Transcript Document

THE ANTEBELLUM OUTLINE
Sam Chiang
11/12/2013
Period 4
The Age of Andrew Jackson

The Seventh President of the United States (1829-1837)
◦ Andrew Jackson was known as “The Common Man”. He was seen like a
common man that shared the same goals and interests with the people.
◦ Jackson expanded white male suffrage. The right to vote dramatically increased
for certain individuals.
◦ Jackson supported patronage, or the spoils system which was when a
political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its supporters,
friends and relatives as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive
to keep working for the party.
◦ Jackson despised the Eastern Elites because of their
Special privileges.
◦ Vetoed a bill that destroyed the BUS.
◦ Forced the removal of Native Americans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGfxyeuy8u8
The Bank War (1829–1837)

The Bank War was a struggle between the anti-BUS Jacksonians and the
pro-BUS citizens about rechartering the second Bank of United States
(BUS).

Jackson thought that the bank was unconstitutional, and that it would bring
corruption. He liked gold and silver coins (Hard Money) but did not like
nonfederal political funds, or “Soft Money”.
◦ It was predicted that the institution conferred economic privileges on
financial elites, violating republican principles of social equality.
Nicholas Biddle anticipated Jackson’s actions on destroying the bank.
Biddle began to present state bank notes for redemption, and to basically
contract credit.
State banks were dramatically increased in order to wipe out the
existence of a central, national bank.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zcqJvqSAjM
The Bank War Cont.
Henry Clay
Jackson vetoed a bill that then prevented reauthorization of the
bank after the bank charter expired.
◦ The veto would affect Jackson’s reelection. However he knew
the number of non elites would outnumber the wealthy.
Jackson’s prediction was correct and he was once again elected.
The bank war was importance for the rise of a two-party system.
Henry Clay was supported by the Whigs.
Congress ended the debate about the Bank of the United States,
and concluded that a central economy would dangerous for it
would disrupt the economy. The charter of the second bank
expired in 1836, giving Jackson the victory of the Bank War.
Removal of Native Americans
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Andrew Jackson did not believe that American Indians would ever
reconcile to the principals of the United States government.
Because the Cherokees were different from the other Native
American tribes, the Cherokees mounted a court challenge to the
removal order.
Congress passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830 which
permitted forced removal of the Native Americans.
However the SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States)
tried to give the Cherokees some rights to the tribal lands, creating
the case of Worcester v. Georgia.
The Cherokees forced removal drove them from their homeland
and across the Mississippi River, into the route to an Indian
Territory of Oklahoma. This event was called the Trail of Tears
because one quarter of the Cherokees died.
The Tariff of Abominations
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Between 1816 and 1828, the Tariffs of Abominations were
passed.
These tariffs were designed to protect the northern United States
industry.
◦ Industries had to be protected because they were going out of
business because of low-priced imported goods by taxes.
The tariffs forced many people in the south to buy goods at a
much higher price, and faced reduced income and market.
Vice-President John C. Calhoun opposed the tariff in which he
had to set up his Doctrine of Nullification.
The Nullification Crisis

The Doctrine of Nullification was created by John C. Calhoun.
◦ Claimed that the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 were unconstitutional
and null. They were opposed in the south and some of England,
so it was predicted that the tariffs would be reduced when
Jackson became president.
◦ Calhoun argued that an Act that the Congress claims is
unconstitutional can be refused. This argument was called the
South Carolina Exposition and Protest.
John C. Calhoun
Planters and Slaves in the South

The Rise of King Cotton
The cotton economic growth started to dominate.
Cotton became the most important cash crop. By 1850 it
was producing 3 million bales a year, and by 1860 nearly 5 million,
producing nearly $200 million a year.
Several contributions to this growth were:
◦
Harvesting short-staple cotton, a harder and coarser strain of
cotton, became profitable and possible because of the invention of the
cotton gin by Eli Whitney.
◦
Deep in the south, new farm lands opened up for cultivation of
cotton.
◦
Textile manufacturing became very popular in England, causing a high
demand of cotton.
Cotton Gin
Planters and Slaves in the South Cont.
The southern society
◦ A small number of southern whites owned slaves.
◦ Most white males in the antebellum south were farmers and a
few were wealthy planters. Most wealthy white slaveholders
would own an average of five slaves. Likewise between 1800 to
1860, the cost of slave labor rose.
◦ Wealthy white landowning planters would own 40-50 slaves and
800 or more slaves.
◦ Southern white women had special burdens. The birth rate was
nearly 20 percent higher than that of the nation as a whole.
Women were not exposed to education; a quarter of all white
women over 20 years old were illiterate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoX5ttaE9fI
Planters and Slaves in the South Cont.
The slave society
◦ Slaves were forced to separate from their friends and family. However
they still managed social networks.
◦ The number of American-born slaves increased, causing the South’s
slave labor force to increase as well.
◦ Slave codes existed in the south, giving some free slaves to hold
property, and leave their masters’ land without permission. However
the codes also prohibited whites from teaching slaves how to read and
write; slaves also couldn’t testify under oath or even marry. However
marriage was still managed discretely.
◦ The Task and Gang Systems were methods of assigning slaves labor.
The task system gave slaves one task during the day, and for the rest of
the day the slaves were free. Gang systems divided slaves into groups;
the slaves were then compelled to do as many hours their overseer
sees fit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcGdpNGuY_8
Planters and Slaves in the South Cont.
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Many slaves created their own African American culture in order to
adapt to their restrictions and conditions.
Not many slaves rebelled. Faking illnesses and working slow were
how most slaves would resist their masters.
Some slaves were set free by their master’s will after his death.
Some masters had moral qualms and were set free.
At slave markets, slaves were sold at auctions; buyers would check
slaves like livestock. Slave prices ranged from $500 to $1700
dollars.
A Slave Market
Revolution of Transportation
The industrial revolution required an efficient system of
transportation. It was needed to create international markets.
 The canals were important transportation routes while providing
water to the towns. With canals, boats were able to carry and ship
heavy goods. It also helped open the west to trade and settlement.
 The Erie Canal was the biggest construction project in the U.S. It
could pass over hills and valleys. This route gave New York direct
access to Chicago and the markets in the west.
 By the 1820’s canals and rivers were needed as steamboats grew
in number. These boats could transport larger quantities of
manufactured goods. River traffic increased and the cost of river
transportation decreased.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx8Gikjhom0
Revolution of Transportation Cont.
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Railroads soon appeared in 1828. By 1840, more than 2818 miles
of track had been laid out in the U.S.
Farmers in the Midwest could access the urban markets in the east
with railroads. Railroads became the most efficient transportation
system, and slowly replaced canals.
Role of Women
Women in Antebellum America had their own roles.
The “Republican motherhood” was a concept that
pressed the idea that women should serve the role of being a wife and
a mother. The republican mothers would only be concerned with the
domestic family and religion.
The concepts of “Republican motherhood” and the Cult of
Domesticity were raised after acknowledging the fact that
women in America could not perform many civil tasks or even
vote.
Women would work in textile mills in Lowell, Massachusetts
in the early nineteenth century. The Lowell System relied on young
unmarried women; they were the majority of the workers. Women
had decent wages but many lived in loneliness and bitterness.
However Irish immigrants replaced the girls before the civil war.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkJwOYagvuI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL2DfxIMdjQ
Changing the Roles of Women

