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America: Pathways to the Present
Chapter 8
The Growth of a National Economy
(1790–1850)
Copyright © 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as
Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. All rights reserved.
America: Pathways to the Present
Chapter 8: The Growth of a National Economy (1790–1850)
Section 1: Inventions and Innovations
Section 2: The Northern Section
Section 3: The Southern Section
Section 4: The Growth of Nationalism
Section 5: The Age of Jackson
Copyright © 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as
Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. All rights reserved.
The Market Revolution
• “Americans in the first half of the 19th century
were fond of describing liberty as the defining
quality of their new nation…In Democracy in
America, the French historian and politician
Alexis de Tocqueville wrote of the ‘holy cult of
freedom’ he encountered on his own visit to
the US during the early 1830s.”
The Market Revolution
 “Even as [the Marquis de] Lafayette, Tocqueville, and numerous other
visitors from abroad toured the US, however, Americans’ understandings
of freedom were changing.
 Three historical processes unleashed by the
Revolution accelerated after the War of 1812:
 the spread of market relations,
 the westward movement of the population, and
 the rise of a vigorous political democracy.
 All powerfully affected the development of American society. They also
helped to reshape the idea of freedom, identifying it more closely with
economic opportunity, physical mobility, and participation in a vibrantly
democratic political system.” (GML, p.303)
The Market Revolution and the Spread
of Liberty and Slavery
“But, American freedom also continued to be shaped
by the presence of slavery…slavery was moving
westward with the young republic…And slavery drew
a strict racial boundary around American democracy,
making voting, office holding, and participation in
the public sphere privileges for whites alone…Half a
century after the winning of independence, the
coexistence of liberty and slavery, and their
simultaneous expansion, remained the central
contradiction of American life.” (GML, p.303)
The Market Revolution and the Spread
of Liberty and Slavery
• Ultimately Americans would clash because
they couldn’t live in a country divided by
slavery. But it wouldn’t be the morality of
slavery, so much as political and economic
differences that expanded as the nation also
expanded west.
Inventions and Innovations
 How did the Industrial Revolution begin and
spread in the United States, and what was its
impact?
 How did improvements in transportation and
communication change American society?
 How did the U.S. economy expand during the
early 1800s?
 What role did banks have in the growth of the
U.S. economy?
Chapter 8, Section 1
The Industrial Revolution
• “In the first half of the 19th century, an economic
transformation known as the market revolution swept over
the USA. Its catalyst was a series of innovations in
transportation and communication.” (GML, p.304)
• The market revolution represented the ongoing, and
dramatic change in the way Americans made,
bought, and sold goods.
• “The market revolution represented an acceleration of
developments already under way in the colonial era.” (p.305)
The Industrial Revolution: Innovation
in Transportation
Chapter 8, Section 1
• “In the first half of the 19th century, in rapid
succession, the steamboat, canal, railroad, and
telegraph wrenched America out of its economic
past. These innovations opened new land to
settlement, lowered transportation costs, and made
it far easier for economic enterprises to sell their
products. They linked farmers to national and
international markets and made them major
consumers of manufactured goods.” (p.306)
Chapter 8, Section 1
The Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was an ongoing effort over many
decades to increase production by using machines rather than
the power of humans or animals. The industrial revolution,
which had begun in England, spread to America with the
introduction of the factory system in New England, and
occurred hand-in-hand with the market revolution.
• The Industrial Revolution began with improvements in the
textile industry in Britain in the 1700s. James Watt’s
development of the first practical steam engine between 1765
and 1785 led the way to more powerful steam engines in the
years to come.
Chapter 8, Section 1
The Industrial Revolution
• Although the British jealously guarded their
inventions, Samuel Slater was able to immigrate to
America and reproduce British machinery there.
• Textile producers soon began copying Slater’s
methods. Hundreds of textile mills arose, mostly in
New England, Pennsylvania, and New York.
Samuel Slater: Father of the
American Industrial Revolution
What were the causes of
Industrialization?
 Besides new technological developments,
other factors led to the development of
industry first in New England.
 Industrialization was brought about by the
Embargo of 1807, which induced merchants
barred from foreign trade to divert their
capital to founding factories. (“Thanks a lot,
Mr. Jefferson!”)
What were the causes of
Industrialization?
• After the War of 1812 fledgling industries
received protection from high tariffs, especially
in the 1820s.
• New England was the first region to industrialize
because its merchants were particularly hard hit
by foreign trade disruptions and it had swiftflowing rivers for water power and excess
female farm population for labor.
What were the causes of
Industrialization?
• Transportation improvements opened to
manufacturers distant markets.
• Relatively high wages paid to American workers also
made employers eager to adopt labor-saving
techniques like Eli Whitney’s interchangeable parts
and adopt new technology.
Chapter 8, Section 1
Eli Whitney’s Inventions
Interchangeable Parts
The Cotton Gin
•
•
•
New England inventor Eli Whitney
implemented the idea of manufacturing
interchangeable parts, in which all parts
needed to make a product are made to an
exact standard.
Whitney used his idea to manufacture
guns. Other inventors later perfected the
strategy, bringing the concept of
interchangeable parts to other industries.
•
•
•
Whitney also devised the cotton gin, a
machine that separates the seeds from raw
cotton.
In 1794, Whitney gained a patent on the
cotton gin, a license from the government
giving him the sole right to make, use, and
sell an invention for a period of time.
The cotton gin increased the amount of
cotton that farmers could produce, with
many far-ranging effects. Farmers sought
new land to farm as well as more enslaved
Africans to work on these lands.
Increased demand for southern cotton kept
New England textile mills busy.
• The cotton gin is also an indirect
cause of the Civil War.
Transportation and Communication
Improvements in Transportation and Communication Early- to Mid- 1800s
Roads
Roads were needed for travel as well as to transport goods, deliver the mail,
and herd animals. Although many roads were poorly built or built by private
companies, the Cumberland Road, today known as U.S. Route 40, was built to
last by the federal government.
River Travel
Rivers provided the country’s main transportation. Robert Fulton’s
development of a commercially successful steamboat soon led to hundreds of
steamboats transporting goods up and down American rivers such as the
Mississippi.
Canals
Since water was the cheapest way to transport goods, American innovators
built artificial waterways, or canals. The Erie Canal increased the settlement
and development of the Great Lakes region.
Railroads
Railroads, using the new steam locomotive, became even more efficient than
canals. The first American railroad, known as the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O)
line, was followed by thousands more miles of rail track.
Communication
Improvements in the federal postal service, combined with an increasing
number of newspapers and magazines, provided a national network of
information exchange which helped tie together different parts of the country.
An Expanding Economy
•
•
•
•
During the 1800s, the ways in which Americans made, bought, and sold goods
changed dramatically. This change became known as the Market Revolution.
Many businesspeople began turning to manufacturing, the use of machinery to
make products. Manufacturing began in New England and spread across the
Northeast and into parts of the Northwest Territory.
