Assignment task:
Statement: Politics -- and the government policies that parties put through - DOESN'T MATTER. It had no impact on the way people worked and lived, on their freedoms, on their condition, between 1780 and 1840.
How true, untrue, partly true, slightly true, mostly false, partly false, is this?
Warning: it might be tempting just to talk about politics, or to rely on the Jacksonian political system lecture. Don't! The time frame is much broader; and this is not a question about how politics, how campaigning worked. It is a question about how GOVERNING and MAKING POLICY worked. It might be tempting just to think in terms of the national government. Don't! Government can be local. It can be state. It can be all kinds of things.