Essay On Jacksonian Democracy

Even though Sellers focused largely on the debate over Jacksonian Democracy, there was no mention in regards to equality and slavery. Luckily, Kenneth Vickery’s “Herrenvolk Democracy and Egalitarianism in South Africa and the U.S. South” provided more insight. According to his thesis, Vickery said that during the Jacksonian era, “where there was progress towards democracy or equality for whites, there was frequently a diminution or limitation of the rights and opportunities of non-whites”. His argument was that when it came to failure and survival, whites relied on racial prejudices to further their own upward mobility. As mentioned in Seller’s work, in the early 1800s, politics was controlled by the egalitarians and local legislatures were

White politicians, many of whom were former yeoman, were the biggest supporters of white superiority and a continuation of slavery. This was due to their failed plans “to translate successes here into social or economic gains”. Many years later, after Reconstruction, the Redeemers, who were Southern capitalist Whigs, pushed hard for industry and left black and white farmers behind. This gave rise to the Populist movement, which included both whites and blacks. Both sides put aside racial differences in order to improve their condition. However, the Populist movement would not last as conservatives used racism to divide whites and blacks, based on Herrenvolk democracy. Once again, this led to whites once again pushing blacks out of certain jobs in order for them to have those opportunities. These differed largely from the Afrikaners who wanted to be independent, but were frustrated with the British colonial government giving black Africans equality. Due to this action, the Afrikaners emigrated from the Cape region and settled in a place called Natal. These new republics created by the whites, did allow for some equality for non-whites. However, even though slavery had ceased in South Africa, there were laws put in place in order to use people of color as service