In 1814, Francis Cabot Lowell led a group of businessmen in building the first truly
centralized textile factory, a single facility where all the tasks involved in making a
product were carried out.
Manufacturing and other features of the Market Revolution took place within the
free enterprise system, an economic system in which private companies compete
for profits.
Chapter 8, Section 1
Working and Shopping
Working Outside the Home
• In the 1700s, most people worked in their
homes or on farms.
• The rise of manufacturing sharply
increased the demand for people working
outside the home.
• Factory owners increased the use of
specialization, a system in which each
worker performs just one part of the
production process.
• Rather than working on a product from
start to finish, many workers were now
involved only in one part of the process.
The Rise of Shopping
• As more products became available and
people worked for wages, Americans
began to shop for goods rather than make
what they needed for themselves.
• By the mid-1800s, many average American
homes were filled with store-bought
items.
Artisans and Workers in Mid-Atlantic
Cities
• In NYC and Philadelphia manufacturing of products such as shoes, saddles,
or clothing was done in small shops as well as factories. Much of the work
was still done by hand rather than by machine, but increasingly production
was subdivided into small, specialized tasks performed by low-paid,
semiskilled or unskilled laborers, often women. This resulted in a declining
importance for skilled artisans, who, in protest in the late 1820s, formed
trade unions and “workingmen’s” political parties.
The Industrial Worker
• “The market revolution helped change Americans’ conception
of time itself. Farm life continued to be regulated by the
rhythms of the seasons. But in cities, clocks became part of
daily life, and work time and leisure time came to be clearly
marked off from one another…As the market revolution
accelerated, work in factories, workshops, and even for
servants in Americans’ homes, took place for a specified
number of hours per day…In the nineteenth century, pay
increasingly became a ‘wage’ paid according to an hourly or
daily rate.”
The Industrial Worker
• “Closely supervised work tending a machine for a
period determined by a clock seemed to violate the
independence Americans considered an essential
element of freedom. Consequently, few native-born
men could be attracted to work in the early
factories.” (GML, pgs.317-318)
The “Mill Girls”
• In 1813, Francis Cabot Lowell built the first
centralized textile mill in Waltham, Massachusetts. A
mill town founded in northern Massachusetts was
later named for him.
• The Lowell mills employed young, unmarried
women, providing them with an income, room and
board, and the opportunity to socialize with other
young women.
• Because women would work for lower wages than
men, many mill owners chose to hire female workers
(as well as children).
The “Mill Girls”
• “They typically remained in the factories for only a
few years, after which they left to return home,
marry, or move west. The shortage of industrial labor
continued, easing only when large-scale immigration
began in the 1840s and 1850s.” (GML, p.319)
• “By the end of the 1850s, the Lowell textile mills
had largely replaced Yankee farm women with
immigrant Irish families (who had fled the Great
Potato Famine of 1845-1851). (GML, p.320)
Lowell Mill Girls
Children workers
End of the Lowell Mill Girls
• The 1820s and 1830s have been called Lowell's Golden Age: the time of
New England mill girls, relatively unpressured working conditions, closely
supervised boardinghouses, and The Lowell Offering. The 1840s saw a "
speed up" and "stretch out" in the mills, with the machines run faster and
each worker given more machines to tend, to make up for falling profits.
The Yankee mill girls began to leave, replaced by Irish immigrants with no
better options.
• The Civil War meant the end of Lowell as an industrial experiment, for the
owners, thinking the war would last only months, mistakenly sold off their
cotton to make a quick profit. When the mills reopened after the war, the
"Lowell experiment" was over: the Yankee work force was gone, replaced
with immigrant workers. Lower wages and sped-up machinery indicated a
search only for profit, not for a moral workplace.
Eric Foner writes that a "market revolution" occurred in the early decades of the nineteenth
century. What did he mean by that, and what was its significance? How inclusive was the
market revolution?
• Historians refer to a series of economic changes that
took place between, let's say, 1800 and 1840 or so as
the "market revolution." This includes many things: it
includes great improvements in transportation, the
steamboat, the building of canals, eventually the
railroad, which made possible the much more rapid
transportation of goods throughout the country. It
also refers to a shift in economic activity where more
and more farmers and city craftsmen were producing
goods for the market rather than for their own
subsistence.
Eric Foner writes that a "market revolution" occurred in the early decades of the nineteenth
century. What did he mean by that, and what was its significance? How inclusive was the
market revolution?
• In 1800 most American farmers basically grew foods for their
own families. Those near cities or rivers would sell their
goods, and of course the southern plantations were selling
goods to Europe, but the small farmers were basically growing
foods for their own family.
•
By 1840 the large majority of them were producing goods for
the marketplace. Now, as they did that their lives changed.
There were no longer crafts that used to exist at home; now
you bought those things from stores, and factories began to
produce things like woven cloth, which used to be made at
home.
Eric Foner writes that a "market revolution" occurred in the early decades of the nineteenth
century. What did he mean by that, and what was its significance? How inclusive was the
market revolution?
• So, everybody was affected by the rise of
market relations. Some men gained greater
independence by working in the market; some
of them lost their economic independence.
They had to go work in factories, where they
worked under the economic dictation of
someone else.
• As for women….
Eric Foner writes…?
• Women's work changed. No longer were
women producing essential goods in the
home. They were still working, of course, very
hard, but they were not manufacturing goods
in the home for the family. Some women went
out to work in the new factories (ex. “Lowell
Girls”). So the market revolution really
changed the nature of economic life for just
about all Americans.
Chapter 8, Section 1
The Role of Banks
The Rise of the Banking Industry
Uncontrolled Lending and Bank Notes
• By the 1830s, hundreds of new
banks had opened in the United
States.
• Banks made money by charging
interest on the loans they
provided. Many of these loans
were in the form of investment
capital, money that a business
spends in hopes of future gains.
• Although investment capital
generally helped the economy
grow, disasters could and did
occur.
• In the 1800s, states did not
restrict banks’ lending. Banks
often made loans to people who
could not pay them back.
• As a result, banks sometimes did
not have enough cash on hand if a
large number of people tried to
withdraw their money at the same
time.
• The economy experienced wild
booms followed by panics. Panics
in the 1830s disrupted the
economy well into the 1840s.
The Transformation of Law
• “American law increasingly supported the efforts of
entrepreneurs to participate in the market revolution, while
shielding them from interference by local governments and
liability for some of the less desirable results of economic
growth. The corporate from of business organization became
central to the new market economy.”
• “A corporate firm enjoys special privileges and powers granted
in a charter from the government, among them that investors
and directors are not personally liable for the company’s
debts…”
The Transformation of Law
• American law in this period increasingly supported the efforts
of entrepreneurs to participate in the market revolution,
while protecting them from local governments and liability
that might interfere with their activities. The corporate form
of business organization, in which a corporate firm receives a
charter from the government and stockholders are not
individually liable for company debts, became central to
economic life in this period.
