Text Preview
As Andrew Jackson’s supporters worked to put him first in line for the 1828 election, the public began to learn more about him. Labeled “Old Hickory” by supporters who drew parallels between the war hero and a sturdy hickory tree, Jackson represented the New West as a land of hardiness and stamina.
A plantation and slave owner, Jackson’s political beliefs were not easily labeled as either federalist or antifederalist, although Jackson did support states’ rights and initiatives and did not believe in a supreme central government. This was a bone of contention between Jackson and Henry Clay, whose influence resulted in Jackson losing the 1824 presidential election. Jackson also strongly believed that government should be run “by the people,” with individuals accepting limited terms in office and then returning to the private sector to avoid the corruption that tended to follow career politicians.
During the early nineteenth century, a wave of suffrage efforts was sweeping the nation to guarantee voting rights for all white men, regardless of property ownership or taxes paid. Between 1812 and 1821, six new western states granted universal white manhood suffrage. During the same period, four eastern states significantly reduced land ownership voting requirements for white males.
As these efforts gained momentum and the constituency grew to include less wealthy voters, more emphasis was placed on the “common man.” Politicians, including Jackson, had to rethink their campaign strategies to maximize their appeal. Jackson had already earned respect as a war hero, and with his strategy to identify himself as a common man just like the people he would represent, he was able to garner the necessary votes to beat Adams and earn the presidency in 1828. As in the election of 1824, Jackson again beat Adams in the popular vote, but this time he gained 178 electoral votes to Adams’ 83. He accepted his office, the first president from the west, clothed in black in honor of his recently deceased wife, Rachel.
As Jackson took office, his theory of limiting staffers’ terms stirred both positive and negative emotions. His predecessor, John Quincy Adams, had resisted replacing the previous administration’s staff with his own as long as the staffers remained productive. However, this caused Adams to lose support of those who expected a political post in exchange for their efforts. Conversely, Jackson believed in appointing his own staff comprised of his supporters, which also allowed him to eliminate the Adams and Clay supporters from his administration. This system of political back-scratching came to be known as the Spoils System, and was present on a wide-scale at all levels of government.
The Spoils System had several negative consequences. Often, the individuals who were appointed were unskilled at best, and incapable at worst, of fulfilling the responsibilities of their posts. Furthermore, the Spoils System could be abused. Occasionally, corrupt individuals were placed in offices that they ultimately abused, stealing millions of dollars from the government. This system also created scandals as politically motivated supporters of one candidate worked hard to uncover—or in some cases, fabricate—offensive stories about the opposition. Although Jackson did not employ the Spoils System on the grand scale as some who followed him as chief executive, he certainly had a hand in developing its practice.
Copyright 2006 The Regents of the University of California and Monterey Institute for Technology and Education