Jacksonian DemocracyJacksonian Democracy 9

CONTENTS

■Robert Cruikshank’s, President’s Levee, or All Creation Going to the White

House(1829), offers evidence, depending on one’s point of view, of Andrew

Jackson’s popularity, or of the depredations of “King Mob.”

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and appealed directly—and effectively—to masses of

voters. In 1828 more than 1.1 million ballots were cast by

58 percent of the eligible voters, more than doubling the

turnout of previous elections.

Jackson won in a landslide. During the next few

decades, his opponents had little choice but to imitate

his techniques and build a rival mass party—the Whigs.

A new type of politics emerged, which some historians

call the “Second American Party System.” Its central

feature was the mass mobilization of the electorate,

characterized by a consistent turnout of over half of

all voters.

Almost from the start, Jackson’s more inclusive poli-

tics encountered new challenges and obstacles.

Victorious campaign workers clamored for government

jobs. Energized voters, seeking cheap land, ignored the

plight of the Indians, not to mention legal rights secured

by treaties. As more people voted, too, politicians were

obliged to “represent” a vast electorate, which made it

difficult to broker deals. Sectional tensions intensified;

campaigns acquired a new stridency occasionally tinged

with demagoguery. The new politics of democratic

engagement were not without costs; within several

decades, these would include civil war. ■

■“Democratizing” Politics

■1828: The New Party System

in Embryo

■The Jacksonian Appeal

■The Spoils System

■President of All the People

■Sectional Tensions Revived

■Jackson: “The Bank... I Will

Kill It!”

■Jackson’s Bank Veto

■Jackson versus Calhoun

■Indian Removals

■The Nullification Crisis

■Boom and Bust

■The Jacksonians

■Rise of the Whigs

■Martin Van Buren:

Jacksonianism without

Jackson

■The Log Cabin Campaign

■Debating the Past:

For Whom Did Jackson Fight?

■American Lives:

Davy Crockett

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