What trends in democratization and reform were taking shape in the u. s. by 1850

American politics became increasingly democratic during the 1820s and '30s. Local and state offices that had earlier been appointive became elective. The suffrage was expanded as property and other restrictions on voting were reduced or abandoned in most states. The freehold requirement that had denied voting to all but holders of real estate was almost everywhere discarded before 1820, while the taxpaying qualification was also removed, if more slowly and gradually.