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Although Jacksonian Democrats promoted political democracy, equal opportunity, and personal liberty during Andrew Jackson’s two terms as president from 1828 to 1836, they were exclusively given to White males. Despite Jackson’s proclaimed “politics for the common man,” he may as well have said “politics for the common White man.” Despite the fact that many poor Whites were finally given the opportunity to partake in the political and economic opportunities that were previously available only to White male landowners, no rights whatsoever were given to women and Jacksonian policies were oppressive toward most minorities. The area where Jacksonian Democrats made the most progress was in the area of political democracy. With the introduction of universal White male suffrage, Jacksonian Democrats created a whole new class of voters. The number of voting men more than doubled and this led to fairer elections whose results better indicated the will and preference of the people. In addition, the choosing of electors was changed from selection by the state legislatures to popular voting which allowed electors to be chosen by the common people instead of the wealth – and often corrupt – state legislators.
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