History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 42

History - Essay Example All adult white males had a right to vote, irrespective of their religion and property ownership. In this era, the older states dropped the remaining religious qualifications for voting (Stephens and David 25). Therefore, there was an increase in the number of eligible voters, as there was the elimination of previous property qualifications. The increase in number of eligible voters resulted to an increase in voter participation. The high rates of participation lead to a change in the campaigning style. The holding of the 1840 elections, both key political parties carried out well-organized national campaigns that comprised of campaign songs, parades, picnics, party newspaper, political speeches and banquets. In the jacksonian era, there was also a change in the political party system. The 1812 war had seriously made the Federalist Party weak, which completely disappeared in 1820s. For sometime, the Democratic Republican Party was the only successful national party. Nevertheless, the coming of Andrew Jackson into power, as a national leader lead to the splitting of the Democratic-Republican Party into the Democrats led by Jackson and Whing party, led by Henry Clay (Stephens and David 25). Following Jackson taking over office in 1929, he used spoils system by giving jobs to his supporters. Although his opponents criticized this move, for not putting the qualified individuals in office, Jackson took this as a democratic reform. According to him, it was a rotation-in-office and he had a belief that in a democracy each white man citizen ought to take part in the services of the government at a time in his lifetime (Stephens and David 25). Also, President Andrew Jackson championed democracy by challenging economic elite who were opposing him to the Second Bank of the United States. He distrusted this bank as an undemocratic instrument and thus he voted a bill to recharter the Bank in 1832 (Stephens and David 25). There are a number of arguments for the westward