Andrew the First Case

Those first members of Andrew Jackson's new Democratic Party declared themselves to be guardians of the United States Constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of economic opportunity. The truth of this declaration is considerably limited, seeing as, under the Jackson Presidency alone, individual liberties were infringed, the democratic system violated, and several events left unchecked by the National constitution.

Andrew Jackson and the Democratic Party did make a great effort to remove power from the moneyed few of America and foreign investors. His appeal to the working underclass (Document A) allowed him to take office in 1829. He stayed true to his word, vetoing laws that empowered the banking class (Document B). This constant vetoing, however, was seen by some as an abuse of the power granted to him by his office. Daniel Webster (Document C) saw it as an attack on "Whole classes of people," those classes being the privileged ones. President Jackson also was successful in destroying the national bank of the united states, which supported big-time investment and ignored the poor farmers. The new state-wide "pet banks granted greater economic opportunity to Americans.

These actions, however, were only the least extreme of Jackson's efforts to enforce his opinion on the people. President Jackson's removal of the Cherokee people from Georgia (Document G) against the decision of the judiciary proves that his idea of equal rights does not echo the definition we as a modern society believe in. President Jackson's reaction toward the dissent against slavery in State of South Carolina (Document F, especially to the fellow official the governor Calhoun went unchecked by the legislature. Whether it was justified or not, this action displays an overall misuse, and almost a disdain toward the democratic system of which he claims to be a guardian.

Many efforts were made by the early party to invigorate the poor underclass and create equal opportunity, but there is only so much that can be said of the Democratic principles of the indian-killing, governor-threatening president known commonly through history as "King Andrew the First."