The election of Andrew Jackson to t

The election of Andrew Jackson to the presidency in 1928 marked the political ascendancy of the “common man” in American politics. Whereas all previous presidents had been Easterners from well-to-do families, Jackson was a self-made man of modest wealth from the West. Born in 1767, Jackson fought in the American Revolution, in which many of his relatives died. Afterwards, he studied law and moved to the Western District of North California. When that territory became the state of Tennessee, Jackson was elected the state’s first congressman. His name becamea household word during the war of 1812, when, as a U.S Army major general, he led troops against the Creek Indians in the Mississippi Territory and later defeated the British at New Orleans.
After his presidential inauguration, Jackson rode on horseback to the White House to attend a private party. Crowds of well-wishers suddenly appeared at the reception and nearly destroyed the White House as they tried to glimpse the new president. The common man had made a dramatic entrance onto the national political scene.
Jackson’s two terms moved American society toward truer democracy. Many states abandoned property requirements for voting. Elected officials began to act more truly as representatives of the people than as their leaders. As president of the common man, Jackson waged a war against the Bank of the United States, vetoing the bill that re-chartered the institution, declaring it a dangerous monopoly that profited the wealthy few.
Although he had built his reputation as an Indian fighter during the War of 1812, Jackson was not an Indian hater. He adopted what was at the time considered an enlightened solution to the Indian problem-removal. Many tribes submitted peacefully to being moved to the West. Others were marched by force to the Indian Territory, under brutal conditions, along what the Cherokees called the Trail of Tears.
One of Andrew Jackson’s most enduring legacieswas the Democratic Party, which under him became a highly organized political party. In opposition to the Democrats were the Whigs, a party that attracted supporters of the Bank of the United States and opposed the tyranny of the man called “King Andrew”. A less specific but more basic legacy is the populist philosophy of politics that still bears the name “Jacksonian Democracy.”