Transcript The Rise of Jacksonian Democracy

The Rise of a Mass Democracy
1824 – 1830
Politics for the People
• By 1820s, aristocracy was frowned upon &
democracy was respectable
• Emphasis on common people
– Davy Crockett – (semiliterate & elected to Congress)
• However, most high offices continued to be
filled by “leading citizens”
Views of Democracy
• Jeffersonian
– People should be governed
as little as possible
• Jacksonian
– Whatever governing was to be done
should be done directly by the people
• The New Democracy
– Gov’t in the hands of the
common people
– Based on universal white
manhood suffrage
Causes of this New Democracy
• Panic of 1819
– Resentment at the gov’t–granted
privileges of the banks
• Wanted gov’t to stop “embracing” banks,
substitute hard money for bank notes, &
even to abolish banks completely
• Missouri Compromise
– Awakening of many Southerners to the
importance of politics
• Wanted to protect their interest
Immediate Results
• Strong political parties emerge & viewed as
necessary
• Voter turnout increased
– 1840 – 78% of voters voted
• New style of politicking emerged
– Banners, badges, parades, etc. . .
Changes in Politics
•
Electoral College
– More started electing them directly
•
More democratic methods of nominating
presidential candidates
1. Congressional selection
2. State legislatures
3. Nominating conventions
•
1st held by the Anti-Masonic Party
Election of 1824
• Four Republican candidates
–
–
–
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Andrew Jackson
Henry Clay
William Crawford
John Quincy Adams
• John C. Calhoun was the vice presidential candidate on
both Adams & Jackson tickets
• Jackson won the popular vote but not a
majority of the electoral votes
– Vote goes to the House of Representatives
Amendment)
(12th
House of Representatives
• House would have to choose from the top 3
candidates
– Clay was eliminated / Crawford suffered a stroke
– Clay was Speaker of the House so he presided over
the hearings
• Clay met privately with Adams and assured
him of his support
• Adams becomes president in 1825
“Corrupt Bargain”
• Adams selects Clay as his Sec of State
• Secretaryship of state
– 3 of the 4 preceding sec had become president
• Adams, the 2nd choice of the people, defeated the
1st choice of the people, Jackson
• Jackson condemned Clay – “Judas of the West”
• No clear proof that agreement was made
– If so, not necessarily corrupt
Yankee in the White House
• Better Sec of State than President
• “Minority president”
– Hard to get things accomplished
• Political spoilsmen annoyed Adams
• Proposals to Congress
– Construction of roads & canals
– National university
– Astronomical observatory
** If federal gov’t could meddle in local concerns
like education & roads, what about slavery?**
Campaign of 1828
• National Republicans – • Democratic-Republicans
Adams
– Jackson
• Mudslinging / Jackson
– Mother prostitute
– Coffins / duels
– adulterer
• Mudslinging / Adams
– Gambling
– Large sums of money
– Pimp
“Revolution of 1828”
• Jackson – 178
• Jackson
/
Adams – 83
(p. 266)
– Support from West & South/ common people
• Political revolution
– Increased voter turnout
– Political center of gravity was continuing to
shift away from the eastern seaboard
to the emerging states across the
mountains
• Peaceful Revolution
– Achieved by ballots instead of bullets
“Old Hickory”
• Jackson personified the new West
– Individualism, jack-of-all trades,
opportunism, etc…
• Background
– Orphaned, brawler, no college education
– Born in the Carolinas/ moved to Tennessee
• 1st president nominated at a formal
party convention
• 1st president from
the West
Jackson’s Political Beliefs
• Suspicious of the federal gov’t as a bastion of
privilege
• Sacredness of the Union & the
ultimate supremacy of federal
power over that of the states
• Demanded prompt & loyal
support from his subordinates
• Ignored the Supreme Court on
several occasions
• Frequently used his power of veto
Jackson & the Spoils System
• Spoil System introduced into the federal
gov’t on a large numerical scale
– “To the victor belong the spoils of the enemy.”
– No party overturn had occurred since the defeat
of the Federalists in 1800
• Lead to corruption & incompetence
– “Rotation in Office”
More Victors than Spoils
• Elected as a reformer
– Swept out the Adams-Clay gang
– Insecurity replaced security & discouraged many
able citizens from entering public servant
– Men bought their positions
• Unqualified
– Built a political machines
“Tariff of Abominations”
• Congress had already increased the tariff of 1824
from 23% to 37%
– Woolen manufacturers wanted more
• Tariff of 1828 – tariff increased to 45%
– Supported by Jacksonites – manufacturing a
president
– Jacksonites believed that it would not pass;
however, it passed
– Southerners were shocked
Reaction of the Tariff of 1828
• Southern beliefs
– Discriminated against them
• Cotton was unprotective & manufactured goods were
protected
• Resulted in artificial inflation (p.263)
– Higher prices lead to a reduced volume of
purchases, in both directions
• South would suffer both as consumers & as producers
• “The South Carolina Exposition”
– John C. Calhoun
– Proposed that the states should
nullify
the tariff because it was
unjust &
unconstitutiona
“Nullies” in South Carolina
• Southerners were still angry over the
Tariff of 1828
– Were trying to get the 2/3 vote for
nullification
• Tariff of 1832 – passed by Congress
– Reduced tariff by 10%
– SC still threatening nullification & possible
secession
SC’s Response
• Clash of Nullifiers & Unionists
– Nullifiers received more than 2/3 majority
• Declared Tariff of 1832 “null and void”
in SC
• Called upon state legislature to take
any military preparations necessary
• Threatened to secede from the Union if
Washington regime attempted to
collect customs duties by force
Jackson’s Response
• Privately threatened
to hang nullifiers
• Dispatched naval and
military
reinforcements to SC
• Issued proclamation
against nullification
--Gov Hayes issued
counterproclamation
• Civil War?