The Transformation of Law
• Corporations found reinforcement in John
Marshall’s Supreme Court’s decisions that
validated their legal status. Local courts found
businesses blameless for property damage
and held that employers had full authority in
the workplace, even convicting workers who
joined unions or went on strike based on old
conspiracy laws.
The West and Freedom
• By the 1830s and 1840s, the market revolution and
westward expansion had profoundly affected all
Americans’ lives, reinforcing older ideas of freedom
and creating new ones. American freedom had long
been linked with available land in the West. In this
period was coined the phrase “manifest destiny,”
referring to the divine mission of the United States to
occupy all of North America and extend freedom,
despite any costs to peoples and nations already
there. But an old idea connecting freedom and a
divine mission to move west and settle land had its
origins in colonial times.
The West and Freedom
• In national myth and ideology, the West would long
remain a sanctuary for the free American. To many,
the settlement and exploitation of the West offered
America a chance to avoid becoming like Europe,
where society was marked by fixed social classes and
large numbers of wage-earning poor. In the West,
free or cheap land was abundant and factory labor
less common. The West seemed to offer men facing
wage labor and rising land prices in the east an
opportunity to gain economic independence—the
social condition of freedom.
The Free Individual
• The energetic, competitive world of the market
revolution led many Americans to identify freedom
with the absence of restraints on self-directed
individuals who sought economic advancement and
personal development. Opportunities for personal
growth presented a new definition of Jefferson’s
pursuit of happiness that well fitted a new America
in which westward expansion and market relations
shattered old spatial and social boundaries.
The Transcendentalists
• A group of New England intellectuals, called the
transcendentalists, reflected this national mood in
their writings and activities. Together they insisted
that individual judgment should take precedence
over existing social traditions and institutions. Ralph
Waldo Emerson defined freedom as an open-ended
process of self-realization, in which individuals could
remake themselves and their own lives. Henry David
Thoreau called for individuals to rely on themselves.
The Free Individual
• In this era the term individualism was first
used. Unlike in the colonial period, many
Americans now believed individuals should
pursue their own self-interest, no matter what
the cost to the public good, and that they
should and could depend only on themselves.
Americans more and more saw the realm of
the private self as one in which other
individuals and government should not
interfere.
The Second Great Awakening
• The popular religious revivals that swept over the nation
during the Second Great Awakening added a religious
dimension to the celebration of self-improvement, selfreliance, and self-determination. These revivals were first
organized by established religious leaders worried about low
levels of church attendance, but reached their height in the
1820s and 1830s, when the Reverend Charles Grandison
Finney held revivals in New York. Like evangelists in the
eighteenth century, Finney enthusiastically warned his
audience of hell, and promised them salvation if they would
end their sinful habits.
The Second Great Awakening
• Evangelical preachers rejected the idea that
man was naturally sinful and preordained to
heaven or hell, and instead argued that
humans had free will to live in sin or reach
heaven by doing “good works.” (This call to do
good works also helped bring about an era of
reform.)
The (Second Great) Awakening’s
Impact
• The Second Great Awakening democratized American
Christianity and made it a mass enterprise. Religious
devotion and attendance boomed, and smaller evangelical
sects such as the Methodists and Baptists grew rapidly.
Christianity became central to American culture. The
evangelicals stressed the right of private judgment in
spiritual affairs and the possibility of universal salvation
through faith and good deeds. Evangelicals used the
opportunities to travel and spread their message which had
been made available by the market revolution, and their mass
religion and idea that ordinary Americans could forge their
own spiritual destinies resonated with the spread of market
values.
The Awakening’s Impact
• While evangelicals criticized selfishness,
greed, and indifference to the welfare of
others, the revivals flourished in areas
transformed by the market revolution.
Evangelical ministers promoted a controlled
individualism, marked by industry, sobriety,
and self-discipline as the essence of freedom.
Liberty and Prosperity
• With the market revolution, the right to compete for
economic advancement became essential to American
freedom. Symbols of liberty were bound up with symbols of
prosperity. The stories of men like John Jacob Astor, the son of
a poor German immigrant who became the richest man in
America by using money earned from shipping to invest in
Manhattan real estate, seemed to embody opportunities
open to the “self-made man.” This success was achieved not
through hereditary privilege or government favoritism, as in
Europe, but through hard work and intelligence.
Liberty and Prosperity
• The market revolution and expanding commercial life
enriched bankers, merchants, industrialists, and
planters and produced a new middle class of clerks,
accountants, and other professionals, such as
teachers, doctors, and lawyers.
•
Limits of Prosperity: Race and (Lack
of ) Opportunity
• Not everyone benefited from the market revolution. Most
African-Americans were slaves, but even free blacks were
excluded from economic opportunities. Free blacks in
northern states experienced discrimination in every sphere of
life. They were segregated into the poorest and most
unhealthy areas of cities like New York, Philadelphia, and
Cincinnati, and were subjected to assaults in riots by white
mobs. They were barred from schools and other public
facilities, and created their own institutional life of schools
and churches, such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church
(founded by Richard Allen in Philadelphia).
Limits of Prosperity
• Many blacks experienced downward economic
mobility, being unable to practice their craft skills
because of discrimination by white employers and
workers, and were relegated to the most unskilled
and menial low-paid labor. Blacks also could not take
advantage of the opening of the West, either, since
federal law barred blacks from accessing public land,
and some western states prohibited them from even
entering their territory.
•
The Cult of Domesticity
• Many opportunities created by the market revolution were
also closed to women. As the household declined as a site of
economic production, women’s traditional roles were
undermined by mass produced goods once made at home.
Some women entered factories, while others embraced a new
definition of femininity centered in women’s ability to create a
private sphere in the home removed from the competitive
tensions of the market economy. Here her role was not to
produce things but to sustain non-market values such as love,
friendship, and mutual obligation, providing men with a
shelter from the rigors of the market.
•
The Cult of Domesticity
• Earlier ideas of “republican motherhood” were replaced by
this “cult of domesticity.” Virtue came to be defined as a
personal quality associated with women, who were expected
to be sexually innocent, beautiful, frail, and dependent on
men. The cult of domesticity minimized even women’s
indirect participation in public life, viewing women as
nurturing, selfless, and ruled by emotions, while seeing men
as rational, aggressive, and domineering. While men could
move freely between the public and private spheres, women
were to remain confined within the private family.
Women and Work
• But the cult of domesticity did not capture the
realities of life for the many women who worked for
wages at least part of their lives (ex. “Lowell Girls”).
Women who worked outside of the home could not
compete freely for jobs, since only low-paid jobs
were open to them, and married women could not
sign their own contracts or, until after the Civil War,
keep their wages, which went to their husbands.
Many poor women worked as domestic servants,
factory workers, and seamstresses.
Women and Work
• For the middle class, however, respectability was
earned in part by keeping wives and children at
home and hiring women to do household work in
middle-class homes, which were segregated in
neighborhoods distant from other classes. Even
working-class men adopted these values and
protested that capitalism was ripping women from
the home and subjecting them to exploitation and
abuse in the marketplace.
