The Age of The Age of JacksonJackson

1824-18401824-1840

Denmark VeseyDenmark Vesey

• In 1822 a free black tried to led a slave revolt in South Carolina

• Convincing the southern states that their “peculiar institution” was in danger from possible slave uprising and northern criticism

• The revolt was quickly suppressed but the fear of possible revolts left a legacy in the southern states

Corrupt BargainCorrupt Bargain• The 1824 election:

1. Andrew Jackson of Tennesseewith Calhoun as vice president2. Henry Clay of Kentucky3. William H. Crawford of Georgia4. John Q. Adams of Massachusetts

• All four were Republicans• Jackson, who avoided all the issues, gained the

most popular votes and the most electoral votes, but not the necessary majority

• Adams was second in both balloting• Clay was fourth, the American System was dead

• The 12th Amendment said the top 3 vote getters would be voted upon in the House

• Crawford suffered a stroke and was basically out of the race

• Clay, the Speaker of the House, had been eliminated so he supported Adams because he hated Jackson

• Adams appointed Clay Secretary of State, the usual position before the presidency – Jackson claimed the election had been rigged

• No evidence was found, but the claim hurt the reputation of both men, but the administration was hampered before it started

AdamsAdams• Adams was very intellectual but lacked the

ability to play the political game

• Adams proposed new roads and canals, a national university, and a national observatory

• The big issues were western land and the tariff

• Southerners approved of the roads and canals because they would help commerce, but realized that the government would have to continue to collect tariffs

• Opponents formed the National-Republicans and supported Jackson

Tariff of Abominations (1828)Tariff of Abominations (1828)

• By 1824 tariffs were often as high as 37%, but manufacturers wanted more

• Calhoun proposed a new higher tariff (45%) on imported raw materials like wool – hoping New Englanders would think the tariff too high and vote against it- thus hurting the president

• But New Englanders passed the law

• Southerners called it the “Tariff of Abominations”

• Calhoun paid the political price for the move

The South Carolina ExpositionThe South Carolina Exposition

• Southerners sold their products without a tariff but purchased products were expensive because of the tariff

• In 1828 John C. Calhoun was compelled to write anonymously “The South Carolina Exposition” calling for a nullification of the tariff by southern states or face the possibility of secession – but South Carolina was alone in the threat

Andrew JacksonAndrew Jackson

• In 1828 there were 24 states and almost 13 million people – the population was doubling every 23 years In the election of 1828 Jackson was able to turn the people against Adams

• Jackson won the popular vote and the Electoral College (178-83) – with most support from the West and South

• He portrayed himself as the “People’s President” – not an aristocrat – he benefited from a national sense of democracy

• He was nicknamed “Old Hickory”by his men and although not old aristocracy he lived in a mansion and owned slaves

• He was tough, from the west, a folk hero, but he also had tuberculosis, malaria, and severe headaches

• He let commoners enter the White House during the inauguration – they broke pottery

• Jackson’s critics called it “the reign of King Mob” other simply referred to the era as the “age of the common man”

Spoils SystemSpoils System

• This was the first election since 1800 that a new party held office

• Jackson replaced older, experienced people with younger more impetuous people – usually friends or patrons

• Jackson used the spoils system to reward people but often at the cost of experience and knowledge

• However the administration would center on the animosity between Vice-President Calhoun and Secretary of State Martin Van Buren

The Eaton “Affair”The Eaton “Affair”• Peggy Eaton was the vivacious widow of a whose

husband had committed suicide after learning his wife had had an affair with Tennessee senator John Eaton

• She had married Jackson’s secretary of war, Eaton, shortly before his appointment and quickly became the talk of the capital

• Calhoun’s wife was particularly hurtful and continually snubbed Eaton at social functions

• Some other wives were doing the same

• Jackson felt sympathy for Peggy Eaton

• Van Buren, a widower, did his best to make Peggy feel better

• Jackson turned against Calhoun and closer towards Van Buren

Maysville RoadMaysville Road

• Calhoun supported congressional funds for internal improvements

• Van Buren and Jackson had the same constitutional issues as Madison and Monroe

• In 1830 the Maysville Road Bill passed Congress

• The bill proposed the spending of funds to construct a road from Lexington (KY) to Maysville (KY) and was supported by Clay

• The road was intended to link with the National Road – but was vetoed as being a local project

Webster-Hayne Debate (1830)Webster-Hayne Debate (1830)

• The main issue of the debate was states’ rights or federal rights

• In 1829 Senator Foot of Connecticut proposed (Foot Resolution) the government restrict the sale of public land in the west

• Thomas Benton Hart of Missouri saw this as an attempt to prevent potential workers migrating westward and thus affecting eastern industry

• Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina saw the issue as a chance to solidify the strength of the south and west