Middle class women began starting a Women’s movement.
◦ Educational and voting rights were major factors that were
promoted during the reform.
◦ Women suffered from traditional restrictions by society and
from the doctrine of “separate spheres”.
◦ Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretius Mott led the
Seneca Falls Convention to discuss women’s rights. Their
biggest goal was women's suffrage, or the right to vote. The
“Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions” was an
example formed by the convention that demanded more rights.
 Many women argued that “men and women were created equal”.
Women’s rights to retain property after marriage as well as
divorce and child custody rights were also promoted in the
Seneca Falls Convention.
http://nchs.ss.ucla.edu/previews/NH163-preview.pdf
Changing the Roles of Women Cont.
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Susan B. Anthony was an important American civil rights leader
and activist that played a role in the women’s rights movement and
the movement of introducing women’s suffrage.
An important example of the advancement of the roles of women
was Dorothea Dix. She was an activist that created the first
generation of American mental asylums.
Susan B. Anthony
Dorothea Dix
Abolition and Abolitionists
Abolitionism was the movement to end slavery.
 Preachers like Charles Finney and Lyman Beecher led the
Second Great Awakening, a Protestant revival movement,
beginning around 1790.
 The Second Great Awakening religious revival promoted doing
good things to the society, therefore influenced people to accept
abolition. More people began to realize the moral issue with
slavery.
 More example of attempts of abolitionism is the creation of
American Colonization Society. People in this society, mostly
in the middle class, attempted to free slaves to Africa.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im0vauVUsz8
Abolition and Abolitionists Cont.
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William Lloyd Garrison, a liberator, was one of the first
founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society. He promoted
“immediate emancipation” of the slaves and also supported
women’s rights, causing a society split in 1840 because of basic
differences and approach; some people the members were more
radical than others.
William Lloyd Garrison
Abolition and Abolitionists Cont.
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Frederick Douglass was one of the most important black
abolitionists. His amazing oratory helped prove that slaves still had
the capacity to act as normal citizens with great intellectual
capacity. He believed in equality of all people; black, female, white,
or immigrant.
An example of a female abolitionist is Sarah Moore Grimke. She
was the first women to ever publically support the rights of women
and abolition.
Frederick Douglass
Sara Moore Grimke
Transcendentalism and
Utopian Communities
Transcendentalism is a religious and philosophical movement that
started in the 1820s and 1830s, mostly led by Henry David Thoreau
and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Transcendentalists believed that the society and organized parties
would corrupt the purity of individuals. This theory influence many minds
of America.
Utopians believed that if people had conscience wills they would have
better lives. Brook farm and the Oneida Community were examples of
communal living, a place of a perfect community. New Harmony was
another experiment where everyone would live in total equality; however
it failed because of economic problems.
The transcendentalists and Utopians would have similar qualities but were
viewed as different groups. These societies were created in hope of
creating a perfect society.
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap4/4intro.html
Cultural Advances
Educational advancements began in the 19th century.
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McGuffey Readers were the most important and used
textbooks in schools. An estimated of at least 120 million copies
had been sold between 1836 and 1960. These readers helped kids
develop reading skills through poems, essays, and speeches
supporting moral values.
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Newspapers popularized during the nineteenth century.
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The educational reform was successful as compulsory school
laws were passed, giving schools trained teachers and using taxes to
finance the public schools
McGuffey
Readers
Cultural Advances Cont.
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The Hudson River School was the first great school of American
painters, led by Thomas Cole. This school would be America’s
first school of Art. Artists here would emphasize America’s beauty.
Painting at the Hudson River School
http://desmondfishlibrary.org/DFL_Painters/Index.html