Transcript Chapter

American Stories:
A History of the United States
Second Edition
Chapter
10
The Triumph of
White Men’s
Democracy
1824–1840
American Stories: A History of the United States, Second Edition
Brands • Breen • Williams • Gross
Fine Accommodations New York’s Astor House
completed in 1836, was one of the grandest of the
new American hotels, offering fine accommodations
to travelers who could afford to pay for them.
The Triumph of White Men’s
Democracy
1824 – 1840
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Democracy in Theory and Practice
Jackson and the Politics of Democracy
The Bank War and the Second-Party System
Heyday of the Second-Party System
Democratic Space:
The New Hotels
• Politicians spent most of their time in
hotels and congressmen, legislators
made deals there
• Became symbol of new democratic
spirit
• Almost all white males had right to vote
• The ideals of equal citizenship hardened
during this period
Democracy in Theory and Practice
Democracy in Theory
and Practice
• Democracy became preferred
description of American politics in
1820s and 1830s
• In democracy, the people were
sovereign and could do no wrong
Democracy in Theory
and Practice (cont’d)
• Traditional ideas of deference declined
further
• Equality of opportunity all important;
the resulting inequalities of reward not
really considered
• America became society of winners and
losers
Democratic Culture
• Mode of dress no longer indicator of
gentility
• Industrialism created class of low paid
workers
• Licensing abolished for doctors, lawyers
• Popular press important source of
information
• New forms of literature and art for
mass audience
Democratic Culture (cont’d)
• Many novels written for women,
melodramas popular in theater
• Painters depicted everyday life
• Poets, novelists sought to enlighten the
new public
Democratic Political Institutions
• Most states adopted universal white
male suffrage by the 1820s
• Many appointed offices made elective
• Professional politicians and stable,
statewide party organizations emerged
Democratic Political
Institutions (cont’d)
• Politicians like Martin Van Buren
promoted benefits of two-party system
 Concept of loyal opposition accepted
• Democracy spread to presidency
 Most presidential electors chosen by
popular vote rather state legislature by
1828
 Participation rates rose from 27% in early
1820s to high of 78% in 1840
Stump Speeches Political candidates of the
Jacksonian era traveled from town to town giving
stump speeches. The political gatherings at which
they spoke provided entertainment and were an
excellent source of political news. This painting,
Stump Speaking (1853/1854), is by George Caleb
Bingham, one of the most prolific democratic genre
painters.
Economic Issues
• Republican ideology from Revolution
made people suspicious of groups they
did not identify with or benefit from
 Jacksonians fear of “the money power”
• Debate over role of federal government
in the economy
Jackson and the Politics of
Democracy
Jackson and the Politics
of Democracy
• Jackson became a symbol of
democracy’s triumph
• Actions of Jackson and his party
re-fashioned national politics in a
democratic mold
• Era known as Jacksonian Democracy
Jackson Comes to Power
• “Corrupt Bargain” set motivation for
1828 election
• Tariff main agenda; resulting law
became known as “tariff of
abominations”
• Influential state leaders supported
Jackson
• Calhoun in South Carolina, Van Buren
in New York
Jackson Comes to Power (cont’d)
• Their efforts led to formation of
Democratic party, first modern
American party
• New electioneering techniques of mass
democracy born
• Mudslinging dominated campaign
• Jackson portrayed as man of the people
Jackson Comes to Power (cont’d)
• Jackson unclear about his stands on
policy issues of the day other than
Indian removal
• Jackson’s democratic stamp on his
administration
 Defended “spoils system” as democratic
 Replaced most of cabinet because of Peggy
Eaton affair
TABLE 10.1
The Election of 1824
Map 10.1
Election of 1828
Indian Removal
• Indian removal policy inherited from
prior administrations
• Jackson agreed with state complaints
that federal government had not
removed Indians quickly enough
A Falling House? Jackson’s resigning cabinet
members were, according to this cartoon, rats
deserting a falling house. Jackson is seated on a
collapsing chair, while the “altar of reform” and
“public confidence in the stability of this
administration” pillars topple to his left, and
“resignations” flutter behind him. The president’s
foot is on the tail of the Secretary of State Martin
Van Buren rat.
