of a democracy. Likewise, in an excerpt from The Life of Andrew Jackson by Robert V. Remini, Remini clearly showed that Jackson made a big mistake by not listening to his Secretary of State, Van Buren. Remini explains that Jackson appointed Samuel Swartwout as the collector for the Port of New York against Van Buren and a lot of the government administration’s concerns. The author addresses the fact that Jackson appointed Swartwout because he supported Jackson from the very …show more content…
In Andrew Jackson’s speech denouncing nullification in 1832 it is evident that Jackson is against nullification because it will only cause more problems within the country and it is unfair to the rest of the union if one state decides to succeed. Jackson clearly states that the people are the ones that run the government, not the States. When making this speech Jackson is specifically attempting to convince the state of South Carolina why they should not succeed, but also to show the rest of the people how this could hurt them as well. Jackson is encouraging the people to use the power that they have to encourage South Carolina to stay a part of the Union because the country functions the best when everyone is represented together as one. This speech shows that Andrew Jackson brought America closer to a democracy because he showed that the people are the ones who are controlling the government, not the states. He denounced the nullification because he believed it was unfair to the people if one state thought they had the right, over everyone else, to succeed from the union. It is also evident that Jackson urged the common people to get politically involved in a chart showing voter turnout in the United States presidential elections from 1824-2008. This chart shows how many people actually voted in

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