• If the southern states supported the western states they could create an alliance against the powerful northern states

• Hayne said the policy which favored one section of the country over another section endangered the Union

• Daniel Webster of Massachusetts defended the federal government by stating that Hayne had misunderstood the policy and that it certainly did not favor one section over another

• Hayne was now forced to defend the issue of states’ rights

• Hayne used the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (1798) and the Hartford Convention as examples of states’ rights

• He argued that the Union was a compact and the federal government should work for the states

• Webster responded with a nationalistic view of the Constitution. If a single state could nullify a law the Union would be a “rope of sand”

• The Constitution created the Supreme Court to make decisions of constitutionality

• A state could not nullify a law nor could that state leave the Union

• The Foot Resolution was defeated

• Jackson said nothing on the issue until the Jefferson Day Dinner in Washington

• Jackson made the toast, “The Union –It must be preserved!”

• Calhoun made the next toast and promoted states’ rights

• About the same time Jackson saw old reports from Calhoun (when he was Secretary of State) that wanted to punish Jackson for his actions in Florida

• By 1831 Jackson had removed all the supporters of Calhoun from his cabinet

The 1832 Election The 1832 Election

• Jackson agreed to run again in 1832 with Van Buren as his vice-president

• South Carolinians still wanted lower tariffs and when the tariff of 1832 was passed they gained some relief, but the tariffs on cottons, woolens, and iron remained high

• The South Carolina legislature became a battleground between the nullification supporters and the Unionists

• The state adopted the Ordinance of Nullification

Ordinance of Nullification Ordinance of Nullification

• The Ordinance repudiated the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 as unconstitutional

• The state selected Hayne as governor and Calhoun to replace him as senator

• Calhoun resigned as vice-president to defend nullification

• Jackson stood firm and issued the Nullification Proclamation which declared that one state would not be allowed to dissolve the Union

• Federal troops were sent to Charleston

Force Bill (1833) Force Bill (1833)

• Nullifiers mobilized the militia

• In 1833 the president requested the Force Bill authorizing the army to use force against the state of South Carolina to enforce federal laws

• Henry Clay arranged for Congress to cut the tariff on cotton in half by 1842

• In March the president signed the compromise tariff and the Force Bill – South Carolina rescinded the nullification of the tariffs and nullified the Force Bill (token gesture of defiance)

Indian Removal Act (1830)Indian Removal Act (1830)

• Jackson believed the Indians were savages and the country was better without them

• In 1828 Jackson stated the Indians would be humanely moved to the west of the Mississippi and resettled in the “Great American Desert”

• In 1830 Congress approved the move• In 1832 Chief Black Hawk led the Sauk and Fox

tribes against the resettlement program• The Illinois militia massacred women and

children as they fled – Jeff Davis and Abe Lincoln were involved

Indian PolicyIndian Policy

• In the south the Seminoles and Creek put up stiff resistance

• In 1837 their leader Osceola was captured under a flag of truce and died in a federal prison

• By 1842 most resistance had ended

The Trail of TearsThe Trail of Tears

• In 1827 the Cherokee adopted a Constitution that said they were not subject to another other state or nation

• Georgia responded by passing a law saying that by 1830 the Cherokee would be subject to state law

• In 1831 in the Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia Marshall ruled the court lacked jurisdiction because the Cherokee were a domestic nation and they had a right to their land

• Jackson did not care what Marshall decreed

• The Cherokees “gave up” their land for other land in the Indian Territory, $5 million, and travel expenses

• In 1838 12,000 Indians set out on the Trail of Tears

• Only 8,000 survived the march to Oklahoma

The BankThe Bank

• The other big election issue in 1832 was the re-chartering of the Bank of the United States

• Jackson opposed the Bank, but under Nicholas Biddle the Bank had done well and prospered

• The Bank was due to be re-chartered in 1836, but Biddle could not afford to wait

• In 1832 both Houses passed a new charter but without enough votes to prevent a veto

• Jackson vetoed the legislation

Election 1832Election 1832

• 1832 was the first time for a third-party

• The Anti-Masonic party was aimed at creating a democracy

• The Anti-Masonic party was first to hold a national nominating convention and the first to announce a platform

• The party nominated William Wirt of Maryland

• The other parties soon copied the convention

• The National-Republicans nominated Henry Clay

• The Democratic Party (dropped the Republican) endorsed Jackson

• Without a platform the Jackson won easily (219-49)

• Wirt only carried Vermont• South Carolina gave her votes to the governor of

Virginia• Jackson saw victory as a mandate against the

National Bank• Jackson called the Bank the “hydra of

corruption” and claimed federal deposits were not safe

• Jackson focused on removing federal deposits from the Bank

• Jackson removed Secretary of the Treasury McLane from the cabinet for disagreeing and replaced him with Attorney-General Roger Taney – who shared Jackson’s fear of the Bank

