Development of Democracy Dbq Essay Example

Development of Democracy Dbq Essay Example Development of Democracy Dbq Essay Development of Democracy Dbq Essay History 8, November 2012 Development of Democracy DBQ The emergence of democracy would change the United States forever. Our country today wouldn’t be what it is today without democracy in place. During the 1820s-1850s democracy truly started to appear in the nation. With ideas of every man should be equal and the uprising of the abolition movements. Women didn’t keep their thoughts out of it either. In 1828 President Jackson was elected and with this he brought the idea of everyman should be equal. He also believed in that whatever he wanted, he would get and take it by any means. Also during this time abolitionist started voicing their ideas about how there should be no slavery and that all slaves are on an equal level as the white man. Woman also felt this was the perfect time to voice their opinion as well. Not all women but some felt like they were being pushed to the side and not even looked at for any decision. The women started protests and took legal action on this and fought for their right to be acknowledged in the social and political society. All these events helped develop democracy. During the early 1820s Andrew Jackson was making a push to become president of the United States. People loved him because of his background. He was from a simple beginning, working his way up through the military and eventually becoming a politician. When he ran in 1824 election, he lost because Henry Clay and john Quincy Adams teamed up and helped Adams become president. This became known as the corrupt bargain. In 1828 Jackson ran again and won the Presidential election. Once in office he saw that the regulations for the ability to vote were too much for some people, so Jackson went ahead and took away the provision of needing to own land to vote. After he did this he saw a drastic increase in voting especially with the poorer people. This is one of the reasons why people loved him and also how democracy was further developed. The people now had a voice. (doc. A) Once in office he looked to help more of the lower class. He noticed that most of the lower class were being cheated by the rich elite people, so he set out to help out the lower class. Jackson felt the second national bank was one of the main causes of the lower class being in poverty and turmoil. When it came down to deciding the outcome of the bank, Jackson vetoed the bank and said that the bank gave wealthy Americans the opportunity to take advantage of poor farmers and factory workers. He believed that the bank could hurt the nation by limiting the loans it gave out and make money tight. (doc. D) Also he believed that the bank could soon alter elections because it favored certain congressman because that congressman would have lower interest loans. doc. D) Jackson wanted to show congress that he was the man going to make the decisions and that they weren’t going to cheat the common man out of money and that they need to do good business for all. The abolition movement kicked off in the early 1830s during Jacksons First presidential term. The movement was dedicated to outlawing or abolishing the institution of slavery in the United States. Opponents in sl avery had always existed in the United States. However abolitionists called for an immediate end of slavery. Many women were involved in the movement and had a particularly active role because they wanted to be part of something that could make a difference. Jackson supported the abolition movement even though he was a slave owner. The south was against allowing slaves to be free. Many abolitionist societies and publications started showing up in the north around the early 1830’s. William Lloyd Garrison wrote a weekly anti slavery newspaper titled â€Å"The Liberator†, he spoke about how he hated slavery and how it should not exist. It was very odd at the time for Garrison to be writing about freeing slaves because he was a white man and that’s something white men don’t do. (doc. G) There were always white people that felt a sense to help because they felt bad but it was mostly in the north and Midwest. They felt that the institution of slavery was bad but the people didn’t let go of their racist thoughts about blacks. Due to the number of free blacks in the north, even though it was a small amount of blacks the Philadelphia area started to see a rise in blacks in the middle class. The blacks started to get jobs as shoemakers, bakers, cooks, and barbers. the white people saw this and this created a â€Å"Negro Phobia†, which was a anti black sentiment created in many ways. (doc. H) Slaves and free blacks were feeling sorrow because they couldn’t understand how whites could do this to another human, another man with a heart. (doc. B) The voices being heard throughout this movement were very ground breaking. This promoted democracy because people were trying to make a change in the social aspect of the government. Another huge reform during this time was women’s suffrage. Women felt they were being pushed aside like rag dolls. They wanted men to know that they mattered to this nation for more than just the ability to conceive a child. It was like how it was when the U. S. was fighting for its independence, the women were looked at with no threat but then once they started fighting back they were taken differently. Men thought of women as very inferior to themselves. Men thought that a women couldn’t handle being in politics because they would get confused and make a mess of things. doc. F) Once women felt the ability to stand up for themselves, they started telling the men what they wanted. Men were looked at on the same level as women by women. (doc. E) The women took a stand against men with the temperance movement. The women wanted their husbands to be sober well men and not become drunks. They saw that if the father is a good man then most likely the son will learn from the f ather. This movement of women caused an uproar but due to the uproar the society finally knew women were here to make a difference.