Test- Jackson DBQ

Andrew Jackson was certainty one of America's most controversial presidents. Although he and his followers, the Jacksonian Democrats, claimed to be "the guardians of the United States Constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of opportunity" they did not uphold these principles to the best of their ability. The Jacksonian Democrats certainly had their accomplishments in office, however, their vices certainly outweighed their virtues and the Jacksonians did not seem to truly stand up for their principles.

Jacksonian Democrats claimed themselves to be guardians of the "United States Constitution". Yet they made many decisions that tarnished this claim. In Document G, the Cherokee Nation was forced off their land in Georgia and had to march more than a thousand miles to the land that they were permitted to live on by the government. Yet the Cherokees fought for their rights and brought the case up to the Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the Cherokees. Yet this still did not hinder the Jacksonian's efforts to drive the Cherokee off their land. This direct violation of the Supreme Court's ruling defies the Constitution because the Jacksonians did not comply with the Supreme Court's decisions. Another instance in which Jacksonians disregarded the Constitution is when they denounced abolitionists for their anti-slavery publications. This is a major assault on the founding amendments of the Constitution; the freedom of speech and the freedom of press. Jackson carried this restriction of freedom of speech in Congress in which he and the Jacksonians passed the "gag rule". The rule stated that no more abolitionist appeals would be tolerated or accepted by Congress. Another instance in which Jackson defied the Supreme Court is when he vetoed the issue on rechartering the Second Bank. At the time, Chief Justice John Marshall and the Supreme Court had already deemed that having the Bank was an implied right by the Constitution. Jacksonians failed to uphold the right of having a national bank. The underlying reason can also be considered political. In Document C, Webster accuses Jackson for removing the Bank for his own political reasons. Jackson knew that by removing the Bank, he would gain support from many of the lower classes, such as the western farmers and the Working Men's Party, as well as support from the state banks. The Jacksonians did not seem to be the "guardians of the United States Constitution" as they claimed to be.

The second and third parts of Jacksonian democrat doctrine were that they defended political democracy and protected individual liberties. This was only partially true in many cases. An instance of which there was a lack of political democracy is in Document B. Here Jackson criticizes rich for holding too much power in the Second Bank. He says that they hold "a monopoly of the foreign and domestic exchange." Jackson, being an advocate for the "common man" condemns the rich and their use the Bank. Yet, this shows a clear imbalance of political democracy because Jackson is favoring the views of the common class versus those of the higher class. In Document C, Webster concurs with this idea because he because he says that Jackson is just creating a class rivalry between the rich and the poor. The favoring of the common people showed a skewed political democracy in which the individual liberties of the rich were hindered, also violating the third part of Jacksonian doctrine. Also during Jackson's tenure, he granted universal white manhood suffrage. This gave the right to vote to nearly all white men, even for those without land. Although it certainly is an improvement in political democracy, it ignored the other massive portion of the population that included women and African Americans. This not only restricted the individual liberties of women and blacks, but it also represents a lack of political democracy because not all people could vote. The definition of a democracy is a government in which leaders are elected by the people to represent the people. It is not a government elected by only white males. This political and social difference between blacks and whites is also evident in Document E, where there is strong violence against blacks. Jackson accepted slavery without question due to its vital role in the economy, yet he did not truly consider the immorality it implicated. Even free blacks had their rights restricted, for example, they could not vote. Document G characterizes one of Jackson's lowest moments in his presidency. Document G shows the Trail of Tears, a thousand mile forced march of the Cherokees by the government after they expelled them from their original home in Georgia. Yet, when the Cherokee sought justice for this issue and received support by Marshall, Jacksonians ignored the ruling and carried on with the removal. This reflects a case of a lack of political democracy because not only did Jackson disregard the Cherokee's appeal, they also defied the ruling of the Supreme Court. This also reflects a lack of individual liberty for the Indians because Jackson disregarded their arguments and forced them off their land without their consent. Political democracy was also looking very corrupt in regards to the spoils system, a method employed by the Jacksonians. In the spoils system, government positions are granted to supporting voters for their help in the candidate’s victory, in this case Jackson's. This goes against the basic idea of democracy of people electing the positions of government and not giving out positions of power as gifts. Individual liberty and political democracy was restricted by the Jacksonian's actions.

Although the overall economic prosperity was increased, it came at a great expense of the other principles in which the Jacksonians Democrats claimed to uphold. In Documents B and H, Jackson rids of institutions he believes to resemble monopolies like the Second Bank and the Charles River Bridge Corporation. Equal economic opportunity was evident in Document B because the federal money stored in the Second Bank was placed into smaller state banks. Stockholders and investors lost the Bank as a source of investment, which indicates lack of economic opportunity. Blacks also did not experience the same equality of economic opportunity. There were not as many ways for blacks or women to learn skills for working as there were for white males. Blacks and women were also not given the same rights for jobs as white males were. This inequality is a major stain on the Jacksonian's principle of economic opportunity. In Document A, George Henry Evans delivers a speech about the rights of working men. Although Jackson's eventual expansion of the right to vote for all white males increased economic opportunity, he only acted upon it because these people lacked this economic opportunity to begin with. Although equal economic opportunity was evident in many cases, Jacksonians still did not truly uphold the principle of equal economic opportunity because their policies favored the common man.

Jacksonian democrats had many instances in which they did not follow the ideals on which they advocated. Their forced Cherokee removals represented lack of individual liberties and political democracy. The restriction of abolitionist's right to publish anti-slavery articles showed noncompliance with even the fundamental ideals of the Constitution. Lastly, the veto of the rechartering of the Second Bank seemed to promote equal economic opportunity for the poor, but subsequently took away that opportunity for the wealthy. By not adhering to the basic party principles, the Jacksonian democrats and their leader Andrew Jackson give historians a mixed view on their success.