•
The Early Labor Movement
• “…Although many Americans welcomed the market
revolution, others felt threatened by its consequences.
Surviving member of the revolutionary generation feared that
the obsession with personal economic gain was undermining
devotion to the public good…”
• “Many Americans experienced the market revolution not as
an enhancement of the power to shape their own lives, but
as a loss of freedom. For every aspiring American who rode
the tide of economic progress, another seemed to sink
beneath the waves.”
The Early Labor Movement and Growing Inequality
• “The economic transformation produced an
explosive growth in the nation’s output and trade
and a rise in the general standard of living. But
especially in the growing cities of the Northeast, it
significantly widened the gap between wealthy
merchants and industrialists on the one hand, and
impoverished factory workers, unskilled
dockworkers, and seamstresses laboring at home
on the other.”
Growing Inequality
• “In Massachusetts…the richest 5% of the population
owned over half the wealth. Inequality was even
more pronounced in Philadelphia, where the top 1%
possessed more wealth than the rest of the
population combined. Bankruptcy was a common
fact of life…” (GML, p.335)
The Early Labor Movement
• Contrary to the rags to riches myth, 90% of the very
wealthy had started out with considerable means. At
the other end of the scale, cities were developing a
pauperized class consisting of the aged and infirmed;
widows; destitute Irish immigrants, and free blacks
who suffered the worst forms of discrimination.(The
Enduring Vision)
The Early Labor Movement
• “Alarmed at the erosion of traditional skills and the threat of
being reduced to the status of dependent wage earners,
skilled craftsmen in the late 1820s created the world’s first
Workingmen Parties, short-lived political organizations that
sought to mobilize lower-class support for candidates who
would press for free public education, and end to
imprisonment for debt, and legislation limiting work to a ten
hour day…union organization spread and strikes became
commonplace.” (GML, pgs.335-36)
Workers Organize
Workers Go on Strike
• Factory owners aimed to make a
profit, often at the expense of
their workers.
• Workers often used the strike, or
work stoppage, to demand
shorter hours and higher wages.
• From 1834 through 1836, more
than 150 strikes took place in the
United States.
The First Labor Unions
• In 1834, workers organized the
first national labor union, an
organization of workers formed to
protect the interests of its
members.
• This union, the National Trades
Union (NTU), died out when
factory owners obtained court
rulings that outlawed labor
organizations.
• The early labor movement
demonstrated that workers were
willing to take action against their
employers, setting the stage for
later labor movements.
Inventions and Innovations—
Assessment
Chapter 8, Section 1
Which of the following was an effect of the invention of the cotton gin?
(A) Banks began lending investment capital to businesspeople.
(B) More Americans began working outside the home.
(C) Centralized textile mills became common in the North.
(D) More slaves were brought to cotton plantations.
What was the Market Revolution?
(A) An effort to increase production by using machines
(B) The new means of transporting goods by steamboat and rail
(C) A change in the ways Americans made, bought, and sold goods
(D) The opening of hundreds of new banks
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Inventions and Innovations—
Assessment
Chapter 8, Section 1
Which of the following was an effect of the invention of the cotton gin?
(A) Banks began lending investment capital to businesspeople.
(B) More Americans began working outside the home.
(C) Centralized textile mills became common in the North.
(D) More slaves were brought to cotton plantations.
What was the Market Revolution?
(A) An effort to increase production by using machines
(B) The new means of transporting goods by steamboat and rail
(C) A change in the ways Americans made, bought, and sold goods
(D) The opening of hundreds of new banks
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Chapter 8, Section 2
The Northern Section
• How did farming develop in the Old
Northwest?
• What new industries arose in the Northeast?
• What caused the growth of cities, and what
problems developed as they grew?
• What kinds of labor disputes arose in
factories?
Farming in the Old Northwest
Chapter 8, Section 2
• In the early 1800s, America began to divide into two distinct sections, or
regions, the North and the South.
• One part of the North became known as the Old Northwest and included
present-day Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of
Minnesota.
• Fertile land in the Old Northwest proved ideal for growing corn, wheat,
and other grains. Because these grains spoiled easily, they were often
converted into other products, such as beer and whiskey, which did not
spoil and were easy to store.
• Many specialized businesses arose to handle the processing, transport,
and sale of farm products produced in the Old Northwest. These included
slaughterhouses, distilleries, shipping companies, and banks.
Industries of the Northeast
Chapter 8, Section 2
• Most people in the Northeast continued to live in rural areas in the
countryside. Others lived and worked in urban areas, or cities.
• Industrialization, or the development of industry, increased rapidly in the
Northeast.
• In 1813, Francis Cabot Lowell built the first centralized textile mill in
Waltham, Massachusetts. A mill town founded in northern Massachusetts
was later named for him.
• The Lowell mills employed young, unmarried women, providing them with
an income, room and board, and the opportunity to socialize with other
young women.
• Because women would work for lower wages than men, many mill owners
chose to hire female workers.
Chapter 8, Section 2
The Growth of Cities
The Growth of Cities
• Many young people sought work in the
cities, as the American population
outgrew the available farmland.
• Population in large cities such as New York
City, Boston, and Philadelphia
skyrocketed. Smaller cities such as
Baltimore also saw a dramatic rise in
population.
Urban Problems
• In these growing cities, children, the sick,
and the elderly often had no support in
times of trouble.
• Areas such as lower Manhattan became
known for their tenements, crowded
apartments with poor standards of
sanitation, safety, and comfort.
• Police and fire departments, sewage
systems, and reliable fresh water did not
develop as quickly as population in many
cities, leading to unsanitary and unsafe
conditions.
Labor Disputes in Factories
Chapter 8, Section 2
Workers Go on Strike
• Factory owners aimed to make a profit,
often at the expense of their workers.
• Workers often used the strike, or work
stoppage, to demand shorter hours and
higher wages.
• From 1834 through 1836, more than 150
strikes took place in the United States.
The First Labor Unions
• In 1834, workers organized the first
national labor union, an organization of
workers formed to protect the interests of
its members.
• This union, the National Trades Union
(NTU), died out when factory owners
obtained court rulings that outlawed labor
organizations.
• The early labor movement demonstrated
that workers were willing to take action
against their employers, setting the stage
for later labor movements.
Chapter 8, Section 2
The North By the 1840s
• By the 1840s, the North’s economy had
become a booming mix of industry and
agriculture.
• Cities and towns characterized the North,
bringing the benefits and problems that
accompanied growth.
The Northern Section—Assessment
Chapter 8, Section 2
Why did many mill owners prefer to hire women workers?
(A) Men would be more likely to strike for better conditions.
(B) Most men had moved to the Old Northwest.
(C) Women were traditionally responsible for textile work.
(D) Women would work for lower wages than men.
What purpose did labor unions serve?
(A) They helped young people find jobs in cities.
(B) They helped workers protect their own interests.
