Chapter 13

“The Rise of Mass Democracy”

Politics for the People

By the 1820s aristocracy was becoming a taint, and democracy was becoming respectable.

Candidates oftentimes came from humble beginnings, were from the west or were military leaders.

Politicians now had to bend to appease and appeal to the masses.

Western Indian fighters or militia commanders, like Andrew Jackson, Davy Crockett, and William Henry Harrison, were popular.

Jacksonian Democracy

Whatever governing that was to be done should be done directly to the people.

Property qualifications for voting were all but eliminated and voting was based on universal white manhood suffrage.

Nominating conventions replaced the caucus as a method of choosing political candidates

Voter turnout increased

Jacksonian Democracy v. Jeffersonian Democracy

Jeffersonian Democracy believed that capable well-educated leaders should govern in the people’s interest

Jacksonian Democracy believed that the people should manage government affairs

Jeffersonian Democracy reflected a chiefly agricultural society Jacksonian Democracy reflected an agricultural and rising

industrial society Jeffersonian Democracy limited democracy to chiefly its

political aspects Jacksonian Democracy expanded democracy beyond political

aspects to include social and economic factors

Voting Voting Requirements Requirements in the Early 19cin the Early 19c

Voting Voting Requirements Requirements in the Early 19cin the Early 19c

Election of 1824

Demo-Repub – Andrew Jackson– War hero from Tennessee

Demo-Repub – John Quincy Adams

– Son of John Adams and Secretary of State under Monroe

Demo-Repub – William Crawford– From Georgia– Suffered a stroke before election

Demo-Repub – Henry Clay– Speaker of House from Kentucky– Political rival of Jackson

Outcome of the Election

All 4 candidates came from the Democratic-Republican Party In the results, Jackson got the most popular votes and the

most electoral votes, but he failed to get the majority in the Electoral College. Adams came in second in both, while Crawford was fourth in the popular vote but third in the electoral votes. Clay was 4th in the electoral vote.

According to the Constitution the top three Electoral vote getters would be voted upon in the House of Representatives.

The majority (over 50%) would be elected president.

Corrupt Bargain

Clay was eliminated, but he was the Speaker of the House, and since and Clay hated Jackson, he threw his support behind John Q. Adams, helping him become president.

Clay was appointed Secretary of the State, thinking the office was a stepping-stone to the presidency.

Jackson supporters cried foul play.

John Quincy Adams, left, and Andrew Jackson

John Quincy Adams

One of the most successful secretaries of state yet one of the least successful presidents.

Minority president – fewer than one-third of the voters had voted for him.

Possessed almost none of the arts of the politician

The tariff of abomination became Adams’s biggest headache.

Tariff of Abominations

Congress had increased the tariff from 23% to 37% and then finally to 45%.

Southerners were appalled by the high protective tariff because it hurt them more.

South Carolina’s desperate situation:– Crop yield was down because the land was worn out from

excessive cultivation, while at the same time the price for cotton went down at the market because western states produced an abundant amount.

– Now with the tariff southerners had to pay more for manufactured good.

– They also feared the federal intervention on the tariff issue would lead to federal intervention on the slave issue.

Denmark Vesey

African-American leader. After many years as a slave he won (1800) $1,500 in a lottery and purchased his freedom. Intelligent and energetic, he acquired considerable wealth and influence in South Carolina. Using church meetings as a cover, he supposedly planned (1822) a slave insurrection with the intention of taking over Charleston, killing whites, and, if necessary, fleeing to Haiti. Accused by informers, Vesey was hanged along with 34 slaves.

Reemergence of the 2 Party System

End of the Era of Good Feelings National Republican

– Adams

Democrats– Jackson

Election of 1828

National Republicans – John Q. Adams

Democrats – Andrew Jackson

Jackson had support from the West and South, while New England liked Adams.

The political center of gravity was shifting west.

