etween 1820 and 1840, most states eliminated property
qualification office-holding. To encourage popular participation
in politics, states reduced residency requirements for
voting, opened polling places in more convenient locations,
and eliminated the practice of voting by voice. In addition,
direct methods of selecting presidential electors, county
officials, state judges, and governors replaced indirect
methods. But while white manhood suffrage was becoming
a reality, women and most African Americans were denied
the right to vote.
Two new national political parties arose. Unlike America's
first parties, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans,
the Jacksonian Democrats and the Whigs were parties with
grassroots organization and support in all parts of the
nation.
Andrew Jackson, the dominant political figure of the era,
helped institute the national political nominating convention;
defended the spoils system; opened millions of acres of
Indian lands to white settlement; and vetoed the recharter
of the second Bank of the United States. When South Carolina
asserted the right of a state to nullify the federal tariff,
Jackson made it clear that he would not tolerate any attempt
to resist federal authority.
Background
A surge of democratic fervor swept the country in the
1820s and 1830s. To open up the legal profession, many
states dropped formal training requirements to practice
law. Some states also abolished training and licensing
requirements for doctors. In New York State, between 1839
and 1843, tenant farmers tarred and feathered sheriffs
and agitated for a new state constitution. In Rhode Island,
insurgents tried to capture the state arsenal in order
to force the state to abolish voting restrictions.
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