OldHickory
T hefirst sixPresidentsofrhc UnitedStareswere
allfromrich families. Also. allofth em camefrom
lo ng-settledstatesalongtheAtlanticcoast.Then,
in 1828.a differentsortofPresidentwaselected.
H isnamewasAndrewJ ackso n and hehadbeen
bornintoapoor family on rhcw'esternfrontier.
J ackson hadcommandedthe Americanarmyat
th e BankofNewOrleansin 1814. By 1828he
wasa richlando.....ner. Bur frontierfar mersalways
feltthathe was oneofthemandcalled him "Ol d
Hicko ry. "Hickory is a part icularl ytou ghki ndof
woodthatg rowsinAm ericanfo rests.
Ja cksonwasoneofthe fo un de rsofth e D emocratic
Party.lie said that go vernme n tsho uld be organ-
ized to benefit " theg reat bod y of the United
States-the planter , thefarmer,them echani c and
th e lab o rer. "Irwas thevotesofsuchpeoplethat
m ade him Presid en t in 1828 and th enagainin
1832.
9 YE""~OtGROWTHj acksonrewardedthepeoplewhovotedforhim
byintroducinggovernmentpoliciesto givethem
whattheywarned.And whattheywantedabove
all werethreerhings-cheapmoney.cheapmanu-
facturedgoodsandcheapland.
J ackso n provided cheapmoney by encouuglllg
banks to make loans at low rates ofinterest.
H e pro vided cheapmanufactured goodsby re-
ducin gim po rt duties.Andheprovidedcheap land
b y forcing the C herokees and o ther eastern
Amerindianstomovewestofth e Mississipp i.
Opinion s about Jackson 's m o ti ves arcdi vid ed.
Somebelieve that he was conce rnedo nly abou t
winningpopularityand the po w er thatwentw ith
it.Buto therssayth athi s policiesofgivingvoters
whar they wanted-"Jacksonian dcmocracy"-.
w ere animportantlandmarkin makingtheUnited
States a moregenuinelydemocraticcountry.37