(C) They helped spread industrialization to the Old Northwest.
(D) They solved problems associated with urban growth.
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The Northern Section—Assessment
Chapter 8, Section 2
Why did many mill owners prefer to hire women workers?
(A) Men would be more likely to strike for better conditions.
(B) Most men had moved to the Old Northwest.
(C) Women were traditionally responsible for textile work.
(D) Women would work for lower wages than men.
What purpose did labor unions serve?
(A) They helped young people find jobs in cities.
(B) They helped workers protect their own interests.
(C) They helped spread industrialization to the Old Northwest.
(D) They solved problems associated with urban growth.
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Chapter 8, Section 3
The Southern Section
• Why did the economy of the South remain
largely agricultural?
• How did the lives of slaves differ on large and
small farms?
• What were the results of slave revolts?
The Economy of the South
Chapter 8, Section 3
“Since cotton was produced solely for sale in national and international
markets, the South was in some ways the most commercially oriented
region of the USA. Yet rather than spurring economic change, the South’s
expansion westward simply reproduced the same agrarian, slave-based
social order of the older states…” (GML, p.314)
• The region known as the South included 6 of the original 13 states
(Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia
as well as the new states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi,
Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas.
The Economy of the South
Chapter 8, Section 3
• States in the cotton belt, a band stretching from South
Carolina to Texas, relied mostly on cotton for their economies.
By 1850 nearly ¾ of the world’s cotton was produced in the
American South.
• The South was geographically well-suited to farming cotton and other
crops. Land was fertile, rain was plentiful, and most of the year was frostfree.
• Both large plantations and smaller farms used enslaved workers to help
produce cotton, sugar, tobacco, and rice.
The Social Groups of the White South
 In 1850 only about 1/3 of white southerners
owned slaves. By 1860 only ¼ of whites
southerners owned slaves. The whites of the Old
South fit into four classes (although there was
considerable variation within each category):
 1. planters- owners of 20 or more slaves
 2. small slaveholders- 1-20 slaves (In 1860, 88%
of the slaveholders held fewer than 20 slaves)
 3. yeomen- non-slaveholding small family farmers
(by far the largest group)
 4. people of the pine barrens (about 10%)
Chapter 8, Section 3
Slow Urban Growth
 Industrial development progressed slowly in the
South. Nevertheless, cities did develop, including
New Orleans, Louisiana; Charleston, South
Carolina; and Richmond, Virginia.
 Southern cities had smaller populations than
their northern counterparts. Like northern cities,
southern cities were plagued by problems of
poor housing and sanitation.
 Many free African Americans made their homes
in southern towns and cities.
Chapter 8, Section 3
The Slavery System
Growth in Enslaved Population
• By 1804, all northern states had either
banned slavery or passed laws to end it
gradually.
• In 1808, Congress banned all future
importation of slaves to the United States.
• Nonetheless, the enslaved population
grew, since children born to enslaved
persons became enslaved as well.
Slavery on Small and Large Farms
• Slaves on small farms were often better
treated than those on large plantations.
• Enslaved women faced many
responsibilities, including caring for their
owners’ households and working in the
fields. In addition, some women were
subjected to physical or sexual abuse.
Why did the vast majority of white
non-slaveholding southerners support
slavery?
 By 1850 a little less than 1 out of 3 southern whites
owned slaves (and most of them only a few) and by
1860 this number was down to only 1 out of 4. Yet
most whites strongly supported slavery. WHY?
 Some hoped to become slaveholders.
 They feared freedmen would demand social and
political equality with whites.
 Southern whites shared racist beliefs about blacks and
feared that emancipation would be followed by a race
war, which would endanger the lives of whites.
Chapter 8, Section 3
Slave Revolts
Vesey’s Plan
• After buying his freedom, former
slave Denmark Vesey became
increasingly angry at the sufferings of
his fellow African Americans.
• In 1822, Vesey laid plans for what
was to be the most ambitious slave
revolt in American history.
• Vesey was betrayed by some of his
followers, and he and 35 other
African Americans were hanged.
Turner’s Rebellion
• Nat Turner, an African American
preacher, planned and carried out a
violent uprising in August 1831
known as Turner’s Rebellion.
• Local militia captured and hanged
many of the rebels, including Turner.
• Crowds of frightened and angry
whites rioted, killing about a hundred
African Americans who had not been
involved in the revolt.
White Southerners Alarmed
Chapter 8, Section 3
 Because African Americans outnumbered the white
population in some communities, many southerners
feared slave revolts.
 After the Vesey and Turner rebellions, some southern
states tightened restrictions on slaves. Virginia and
South Carolina passed laws against teaching enslaved
people to read, and some states prevented blacks from
moving freely or meeting.
 The same year Turner led his revolt, William Lloyd
Garrison began publishing his anti-slavery newspaper
The Liberator.
The Proslavery Argument
 The proslavery argument was used as a tool to
unite southern whites behind the institution. The
argument, which was constructed by southern
intellectuals between 1830 and 1860, claimed
that slavery was a positive good rather than a
necessary evil. It claimed that slavery was
sanctioned by history and Christian-Judeo
religion and that southern slaves were better
treated than northern factory “wage slaves.” By
the 1830s most southern churches had adopted
the proslavery position.
The Proslavery Argument
 In addition to persuading themselves of the
righteousness of their “peculiar institution,”
southerners increasingly suppressed all public
criticism of slavery. They seized abolitionist
literature mailed to the South, smashed the
presses of southern anti-slavery newspapers, and
mobbed anyone who dared to question slavery.
 A “gag rule” was also instituted in the House of
Representatives banning any discussion of “the
peculiar institution.”
The Southern Section—Assessment
Chapter 8, Section 3
Which of these factors contributed to slow urban growth in the South?
(A) Poor housing and sanitation slowed industrialization.
(B) Slave revolts drew attention away from urban areas.
(C) The southern economy relied on agriculture, not industry.
(D) Urban populations were not racially diverse.
What caused the number of enslaved people to increase during the early 1800s?
(A) Southern industry required slave labor.
(B) Enslaved people had children who also became enslaved.
(C) Importation of slaves rose.
(D) Plantation owners wanted more slaves to help grow cotton.
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The Southern Section—Assessment
Chapter 8, Section 3
Which of these factors contributed to slow urban growth in the South?
(A) Poor housing and sanitation slowed industrialization.
(B) Slave revolts drew attention away from urban areas.
(C) The southern economy relied on agriculture, not industry.
(D) Urban populations were not racially diverse.
What caused the number of enslaved people to increase during the early 1800s?
(A) Southern industry required slave labor.
(B) Enslaved people had children who also became enslaved.
(C) Importation of slaves rose.
(D) Plantation owners wanted more slaves to help grow cotton.
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The Growth of Nationalism
Chapter 8, Section 4
• What were some signs of a new nationalism
after the War of 1812?
• Why was the election of 1824 controversial?
• What new political parties emerged in 1828,
and what views did they represent?
