Andrew Jackson Symbol for an Age

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Andrew JacksonSymbol for an Age

• An Interdisciplinary Lesson for the Study of
  Jacksonian Democracy in Virginia United States
  History 11
• Holly Zuger, Gloucester High School

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Standard of Learning VUS.6.

• The student will demonstrate knowledge of the
  major events during the first half of the
  nineteenth century by
• identifying the economic, political, and
  geographic factors that led to territorial
  expansion and its impact on the American Indians
  (First Americans)
• describing the key features of the Jacksonian
  Era, with emphasis on federal banking policies.

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Additional Learning Objectives to Reinforce SOL
VUS.6

• The student will understand how Andrew Jackson
  served as a symbol for the age in which he lived
  by
• identifying the characteristics of the distinct
  American culture that was developing on the
  Western frontier through the examination of
  primary sources drawn from American art, music,
  and literature produced during the Age of
  Jackson.
• drawing direct relationships between Jacksons
  political career as the Western champion of the
  common man and the natural themes of contemporary
  American art, music, and literature.

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Present to Students the Textbooks Information on
the Jacksonian Era.

• Emphasize the new democratic spirit in American
  politics and increased participation of the
  common man in the electoral process through the
  institution of universal white manhood suffrage.
• Stress that Jackson distrusted the Bank of the
  United States as an undemocratic tool of the
  Eastern elite.

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Overview of the 1824 Election

• Emphasize Andrew Jacksons position as one of two
  Western presidential candidates and his emergence
  as the hero of Western voters after the alleged
  corrupt bargain between John Quincy Adams and
  Henry Clay resulted in Adams election by the
  House of Representatives.
• Stress the western belief that Adams and Clay
  together had stolen the election from Jackson and
  thereby thwarted the will of the people.

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1824 Election Results
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Music as Historical Evidence The Hunters of
Kentucky

• Inaccurately gives credit to the Kentucky hunters
  for the American victory at the Battle of New
  Orleans
• Became a campaign song for Jackson
• Prompt the students to identify how the Kentucky
  hunters represented the moral and democratic
  values of the American common man.

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Literature as Historical Evidence

• Through inquiry prompt students to explore the
  natural imagery in William Cullen Bryants
  poetry.
• Connect Bryant to the Jacksonian movement through
  his career as editor of The New York Evening
  Post.
• Prompt students to draw similarities between the
  Kentucky hunters and the fictional Natty Bumppo
  in James Fennimore Coopers Leatherstocking
  Tales.

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To A Waterfowl by William Cullen Bryant

• WHITHER, midst falling dew, 
• While glow the heavens with the last steps
  of day, 
• Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou
  pursue     
• Thy solitary way?  
•      
• Vainly the fowler's eye         
• Might mark thy distant flight to do thee
  wrong, 
• As, darkly seen against the crimson sky,     
• Thy figure floats along.

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Art as Historical Evidence

• The Hudson River School emphasized nature and
  Americans ability to conquer nature during the
  Westward expansion of the Jacksonian period.
• The paintings of American Realists William Sydney
  Mount and George Caleb Bingham often depicted the
  common mans everyday life and participation in
  politics by virtue of Jacksonian democracy.

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Asher Durands Kindred Spirits

• Depicted the beauty of nature in Jacksonian
  America
• Included both the artist Thomas Cole and the poet
  William Cullen Bryant in the painting

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The Oxbow by Thomas Cole

• View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton,
  Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm
• Note mans presence fields umbrella

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George Caleb Bingham's The County Election

• Depicts a Missouri election day. In that time and
  place, only white male property-owners could
  vote, and candidates and their representatives
  could solicit votes immediately before the
  voting. Alcohol flowed freely, and votes were
  cast by voice and recorded in public.

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George Caleb Binghams Stump Speaking

• Shows the common mans interest in American
  politics as a result of Jacksonian Democracys
  move towards universal white manhood suffrage

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William Sydney Mounts The Horse Dealers 1835,
Everyday life of the common man
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Mounts Cider Making

• Remind students the temperance movement against
  alcoholic consumption originated in America as a
  social reform during the Age of Jackson.

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The Irony of Jackson as the Symbol for his Age

• Jacksons Nashville, Tennessee home The
  Hermitage contrasted sharply with the lifestyle
  of the common man.
• Yet, it epitomized Jacksonian Democracys Go
  Ahead spirit and belief in the United States as
  the land of opportunity.

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Student Assessment

• Write an essay entitled Andrew Jackson, Symbol
  for an Age. In this essay discuss not only
  political and economic events that characterized
  Jacksonian democracy, but also feel free to
  include historical evidence drawn from art,
  literature, and music to support the idea that
  Americans view of Andrew Jackson mirrored their
  beliefs about what made the United States a
  democratic land of opportunity.
  (Please write your essay in third person.
  Neither first nor second person pronouns are
  acceptable.)