The Jacksonian Era

During The Jacksonian Era many different views and ideas were predominant about the United States. The Jacksonian Democrats were a loose coalition of different peoples and interests pulled together by a common practical idea. That idea was that they all were followers of President Andrew Jackson. Jacksonian Democrats viewed themselves as guardians of the Constitution when in fact they were not. When dealing with politics and ideas within the Democratic Party of the time the Jacksonians proved to be both guardians and violators of the Constitution. Individual liberty is another area in which the Jacksonians were advocates to different sides of the topic at different times. The Jacksonians also proved to be champions for equality of economic opportunity. The Jacksonians demonstrated themselves to be, not the proponents they thought they were, but instead violators of the US Constitution.

Throughout the Jacksonian era the Jacksonians proved to be violators of the United States Constitution and not the guardians they believed themselves to be. Both the Jacksonians and President Jackson went against the Supreme Courts regarding cases that were said to be constitutional. In the Supreme Court case of Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokee Nation. This ruling of the Supreme Court did not stop Jackson and the Jacksonians from driving the Cherokees off of their land, and by doing this the Constitution was violated. Also, when dealing with

the south, Jackson and the Jacksonians were not guardians of the US Constitution. In vetoing the national bank, Jackson did so because he thought that the act that created it was not compatible with the constitution. However, the Supreme Court had already ruled that the bank was constitutional. In this act Jackson and the Jacksonians were not guarding the constitution, but they were utilizing it to suit their own needs. However sometimes the Judiciary and Executive branches agree such as the incident when South Carolina declared a reduced tariff void and threatened to secede, President Jackson responded in an unconstitutional manner. Jackson threatened to send militia to enforce the tariff implementation and the Jacksonian Congress passed a bill approving this military force, if necessary. This was in direct violation of the Constitution. Another action in which Jackson and the Jacksonian Democrats violated the Constitution was when they put censors on the mails and intercepted abolitionist literature or mail into or from the south. This was an infringement on the Constitution because it violated the first amendment. Another area in which Andrew Jackson and the Jacksonians proved to be on both sides of the fence was political democracy.

The Jacksonians and President Jackson proved to be both curators and malefactors of political democracy. Jacksonians did not protect political democracy for non-white men. In the cases involving both the Cherokees and the African-Americans,

as the victims of persecution by the government and of riots by white supremacists, nearly all of whom of who were Jacksonian democrats. Jackson and the Jacksonians provided to be guardians of political democracy when dealing with both the poor and the rich white men. Jackson said he was defending the farmers, mechanics, and laborers against the politically powerful, who had access to government and wanted special undemocratic advantages from it. This proves that Jackson guarded political democracy for the common man. Webster agrees with this view, by defending the poor, Webster claimed, Jackson was about to create a class war and rile up the poor against the rich. The Jacksonians and President Jackson proved also to be guardians and violators of individual liberty.

The Jacksonians and President Jackson proved to be a very unsteady opinionated body on the topic of individual liberty throughout the Jacksonian Era. Jackson and his followers were supporters of liberty only for white males. The Jacksonians set up a policy of rotation in office in order to give all white men the opportunity to hold public office.