How did domestic and foreign policies
reflect the nationalism of the times?
After the War of 1812, nationalism affected
economic and foreign policy and began to
create a sense of national identity.
Supreme Court rulings supported nationalism
by favoring federal power.
What is nationalism?
• devotion and loyalty to one's own country;
patriotism.
• excessive patriotism; chauvinism.
• the policy or doctrine of asserting the interest of
one's own nation viewed as separate from the
interests of other nations or the common interests
of all nations.
• Nationalism is the opposite of sectionalism
and/or parochialism
Nationalism
“The War of 1812 inspired an
outburst of nationalist pride. But the
war also revealed how far the U.S.
still was from being a truly
integrated nation….”
Nationalism
 “A younger generation of Republicans, led by Henry
Clay and John C. Calhoun, believed that ‘infant
industries’ deserved national protection. While
retaining their Jeffersonian belief in an agrarian
republic, they insisted that agriculture must be
complemented by a manufacturing sector if the
country were to become economically independent
of Britain.”
 A new tariff was enacted in 1816 that had the
support of many Democratic-Republicans.
Nationalism
“In 1806, Congress used public funds towards a
National Road…Two years later Jefferson’s Secretary of
the Treasury outlined a plan for the federal government
to tie the vast nation together by constructing roads
and canals up and down the eastern seaboard, …”
When it came to further federal investment in
infrastructure (roads, bridges, etc.), it wouldn’t be until
the 1950s when Congress and the President would
approve interstate road building.
Nationalism
“In 1815 President Madison put forward a
blueprint for government promoted economic
development that came to be known as the
American System, a label coined by Henry
Clay….The plan rested on three pillars: a new
national bank, a tariff on imported
manufactured goods to protect American
industry, and federal financing of improved
roads and canals.” (Give Me Liberty, pgs.361362, 3rd Ed.)
Nationalism
• Although the tariff and national bank became law in
1816, Madison, afraid that the national government, if
given powers not expressed in the constitution, would
interfere with individual liberty and slavery in southern
states, vetoed an internal improvements bill.
• The Second Bank of the United States (BUS), a private, profitmaking corporation that served as the government’s financial
agent, soon became resented by many Americans. The BUS was
also tasked with regulating the volume of paper money printed by
private banks to prevent fluctuations and inflation (at this point the
federal government did not print money).
Under President
James Monroe, the
Democratic
Republicans
enjoyed an
“era of good
feelings.”
The party backed nationalistic
economic policies that used
federal power to assist business
and industry.
This focus on business was a
change from the government’s
earlier support of agriculture and
a weak federal government.
With so little political fighting,
some believed that political
parties might disappear.
Henry Clay campaigned for a nationalistic economic
policy called the American System, which included:
• high tariffs to protect industrial growth.
• road and canal construction, called
internal improvements, to link the
different sections of the nation.
• National bank
Clay believed the different regions could
work together for the prosperity of the entire
nation.
The Panic of 1819: A Setback for
National Pride and Unity
• Rather than regulating the currency and loans issued
by local banks, the Bank of the United States
contributed to widespread speculation, mostly in
land, after the War of 1812. When European demand
for American farm goods decreased in 1819, this
speculative bubble burst. Dropping land prices
ruined farmers and businessmen who could no
longer pay their loans, banks failed, and
unemployment spread in eastern cities.
The Panic of 1819: Its Impact
• The short-lived Panic of 1819 disrupted the political
harmony established after the war’s end. Some
states controversially provided relief to debtors,
much to the chagrin of creditors. Most important,
the panic reinforced many American’s longstanding
distrust of banks, and it undermined the reputation
of the BUS, which was blamed for the panic.
The Panic of 1819: Its Impact
• When states retaliated against the BUS by taxing its local
branches, the Supreme Court under John Marshall ruled in
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) that the BUS was a legitimate
exercise of congressional authority under the Constitution.
This directly contradicted the “strict constructionist” view that
Congress could use only those powers expressly in the
Constitution. This case was a victory for nationalists and
further validation of Hamilton’s vision of a strong national
government with broad powers.
John C. Calhoun
Henry Clay
Chapter 8, Section 4
Nationalism at Home
Many Americans came to think of President James Monroe’s two terms in office (1817–
1826) as the Era of Good Feeling. During Monroe’s terms, the Supreme Court, under
Chief Justice John Marshall, made several important decisions that
strengthened the federal government’s role in the national economy.
Protecting Contracts
In Dartmouth College v.
Woodward, the Marshall
Court ruled that states
cannot interfere with
private contracts. This
ruling later came to
protect businesses from
regulation, stabilizing the
national economy.
Supporting the National
Bank
In McCulloch v. Maryland,
Marshall ruled that
Congress had the right to
charter the Bank of the
United States even though
the Constitution did not
specifically mention it.
Marshall based his
argument on the
“necessary and proper”
clause in the Constitution.
Regulating Commerce
In Gibbons v. Ogden, the
Court declared that
states could not interfere
with Congress’s right to
regulate business on
interstate waterways.
This ruling increased
steamboat competition,
helping open up the
American West for
settlement.
Nationalism Abroad: The Monroe
Doctrine
•
•
•
•
President Monroe, together with Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, began a
new approach to American foreign policy.
One of Monroe’s main goals was to ease tensions with Great Britain, which
remained high after the War of 1812.
In 1817, the United States and Great Britain signed the Rush-Bagot Agreement,
which called on both nations to reduce the number of warships in the Great Lakes
region. The following year, the two countries set the northern border of the
United States at 49 degrees North latitude.
Monroe was also concerned that other European countries, recovering from
several years of warfare, would resume their efforts to colonize the Western
Hemisphere.
Chapter 8, Section 4
The Monroe Doctrine
In a speech on December 2, 1823, President Monroe established a policy that every
President has since followed to some degree. The Monroe Doctrine had four main
parts:
The United States
would not become
involved in the
internal affairs of
European nations,
nor would it take
sides in wars
among them.
The United States
recognized the
existing colonies and
states in the Western
Hemisphere and
would not interfere
with them.
The United States
would not permit
any further
colonization of
the Western
Hemisphere.
Any attempt by a
European power to
take control of any
nation in the
Western
Hemisphere would
be viewed as a
hostile action
toward the United
States.
Sectionalism: Issues Threatening
National Unity
 As early as 1819 the U.S was developing into
three distinct sections with particular
interests: the Northeast, the West, and the
South. These sections were already going into
different directions due to three
developments, such as
 1) westward expansion,
 2) the rise of King Cotton in the South,
 3) industrialization in the Northeast
Sectionalism: Issues Threatening
National Unity
• An economic depression, The Panic of 1819,
and the controversy over the admission of
Missouri as a slave state exposed the
emerging conflicting economic and political
interests of the Northeast, West, and South.
• Beneath the surface of relative peace and
prosperity (The era of Good Feelings), these
developments revealed deep trouble ahead.
