10 A Democratic Revolution

1800–1844

Andrew Jackson’s 1829 inauguration inspired a wide variety of responses. At the White House reception that followed Jackson’s swearing-in, many of his political opponents recoiled at the mob scene that developed. Those who witnessed Jackson’s supporters mud-stomping silk upholstered chairs and toppling china dishes predicted the Republic’s collapse at the hand of mob rule. “The Majesty of the People had disappeared,” said one weary observer. Jacksonians, on the other hand, heralded the inauguration as the fulfillment of the Revolutionary promise of equality and freedom. Jackson’s election, they argued, was a triumph of democracy.

The contradictory reactions that Jackson’s election evoked highlight the lines of political battle that would define the era. The Democrats and the Whigs, the two predominant political parties of the period, sparred over fundamental questions about the role of government, the distribution of federal and state power, and economic development. Both sides came to accept the implications of the Democratic Revolution: that the parties must court the people. The documents in this chapter highlight the political drama that divided the major parties. They also reveal the extent to which Americans embraced the language of equal rights to fuel democracy’s expansion.