Monday, November 12, 2007

Did the Election of 1828 Represent a Democratic Revolt of the People?

I believe that no, the election of 1828 didn't represent a democratic revolt of the people. I agree with Richard McCormick's opinion on this packet. He believes that voting statistics demonstrate that a genuine political revolution did not take place until the presidential election of 1840, when fairly well-balanced political parties had been organized in virtually every state. Jacksonian democracy consisted of urban workingmen, southern planters, venturous conservatives, farm-bred nouveux riches, western frontiersmen, frustrated entrepreneurs, or yeoman farmers which are considered true "Jacksonians." Features of Jacksonian democracy are correspondingly diverse. With suffrage barriers it brought forth of democratic energies, evidenced by a marked upward increase in voting. Shifting legislative choice of electors to the election by popular vote, together with steady population growth, obviously swelled the presidential vote. Comparing the rate of voting in the Jackson elections with other presidential elections before and after his regime as well as with state elections helped find out whether or not voter participation rose markedly in the three presidential elections in which Jackson was a candidate. But all in all, none of the Jackson elections involved a "mighty democratic uprising" in the sense that voters were drawn to the polls in unprecedented proportions.

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