Jackson's men in Congress gave Adams a hard time, and his presidency was not as successful as Jackson's (Schlesinger 305).
However, during his two terms as President, Andrew Jackson made a number of changes and practiced various principles that distinguished him as a president and characterized the early 1830's as the Jacksonian Era. One of the most distinguishing tenets of Jacksonian Democracy is the elevation and glorification of the "common man-, which was the working class of the U.S. at the time. Jackson's promotion of the common man had a significant effect on his actions, from his campaign methods to his national policies. This was also closely related to Jackson's contempt for monopolies and corporations. Finally, Jackson's contradictory views on the concepts of States' rights and Federal authority had a profound effect on such issues as the Indian Removal and the infamous Nullification Crisis.
Before Jackson was elected, democracy was rather different from what it is today. There were a number of requirements that candidates had to meet in order to be elected. The most significant of these was the rule that candidates must possess a certain amount of land in order to obtain governmental office. For example, Sam Houston's friends and party-mates had to donate five hundred acres of land to him so that he could be eligible for governor of Tennessee in 1828 (Sage 2). This all changed in the years just before the election of 1828; land requirements were removed from governmental elections, so that owning land was not necessary for candidacy. In addition, many more public officials were elected, instead of appointed, to their jobs. Members of the presidential Electoral College were finally chosen in this manner as well; this meant that the common man, who had the power to indirectly elect the president, had far more power than he had previously possessed. This preliminary empowerment of the common man led to an increased sense of duty.
