Jacksonian Democracy Dbq Analysis

The fact on how democratic or undemocratic Jacksonian Democracy was, can be largely disputed. For one to argue such a point a definition of terms must be applied; democracy is a system of government by the whole population or all the suitable members of a state, generally through elected representatives. For a white man during this time, Jacksonian Democracy was extremely democratic. It was based on the idea that all white men should have the right to vote and that they could freely partake in politics. It was the era of universal white male suffrage and supremacy for the “common man”. As for women, Indians, and African American slaves this was not a democratic era seeing that these groups had very few rights during this time. While white males were receiving more rights, they were getting more requirements put on them to where they barely received any rights at all. Throughout the Jacksonian Era, they had to continually fight for equal rights and to be able to participate in politics. Therefore, the Jacksonian Democracy was not very democratic because for it to be democratic the most of the population must participate in the government system. Jacksonian Democracy ultimately became a “White Man’s Democracy,” meaning that his vision was not entirely inclusive and debarred women, Indians, and slaves. For white men, it seemed as if a whole revolution came about, in which their rights became furtherly equal throughout the poor to middle class and past requirements to vote were abolished. Property requirements were abolished, allowing non-property owning, free white men to participate in various elections. Overall, universal-white-manhood-suffrage was a major step towards equal rights, although strictly amongst white men, in which they finally “had the vote and the will to use it for their ends” (Doc B). As soon as Jackson was elected to the presidency and began his Jacksonian Democracy, his personal slave holdings almost tripled from 40-50 slaves to 140 slaves from the time 1829 to the mid-1830’s (Doc O). …show more content…
Life of African American slaves and free blacks seemed to be extremely unfair. Slaves were treated like property, meaning they had little to no rights and masters even threatened to sell them if they didn’t obey them. Some slaves developed various strategies of resistance towards their masters and continued to fight for their independence and equal rights. For those who were lucky enough to gain the title of a free black, equal rights, racial prejudice, and discrimination were still issues they had to deal with throughout the Jacksonian Democracy. While many states abolished property requirements for white males, they adopted higher property requirements to pin on property-owning free blacks to be able to vote (Keene, 241). Jackson may have acted as if he wanted to help the African Americans, especially in his address to the free blacks stating, “Through a mistaken policy you have heretofore been deprived of a participation in the glorious struggle for national rights, in which our country is engaged. This shall no longer exist…,” but in reality, he is just a hypocrite when comes to actually helping them. Another discriminated group that helps show how undemocratic Jacksonian Democracy was, is the native American Indians. Just like the slaves, Indians were treated as inferiors, conquered subjects even. The Indians had virtually no rights, particularly over their lands. One event spiraled this point out of control, ultimately