Oluwatomiwa Alabi
1/25/2017
A.P History
Dr. Carter
The Age of Jackson has never been easy to outline. It was Broader than his reign of presidency (1829–1837), and narrower than his life, it roughly described the third, fourth, and fifth decades of the nineteenth century. While some historians have attempted to define this era as the Age of Amelioration, or Democracy, or the Market Revolution, no name has ever portrayed more of the era’s energy, upward aspiration, and general apprehension than that of Jackson himself. His election in 1828 launched the Age of Jackson, and terminated the great Era of Good Feelings, then his death in 1845 and the Mexican War that immediately followed it might be considered the era’s close. By 1850, the crisis …show more content…
It was a time of prosperous growth, as the population multiplied, so did its wealth, and economic productivity. The American democracy recalibrated itself in several important ways, including enlarged suffrage and a strengthened political system. The geographic center of the United States shifted dramatically towards the west, as Americans poured across the Appalachians, and fostered new lives in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. In nearly every category, Americans began to act out Ralph Waldo Emerson’s popular phrase, “self-reliance.” One group which once had been confined to the margins of power, poor white male voters, saw their status rise greatly during the Age of Jackson. Others, white women in particular clarified their desire for several rights, although they did not accomplish it until the following century. And others still African Americans and American Indians were generally excluded from any form of citizenship. In other words, it was an era quite sharp ambition, and marked several distinguishes, resulting in real progress for millions of mediocre male Americans, and a rising level of frustration for those who saw no progress at …show more content…
This too was an important legacy of Jackson. His political lieutenant, Martin Van Buren, had helped to liberalize voting requirements in New York, resulting in a significant rise in new voters, and unsurprisingly, a rise in popularity for those who loosened the requirements. Other states simply followed suit, and the result was a broad new coalition of poor and middle-class voters, profoundly empowered vis-a-vis the old landed elites of the coastal areas. These were Jackson’s people. He rode his high popularity to an unprecedented sway over the entire US government, deepening the powers of the presidency. For example, he forcibly minimized the power of a senator, John C. Calhoun, in which he trifled with the idea that his state, South Carolina, might nullify an act of the federal government. And Jackson led a dramatic showdown against East Coast financial interests when he refused to recharter the original Bank of the United States as a crusade that increased his popularity, but may have contributed to the financial volatility that was also a major feature of the Jacksonian era. Even if the federal government was tiny by modern standards, it had an alarming effect on people’s lives. If it was a “democracy”, Jackson did much to put flesh onto its bones. Indeed, his party often called itself, simply, “The
1/25/2017
A.P History
Dr. Carter
The Age of Jackson has never been easy to outline. It was Broader than his reign of presidency (1829–1837), and narrower than his life, it roughly described the third, fourth, and fifth decades of the nineteenth century. While some historians have attempted to define this era as the Age of Amelioration, or Democracy, or the Market Revolution, no name has ever portrayed more of the era’s energy, upward aspiration, and general apprehension than that of Jackson himself. His election in 1828 launched the Age of Jackson, and terminated the great Era of Good Feelings, then his death in 1845 and the Mexican War that immediately followed it might be considered the era’s close. By 1850, the crisis …show more content…
It was a time of prosperous growth, as the population multiplied, so did its wealth, and economic productivity. The American democracy recalibrated itself in several important ways, including enlarged suffrage and a strengthened political system. The geographic center of the United States shifted dramatically towards the west, as Americans poured across the Appalachians, and fostered new lives in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. In nearly every category, Americans began to act out Ralph Waldo Emerson’s popular phrase, “self-reliance.” One group which once had been confined to the margins of power, poor white male voters, saw their status rise greatly during the Age of Jackson. Others, white women in particular clarified their desire for several rights, although they did not accomplish it until the following century. And others still African Americans and American Indians were generally excluded from any form of citizenship. In other words, it was an era quite sharp ambition, and marked several distinguishes, resulting in real progress for millions of mediocre male Americans, and a rising level of frustration for those who saw no progress at …show more content…
This too was an important legacy of Jackson. His political lieutenant, Martin Van Buren, had helped to liberalize voting requirements in New York, resulting in a significant rise in new voters, and unsurprisingly, a rise in popularity for those who loosened the requirements. Other states simply followed suit, and the result was a broad new coalition of poor and middle-class voters, profoundly empowered vis-a-vis the old landed elites of the coastal areas. These were Jackson’s people. He rode his high popularity to an unprecedented sway over the entire US government, deepening the powers of the presidency. For example, he forcibly minimized the power of a senator, John C. Calhoun, in which he trifled with the idea that his state, South Carolina, might nullify an act of the federal government. And Jackson led a dramatic showdown against East Coast financial interests when he refused to recharter the original Bank of the United States as a crusade that increased his popularity, but may have contributed to the financial volatility that was also a major feature of the Jacksonian era. Even if the federal government was tiny by modern standards, it had an alarming effect on people’s lives. If it was a “democracy”, Jackson did much to put flesh onto its bones. Indeed, his party often called itself, simply, “The