The election of 1824 brought a massive change to how parties functioned in the U.S. The Jacksonian Age is highlighted by the growth of democracy. Whereas before only property-owning men could vote, by 1824 most states had dropped property requirements allowing all white men the vote. (Most states did not add racial requirements before the 1820s. While land requirements restricted most Blacks, some did vote. It wasn’t until the 1820s when free Black men could vote that states began enforcing new racial rules.) The principal reason for the change was that new western states like Kentucky and Tennessee did not have property requirements. Landless men in states like Virginia realized that all they needed to do was move further west and they could have a voice. Suddenly the original states began losing population as the poor migrate in masse forcing the original states to change their laws or risk population drain.