• Taney started putting federal money in state banks or “pet banks” as they became known

• Biddle tried to stop the moves and show how important the Bank was by stopping loans

• However Biddle started a spree of wild speculation and the opening of wildcat banks with little or no worth

• Jackson instructed the Treasury to issue the Specie Circular – allowing only hard currency for land – contributing to the Panic of 1837

WhigsWhigs

• Jackson’s opponents joined together to form the Whigs – because it symbolized an anti-monarchy movement. Many people now referred to Jackson as “King Andrew I”

• The first signs of political power came when Clay, Calhoun, and Webster all joined forces in 1834 to challenge Jackson’s banking policies

• They were conservatives who wanted internal improvements and a market economy

Election of 1836Election of 1836

• Jackson selected Martin Van Buren as his successor

• Many believed this was simply Jackson’s attempts to serve a third term

• The Whigs were unable to nominate a single candidate and instead nominated several based on region hoping to send the election to the House, where they might have a chance

• Van Buren, the “Little Magician” barely won in the popular vote, but comfortably in the Electoral vote (170-124)

Martin Van BurenMartin Van Buren

• Van Buren was of Dutch ancestry and the first president born in the United States

• He was so skilled at politics that he earned the nickname “Little Magician”

• Much of his success was owed to his association with Jackson and when he took office it appeared as if Jackson had remove the two biggest problems – the bank and nullification

• But Jackson’s economic policies also caused the Panic of 1837

Panic of 1837Panic of 1837

• The British economy in the 1830s witnessed a severe downturn – the price of cotton dropped

• British bankers cut back on investing in America• A failure of the wheat crop in 1836 caused many

farmers to liquidate• Pet banks simply went out of business• Nearly one-third of the workforce was

unemployed• The Whigs proposed higher tariffs and an

expansion of credit, but Jackson’s policy was to leave the economy alone

• Van Buren did not believe he was responsible for fixing the problem, but he did create the “Divorce Bill”

• He tried to divorce the government from banking by creating an independent treasury

• The plan was to keep government money safe and at the same time reducing the available credit

• Even supporters did not fully endorse the idea

• The plan passed in 1840, was repealed in 1841 by the Whigs after the election, reenacted in 1846 and eventually became part of the Federal Reserve System in the early twentieth century

TexasTexas• As Americans looked for land they were drawn

to Texas which belonged to Spain

• The land had been given to Spain by the United States as part of the 1819 agreement to acquire Florida

• In 1823 the Mexican government allowed Stephen Austin to take 300 families to settle the area but there were certain rules the settlers had to follow

• The Americans basically ignored these requirements

• Adventurers like Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie went to Texas along with Sam Houston

• The settlers soon conflicted with the Mexican authorities over slavery, religion, and states’ rights (Mexico had ended slavery in 1830)

• In 1833 Austin went to Mexico City to meet with the dictator General Santa Anna, who threw Austin in jail for eight months

• In 1835 Santa Anna marched his army into Texas to suppress the troublemakers

• In 1836 Texas declared independence and names Houston commander-in-chief

• The Mexicans trapped over 100 Texans led by William Travis, at the Alamo in San Antonio

• All the Texans including Bowie and Crockett were killed in the battle

• Houston took what was left of the Texas army and retreated

• Months later at San Jacinto the Texans surprised the Mexican army and in a matter of minutes completely defeated the Mexicans

• Santa Anna was captured and he signed two treaties:a) the Mexican army would withdrew from Texasb) the Rio Grande was the southwestern border of Texas

• When he was released he repudiated the treaties

• Public opinion in America favored the Texans but the government could not open support the rebellion

• In 1837 the Texas government petitioned for annexation into the Union, but the request was rejected because of the slavery question

• To admit Texas was to increase slavery

Election of 1840Election of 1840• Van Buren was the Democratic candidate. The

Whigs united and nominated William Henry Harrison from Ohio – John Tyler of Virginia was his running mate

• The Whigs published no platform• A Democratic editor published a story saying

Harrison was too old and he should retire to a log cabin and a barrel of old cider

• Portraying Harrison as a poor western farmer alienated western farmers who turned to the Whigs

• The Whigs adopted the idea of a hard working honest farmer as symbols for their campaign

• The slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler too” quickly gained momentum

• Harrison barely won the popular vote but easily won the electoral vote (234-60)

• 31 days after the inauguration Harrison died of pneumonia- the shortest presidential term

• Clearly the people had chosen democracy over aristocracy and from 1840 onward politicians would have to solicit the support of the masses

• Also by 1840 there were two very distinct political parties

• Democrats supported:states’ rightsfederal restraint

• Whigs supported:National bankProtective tariffsInternal improvements(later – the abolition of slavery)