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Andrew Jackson and Democracy

 

            Throughout the formation of our current political system, the expectations of the American people towards their representatives have undergone a drastic change between the time of our founding and the election of the seventh president of the United States, Andrew Jackson in 1828. James Madison had previously published twenty-six out of the eighty-five Federalist Papers in 1787-1788, the two most influential Federalist Papers regarding the issues of factions and tyranny were Federalist Papers 10 and 51. Madison was preoccupied with finding the balance between ensuring our leaders did not have the capability to tyrannize the citizens while at the same time maintaining our leaders ability to perform their duties. Madison's fear of the omnipotent, oppressive government was later shared by Andrew Jackson, who began to advocate for a movement of the American political society toward a more pure democratic process of elections after the 1824 presidential election. Jackson desired to see the input of the people in the process of democratic elections reflecting the actual output of who became the President of the United States; therefore, Jackson desired for the country to embrace a more direct democratic worldview regarding its electoral process. .
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             James Madison defended the republican worldview with the primary goal of protection of the people from an omnipotent centralized government. Jackson's fervor for patriotism and his love of the Union was not forgotten in his strong advocation for extremely limited government (Remini, p. 8). Jackson offered limited government to the right wing and more direct power for the people to the left wing. Both Madison and Jackson were attempting to provide safeguards for the citizens in their respective American societies. Both of these esteemed individuals viewed democracy to require the input of the people, however, initially neither thought the representatives" hands should be tied to correlate their votes exactly with the outcome of the peoples" expressed desires.


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