Victory for the common man

“Revolution of 1828”

Andrew Jackson

The common man’s president Rugged individualist Westerner and Indian fighter Had no formal education First president from the west Andrew Jackson battled

dysentery, malaria, tuberculosis, and lead poisoning from two bullets lodged in his body from duels.

Jackson used the power of the presidency on many occasions. He ignored the Supreme Court and used the veto 12 times, compared to a combined 10 times by his predecessors.

Andrew Jackson is depicted on

the U.S. $20 bill.

Jackson’s Hatred of the British

Jackson’s Use of the Spoils System

The practice of giving appointive offices to loyal members of the party in power.

Jackson replaced incumbent officeholders with members of his own party.

“To the victor go the spoils”

Jackson’s Cabinet

Jackson had a mediocre cabinet

Secretary of State Martin Van Buren as an exception.

Rarely met with his formal cabinet.

Met with an informal group of advisors that were dubbed the “Kitchen Cabinet”

Peggy Eaton Affair

Senator John Eaton, a close friend of Jackson, had married the widowed daughter of a Washington innkeeper, Margaret (Peggy) O’Neill. The local rumor mill ground out gossip that O’Neill and Eaton had had an affair prior to her husband’s death. The Cabinet wives, led by Mrs. John C. Calhoun, were scandalized and refused to attend events when she was present.

Jackson was not pleased with this tempest, remembering how deeply his late wife had been hurt by scandal-mongering. He resented Calhoun’s inability to control his wife and was disappointed when Martin Van Buren alone among the Cabinet officers defended the Eatons. In 1831, Eaton and Van Buren resigned their offices, putting pressure on the other members to do likewise. These resignations gave Jackson the opportunity to appoint Cabinet officers who were loyal to him rather than Calhoun.

Led to Calhoun’s resignation and his hatred of Jackson.

Jackson’s Veto of the Maysville Road Bill

The Maysville Road bill provided for the federal government to buy $150,000 in stock in a private company to fund a 60-mile road connecting the towns of Maysville and Lexington, an extension of the Cumberland and National Roads. The U.S. Congress passed the bill, with a 102 to 86 vote in the House of Representatives

Jackson vetoed the bill, arguing that federal subsidies for internal improvements that were located wholly within a single U.S. state were unconstitutional. Following this veto were six additional vetoes of internal improvement projects, including roads and canals.

This dealt a blow to the American System of Henry Clay.

The South Carolina Exposition

The South Carolina "Exposition", drafted secretly by Vice-President John C. Calhoun, was presented to the state's House of Representatives on December 19, 1828 by a special committee charged with formulating a response to the federal protective tariff passed earlier that year.

Argued that states should be able to nullify acts of Congress.

If passed the law would set South Carolina up for nullification of a an abolition law.

The "Exposition" made no direct impact on national policy but the theory of nullification was strongly asserted and given conceptual coherence by Calhoun's efforts.

John c. Calhoun

Senate Debate

Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina participated in this famous debate of January 19-27, 1830.

Robert Hayne

Hayne blamed the Tariff of 1828 for economic difficulties in South Carolina.

Southern politicians hoped to forge a sectional alliance to repeal the tariff. If westerners and southerners could agree to vote for the Doctrine of Nullification and cheap federal land, both regions would benefit economically.

Daniel Webster

Daniel Webster, for New England, insisted that the people and not the states had framed the Constitution, and decried nullification.

He pleaded for the Union, ending with “Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable.”

Indirectly came out against the Doctrine of Nullification.

Jefferson Day Dinner

A dinner cleverly put together by southerners hoping to influence Jackson into supporting the Doctrine of Nullification.

Jefferson was a states rights supporter and had used a form of the Doctrine of Nullification with his Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions that declared the Alien and Sedition Acts null and void.

Jackson’s Toast

“Our Union: It must be preserved”

Came out against the Doctrine of Nullification

Calhoun’s Response

“The Union, next to our liberty, most dear!”

Obviously upset with Jackson’s response

“Nullies” in South Carolina

South Carolina state legislatures declared the existing tariff to be null and void within South Carolina, called upon the state to take military preparations, and warned of secession.

