Andrew Jackson and the Jacksonian Period

Andrew Jackson is the most significant political figure in American history, for under Jackson modern American government took shape. In the Jacksonian era, the white middle class took power and has never relinquished it. Because of this, the Jacksonian era has been described as the ?Age of the Common Man?. According to this view, a democratic, egalitarian culture emerged. This cultural emergence had a dramatic and wide ranging impact on American life. The previously disenfranchised middle class voted for people more like themselves -- for those who would uphold their interests. This resulted in a group of leaders very different from the upper- class founding fathers -- a group of men who would do anything to avoid being thought aristocratic or elitist, or even non-middle class. These changes promoted social mobility and a more democratic system with Andrew Jackson as leader and James K. Polk as a fitting example.…