Jeffersonian Democracy v. Jacksonian Democracy

Political

Suffrage

Jefferson believed a property requirement was a test of character that a man of initiative should be able to meet.

• By Jackson’s time, property requirements for voting had been erased.

Office Holding

• Jefferson believed the educated elite should rule, although he proposed education for all to prepare poorer individuals for public office.

• Jackson believed all men were qualified to hold office and that political positions should be rotated.

Nomination of President

• In Jefferson’s time, candidates were chosen by caucuses of political leaders.

• Nominating conventions were introduced during Jackson’s time.

Economic

Chosen Class

• Jefferson saw the yeoman farmer as the “chosen class”.

• Jackson also believed in the farmer, but also included the planters, laborers, and mechanics.

Industrialization

• Jefferson originally feared the consequences of industrialization.

• Jackson accepted industr4y as essential to the American economy.

Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge

• In Jefferson’s time corporate charters were granted to favorites of state legislators and often implied monopoly rights to a business.

• Chief Justice Roger Taney, a Jackson appointee, ruled in the Charles River Bridge decision that corporate charters should be available to all who chose to risk starting a business.

Bank of the U.S.

• Jefferson disapproved of the the Bank, originally, because he disagreed with the loose interpretation of the elastic clause that helped create the bank.

• Jackson saw the Bank as a monopoly of the rich.

Social

Slavery

• Jefferson, who owned slaves, saw slavery as an evil that time would eradicate.

• Jackson, too, owned slaves but seemed little interested in abolition.

Women and Native Americans

• Jefferson did not view women or Native Americans as equal.

• Jackson agreed with Jefferson’s view, but also had a particularly negative attitude toward Native Americans.

Education

• Jefferson, an educated man himself, believed education was necessary for office-holding and for preparing citizens for participation in a democracy.

• Jackson had little education and believed education was relatively unimportant.

Social Mobility

• Jefferson believed that education and ambition were keys to success; however, he was never able to build support for his proposed system of public education.

• Jackson ended the Bank and with it, control over credit, and the Charles River Bridge decision opened opportunities for individuals to get corporate charters and thus rise on both the economic and social ladders. Jackson, a self-made man, believed his economic progress had accounted for his own upward social mobility, and others would follow his example.

Religion

Jefferson believed in separation of church and state.

• Jackson also believed in the separation of church and state.