President Jackson privately threatened to hang the nullifiers.

Compromise Tariff of 1833

Authored by “The Great Compromiser” Henry Clay.

The bill gradually reduce the Tariff of 1832 by about 10% over a period of eight years, so that by 1842 the rates would be down to 20% to 25%.

To save face, Congress passed the Force Bill that authorized the president to use the army and navy, if necessary, to collect tariffs.

South Carolina repealed the ordinance of nullification but as a final defiant gesture it nullified the unnecessary Force Bill.

This contemporary cartoon shows Calhoun reaching for power over the dead bodies of the Constitution and the Union. Jackson, at the far right, threatens to hang the

nullifiers.

The National Bank Issue

Jackson and his followers distrusted monopolistic banking and oversized businesses.

In 1832, Henry Clay, in a strategy to bring Jackson’s popularity down so that he could defeat him for presidency, rammed a bill for the rechartering of the National Bank—four years early.

Plan: Jackson would have to either

veto the bill or sign it. Either was, Clay felt it was a no-win situation for Jackson

If he vetoed he would upset the rich easterners

If he signed it he would alienate his western followers

Jackson’s Veto

The recharter bill passed through Congress, but Jackson killed the bill with a scorching veto.

Attached a letter to the American people explaining the veto and characterized the bank as anti-Western and anti-American.

The veto amplified the power of the president by ignoring the Supreme Court and aligned the West against the East.

Election of 1832

Democrats – Andrew Jackson

National Republicans – Henry Clay

Rise of “Pet Banks”

Hoping to kill the BUS and believing that he had a mandate from the American people, Jackson began to withdraw federal funds from the bank, so as to drain it of its wealth.

Money was put into “pet banks” throughout the country.

Led to competition among the banks which resulted in cheap money and “land fever.”

Economy skyrocketed which eventually led to uncontrolled inflation

Specie Circular

With easy credit available, sales of government lands skyrocketed from $2.6 million in 1832 to $24.9 million in 1836.

required payment in gold or silver for all purchases of government lands.

The deflationary Circular contracted the money supply too rapidly, leading in part to the panic of 1837.

Results of Specie CircularResults of Specie CircularResults of Specie CircularResults of Specie Circular

$ Banknotes loose their Banknotes loose their value.value.

$ Land sales plummeted.Land sales plummeted.

$ Credit not available.Credit not available.

$ Businesses began to fail.Businesses began to fail.

$ Unemployment rose.Unemployment rose.

The Panic of 1837The Panic of 1837

Transplanting the Tribes

Jackson’s Indian policy was to uproot them and move them to the west.

Most Indian tribes resisted forced assimilation programs but the Cherokee were among the few that tried to adopt the Americans ways, utilizing a system of settled agriculture, devising an alphabet, legislating legal code in 1808, and adopting a written constitution in 1827.

The Cherokees, the Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and the Seminoles were known as the “Five Civilized Tribes.”

Five Civilized Tribes

Worcester v. Georgia

An 1832 case in which the United States Supreme Court held that Cherokee Indians were entitled to federal protection from the actions of state governments.

Overturned a Georgia state court ruling taking land away from the Cherokee. Marshall’s ruling would allow the Cherokee to keep land in Georgia.

reaction to this decision, President Andrew Jackson has often been quoted as defying the Supreme Court with the words: "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!"

Indian Removal Act

Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, in which 100,000 Indians were moved to Oklahoma.

Thousands of Indians died on the “Trail of Tears” after being uprooted from their sacred lands that had been theirs for centuries.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs was established in 1836 deal with Indians.

Indian Removal Act

Texas

Mexico gained independence from Spain and in 1823 concluded an arrangement for granting a huge tract of land to Stephen Austin, with the understanding that he would bring into Texas 300 American families.

Texans had to become Mexican citizens, speak Spanish, practice Roman Catholicism, and give up their slaves.