Sectionalism: Issues Threatening
National Unity
• Each section wanted national laws favoring its
economy. Conflicts arose because a law
benefiting one section might harm another.
• Conflicting economic interests led to political
rivalry, as each section wanted strong
congressional representation to carry the vote
for its economic interests.
Sectionalism: Issues Threatening
National Unity
• Forty years of sectional rivalry led to the Civil War (186165).
 Five major issues dominated the national agenda from
the 1810s to 1860. Sectional differences over these
issues increased tensions, jealousies, and ultimately
conflict between the Northeast and West versus the
South in the Civil War.
• The issues were: western land, labor, the tariff,
internal improvements, and money.
Sectionalism: Issues Threatening
National Unity
• The issues were: western land, labor, the tariff, internal improvements,
and money.
• On these 5 key issues, the Northeast and South failed to agree
on even one. The Northeast and West agreed on three: the
tariff(both favored high tariffs), internal improvements (both
supported them), and most importantly of all, both favored
“free” (wage) labor over slave labor.
• A political power struggle developed between the free labor
states of the North (east and west) and the slave labor states
of the South. The section controlling the federal government
could set economic policies, such as tariffs, that would affect
the very livelihood of the other.
Sectionalism: Issues Threatening
National Unity
 A political power struggle developed between
the free labor states of the North (east and
west) and the slave labor states of the South.
The section controlling the federal
government could set economic policies, such
as tariffs, that would affect the very livelihood
of the other.
 Political power, then, became crucial to economic interests.
By 1861 the political power struggle between North and
South would lead to Civil War.
The Missouri Compromise (1820): A
sign of future trouble…
• National unity appeared short-lived when Missouri’s petition for
statehood in 1819 as a slave state upset many northern members of
Congress. At that time 11 states were free and 11 states were slave.
Missouri’s admittance would not only upset the balance in favor of the
slave states, but also be only the tip of an avalanche of slave states
admitted as part of the Louisiana territory. Henry Clay engineered a
compromise.
• Missouri entered as a slave state.
• Maine, which had been a northern part of Massachusetts entered as a
free state.
• The rest of the Louisiana Territory was divided between free territories,
north of 36 30’, and slave south of that line.
• This was not the end, but only the beginning!
The Controversial Election of 1824
• Four major candidates competed for the presidency in 1824. For the first
time, no candidate had been a leader during the Revolution.
• These candidates were Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, Speaker of
the House Henry Clay, William Crawford of Georgia, and General Andrew
Jackson.
• Jackson was regarded by many as a wildcard candidate, an outsider
famous for his war victories.
• While in Congress, Clay had supported what he called the American
System, a policy of government-backed economic development and
protective tariffs to encourage business growth.
The Controversial Election of 1824
• Popular Vote: Jackson (153,544) Adams, (108,740) Crawford (46, 618) Clay
(47,136)
• Electoral Vote: Jackson (99) Adams (84) Crawford (41) Clay (37)
• No candidate won a majority of electoral votes. As required by the
Constitution, the House of Representatives voted to decide the election.
Clay helped win victory for Adams, who made Clay his Secretary of State
days later. Angry Jackson supporters claimed that Adams and Clay had
made a “corrupt bargain” to deny Jackson the presidency.
Chapter 8, Section 4
Two New Parties Face Off
The American System and the National
Republicans
• Adams and Clay pushed for laws
authorizing the federal construction of
roads, canals, bridges, and other public
improvements.
• Supporters of Andrew Jackson in Congress
blocked such plans at every turn.
• Supporters of Adams and Clay began
calling themselves the Adams Party or
National Republicans, later to be known as
Whigs.
Jackson and the Election of 1828
• Supporters of Andrew Jackson called
themselves Jacksonians or Democratic
Republicans. Historians now call them
Jacksonian Democrats.
• Jackson won the presidential election of
1828 by a large margin.
• Many men who did not own property
were allowed to vote for the first time.
These voters chose Jackson, the candidate
they felt was a man of the people.
Election of 1828
• Jackson: 647,286 popular votes and 178
electoral votes
• J.Q. Adams: 508,064 popular votes and 83
electoral votes
The Growth of Nationalism—
Assessment
Chapter 8, Section 4
Which of the following statements was part of the Monroe Doctrine?
(A) Congress had the authority to charter the Bank of America.
(B) The United States would not interfere in European internal affairs.
(C) The House of Representatives would decide an election in which no candidate won a
majority.
(D) The northern border of the United States would be set at 49˚ North latitude.
What did supporters of Adams and Clay call their political party?
(A) The Democratic Republicans
(B) The National Republicans
(C) The Jacksonian Democrats
(D) The Whigs
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The Growth of Nationalism—
Assessment
Chapter 8, Section 4
Which of the following statements was part of the Monroe Doctrine?
(A) Congress had the authority to charter the Bank of America.
(B) The United States would not interfere in European internal affairs.
(C) The House of Representatives would decide an election in which no candidate won a
majority.
(D) The northern border of the United States would be set at 49˚ North latitude.
What did supporters of Adams and Clay call their political party?
(A) The Democratic Republicans
(B) The National Republicans
(C) The Jacksonian Democrats
(D) The Whigs
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Chapter 8, Section 5
The Age of Jackson
• How did American government and
democracy change with Jackson as President?
• How did Jackson respond to the tariff and
Indian crises?
• What political strategies prompted the bank
war?
• How effective were Jackson’s presidential
successors?
The Spread of Democracy* (White
Males Only)
• America’s amazing economic transformations at the beginning of the
nineteenth century led to equally dramatic shifts within the political
culture of the United States.
• Following the War of 1812, political power at the local and state levels
steadily moved away from the propertied elites who had dominated
American government in the years preceding the war. Government
officials were urged to express the will of the people by supporting
policies and programs that addressed the concerns of the majority rather
than a privileged elite.
The Expansion of Suffrage
• As more Americans migrated westward and new states
entered the union, property qualifications for voting
and holding office were dropped. Some older states
followed suit by either ending such restrictions
completely or curtailing them to the point that broad
male suffrage was secured by extending the vote to
taxpayers, those who served in the state militia, or
perhaps, those who worked on road construction. The
reality of partisan politics forced eastern elites to
realize that by extending the right to vote, they might
receive the popular endorsement of these new
constituents and more easily retain their power.
The Expansion of White Suffrage
• By 1840, ninety percent of the adult white
male population over the age of twenty-one
could vote in national and state elections—
note, of course, that the right of suffrage was
not yet extended to women or free blacks. As
more Americans than ever before began to
vote, the political agenda for numerous state
and national leaders began to change as
voters took a more active role in politics.
The Expansion of White Suffrage
•
Government officials were forced to respond to calls
for cheaper land, “squatter’s rights,” the abolition of
debtors’ prisons, lower taxes, and protection from
Native Americans. Greater political participation
changed several other aspects of American political
culture: the demand for newspapers covering
political events grew, outdoor political rallies were
more frequent, and national politicians began to
capitalize on large public gatherings at various
entertainment venues.
