Digital History>Teachers>Modules> The Jacksonian Era

Learn About the Jacksonian Era

Between 1820 and 1840, most states eliminated property qualification office-holding. To encourage popular participation in politics, states reduced residency requirements for voting, opened polling places in more convenient locations, and eliminated the practice of voting by voice. In addition, direct methods of selecting presidential electors, county officials, state judges, and governors replaced indirect methods. But while white manhood suffrage was becoming a reality, women and most African Americans were denied the right to vote.

Two new national political parties arose. Unlike America’s first parties, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans, the Jacksonian Democrats and the Whigs were parties with grassroots organization and support in all parts of the nation.

Andrew Jackson, the dominant political figure of the era, helped institute the national political nominating convention; defended the spoils system; opened millions of acres of Indian lands to white settlement; and vetoed the recharter of the second Bank of the United States.  When South Carolina asserted the right of a state to nullify the federal tariff, Jackson made it clear that he would not tolerate any attempt to resist federal authority.

A surge of democratic fervor swept the country in the 1820s and 1830s. Top open up the legal profession, many states dropped formal training requirements to practice law. Some states also abolished training and licensing requirements for doctors. In New York State, between 1839 and 1843, tenant farmers tarred and feathered sheriffs and agitated for a new state constitution. In Rhode Island, insurgents tried to capture the state arsenal in order to force the state to abolish voting restrictions.

Learn more about the Jacksonian era.
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"I recognize no ALLEGIANCE, as paramount to that which the citizens of South Carolina owe to the State of their birth"
Robert Hayne, 1832
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More documents of the Jacksonian era.
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Handouts and fact sheets:

Jacksonian Democracy

Indian Removal

Political Battles of the Jacksonian Era

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Recommended lesson plan:

The 1828 Campaign of Andrew Jackson and the Growth of Party Politics
http://edsitement.neh.gov/curriculum-unit/1828-campaign-andrew-jackson-and-growth-party-politics
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Quizzes:

Quiz on the Jacksonian Era, Answers to the Quiz on the Jacksonian Era
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Recommended books:

Charles Sellers, The Market Revolution
A sweeping political and social history of the Jacksonian era that includes such topics as the birth of Mormonism under Joseph Smith, Jackson's Indians removal policies, and from the growth of women's rights and the spread of the temperance movement.

Recommended film:

The President's Lady (1953)
This film concentrates on Andrew Jackson’s relationship with his wife Rachel, whose reputation causes scandal.For a synopsis of and stills from this film, see
http://charltonhestonworld.homestead.com/PresidentsLady.html

The Buccaneer
The story of the battle of New Orleans has been filmed twice, in a 1938 version directed by Cecil B. DeMille and a 1958 version directed by Anthony Quinn.For additional information, see Sean Wilentz, “The Buccaneer” in Mark C. Carnes, ed., Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies.

Recommended Website:

Medicine of Jacksonian America
http://www.connerprairie.org/Learn-And-Do/Indiana-History/America-1800-1860/Medicine-In-Jacksonian-America.aspx
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