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Chapter 12 Notes: the Age of Jackson
Section 1: Politics of the People
A: Election of 1824
- Regional differences led to a fierce fight over the presidency
- The Democratic-Republicans split in hope of replacing Monroe
- New England’s choice was John Quincy Adams, the South backed William Crawford,
Westerners supported Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson
- Jackson won the most popular votes, but not the most electoral college votes
- According to the Constitution, the House must choose the President
- Adams won the presidency with the House approval and a deal with Clay
B: Jacksonian Democracy
- Jackson felt that the election had been stolen from him, so he set out to win the election of
1828
- Jason claimed to represent the “common man” and he said Adams represented a group of
privileged, wealthy Easterners
- This division eventually created to political parties:
o The Democrats cam from Jackson supporters
o The National-Republicans from Adams supporters
- Jacksonian Democracy – idea of spreading political power to all the people and ensuring
majority rule
- Voting was still limited to adult white males
C: The People’s President
- Jackson related to the people very well. The fact that he was a war hero helped a lot
- He had a true and deep hatred of the British
- He was nicknamed “Old Hickory” – he was “tough as hickory”
D: Jackson Takes Office
- Shortly after taking office, Jackson’s wife died
- At his inauguration people got rowdy causing the President to flee the White House
E: A New Political Era Begins
- Jackson’s inauguration began a new political era
- Spoils System – the practice of giving government jobs to political backers
- This systems name comes from the saying “to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy”
- As president, Jackson would face 3 major issues:
o Status of Native Americans
o Rights of the states
o Role of the Bank of the United States
Section 2: Jackson’s Policy toward Native Americans
A: Native Americans in the Southeast
- Some whites hoped that the NA could adapt to the white peoples’ way of life; others wanted
the NA to move
- That believed this was the only to avoid conflict over land
- By the 1820;s, about 100,000 NA remained east of the MS River
-
The majority were in the Southwest and the major tribes were the Cherokee, Chickasaw,
Choctaw, and Seminole
B: The Cherokee Nation
- More than any other tribe, the Cherokee had adapted white customs
- In 1827, the Cherokee drew up a Constitution and founded the Cherokee Nation
- The discovery of gold increased demands by whites to remove the Cherokees
- The federal govt. responded with a plan to remove all NA from the Southeast
C: Jackson’s Removal Policy
- Andrew Jackson supported moving NA’s west of the MS
- He believed that the govt. had the right to regulate where the NA could live
- He thought the NA’s had one of two choices
o Adopt white culture and become citizens of the U.S.
o Or they could move into Western Territories
- They could not have their own govt. within the nation’s borders
- Georgia and other Southern states passed laws that gave them the right to take over NA,
land, after the discovery of gold.
- Indian Removal Act (1830) – act called for the govt. to negotiate treaties that would require
Americans to relocate West
- This policy caused much hardship and forever changed relations between whites and NA’s
D: The Trail of Tears
- The NA’s were moved to an area that covered what is now OL and parts of KS and NE
- That area came to be called the Indian Territory
- Beginning of the fall of 1831, that Choctaw and other Southeast tribes were removed from
their land and moved to the Indian Territory
- In 1832, the Supreme Court, ruled that only the Federal Govt., not the states, could make
laws governing the Cherokees
- The harsh journey of the Cherokees from their homeland to Indian Territory became known
as the Trail of Tears
- On the trail about ¼ died.
E: Native American Resistance
- Not all the Cherokee moved west in 1838
- One of the most important leaders in the war was Osceola
- He used surprise attacks to defeat the U.S. Army in many battles
- The Second Seminole War ended in 1842
- In the Black Hawk War, the Illinois militia and the U.S. Army crushed the uprising.
