The period before Jackson took office was marked by some very dramatic changes in American life. There was a great population movement into the cities from the countryside, and an increase in all kinds of industrial businesses. Transportation, such as trains, canals and roads, were developed at great speed. Perhaps the most important event was the establishment of universal manhood suffrage: al white men became eligible to vote.

             2. Giving the vote to all white men was a radical idea to some. In the past only wealthy and educated men were considered fit and able to vote and be active in the government. Many believed that giving the vote to all would lead to misguided legislation because most of the people were "dissolute," "noisy," "discontented," and "designing." For the same reason they feared the control of political "parties" by corrupt people.

             3. Andrew Jackson and the new Democratic party stood for certain tenets or principles. Perhaps the most important of these is the belief that the "people are the government," that the majority is to govern, and that their wishes are to absolute. He opposed a strong central government in favor of stronger states. Because they were fundamentally conservative in their outlook, they believed it tight spending policies by the government: in fact he succeeded in balancing the books of the government, obliterating the national debt. He was always afraid of corruption in government and so he made sure that political offices were regularly rotated. His opponents did not like his outlook. They thought he was concentrating too much power in the hands of the president. .

             4. Andrew Jackson, according to the historian Robert Remini, changed the position of the president in many important ways. Jackson, by using the veto power to his advantage, created a place for the chief executive in the legislative process, and thereby "altered the relationship between the executive and the Congress.