Political Ideology and Voting Behavior in the Age of Jackson Essay

Political Ideology and Voting Behavior in the Age of Jackson - Essay Example The majority of all historical accounts depict President Jackson as a strong and aggressive individual who frequently resorted to bullying as a means of championing the causes of the common man. He has been reputed to have bullied the Indians, the national bank, and the states. Despite his strategic and methodic bullying of others, he is remembered as being responsible for bringing democracy to the â€Å"common† white man and championing one of the most poignant and vigilant suffrage movements of all times. His great favor for the common white man can be directly attributed to his humble beginnings. He was a fairly uneducated individual who received formal education sporadically throughout his formative years but was successful in applying himself to the study of law for a period of two years. As a direct result of this, he became an excellent lawyer and gained acclaim. His fame and fortune were a strong testament to the notion that with hard work and perseverance a common man can achieve success irrespective of his beginnings. This fame and fortune, however, was very costly in that President Jackson were greeted with great hostility by individuals fueled by jealousy. This jealousy resulted in the death of a man at the hands of President Jackson when he attempted to defend the honor of his wife, Rachel. President Jackson went on to become a national war hero when he led a brigade which was responsible for defeating the British at New Orleans during the war of 1812. Despite the fact that he did not win his first bid for presidency in 1824, his candidacy was historical in that he was the first individual to lose an election despite the fact that he amassed the most popular vote.3 He went on to become the seventh president of the United States. Since his election in 1828, he has been depicted as a democrat who has gone above and beyond to represent the common, working people with what became known as Jacksonian democracy. At the heart of Jacksonian democracy is the notion that the lion's share of the power to elect the leaders of the United States should reside with the people and not with the Electoral College or the House of Representatives. This notion was made salient by the 1824 loss he suffered when he won the popular vote and lost the election as a direct result of what he considered to be "corrupt bargain".4