The Great Compromiser
• Henry Clay (KY)
• Tariff of 1833
– Reduced the Tariff of 1832 by
about 10% over a period of 8 years
– Squeezed through Congress
– Favored by Calhoun & the South
– Opposition from New England & the middle
states
• Force Bill (“Bloody Bill”) also passed
– Authorized the president to use the army &
navy, if necessary, to collect federal tariff
duties
Issue of Slavery
• Southern reaction to the tariff
– Anxieties about possible federal interference with
the institution of slavery
• Charleston 1822- Denmark Vesey
– Free black who plotted a slave rebellion
• Washington could next take a stand on
slavery
– Strong stand against all federal encroachments
on states’ rights
– South was not developing like other regions
• Overcropped land & cotton prices had fallen
Cabinet Crisis
• Official Cabinet of 6
– Sec of State – Martin Van Buren
• “Kitchen Cabinet”
– 13 ever-shifting members
– Informal meetings with advisors
• Group did not gather in the kitchen
• Influence was exaggerated
• Not unconstitutional
Land & Indian Problems
• Adams’s land policy
– Tried to curb speculation in the
public domain
• Angered Westerns
• Cherokee Indians & Georgia
– Georgians wanted Indians out
– Adams tried to deal with friendless Indians
– Georgian governor threatened to use arms to
prevent federal gov’t from helping the Indians
Transplanting the Tribes
• 1790s – gov’t recognized tribes as
separate nations & agreed to acquire land
from them only through formal treaties
• Indians were repeatedly coerced or
tricked into ceding huge tracts of
territory to whites
• Census in 1830 – 13 million
• 1820s - 125,000 Native Americans lived
east of the Mississippi
Dealing with the Indian
Problem
• “civilizing” & Christianizing the Indians
– Society for Propagating the Gospel Among
Indians
– Congress appropriated $20,000 for
promotion of literacy & agricultural &
vocational instruction among the Indians
Cherokee Indians
• Made remarkable efforts to learn the ways
of whites
– Agriculture & private property
– Cherokee National Council – written legal code
– Cotton planters & slave owners
• Five Civilized Tribes
– Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws,
Seminoles
• 1828 - Georgia legislature declared council
illegal & asserted its own jurisdiction over
affairs & lands
• Cherokees applied to Supreme Court
Jackson & the Indians
• Supreme Court ruled in favor of the
Indians
– Jackson refused to recognize their decision
– “John Marshall made his decision; now let him
enforce it.”
• Jackson proposed removal of Native
Americans
– Uproot more than 100,000
Indians
• 1830 – Indian Removal Act
– Transplanting of all Indian
tribes east of the
Mississippi
Trail of Tears
• Countless Indians died
• Forced to newly established Indian
Territory (Oklahoma), where they were
to be free of white encroachments
• 1836 - Bureau of Indian Affairs
– Administer relations
with Indians
Conflicts Begin
• Sauk & Fox braves from Illinois &
Wisconsin lead by Black Hawk resisted
– Crushed in 1832 by regular troops (Jefferson
Davis & Abraham Lincoln)
• Florida – Seminole Indians (1835 –
1842)
– Guerrilla war in the Everglades - 1500
soldiers dead
– Costliest Indian conflict in American history
– Leader Osceola – captured
Nationalism & Jackson
• Jackson dealt nationalism a blow
– Hostile towards roads & canals
• State’s rights - federal money should not be used
for roads built entirely within individual states
• Vetoed the Maysville Rd. (KY)
• Victory for eastern & southern states’ rights
Webster – Hayne Debate
(1830)
• Robert Hayne – SC
– Condemned disloyalty of
New England during War
of 1812 & tariff
– Nullification was the only
means of safeguarding
interest of the South
– Protecting southern
rights within the Union
• Daniel Webster
– Represented New
England
– Against nullification
– “people & not the
states had framed the
Constitution”
– “Liberty and Union,
now and forever, one
and inseparable.”
Eaton Affair - 1831
• Sec of War – John H. Eaton
– Wife, Peggy Eaton, was looked down upon
because of her background
• Especially by VP Calhoun’s wife
– Van Buren gained favor with Jackson
– Jackson eventually turned against Calhoun
• Calhoun resigned as VP & entered Senate
– “Great Nullifier”
– Became a defender of states’ rights
Cement for the Union
• Each section was satisfied with its
champion
• Jefferson Day Banquet (1830)
– Jackson – “Our union, it must be preserved.”
– Calhoun – “The Union, next to our liberty, most
dear!”