Jackson
was successfully able to exploit a growing strain of populist sentiment in the United States and
harness it for his own political gain. In 1828, there was a widespread perception in the country
that the "little guy" was being stiffed by political and economic elites. The
so-called Corrupt Bargain that had deprived Jackson of the presidency in 1824 was held up as a
prime example of this.
It seemed to many, especially in the agrarian
heartlands of the South, that the country was being run exclusively for the benefit of the elite
and that the ordinary folk were being left behind. Jackson, despite being a wealthy landowner,
was able to put himself forward as the champion of the common man, playing up his humble origins
to show that he was a true man of the people who would take back the country from the East Coast
elites.
As the country had expanded, so too had the franchise, ushering in a
period of mass politics in which it was foolish in the extreme for political
parties...
No comments:
Post a Comment