The Jacksonians

The Jacksonians were guardians of the United States constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of economic opportunity, but they also weren't in a many number of ways.

The Jacksonians were not protectors of the United States Constitution because they didn't believe in the Bank of the United States. The Bank of the United States was constitutional, but Jackson saw it as a threat to him. He vetoed the bill that was to be passed to recharter the bank. (Doc. B) In Daniel Webster's debate, he thinks that Jackson is over using his power and using false pretenses against the Bank of the United States. (Doc. C) The Jacksonians were defiantly not protectors of the Indians, but the constitution was. Jackson abused his power and forced thousands of Indians off of their own land, so that Americans could expand into the western lands. This movement was known as the Trail of Tears. Indians were not given a chance to rest at all, and there was little food supply, so many of them died. (Doc .G)

The Jacksonians were somewhat guardians of political democracy, but they also abused it as well. Jacksonians believed in a limited government. They wanted to expand construction of the constitution and the power of the president. But they overused that power by passing the Indian Removal act, the Tariff of Abominations, and vetoing the Bank of the United States. He opened up the office for his supporters. Jackson stated that all men were qualified to work in politics. This was a sort of a good thing because it allowed the future people know that this was not a great idea. Some of the people Jackson appointed in his office, took advantage of it, and stole money and objects from the White House. In "The Working Men's Declaration of Independence," it says that political leaders had the right to reform the abuses of government (by constitutional means) and to protect their future. (Doc. A) But when the state of South Carolina tried to nullify the Tariff of Abominations to protect themselves against the raising costs, Jackson fought against them. Jackson got rid of the caucus system and let all white men of legal voting age to vote. When he was discussing the reasons he vetoed the bill to renew the Bank of the United States, one of his reasons were to keep the rich and the powerful from having all the power. That was a protection against political democracy. (Doc. B)

The only people that Jacksonians were guardians over were white men. (Doc. A) White men could own land, vote if they were of age, and very independent. But everybody else really didn't