In American
history, President Jefferson viewed democracy differently from Jackson. They
differed in many areas with regards to democracy. For instance, according to Jefferson, an individual should be in a
position to establish an initiative since it was a test of character with
reference to property requirements. On the other hand, Jackson saw no essence
in the Jefferson concept of property requirement and erased it. According to
Jefferson, government positions were only fit for the elite in society. However, he went ahead and proposed
education for all so as to give ‘poorer’ people a future chance of assuming
public offices. Jackson had a different idea; all government positions should
be rotated and that anyone was qualified to hold a public office. Jefferson
developed a system where only political leaders chose candidates. Jackson, on
the other hand, introduced nominations through conventions (Baumer & Gold,
56).
Jefferson had some form of discrimination
which he branded as democracy; he only recognized the yeoman farmer. Jackson
included more groups in the chosen class such as mechanics, laborers, planters,and farmers. In terms of industrialization,
Jefferson had his fears and did not embrace it, while Jackson saw that the
growth of the American economy depended
on industrialization. Jefferson granted monopolies rights to operate freely. He
also used favorite state legislatures to provide corporate charters. Jackson
did not leave out anyone who decided to
start a business. Through the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, he gave
corporate charters to whoever dared to establish a company. The idea of the
Bank of United States was somehow disapproved by Jefferson especially the
interpretation of the elastic clause. Jackson, however, viewed the bank as a monopoly for the affluent. Jefferson believed
that time would do away with slavery despite owning some himself. Jackson owned
slaves but didn’t show interest in doing away with the matter. During
Jefferson’s time, Indian and women were regarded as non-equals. Jackson shows an element of hatred towards the American
Indians (Baumer & Gold, 56).
According to Jefferson, education was
the correct tool used to prepare people to participate in democracy and to hold
public office. On the contrary, Jack had little belief in the power of
education and saw it as unimportant. Jefferson did not have the capacity to
establish a public education system despite his belief that the major keys to
success were ambition and education. Jackson was able to give individuals the
opportunity to raise their economic and social standards by providing social
charters. His policy thrived after he ended the Bank of the United States and gained control. He also
believed that others could prosper
through economic progress and the newly established social mobility (Richard,
289).
The changes that occurred during the
times of Jackson were due to movements for democracy that were championed in
the 1830s. The movement was spearheaded by Jackson himself; he wanted to do
away with practices that promoted aristocracy in the United States of America
(Belohlavek, 77). Jackson was fully opposed to the discrimination and rights
that were only reserved for special
groups of people in the nation. He pointed out that the main drive of the movement came from the new
settlements in the West and South as well as the desire
to achieve equality within the society. As
indicated in the paper, the changes were significant because they would give
everyone equal chances of raising economic and social standards.
Works Cited
Baumer, Donald C., and Howard J. Gold. Parties,
polarization and Democracy in the United States. Routledge, 2015.
Belohlavek, John M. Andrew Jackson: Principle and
Prejudice. Routledge, 2016.
Richard, Carl J. "The Classics and American Political
Rhetoric in a Democratic and Romantic Age." Call of Classical
Literature in the Romantic Age (2018): 289.
