THE ERA OF COMMON MAN

Cesar BadilloLiezel ManaloMichelle Nguyen Angelica RamosVictoria Reyes

AP U.S. HistoryNovember Group Project

Prompt & Thesis

The Jacksonian Period (1824 to 1838) has been celebrated as the era of the “common man.” To what extent did the period live up to this characterization?

The Jacksonian Period lived up to its celebrated “common man” characterization through political, economical, and reform movement aspects, agnizing the common man as fundamental people for government.

Political

Presidency proved lineage did not ensure office

People identified themselves with Jackson

Reform Movements

Policy includes ending Bank of U.S. Pet banks to replace bank of the U.S. Spoils system -- got rid of a lot of

federals for his common man supporters

Document A

Source: Andrew Jackson’s Veto of the Bank of the United States, Published July 10, 1832

My Fellow Americans – Michael Waldman, foreword by David Gergen page 28

It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their

selfish purposes. Distinctions in society will always exist under every just government. Equality

of talents, of education, or of wealth can not be produced by human institutions. In the full

enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior industry, economy, and virtue, every

man is equally entitled to protection by law; but when the law; but when the laws undertake to

add to these natural and just advantages artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and

exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members

of society—the farmers, mechanics, and laborers—who have neither the time nor the means of

securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their Government.

Document B Source: Cartoon, National Geographic Almanac of American

History pg130

Document CSource – Andrew Jackson, Proclamation On Nullification, published December 10,1832

My Fellow Americans pg 33

Fellow-citizens of my native State, let me not only admonish you, as the First magistrate of our common country, not to incur the penalty

of its laws, but use the influence that a father would over his children whom he saw rushing to certain ruin. In that paternal language, with

that paternal feeling, let me tell you, my countrymen, that you are deluded by men who are either deceived themselves or wish to deceive

you. Mark under what pretenses you have been led on to the brink of insurrection and treason on which you stand. First a diminution of the

value of your staple commodity, lowered by overproduction in other quarters, a the consequent diminution in the value of your lands were

the sole effect of the tariff laws. The effect of those laws was confessedly injurious, but the evil was greatly exaggerated by the unfounded

theory you were taught to believe—that its burthens were in proportion to your exports, not to your consumption of imported articles. Your

pride was roused by the assertion that a submission to those laws was a state of vassalage and that resistance to them was equal in patriotic

merit to the opposition our fathers offered to the oppressive laws of Great Britain.

Document D

Title : Battle Plan – New Orleans

Source - The Life of Andrew Jackson

Document E

Source: Andrew Jackson, in his first message to Congress, delivered on December 8, 1829

Remini, page 185

Office is considered as a species of property, and government rather as a means of promoting

individual interests than as an instrument created solely for the service of the people. Corruption in

some and in others a perversion of correct feelings and principles divert government from its legitimate

ends and make it an engine for the support of the few at the expense of the many. The duties of all

public officers are, or at least admit of being made, so plain and simple that men of intelligence may

readily qualify themselves for their performance; and I can not but believe that more is lost by the long

continuance of me in office than in generally to be gained by their experience. I submit, therefore, to

your consideration when the efficiency of the Government would not be promoted and official industry

and integrity better secured by a general extension of the law which limits appointments to four years.

Document F

Title: The Downfall of Mother Bank

Document G

Source: Excerpt from American Lion by Jon Meacham, pg. 46

“I have great confidence in the virtue of a great majority of the people, and I cannot fear the result,” Jackson wrote in 1828. As long as the government heeds the popular will, Jackson said, “the republic is safe, and its main pillars—

virtue, religion and morality—will be fostered by a majority of the people.”

Document H

“The mischief springs from the power which the monied interest derives from a

paper currency which they are able to control, from the multitude of corporations

with exclusive privileges which they have succeeded in obtaining...and unless you

become more watchful in your states and check this spirit of monopoly and thirst

for exclusive privileges you will in the end find that the most important powers of

government have been given or bartered away….”

- Andrew Jackson, Farewell Address, 1837

Bibliography

Meacham, Jon. American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House. New York: Random House, 2008. Print.

Miller, James, and John M. Thompson. National Geographic Almanac of American History. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2006. Print.

"President Andrew Jackson's Farewell Address." The Last Outpost. The Last Outpost, 2001. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <http://thelastoutpost.com/classics/andrew-jackson/president-andrew-jacksons-farewell-address.html>.

Remini, Robert Vincent. The Life of Andrew Jackson. New York: Harper Perennial Political Classics, 2009. Print.

Waldman, Michael, and George Stephanopoulos. My Fellow Americans: the Most Important Speeches of America's Presidents, from George Washington to George W. Bush. Naperville, IL: Source MediaFusion, 2003. Print.