Jacksonian Foreign Policy Analysis

Jacksonians align with Jeffersonians on the issues of the American people coming first, which should be the United States’ first priority. “Jacksonians believe that the government should do everything in its power to promote the wellbeing- political, moral, and economic- of the folk community (Meade 2002, 238).” However, for Jacksonians one major way to protect the American people is to give them full access to their second amendment right, to keep and bear arms (Meade 2002, 235). “Jacksonians are armed for defense: defense of the home and person against robbers, defense against usurpations of the federal government, and defense of the United State and its enemies (Meade 2002, 235).” Having the right to keep and bear arms, to the Jacksonians, …show more content…
The Wilsonian logic is powerful, and their approach to national security has much to recommend it, and the Wilsonian element is our past foreign policy had made substantial contributions to the growth to the United States power. The major principle of Wilsonian foreign policy is that democracies make better and more reliable partners than any other form of government (Meade, Special Providence 2002, 162). “Democratic policies are pulled toward the center and toward a rational concept of interest, argue Wilsonians; that makes them more predictable and more likely to keep promises once made (Meade, Special Providence 2002, 163).” Democracies are fragile, which is why they need to be protected (Meade, Special Providence 2002, 182). This is a Wilsonian as well as a Jeffersonian belief, because democracy guards against one of the most dangerous forms of misgovernance: the domination of the state by military elite (Meade, Special Providence 2002, 163). When a state is like this, they tend to prefer war over peace, which can lead to civil liberties as well as American lives being taken away (Meade, Special Providence 2002, 163). “I am quite confident in our own political system. Because we know that democracy works, we can reject the arguments of those rulers who deny human rights to their people (Carter 2008).” Because democracies work so well together, it is imperative that …show more content…
“the Constitution divides the power to declare war and the power to conduct wat between the legislative and executive branches. Article I of the Constitution invests Congress with the authority to declare war and to raise and maintain military forces. Article II of the Constitution establishes the President as commander in chief of the U.S. military and gives that office authority to lead American military forces and prosecute armed conflicts (Gude 2014).” Jeffersonians believe that the power of foreign policy should be held to the Constitutional standard, they often advocate for congressional powers over executive powers, and agree with tightening the executive powers (Meade, Special Providence 2002, 190). Meaning, that it should not be solely up to the executive branch to make the foreign policy decisions, because having too much power within one branch is dangerous. Jacksonians would also agree with this, because they hold the constitution to a high standard as well (Meade, Special Providence 2002, 225). Also, they do not believe in limited war, only war full out (Meade, Special Providence 2002, 254). So, for Jacksonians the only way to fight would be to seek approval through Congress, that way the President, as commander in chief, would have full use of the entire military to take out the