logo
Login Subscribe
Google Play App Store
  • News
    • Obituaries
    • Lifestyle
    • Opinions
  • Sports
  • E-edition
  • Calendar
  • Archives
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Advertisers
    • Form Submission
    • About Us
    • News
      • Obituaries
      • Lifestyle
      • Opinions
    • Sports
    • E-edition
    • Calendar
    • Archives
    • Contact
      • Contact Us
      • Advertisers
      • Form Submission
      • About Us
History of American Political Parties, Part VI: The Rise of Jackson
commentary
November 15, 2023
History of American Political Parties, Part VI: The Rise of Jackson

The election of 1824 brought a massive change to how parties functioned in the U.S. The Jacksonian Age is highlighted by the growth of democracy. Whereas before, only property-owning men could vote.

By 1824 most states had dropped property requirements allowing all white men the vote. Most states did not add racial requirements before the 1820s. While land requirements restricted most Blacks, some did vote. It wasn’t until the 1820s when free Black men could vote that states began enforcing new racial rules.

The principal reason for the change was that new western states like Kentucky and Tennessee did not have property requirements. Landless men in states like Virginia realized that all they needed to do was move further west and they could have a voice. Suddenly the original states began losing population as the poor migrated in masses forcing the original states to change their laws or risk population drain.

The other big change by 1824 was how electors to the Electoral College were chosen.

Before 1824, presidential candidates were chosen by party caucus where the party leaders gathered or wrote letters and decided who to run. Electors to the College were then chosen by the state.

This system went back to the Founders’ fear of the population choosing the president. A popularly chosen president would wield too much power and could become a demagogue like Caesar.

Yet by 1824, every state except for South Carolina began voting for electors to the College, giving the people much more say in the president. With mass democracy and electing electors, the nation suddenly had a new type of politician who had a new way of looking at parties.

Up to that point elected officials were supposed to be our betters. We purposely chose a republic over a democracy because the Founders did not trust the masses. Instead, the people were supposed to choose someone smarter than them to make the decisions.

In reality, elected officials are not supposed to poll their constituents; we elect them to make the decisions. Remember, when discussing classical conservatives, the idea’s founder, Edmund Burke, said, “Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays you instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”

That system worked for the landed population. But now the new voter decided that instead of someone better, they wanted someone who knew them, someone like them. They wanted Andrew Jackson.

Jackson was born into poverty and orphaned as a boy. He moved to Tennessee and clawed his way up into society, something one could do much better in the frontier of Nashville than North Carolina.

When the War of 1812 broke out Jackson was commissioned Major General of the Tennessee Militia. By the time the war was over, he was the nation’s biggest celebrity.

Tennessee nominated their favorite son for president in 1824. He was one of five Republicans running for that office. The other four were traditional blue bloods, while Jackson was a rough westerner who drank, gambled, swore, raced horses and even killed a man in a duel. In short, he was one of the people.

At first, Jackson was not sure he wanted to be president. After he had won the popular vote but lost the presidency because he did not win the Electoral College, he became convinced he lost to corruption and set out to win the presidency in 1828.

(Side note, no one received a majority of the Electoral College in 1824, so the top three recipients were sent to the House of Representatives where John Quincy Adams was chosen.)

Jackson was incensed by what he saw as corruption and also furious that Adams could win the Republican Party – a man Jackson saw as a Federalist in Republican sheep’s clothing.

Jackson was a classic liberal and true Jeffer-sonian. He hated what was happening to his party and the election of Adams was a last straw. Right away he began his campaign for the next election.

To distinguish himself from Adams’ Republicans, Jackson’s supporters began calling themselves Democratic Republicans. Before long, the Republican part of the name was dropped and it was simply the Democratic Party, the same one that is used today.

Republicans ran candidates in 1828 and 1832 but were trounced by Jackson so badly both times that the party ceased to exist ending the First American Party System for good, but it prepared the way for the Second American Party System and a new way of seeing political parties.