Section 3: Conflicts of States’ Rights
A: Rising Sectional Differences
- Andrew Jackson took office in 1829
- The country now was being pulled apart by conflict among the 3 main sections
- Legislators from the 3 regions were arguing over 3 main economic issues
o Sale of public lands
o Internal improvements
o Tariffs
- Northeasterners did not want public lands in the West to be sold at low prices
- This cheap land would attract workers who were needed in the factories of the NE
- The Westerners wanted the low prices because more people would mean more political
power
-
Issues on internal improvement also pulled the sections apart
Tariffs, since 1816, had risen steadily
Tariffs helped manufacturers sell their products at a lower price than imported goods
The South opposed high tariffs (pg. 365)
This would eventually lead to conflict between the North and the South
B: Tariff of Abominations
- In 1828, in the last months of John Quincy Adam’s presidency, Congress passed a bill that
significantly raised the tariffs on raw materials and manufactured goods
- This made the South angry
- Southeasterners felt the economic interests of the Northeast were determining national
policy
- Southerners hated the tariff and called it the Tariff of Abominations
- Differences among the tariff helped Jackson win the election in 1828
- The South blamed Adams for the tariff, since it was passed while he was in office
- Because of this they voted against him
C: Crisis over Nullification
- The tariff of Abominations hit South Carolina hard because of their slumping economy
- Some leaders spoke of leaving the Union because of the tariffs
- Doctrine of Nullification – a state had the right to nullify, or reject, a federal law that it
considers unconstitutional
- Calhoun believed Congress had no right to impose a tariff that favored once section of the
country
D: The States’ Rights Debate
- The debate now was over support of a strong federal govt. or a favor of states’ rights
- This would be a MAJOR political issue from this time until the Civil War
- The Webster-Hayne Debate was one of the great debates in American History
- Hayne defended nullification, and Webster the opposite
- Webster said that it was the people not the states that made the Union
- Dinner to honor Jefferson where Jackson and Calhoun became political enemies because of
their views upon states’ rights (367)
E: South Carolina Threatens to Secede
- South Carolina because of the tariffs threatened to secede from the Union
- Secession – to withdraw from the Union
- Jackson now made it clear that the would use force to see that federal laws were obeyed
and the Union was preserved
- Henry Clay came up with a compromise tariff and Congress quickly passed it
- This made SC stay in the Union and stopped the nullification crisis as of now
Section 4: Prosperity and Panic
A: Mr. Biddle’s Bank
- The 2nd Bank of the United States was the most powerful bank in the country
- Nicolas Biddle was its president, he set policies to control then money supply
- Jackson disliked the bank for several reasons:
o
o
o
o
Banks lost money in financial deals early in his career
Thought the bank had too much power
The bank made loans to member of Congress (influence those members and it is a
conflict of interest)
Felt the lending policies favored wealthy clients and hurt the average person
B: Jackson’s War on the Bank
- Jackson vetoed the renewal charter for the bank
- He claimed the bank was unconstitutional, even though the Supreme Court had earlier ruled
that it was Constitutional
His war on the Bank became the main issue in the presidential race of 1832
- Clay and the National Republicans said that Jackson wanted too much power as president
and called him a tyrant
- The Democrats portrayed Jackson as a defender of the people
- Jacksons second term he set out to destroy the bank
- Eventually the bank went out of business, Jackson had won this war but with the economy
as the victim
C: Prosperity Becomes Panic
- Most of the nation prospered during Jackson’s last y eat in office
- This was because it was easier to borrow money, many people took out loans and the
economy boomed
- But the “pet banks” issued too much money
- This ride in the money supply made each dollar worth less (inflation)
- Inflation – is an increase in prices and decrease in the value of money
- Because of Jackson’s popularity, his VP, Martin Van Buren was elected president in 1836
- Within a few months of taking office there as a panic about the state of the economy. It was
called the Panic of 1837
- People took their paper money to the bank and demanded gold and silver, and the banks
quickly ran out
- Because of this the banks defaulted, causing a depression
- Depression – a severe economic slump
D: The Rise of the Whig Party
- Can Buren believed that the economy would recover if it were just left alone, but others
disagreed
- Many Americans blamed Van Buren for the Panic of 1837, even though he had only taken
office weeks before it
- During Jackson’s war on the bank, Clay, Webster, and other Jackson opponents had formed
the Whig Party
- Whig Party – was named for a British party that opposed royal power
- William Henry Harrison was the Whigs presidential nominee and John Tyler the VP nominee
- “Tippecanoe and Tyler too” was the Whig party election slogan
E: The Election of 1840
- Harrison won in a close election in 1840
- At his inauguration he spoke for two hours in cold weather
- One month after being inaugurated, he came down with pneumonia and died
- He was the FIRST president to die while in office
- VP John Tyler became the new president