Jackson & the Populist/Plebiscitary Presidency

• In Event: The US Presidency and Executive Power I

Abstract

The 7th president was a tour de force in and on the presidency, he reimagined and reconstituted the basis of presidential power as a manifestation of the popular will. A will that he took great liberties in defining himself and for his own pursuit of presidential power. Jackson built the presidency as a conduit for the emergent party machines of the democratized politics of universal white male suffrage. Thus, the "Age of Jackson" placed the presidency into the hands of a power that was both leading of and, simultaneously, dependent upon the vacillations of public opinion. This led to a "democratic politics" in name but not always practice as such populist zeal could be used to construct a policy-politics of limited government state deconstruction, popular-based presidential power, and the dependence on plebiscitary support to maintain such power. Thus, Jackson rode the wave of popular opinion in his "democracy--that was not always so democratic" by increasing the power of the presidency while decreasing the power of government. This is a tale that we see unfolding before our collective eyes in the current administration. The "populist/plebiscitary politics of Trump" are very much the "populist/plebiscitary politics of Jackson." And, it needs to be stated, that the strengths and weaknesses of such politics are also being carried forth by the 45th and 47th President. This paper will examine the above issues in detail and provide a systematic interpretation of them that will help us see one of the developments and corresponding evolutions of the "2nd Branch's" bases for power--popular will.

Author

• Matthew Mark Caverly, Middle Georgia State University