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   missgigimeowcat Teacher
   High School - 11th Grade

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   The basic difference was the way in which Jefferson and Jackson viewed the role of government and how citizens should participate in government.

   Jefferson and his Democratic-Republicans were from the Revolutionary War era. They were men who felt that if people were educated in how to do so, they could participate in government, but that the federal government should remain small in size and generally not intervene directly in citizens’ lives. Jefferson believed firmly that men have natural rights to life, liberty and property, and that the role of government is to protect these rights; however, they still thought that those leading government should be the educated elite. The masses were to, at election time, reward deserving public officials with re-election.

   The next period of the nation's history, referred to as the Jacksonian Era, would shatter these assumptions. Jackson and his Democratic Party were of a new generation of Americans expanding ever westward who took the idea of government for the people and by the people to heart. Jackson expanded the role of governing to the average man, as evidenced by the institution of universal male suffrage. Political campaigns that appealed to the masses and the implementation of party nominating conventions and choice of Presidential electors by popular vote were noted achievements of the Jacksonian Era.  Likewise, the spoils system in national politics came from the Jacksonian era, due to Jackson’s appointment of his supporters to government office, no matter the individual’s qualifications or experience. While Jefferson believed that the common man could participate in government, Jackson made it easier for him to do so.

   Sources:

   http://ericir.syr.edu/Virtual/Lessons/crossroads/sec2/ess...

   http://www.lycos.com/info/jacksonian-democracy.html

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   Posted by missgigimeowcat on Wednesday April 29, 2009 at 1:27 PM