James Finck, Ph.D. is a professor of history at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. He can be reached at HistoricallySpeaking1776@ gmail.com.

Eufaula Memorial Library
A: Main, news
Eufaula Memorial Library
July 2, 2025
A llama and a youngster got acquainted at a petting zoo at the Eufaula Memorial Library Wednesday, June 25. Dozens of kids and adults enjoyed the llama, goats, donkey and other animals, provided by Ma...
A: Main, news
Eufaula hosting July 4 Celebration
July 2, 2025
Mayor James Hickman and the City of Eufaula are honored to invite residents and visitors to the annual Fourth of July Fireworks Celebration on Friday, July 4. The fireworks will begin shortly after su...
A legacy lives on
A: Main, news
A legacy lives on
By LaDonna Rhodes Staff Writer 
July 2, 2025
Selby Minner’s Celebration of Life on Saturday at the Checotah Performing Arts Center was a beautiful 3-hour-long tribute to an amazing soul who loved the blues and more importantly, loved people. As ...
Lightning strike kills Eufaula woman in cemetery
A: Main, news
Lightning strike kills Eufaula woman in cemetery
By JERRY FINK MANAGING EDITOR 
July 2, 2025
A 57-year-old Eufaula woman was killed by lightning during a routine stroll through a cemetery Friday evening. Joy Ann Rogers was walking through Greenwood cemetery shortly before 7 p.m. when a thunde...
A: Main, news
Native American Arts & Crafts show Saturday
July 2, 2025
Eufaula Indian Community will host an Arts and Crafts show and sale Saturday, July 5 at the IEC Center, 800 Birkes Road, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. In addition to this event, a chair volleyball tournament...
Olivia Shackelford honored with 2025 Youth Prevention Award
news
Olivia Shackelford honored with 2025 Youth Prevention Award
July 2, 2025
On June 5, local student Olivia Shackelford of Eufaula was recognized as the recipient of the prestigious 2025 Youth Prevention Award in Oklahoma City at the Heartland Conference. This past week Olivi...
United for Oklahoma
ePaper
google_play
app_store
Editor Picks
Family, friends and fans bid farewell to Blues legend
news
Family, friends and fans bid farewell to Blues legend
By LENORE BECHTEL 
July 2, 2025
Her casket rested below center stage at the Checotah Performing Arts Center, open for friends, fans, and family to view her precious body before her life’s celebration began. No one lingered long. Tha...
Another busy week in the district
commentary
Another busy week in the district
By REP. TIM TURNER 
July 2, 2025
I started last Saturday June 21, bright and early at Stigler Reunion Days. I kicked things off at the Haskell County GOP Tent, answering questions and catching up with friends and supporters. Then I h...
Killing them with kindness
commentary
Killing them with kindness
July 2, 2025
What a month it’s been for me personally and in our close-knit communities. Trying to cope with the loss of loved ones has been extremely difficult and downright demanding. Yet having to come to terms...
‘Big Beautiful Bill’ overhauled in Senate, would cause even more government borrowing
commentary
‘Big Beautiful Bill’ overhauled in Senate, would cause even more government borrowing
By JOE DORMAN OICA CEO 
July 2, 2025
OKLAHOMA CITY – Over the past month, I have highlighted portions of the federal “Big Beautiful Bill” as passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. Currently, the bill is under consideration by the U...
Hays Supports MOHA Executive Order
commentary
Hays Supports MOHA Executive Order
July 2, 2025
OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Neil Hays, R-Muskogee, today expressed strong support for Gov. Kevin Stitt’s new “Make Oklahoma Healthy Again” (MOHA) executive order, which targets artificial food additives and ...
Facebook

THE EUFAULA INDIAN JOURNAL
100 N. 2nd Street
Eufaula, OK 74432

(918) 689-2191

This site complies with ADA requirements

© 2023 THE EUFAULA INDIAN JOURNAL

  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Accessibility Policy