Transcript The Jackson Era 1824-1845 - Grade-8-Social

The Jackson Era 1824-1845
1) How did political beliefs and events shape Andrew Jackson’s
presidency?
2) How did Andrew Jackson’s presidency affect Native Americans?
3) How do economic issues affect the president and presidential
elections?
James Monroe held the Presidency for two terms, but declined to run for a
third term.
John Quincy Adams, son of the former President John Adams, was elected as
the 6th President. However, there were rumors of corruption and “making
deals” that got Adams elected so his Presidency was always tainted with a
dark cloud. He only lasted one term.
By 1828, the Republican Party had divided into two separate parties:
Democratic
Republicans
National
Republicans
“Democrats”
“Republicans”
Favored states’ rights
Mistrusted strong central
government
Working class
Wanted a strong central
government
Supported federal
projects (road-building)
Merchants, wealthy
farmers
During the campaign, both parties resorted to mudslinging, or attempts to ruin
the other opponents’ reputations with insults.
Election slogans, rallies, buttons and events such as barbecues were also used to
stir up enthusiasm. All of these new features became a permanent part of
American political life.
Andrew Jackson won the election of 1828, making him the 7th President of the
United States. John C. Calhoun became his Vice President.
Jackson was the first “people’s President.” Born in a log cabin, he was a selfmade man, a patriot and a war hero. He was nicknamed “Old Hickory” because
his troops said he was as tough as a hickory stick. Small farmers, craftspeople
and others who felt left out of the expanding American economy loved Jackson.
They felt that his rise from a log cabin to the White House demonstrated the
“American Dream,” the great American success story.
Jackson promised “equal protection and equal benefits” for all Americans – at
least for all white American men.
In the nation’s early years, only men who owned property or paid taxes had
suffrage, the right to vote. Jackson extended the right to vote to all white men.
Women, however, could not vote. African Americans and Native Americans and
few rights of any kind.
Jackson instituted the “spoils system.” When a new President gets elected, he
brings all his supporters with him into the government jobs and the people that
supported the old President have to leave.
The Tariff Debate
Tariffs made European goods more
expensive. Northeastern factory
owners loved tariffs because
people would buy American
products. Southerners hated them
because tariffs made products
more expensive for them.
IN 1832, South Carolina passed the
Nullification Act, declaring it would
not pay the tariffs because they
were “illegal.” S.C. threatened to
secede, or break away, from the
Union.
Jackson eased the crisis by passing a bill that would gradually lower the tariffs.
At the same time, however, Jackson had Congress pass the Force Bill, allowing
him to use the military to enforce acts of Congress.
South Carolina accepted the new tariff but
nullified the Force Bill.
Guess which state was the first one to
secede from the Union and start the Civil
War?
Indian Removal Act
In 1830, Jackson pushed the Indian Removal Act through Congress. The act
allowed the federal government to pay Native Americans to move west.
Western settlers wanted the Indian
lands. Jackson had fought Indians
during the War of 1812 and had no
love for them. He felt that if he
moved them all to the western Great
Plains, they would be out of the way
of everyone forever and they
wouldn’t have any more conflicts with
them. Most Americans felt the
western Great Plains were a
wasteland that would never be
settled.
Treaties for removal were forced upon the Native Americans. In 1834, the
Indian Territory (in present-day Oklahoma) was set up to receive all relocated
Indians.
The Cherokee nation refused to give up their lands and initially were supported
by the Supreme Court in Worcester v. Georgia. Jackson, however, ignored the
Supreme Court, claiming that their decision could not be enforced.
The government persuaded a small group of Cherokee to sign a treaty called the
Treaty of New Echota, which gave up their small group’s land. Jackson, however,
claimed they signed it on behalf of the entire Cherokee nation and used it as the
legal document he needed to remove the Native Americans. The U.S. Senate
approved the signed treaty and the Cherokee’s fate was sealed.
The Cherokee that refused to
leave were forcibly removed
by the army. The Cherokee
knew they could not defeat
the army, so their leaders
gave in and the long march
to the West began.
The Trail of Tears
One of the greatest crimes the United States has ever committed against a
people. Over 4000 Cherokee died in camps and along the way from
starvation, disease and exposure to brutal weather.
Other resistance movements came from the Sauk and Fox tribes, Chicasaw,
Choctaw, Creek and the Seminole tribes. Only the Seminole people of Florida
successfully resisted their removal. After a series of wars against white
settlements, called The Seminole Wars, the government finally gave up and
allowed the Seminole to stay in Florida. Many, however, had been caught and
sent west during the wars and others had died in the fighting, so their numbers
were greatly reduced.
After 1842, most Native Americans had been moved west and lived, organized
by tribes, on reservations. Eventually, white settlers would expand into these
lands as well.
Jackson’s War Against the Bank
The Bank of the United States was a powerful institution. It held the federal
government’s money an controlled much of the country’s money supply.
For years, Jackson
attacked the Bank
of the United States
as being an
organization of
wealthy Easterners
that ordinary
citizens could not
control.
When the time came up for the Bank’s operating charter to be renewed,
Jackson refused to sign the charter, which forced the Bank to close. He ordered
the withdrawal of all government money from the Bank and placed the funds in
smaller state banks.
Jackson decided not to run for a third term in 1836. The Democrats chose
Martin Van Buren, Jackson’s friend and Vice President.
Van Buren faced opposition from a new political party, the Whigs. The Whigs had
broken off from the Republicans because they didn’t agree with them, but didn’t
like the Democrats either. They were Jackson haters.
But Jackson was still popular, and his support of Van Buren caused Van Buren to
win the election and become the 8th President of the United States.
The Panic of 1837
Soon after the election, the country entered a depression. Land valued
dropped, banks failed. Business closed, people lost their jobs. Farmers plunged
into debt and lost their land. In cities, many people could not afford food or
rent.
President Van Buren believed in laissez-faire government – government
should interfere as little as possible in the nation’s economy.
Established the federal treasury. Removed all the government money from
private banks and put it all in the federal treasury. The private banks had been
using federal money to support themselves. The federal treasury would stop
this.
With the depression in full swing, the Whigs saw a chance to win the next
election because people were unsatisfied with the Democrats.
The Whigs nominated
William Henry Harrison, a
hero of the War of 1812. He
called on John Tyler to be his
running mate for Vice
President.
Since Harrison had made a major military victory at the Battle of Tippecanoe
during the War of 1812, their Presidential campaign slogan was “Tippecanoe
and Tyler too.”
William Henry Harrison became the first Whig President.
Inauguration day, 1841, was bitterly cold. Harrison, however, insisted on
delivering his speech without a hat or coat.
He died of pneumonia 32 days later. His claim to history is that he served the
shortest term of any American president.
John Tyler, the Vice President, became the first Vice President to gain the
presidency because the elected President died in office.
Although Tyler was a Whig, he had once been a Democrat and many of his
policies favored the Democrats. Four years later, he lost re-election to
Democratic candidate James Polk. The Whigs were out of power after only 4
years.