Andrew Jackson: First Annual Message to Congress Primary Source
Document The election of Andrew Jackson in 1828 marked several
important changes in American political life. Traditionally, the
President had been a member of a previous President's Cabinet,
and what is more a man who had made a career of national
affairs; but Jackson, although he enjoyed national support, had
never held a prominent governmental position. His predecessors
had come from aristocratic families and had been inclined to
scorn or at least distrust the common people; but Jackson
brought with him the frontier faith that most men could do most
things with reasonable competence. "In a country where offices
are created solely for the benefit of the people," he could
declare, "no one man has any more intrinsic right to official
station than another." And he probably summed up his political
philosophy when he asserted: "Never for a moment believe that
the great body of citizens of any state can deliberately intend
to do wrong." If the Jackson