Not so long ago, a fiery orator from humble beginnings called for the end of "American aristocracy." He rose to power on a wave of rhetoric, defending the right of those without money to control politics and attacking the rich American minority that had grasped control over the affairs of everyday people they had never met.
As a president, he grossly mismanaged finances and zealously enacted laws restricting liberty. But as he fought, he transformed his political landscape into the most inclusive democracy the world had ever seen.
His name was Andrew Jackson. And in an era when the calls for worldwide democracy have grown louder than ever in the U.S. and abroad, Americans must understand how he transformed our own country into what it is today.
Though a democratic republic in name, the reality of early U.S. politics was anything but democratic. Most states only allowed white men who owned a certain amount of property to vote, which effectively disenfranchised the vast majority of the population. The government of the United States was chosen by a small fraction of its citizens - hardly our image of a democracy today.
In just a few years Jackson revolutionized politics in our country. The year he was elected, voting jumped to 57 percent of eligible voters.
Jackson pulled off a rise from relative obscurity to the presidency by appealing to people who had never been a part of the process. Campaigning in newly integrated frontier states, he called for an end to the domination of politics by the richest members of the nation.
The frontiersmen he addressed on the trail had finally seen opportunity after years of living in low-wage jobs in the East. Their first glimpse of economic power had made them thirsty for more and resentful of the rich businessmen of the East.
Rather than respond to Jackson's critiques with substantive reforms, the establishment in Washington attempted to maintain the status quo. They ignored the disenfranchised majority, concentrating instead on redoubling their efforts to gain support of business owners.
Jackson capitalized on the opportunity this situation provided. He was known for, among other things, his creative curses of the nation's leaders.
Once in office, Jackson was no less extreme. He limited civil liberties, put down dissent and initiated the process of "Indian removal," a great euphemism for the practice that laid the foundation for one of the most tragic episodes in American history - the Trail of Tears.
In a land where few enjoyed the right to have their voices heard, the fact of Jacksonian democracy went hand in hand with Jackson's demagoguery. Anger and a thirst for long-denied power drove both.
Had there been a greater effort to recognize the voices of those without wealth, the tragedies of Jackson's tenure, including the thousands of Native Americans forced from their homes may have been averted.
Today, there is another fiery orator born into a four-walled shack, becoming ever more popular by calling out the "devil" of a wealthy, powerful American elite - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Like Jackson, Chavez's political career emerged out of a successful military career. Like Jackson, he capitalized on his credentials as a self-made man to connect to people who had never voted, dramatically increasing democratic participation in Venezuela.
And perhaps most importantly, like Jackson, Chavez is now channeling the justified anger of a disenfranchised minority into greater personal power and a restriction on basic rights of dissent and the balance of powers in his country.
To criticize Chavez without recognizing his impact on world politics would be nothing less than foolish. Chavez has become not only a leader among the poor in his own country and Latin America, but also a hero in places as far away as South Africa and Iran.
The concerns he vents are genuine. The U.S. effectively controls every major international organization, from the U.N. to the World Bank to the International Monetary Fund. Our country has wielded that power unfairly at times and shut out the vast majority of voices from an active role in politics.
And unless we give up our manipulated majorities and unfounded vetoes in world political affairs, we may soon see another demagogue rise to power.
The legacy of our own history is being replayed before our eyes. It is up to us whether we will acknowledge it and choose a better, more democratic path or be doomed to repeat the violent rise of democracy in our own country.
Taylor Jackson's aunt can trace his family's heritage back to Old Hickory. Tell him your presidential relations at Taylor.Jackson@asu.edu.
