Unit Three 1 Jacksonian Democracy and the Era of the Common Man During Jackson s presidential term the economy did not change or advance But Jackson s influence on politics changed the way America functioned Following his inauguration interests in politics spread due to the fact that all white male citizens were granted the right to vote Prior to his presidency only white male land owners and taxpayers participated in the elections Ohio initiated the movement toward allowing all adult males to vote and hold public office positions As enthusiasm for politics increased more states joined Ohio in the movement Eventually the idea of democracy began to shape the way the nation selected their presidential electors However there were problems with the method of giving the people the ability to vote for representatives at this time The objective of a democracy was to give the power to the people but only some individuals actually were able to participate Obviously slaves were apart of the faction that could not vote But even free blacks lacked the privilege to vote anywhere in the South and only in certain places in the North Women were also unable to have a say Another flaw was the fact that the ballot was not secret This allowed people to bribe and even intimidate other males in order to control the votes As the interest for politics grew the idea of parties emerged When parties started to form and strengthen and loyalty to specific parties intensified the electorate expanded The development of two rival groups formed and they became institutionalized on a national level The supporters of Jackson and his beliefs established the first party They called themselves Democrats The other party was known as the Whigs They opposed the Democrats and were anti Jackson Jackson soon became known as the president of the common man because of the support he got when voicing his views President Jackson had no clear stance but rather embraced a theory of democracy This theory became favored by the average male hence his nickname of being the president of the common man He expressed his desire for equal protection and equal benefits He encouraged the rising class of the West and South and wanted to create more opportunities for them In the process of displaying his loyalty to the common man he attacked the eastern aristocracy The aristocrats were the royals nobles and office holders who undoubtedly did not fit the persona of the common man Jackson did not like the amount of power that the aristocracy held and worked to minimize their influence on politics In doing so he proceeded to present his desire to reduce the roles of the federal government and power of the national government This caused controversy when the Whigs expressed their opposition and favor toward a strong central government Jackson also supported the spoils system This system allowed the act of giving public office positions to the supporters of an individual s same party The spoils system was looked at as a way of giving out jobs as a political reward Although the Whigs disagreed with Jackson s opinions the idea of having a democratic process when selecting presidential candidates was popular This led to the change of the political system The power was now in the people and parties instead of the elite political institutions When giving citizens the ability to participate in selecting who would represent them people became to value the importance of politics and the way the nation was run as a whole HMWK What is the theory of Nullification and why is it important The theory of nullification emerged when John C Calhoun who previously had supported the tariff of 1816 changed his views and began to blame the tariff for South Carolina s economy being unable to grow He created the idea of nullification in order to relieve the state Calhoun began to create the theory of nullification and backed his proposition up with the fact that in the constitution it states that the federal government was devised of the states He believed this meant that the states should have the final say in determining if a federal law obeyed the constitution In his proposal he pushed for the concept that states had the right to declare one of congress s laws unconstitutional After a law is concluded illegitimate the state would hold a convention to reaffirm that the federal law was invalid After a law is declared invalid it would become voided in the state The nullification doctrine was quickly supported by South Carolinians because of their desire to nullify the tariff placed in 1828 Unfortunately the majority of the states did not show much approval for the proposition Things changed though when a crisis developed which would later be referred to as the Nullification Crisis South Carolina became furious and resentful when congress passed another tariff in 1832 After already requesting for alleviation from the 1816 tariff South Carolina protested the bill requiring them to pay additional taxes South Carolina arranged for a state convention that voted to nullify the two tariffs President Jackson disagreed with the actions that South Carolina was taking and the idea of nullification He expressed his belief that nullification was treason an act of betraying the nation In order to ensure that South Carolina was stopped he resorted to military support and violence Jackson strengthen the federal forts located in South Carolina and sent over a warship This is when he got the idea of passing a force bill The force bill would grant the president the right to use the military in order to enforce Congress s laws Henry Clay then decided to devise a compromise that would solve the crisis His compromised stated that the tariff would be lowered gradually over the years South Carolina agreed to his deal and the compromise and Jackson s force bill were passed South Carolina was not done yet though Out of resentment they then proceeded to nullify the force act that just had been passed Calhoun and his supporters viewed this as a victory Since the tariff was revised due to South Carolina s uproar people learned that they could have a say Unfortunately they also realized that no state could protest against the federal government alone Regardless the nullification crisis resulted in the push toward states and people possessing more power rather than the federal government 4 Revivalism in America between 1830 1860 The revivalism in America between 1830 1860 was the concept of