Jacksonian democracy was an American political philosophy associated with the election and presidency of Andrew Jackson. The presidential election of 1828 was the first in which a majority of white men over the age of 21 across the United States were eligible to vote: In prior elections, voting rights had been restricted to property-owning white men who paid taxes in their state. The expansion of voting rights was unpopular with the growing financial and industrial classes, and Jackson’s election was largely powered by new voters, who appreciated his populist and anti-elitist politics. As a political philosophy, Jacksonian democracy was characterized by an aversion to the idea of an American aristocracy, expanded voting rights, and opposition to banking. The concept of manifest destiny—the belief that American farmers should settle the West and expand control from the Atlantic to the Pacific—was also central to Jacksonian democracy. Sam Patch died early in Jackson’s presidency, but he became a potent symbol of Jacksonian democracy in his afterlife.

The Erie Canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. Completed in 1825, the canal runs between the Hudson River near Albany, New York to the Niagara River at Lake Erie near Buffalo, New York.