The Jacksonian Era

1
The Jacksonian Era

• Chapter 9
• Section 2

2
The New Politics

• Imagine that the presidential election was held
  under the rules and procedures that prevailed in
  the mid-1820s.
• How would the election differ from what you are
  accustom to?
• (Women, Blacks, Indians, People under the age of
  21 cannot vote different colored ballots were
  used for each party no secret voting poll
  watchers were allowed to count how you vote
  campaigning was allowed at the polling places
  only white male candidates candidates were
  chosen at conventions, no primaries no
  television or radio predictions of the winner,
  etc.)

3
Jackson Inauguration

• Thousands of people, without distinction or rank,
  collected in an immense mass round the Capitol,
  silent, orderly, and tranquil, their eyes fixed,
  waiting the appearance of the President in the
  portico. Preceded by the marshals, surrounded by
  the judges of the Supreme Court, the old man with
  his gray locks emerged and bowed to the people
  who greeted him with a shout. Then an almost
  breathless silence followed, as the crowd became
  still, listening to catch the sound of Jacksons
  voice, though it was so low as to be heard only
  by those nearest to him.
• Later, we learned that the crowd had lessened and
  we might enter the Presidents house. But what a
  scene did we witness! The majesty of the people
  had disappeared, and a rabble, a mob, now
  scrambled and fought to get into the White House.
  What a pity! No arrangements had been made, no
  police officers were on duty, and the whole house
  had been inundated by the rabble mob. We came
  too late. The President, after having been
  literally pressed to death and almost suffocated
  and torn to pieces by the people in their
  eagerness to shake hands with Old hickory, had
  retreated through the back way and had escaped to
  his lodgings.

4

• Cut glass and china to the amount of several
  thousand dollars had been broken in the struggle
  to get refreshments. Punch and other articles
  had been carried out in tubs and buckets, but had
  it been in barrels it would have been
  insufficient. Ice creams and cakes and lemonade
  for twenty thousand people were provided. Ladies
  fainted, men were seen with bloody noses. It is
  almost impossible to describe the confusion
  those who got in could not get out again except
  to scramble out of the windows.
• This wild scene had not been anticipated and
  therefore not provided against. Ladies and
  gentlemen only had been expected, not the people
  en masse. But it was the peoples day, and the
  peoples President would rule. God grant that
  one day or other the people do not put down all
  rule and rulers. I fear, enlightened freemen as
  they are, they will be found, as they have been
  in all ages and countries where they get the
  power in their hands, that of all the tyrants,
  they are the most ferocious, cruel, and despotic.
• Adapted from Mrs. Samuel Harrison Smith, The
  First Forty Years of Washington Society, 1829

5
Jacksons Inauguration

1. How did Jacksons inauguration differ from those
   of the present day?
2. This was the first inauguration at which
   spectators became unruly. Why had this not
   happened before?
3. How would you have arranged to handle the crowd
   in the White House? How much freedom should
   visitors have in such a place?
4. The author fears power in the hands of people.
   Why? Have her fears been justified in later
   American history? Explain.

6
Make Inference

• Using the text as a guide, one group find the
  advantages of the spoils system, applicable both
  in Jacksons day and the present. The other
  group needs to find the disadvantages of the
  spoils system.
• In the 1990s more then 20 million people were on
  local, county, state, and national government
  payrolls. Which kinds of jobs, if any, should be
  filled as patronage?
• In 1883, the first civil service act passed,
  creating a merit system of examinations as a
  requirement for some federal government
  positions. Is this system still desirable today?
  Why?

7

• To what extent are government jobs in our state
  or locality filled by the merit system?
• To what degree should government employees be
  protected in their jobs or seniority?
• Should special considerations be given to members
  of minority groups or other special groups, such
  as veterans?
• For what causes should their employees be allowed
  to fire them?
• What process should be followed for their
  dismissal?

8

• Democracy assumes that ones persons vote is as
  good as anothers.
• Historian Will Durant The fatal flaw in
  democracy is that ignorance reproduces much
  faster than, and is less tolerance then,
  intelligence.
• Hitler Although you cant fool all the people
  all of the time, you can fool enough of them long
  enough to gain control of a large nation.
• Do these statements apply to our system?
• Does our system provide any safeguards against
  the triumph of ignorant or wicked leaders?

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