Topic: The American Revolution

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Sunset at Philadelphia

George Washington was 55 years old when he initially, he had wanted to spend the rest of his life in private but he was convinced by his friends to change his mind, was elected president and consequently, elected as convention leader. Most of the delegates that attended were the young, rich and educated people and most of them were also slave owners; there was no representation for the poor, the uneducated, the farmers, women, blacks and the Indians.

The convention met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from where the delegates gathered to correct an array of problems that had come up while the newly-independent nation was operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Great Britain and hence the crafting of the constitution.

The convention began with presentation of James Madison’s Virginia Plan proposal which was presented by Virginia’s governor, Edmund Randolph which stated that representation in both houses was to be given to states based on its population which was perceived as giving more power to large states like Virginia where both houses would then elect the executive and the judiciary and would have veto power over the state legislatures. Madison’s idea greatly resembled Britain’s parliament and it omitted any discussion of taxation or regulation of trade, however; these items had been set aside in favor of outlining a new form of government altogether.

William Patterson then presented the New Jersey Plan and in it, each state would have a single vote in Congress as it had been previously under the Articles of Confederation, so as to balance out the power between large and small states.

The third plan that was presented came from Alexander Hamilton. It was a complete replica of the British constitution that included an upper house and legislature that would serve on good behavior. These options having been presented, the representatives from Connecticut eventually came up with a plan that was a compromise of the three and that was workable. this was the idea that formed the core of the U.S constitution- a government was to have an upper house that consisted of equal numbers of delegates from every state and a lower house with proportional representation based upon population and became the law of the land in 1789.

The Jacksonian Revolution

The Jackson era was the period between 1828 and 1848; Jackson was a general from Tennessee who ran for president in 1828 a time when new democratic ideals were brought in and many changes were occurring in all phases of life. His election radically changed the American politics and his ideas were so strongly changing and developing that a new political party was developed by Martin Van Buren and many others who tried to structure the party around the presidential candidacy of Jackson. In the past, only the wealthy and better educated were actively involved in government and their parties stood for factions or cliques by which greedy and ambitious men who had no interest in serving the public good could advance their private and selfish purposes; this was so until the turnaround of his rule with a conservative political philosophy advocating economy in operating government as well as a tight limited government activity as Jackson had sworn on election as president he would liquidate the national debt.

The Democratic Party, led by Jackson, Van Buren, John Calhoun and Thomas Hart Benton were against a powerful central government and a broad interpretation of the constitution; the Democrats regarded the states highly, and they claimed to follow the same ideas and republican doctrines of Thomas Jefferson in which their political philosophy was “fundamentally conservative.” They labeled Jackson a “man of the people” and found pleasure in celebrating his candidacy, as Jackson was a symbol of what was best in American life; the party leaders liked that he was a self-made man.

His nickname, “Old Hickory” was used as a marketing tool; however, the democrat’s opponents were angered by this terming it as a “crude lowering of the political process.” For instance, they complained to newspapers about what was happening, but the Democrats still did whatever possible to generate excitement for their cause. In addition to the advertising, barbeques and parades were also held and Jackson was later elected as President; he was committed to democracy and at his inauguration, he talked of important changes that would take place and his ideas for the future.

The democrats continued supporting the Jacksonian Revolution even though many people had begun going against it as elsewhere some members of the party turned their backs on Jackson, and shifted their views to the rival Whig Party and it was during this era where the first true evolution of the presidency and of politics took place where Jackson was fiercely committed to democracy. Moreover, as such he had asked congress to adopt an amendment that would abolish the College of Electors and made the majority to govern supported by his notion that to the people belonged to the right of electing their chief executive.

“I will die with the union”: Andrew Jackson and the Nullification process

The very first years of Jackson’s ruling was characterized by that were observed to be conservative as well as leaning towards state’s rights and the free trade markets economics but on the other hand the fundamentally pragmatic concepts he had suffused with a strong sense of popular need. With time he generated the king of administration that edged closer to the notion of a strong central government, which was motivated by sheer political necessity as in cases of disagreement, decisions were brought to a compromise. At times there were objections and inflexible position of states righters in congress such as the Maysville Road Bill but was later passed, and challenges in principles such as internal improvements being the responsibility of the federal government.

It was viewed as if he was opposed to public works but this was not the case as Jackson later approved several bills authorizing federal assistance for internal improvements purposely aimed at two folds slapping down internal improvements party and killing federal assistance bill due to its connections. There was thus a lot of rebellion in the country due to this and the dismal failure of public works and hence the internal improvement party broken asunder and finally annihilated.

On the other hand, there were calls for secession and complains on the tariffs on imports of products made in Europe that made them costly than ones from the northern U.S. raising the prices paid by planters in the South; on the other hand, the Vice President Calhoun, in the South Carolina Exposition and Protest of 1828, supported the claim of his state, South Carolina, that it could void 1828 tariff legislation. Jackson vigorously supported a strong union, with effective powers for the central government and he attempted to face down Calhoun over the issue as a result there was also the Petticoat affair where Calhoun’s wife started an internal roil that eventually led Eaton to resign and caused the purge of the several pro-Calhoun cabinet members by Jackson; Martin Van Buren also resigned as Secretary of State. The inaugural Democratic National Convention was organized by his Kitchen Cabinet, Calhoun and Jackson broke from each other politically and Van Buren replaced Calhoun as Jackson’s running mate in the election but later Calhoun resigned as Vice President to become Senator for South Carolina.

Jackson attempt to have the Congress pass a “Force Bill” that authorized use of military force to enforce the tariff was delayed until protectionists agreed to a reduced Compromise Tariff and The Force Bill and Compromise Tariff passed on March 1, 1833 and after this the South Carolina Convention then met and the nullification was abandoned.