Transcript The Age of Jackson

The Age of Jackson
The Rise of the “Common Man”
Who were “Common People”?
 Americans
who were not rich, not
well-educated, and not slaves
 Worked hard at small businesses,
farms, or jobs
 Some lived in cities
 Some owned small farms or lived
on the frontier
Which of the following would
describe a common person?
 Hard
worker
 Has a job
 Owns no slaves
 Owns a factory
 Expects to have a
say in
government
 Has
a very large
house
 Has a family
 Wears fancy
clothes
 Has little free
time
States change election laws
In 1800s many states changed their
election laws allowing all white men to vote
whether or not they owned property.
 Women, blacks, and Indians were still not
allowed to vote
 The “common man” wanted different
kinds of laws than the educated rich men
that had been running the country since
1789.
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Election of 1824
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Andrew Jackson—frontiersman and military
hero
Henry Clay--Speaker of the House of
Representatives—also from a frontier state
John Quincy Adams—Monroe’s Secretary of
State—from the Northeast
William Crawford—Secretary of Treasury—
represented Southern planters
Result: Pres. John Q. Adams
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Jackson received more elector votes than anyone
else, but not a majority, so House of
Representatives would vote for President
Clay knew he didn’t have enough support to
win, so he convinced rep. to vote for Adams,
winning him the election
Jackson and his supporters form Democratic
Party—said to support the “common man”
Election of 1828
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Democrats new campaign strategy: Encouraged
factory workers and farmers to register to vote
Jackson gave newspaper interviews and went to
political meetings
People liked him because he was a frontier hero
who didn’t back down from a fight—spoke the
“language” of the common man (talked about
things that concerned them, understood their
point of view)
President John Q. Adams
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Was dignified man
Didn’t understand new campaign strategies,
thinking them undignified
Didn’t make speeches or go to rallies
Lost the election
Andrew Jackson (“Old Hickory”)
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Born in backwoods
of South Carolina,
orphaned at age 14,
studied law and
became successful
lawyer and land
speculator
Gained national
attention as military
leader (Battle of New
Orleans/Florida)
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Helped write
Tennessee’s
constitution and
became the state’s
first representative to
Washington.
Owned a cotton
plantation close to
Nashville. People still
tour his home, The
Hermitage, there.
“King Andrew”
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Did not always go along with
Congress, taking a strong
leadership position as
President
His enemies referred to him
as “King Andrew” as seen by
this political cartoon.
He vetoed more bills than
any other President in history
http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/viewer/viewer.html?http://ap.grolier.com/article?assetid=01514400&templatename=/article/article.htmlluxfiathttp://ap.grolier.com/images/cache/034/uh376.jpgluxfiat125luxfiat184
Tariff of 1828
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Tariff—tax on imported goods
High tariffs protect American industries from
foreign competition
South didn’t need a tariff to protect their main
industry, cotton, because it wasn’t imported, so
the result of the tariff for them was higher
prices on goods imported from Europe
South Carolina feared federal government’s
power to pass a tariff that they didn’t want
might translate into power to abolish slavery
States Rights—idea that the states should
have more rights or power than the federal
government
 South Carolina passed a state law—the
Nullification Act—to oppose tariff. They
said that a state didn’t have to obey a
federal law it didn’t like
 South Carolina politicians also talked about
leaving the “Union” (United States) and
becoming a separate country
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Jackson’s Response
“Our Union, it must be preserved.”
 Sent soldiers to fight an army raised by
South Carolina
 Henry Clay led another compromise—to
lower the tariff (charge lower tax on
imported goods)
 Crisis was over for the time, but South
Carolina still believed in states’ rights
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Jackson v. National Bank
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Banks helped the country grow by loaning
money for growth of factories, people to buy
new land for farms, and for states to build roads
and canals
Bank of the United States housed government’s
money and loaned money to smaller banks
Problems with bank administration made it
unpopular with common people
http://loc.harpweek.com/LCPoliticalCartoons/IndexDisplayCartoonMedium.asp?SourceIndex=People&IndexText=Jackson%2C+Andrew
&UniqueID=10&Year=1836
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Jackson refused to sign a bill to renew the bank’s
charter
Took all of government’s money out of the
Bank of the United States and put it in smaller
“pet” banks
Tried to keep rich from controlling money, but
in reality it allowed them to use government’s
money unwisely
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Banks started printing their own paper money—
more than they had “hard money” (gold or
silver coins) to “cover” the paper money
Land speculators made money selling western
land
Jackson tried to solve the problem by requiring
that people purchasing western land pay only
gold or silver, but banks didn’t have enough hard
money—caused nation-wide problems.
1830 Indian Removal Act
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White people wanted to settle land in West, but
many Native Americans still lived there.
Act allowed government to force Indians to
move west of Mississippi River
Cherokee of Georgia took their case to Supreme
Court—John Marshall ruled in their favor, but
Jackson didn’t like Indians and supported their
removal anyway.
Trail of Tears—removal of Cherokee to
Oklahoma
Martin Van Buren
Had been Jackson’s Vice President
 Jackson followed Washington’s precedent
of two terms, and helped get Van Buren
elected in 1836
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Panic of 1837
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Growth of country had encouraged banks to
loan more money than they had—banks failed
and the economy collapsed
Panic becomes a depression that lasted 6 years
Anti-Jackson people blame Democrats for
depression—form Whig party
Whig President William Henry Harrison elected
after Van Buren in 1840 (John Tyler=V.P.)
Slogan-Tippecanoe and Tyler, too!