The Birth of the Democratic Party
• Meanwhile, leading Republicans struggled to
retain the political cohesion they had gained after
the War of 1812. This task became increasingly
difficult in the wake of the Panic of 1819 and the
Missouri Crisis of 1820 as sectional divisions
splintered the old Democratic-Republican Party.
Meanwhile, activists, like Martin Van Buren of
New York, worked diligently to build new political
coalitions that would take advantage of the
changing electorate in the United States.
Chapter 8, Section 5
Jackson as President
Andrew Jackson as President 1829–1837
Jackson’s
Inauguration
Jacksonian
Democracy
The Spoils
System
Limited
Government
When Jackson was
inaugurated,
supporters
immediately
rushed forward to
greet him. They
followed him into
the White House to
try to get a glimpse
of their hero, the
first President from
west of the
Appalachians.
Jackson’s support
came from
thousands of new
voters. New laws
that allowed all
white men to vote,
as well as laws that
let voters, rather
than state
legislatures, choose
electors, gave many
more people a voice
in choosing their
government.
The practice of
patronage, in
which newly
elected officials
give government
jobs to friends and
supporters, was
not new in
Jackson’s time.
Jackson made this
practice, known as
the spoils system
to critics, official.
Jackson believed
in limiting the
power of the
federal government
and used his veto
power to restrict
federal activity as
much as possible.
His frequent use of
the veto helped
earn him the
nickname “King
Andrew I.”
“Old Hickory”, Van Buren and the
Democratic Party
• In the aftermath of Jackson’s victory, the old-style deference
to an American elite gave way to a new boisterous political
culture that was based on a representative government and
sought to advance the interests of “common people.” During
the election campaign, he solidified his base in the South by
nominating John C. Calhoun as his vice presidential running
mate; after the election, he bolstered his support by
appointing Van Buren as his secretary of state and by
distributing patronage to his supporters as reward for their
loyal support. Jackson’s efforts placed him at the head of a
rather formidable political machine that not only reached the
national level, but extended downward to state and local
governments as well.
Chapter 8, Section 5
The Tariff Crisis
• Before Jackson’s first term had begun, Congress passed the Tariff of 1828,
a heavy tax on imports designed to boost American manufacturing.
• The tariff greatly benefited the industrial North but forced southerners to
pay high prices for manufactured goods.
• In response to the tariff, South Carolina claimed that states could nullify,
or reject, federal laws they judged to be unconstitutional. It based this
claim on a strict interpretation of states’ rights, the powers that the
Constitution neither gives to the federal government nor denies to the
states.
• South Carolina nullified the tariffs and threatened to secede, or withdraw,
from the Union, if the federal government did not respect its nullification.
• A compromise engineered by Senator Henry Clay ended the crisis.
However, the issue of states’ rights continued to influence the nation.
Chapter 8, Section 5
The Indian Crisis
Indian Relocation
Cherokee Resistance
Indian Uprisings
In the 1820s, cotton farmers
in the South sought to
expand into Native American
lands. The 1830 Indian
Removal Act authorized
President Jackson to give
Native Americans land in
parts of the Louisiana
Purchase in exchange for
land in the East. Although
some groups moved
peacefully, Jackson forcibly
relocated many members of
the Five Tribes, or the
Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw,
Chickasaw, and Seminole
peoples.
The Cherokee had adopted
more aspects of white
culture than any other Native
American group. When the
state of Georgia seized
millions of acres of Cherokee
land, the Cherokee brought
their case to the Supreme
Court. The Court ruled that
Georgia had no authority
over Cherokee territory, but
Georgia, with Jackson’s
backing, defied the Court. In
a nightmare journey which
the Cherokee call the Trail of
Tears, Cherokees were led
on a forced march west.
In 1832, a warrior named
Black Hawk led about 1,000
Indians back to their fertile
land, hoping to regain it
peacefully. The clashes
which resulted became
known as the Black Hawk
War. In 1835, a group of
Seminoles in Florida, led by
a chief named Osceola,
began the Second Seminole
War, a conflict which was to
continue for nearly seven
years.
Chapter 8, Section 5
The Bank War
The Bank of the United States
• Like many Americans, Jackson viewed the
Bank of the United States as a “monster”
institution controlled by a small group of
wealthy easterners.
• Supported by Senators Henry Clay and
Daniel Webster, the charter’s president,
Nicholas Biddle, decided to recharter the
bank in 1832, four years earlier than
necessary.
• Clay and Webster thought that Jackson
would veto the charter, and planned to
use that veto against him in the 1832
election.
Jackson Vetoes the Charter
• Jackson vetoed the bill to
recharter the bank, claiming that
the back was a tool of the greedy
and powerful.
•
•
Despite Clay and Webster’s intentions, the
veto did not hurt Jackson’s campaign.
Jackson won reelection in 1832 by a huge
margin, defeating Clay, the National
Republican candidate.
The National Republicans never recovered
from this defeat. Two years later, they
joined several other anti-Jackson groups
to form the Whig Party.
Chapter 8, Section 5
Jackson’s Successors
• Ill health led Jackson to choose not to run for a third term. His Vice
President, Martin Van Buren, was elected President in the 1836 election.
• Van Buren lacked Jackson’s popularity. In addition, an economic
depression occurring during Van Buren’s term led many voters to support
the Whig candidate, William Henry Harrison, in the next election.
• A month after taking office as President in 1841, Harrison died of
pneumonia.
• Harrison’s Vice President, John Tyler, took over as President. Tyler had
been chosen for strategic reasons, and the Whigs had never expected him
to assume the presidency. Tyler blocked much of the Whig program,
leading to four years of political deadlock.
The Age of Jackson — Assessment
Chapter 8, Section 5
What was the Trail of Tears?
(A) The forced march of the Cherokee into western territory
(B) Black Hawk’s journey to reclaim Native American lands
(C) An ongoing conflict with the Seminoles in Florida
(D) An act which allowed the federal government to relocate Native Americans
Why did Jackson veto the bill to recharter the Bank of the United States?
(A) He preferred to leave the decision to his successors.
(B) He thought that the bank violated states’ rights.
(C) He felt that the bank was a tool of the greedy and powerful.
(D) He wanted to lend Henry Clay support in the 1832 election.
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The Age of Jackson — Assessment
Chapter 8, Section 5
What was the Trail of Tears?
(A) The forced march of the Cherokee into western territory
(B) Black Hawk’s journey to reclaim Native American lands
(C) An ongoing conflict with the Seminoles in Florida
(D) An act which allowed the federal government to relocate Native Americans
Why did Jackson veto the bill to recharter the Bank of the United States?
(A) He preferred to leave the decision to his successors.
(B) He thought that the bank violated states’ rights.
(C) He felt that the bank was a tool of the greedy and powerful.
(D) He wanted to lend Henry Clay support in the 1832 election.
Want to link to the Pathways Internet activity for this chapter? Click here!