Lesson 1: 1828 Campaign of Andrew Jackson: Expansion of the Voting Base

NCSS.D2.His.1.9-12. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.

NCSS.D2.His.2.9-12. Analyze change and continuity in historical eras.

NCSS.D2.His.3.9-12. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context.

NCSS.D2.His.4.9-12. Analyze complex and interacting factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras.

NCSS.D2.His.5.9-12. Analyze how historical contexts shaped and continue to shape people’s perspectives.

NCSS.D2.His.12.9-12. Use questions generated about multiple historical sources to pursue further inquiry and investigate additional sources.

NCSS.D2.His.14.9-12. Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects of events in the past.

Activity 1. Changes in the Franchise

There was a general trend in the first half of the 19th century to extend the right to vote to more white males. Distribute the handout "Examples of Changes in the Franchise" on pages 1-2 of the PDF. Read with the class the first two sections. In what ways did the revised constitutions of Massachusetts and New York extend voting rights? (They removed the property requirement, though New York kept it for African Americans. Massachusetts, like many states, retained a tax requirement that would prevent the poorest citizens from voting.) According to the EDSITEment-reviewed website Women of the West Museum, in the period from 1792-1844, the constitutions of Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia excluded blacks from voting, but expanded white male suffrage.

(NOTE: Though it's not the focus of this lesson, students should be aware that some segments of the population were actively excluded from voting during this same period. Share the excerpt from the New Jersey constitution of 1776, included in the handout. Have students read it carefully. Who could vote? Any resident worth 50 pounds-including African Americans and women, who voted in some early elections. Now read the act of 1807. It took the vote away from everyone but white males worth 50 pounds. When the financial requirement was finally dropped in 1844, only white males continued to be specified. So at the same time the right to vote was being expanded for white males, it was narrowing for others.)

There were differences from state to state in the franchise changes. Some states that dropped property requirements continued a tax payment requirement, for example. Others, like Vermont and some of the frontier states (for example, Ohio and Indiana), never had property requirements for white males.

It should be noted, as well, that in the earliest elections, electors for president had been chosen by state legislatures. But by 1828, all but two states were choosing electors for president through a popular vote. Therefore, not only were more white males allowed to vote, but that vote also had a direct effect on the outcome of presidential elections.

(NOTE: Information about the Electoral College and the presidential election of 1824 is contained in the complementary EDSITEment unit The Election Is in the House: The Presidential Election of 1824. See the third bulleted item in the section Preparation Instructions).

Students should be able to respond effectively to the following questions:

• What was happening to the right to vote in the first half of the 19th century?
• Is it likely that the newly enfranchised voters would have differences in concerns from those who had already been voting? Due to what factors?

Look at the following list of hypothetical people living in the U.S. in 1828. Identify whether each individual would probably have been enfranchised after 1800, disenfranchised since 1800, or enfranchised previous to 1800. Help the students think about the likely differences in the concerns of each that might affect voting, if s/he had the franchise:

• A New Jersey widow whose husband left her a small fortune and a successful shipbuilding business.
• A New Jersey tradesman who makes inexpensive chairs by hand in a home-based manufacturing business. His clients often pay with goods and/or services. The tradesman rents his modest home very inexpensively.
• A wealthy New Jersey male who owns a profitable shipbuilding business after inheriting it from his father five years ago.
• A New Jersey tradesman whose home-based blacksmithing business finally turned highly profitable six years ago, at which time he began to buy up property.
• A free African-American male from Massachusetts who owns a successful lumber yard.
• A farmer from Massachusetts who does very little cash business, instead relying on barter and self-sufficiency.
• A hunter and trapper who has lived in the same squatter's cabin in northwestern New York for 10 years.
• A sergeant who has served in the New York militia for 20 years.
• A free African American who sold his lumber yard in Massachusetts for a large profit and recently moved to New York City to buy a successful cabinet-making shop.

Ask volunteers to create other "characters" to discuss in a similar way.

Selected EDSITEment Websites

• The American President
  • Andrew Jackson
  • Andrew Jackson: Biography
  • Andrew Jackson: Campaigns and Elections
  • Andrew Jackson: Domestic Affairs
  • The Power of the People
• Women of the West Museum
  • Voting Rights in America