Early Texas

Texas, the sparsely settled northeastern frontier of Mexico, was inadequately mapped when Stephen Austin visited there in 1821-1822 to locate and confirm a colonization grant originally made to his father. As a result of his travels, he prepared a manuscript map showing settlements in eastern Texas, annotated to show vegetation -- prairie land in yellow and wood land in green -- making it one of the earliest examples of American thematic mapping.

 

Early Texans

James Bowie inventor of the Bowie knife

Davy Crockett

Stephen Austin

Texans Declare Independence in 1836

Texans eventually outnumber Mexicans 10:1

Mexican dictator Santa Anna tried to take away their constitution

Texans led by Commander-in-Chief Sam Houston.

Battle of the Alamo

In the Texas Revolution, San Antonio was taken by Texas revolutionaries in Dec., 1835, and was lightly garrisoned. When Mexican General Santa Anna approached with an army of several thousand in Feb., 1836, only some 150 men held the Alamo, and confusion, indifference, and bickering among insurgents throughout Texas prevented help from joining them, except for 32 volunteers from Gonzales who slipped through the Mexican siege lines. Defying surrender demands, the Texans in the fort determined to fight. The siege, which began Feb. 24, ended with hand-to-hand fighting within the walls on Mar. 6. William B. Travis, James Bowie, Davy Crockett, and some 180 other defenders died, but the heroic resistance roused fighting anger among Texans, who six weeks later defeated the Mexicans at San Jacinto, crying, “Remember the Alamo!” The chapel-fort became a state preserve in 1883. Its surroundings were added in 1905, and the complex, restored in 1936–39, is now a major tourist attraction.

San Antonio Today

The Alamo

CREDIT: Moran, Percy, artist. "Battle of the Alamo." Reproduction of an original painting. Joliet, Illinois, Gerblach Barklow Co., copyright 1912.

Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

Battle of San Jacinto

The Battle of San Jacinto lasted less than twenty minutes, but it sealed the fate of three republics. Mexico would never regain the lost territory, in spite of sporadic incursions during the 1840s. The United States would go on to acquire not only the Republic of Texas in 1845 but Mexican lands to the west after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican War in 1848.

630 Mexicans were killed and 730 taken prisoner. Texans lost only 9 killed or mortally wounded; thirty were less seriously wounded. Among the latter was General Houston, whose ankle was shattered.

Surrender of Santa Anna, by William H. Huddle

Texas: An International Derelict.

Texans asked the U.S. for statehood in 1837

U.S. refused because of the slave balance issue and fear of war with Mexico

1 Mar 1836 - 10 Dec 1836 

Adopted 24 Jan 1839

Whig Party

A new party emerged called the Whigs, a group united only by their opposition to Jackson and, at first, led by Clay and John C. Calhoun.

Election of 1836

Democrats – Martin Van Buren Jackson’s hand picked

successor. Rode the coattails of

Jackson Whigs – W. H. Harrison Whig – Hugh White Whig – Daniel Webster Because of departing Jackson’s

immense popularity the Whigs only hope was to get the election thrown into the house so Harrison would win.

Van Buren won election

Jackson’s Legacy

Increased the power of the presidency with his veto power

Increased the power of the west Universal white manhood suffrage Caucus was replaced with the nominating convention Common man had more access to land because of

the cheap money available from the pet banks Abuse of the spoils system Single-handedly threw the U.S. into a depression with

his fiscal policies

Martin Van Buren

Van Buren was the first president to have been born under the American flag.

Inherited Jackson-caused depression The panic of 1837 was caused by the “wildcat

banks” loans, the over-speculation, the “Bank War,” and the Specie Circular.

Van Buren proposed the “Divorce Bill” (separating the bank from the government and storing money in some of the vaults of the larger American cities, thus keeping the money safe but also unavailable) that advocated the independent treasury, and in 1840, it was passed.

Election of 1840

Democrats – Van Buren Whigs – William Henry

Harrison “Tippecanoe and Tyler

Too.”

Harrison’s victory in the election was a protest against the hard times of the era.