Indian Removal (cont’d)
• Some southern states asserted
authority over Indians in their borders
• Jackson got federal government
approval for state removal initiatives
with Indian Removal Act of 1830
• 1838—U.S. Army forced Cherokee west
along the Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears Robert Lindneux, The Trail of
Tears (1942). Cherokee Indians, carrying their few
possessions, are prodded along by U.S. soldiers on
the Trail of Tears. Thousands of Native Americans
died on the ruthless forced march from their
homelands in the East to the new Indian Territory
in Oklahoma. (Source: Robert Lindneux, American.
“Trail of Tears.” Courtesy of the Newberry Library,
Chicago/Woolaroc Museum, Bartlesville,
Oklahoma.)
Map 10.2 Indian Removal Because so many
Native Americans, uprooted from their lands in the
East, died on the forced march to Oklahoma, the
route they followed became known as the Trail of
Tears.
The Nullification Crisis
• South opposed tariff—increased prices
and endangered access to foreign
markets
• John C. Calhoun—Doctrine of
Nullification: right of an individual state
to set aside state law
The Nullification Crisis (cont’d)
• Personal relations between Jackson and
Calhoun soured
• 1830—Jefferson Day Dinner
 Jackson “to the union—it must be
preserved”
 Calhoun “to the union—next to our liberty,
the most dear”
The Nullification Crisis (cont’d)
• 1832—tariff passed, South Carolina
nullified
• Jackson threatened to send army
The Nullification Crisis (cont’d)
• Compromise
 Force Bill authorized Jackson to use
military to enforce federal law
 Clay’s Compromise Tariff of 1833 lowered
rates
• Nullification foreshadowed state
sovereignty positions of the South in
slavery debates
The Bank War and the
Second-Party System
The Bank War and the
Second-Party System
• “The Bank War” a symbolic defense of
Jacksonian concept of democracy
• Led to two important results
 Formation of opposition party to Jackson—
the Whigs
 Economic disruption
The Bank Veto and
the Election of 1832
• Jackson opposed to the Bank
• His opposition drives Nicholas Biddle to
seek early recharter of the Banks
 The bill passed easily but vetoed by
Jackson
• 1832 election
 Bank a major issue
 Jackson reelected
TABLE 10.2
The Election of 1832
Killing the Bank
• Jackson destroyed bank by removing
federal deposits
• Funds transferred to state (“pet”)
banks
• Biddle used his powers to cause
recession, attempted to blame Jackson
Killing the Bank (cont’d)
• Clay got censure of Jackson through
Senate for abusing his power (Jackson’s
withdrawal of deposits from bank)
• Destruction of bank provoked fears of
dictatorship, cost Jackson support in
Congress
A Hydra-Headed Bank Aided by Van Buren
(center), Jackson wields his veto rod against the
Bank of the United States, whose heads represent
the directors of the state branches. Bank president
Nicholas Biddle is wearing the top hat. In ancient
mythology the Hydra was a snake with many
heads; each time one was cut another would
sprout up and it would not die. (Source: Collection
of The New-York Historical Society. Negative
number 42459.)
The Emergence of the Whigs
• Whig party a coalition of forces, first
united in censure of Jackson
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
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
Clay and National Republicans
Webster and New England ex-Federalists
States-rights southerners
Anti-Masonic party
The Emergence of the Whigs
(cont’d)
• Whigs defended activist government in
economics, enforcement of “decency”
• Democrats opposed government
regulation of morality
• Democrats weakened by
 Defection of Loco-Focos faction upset over
pet banks
 Specie Circular led to the Panic of 1837
TABLE 10.3
The Election of 1836
Map 10.3
Election of 1840
Heyday of the Second-Party
System
Heyday of the Second-Party
System
• Election of 1840 marked rise of
permanent two-party system in the
U.S.—Whigs and Democrats
• Whigs supported a “positive liberal
state”—were Industrialist, successful
farmers, Protestant
Heyday of the Second-Party
System (cont’d)
• Democrats supported “negative liberal
state”—were small farmers,
manufacturing, Catholic
 Whigs believed market economy would
benefit all
 Democrats were ambivalent about market
economy
Conclusion: Tocqueville’s Wisdom
Conclusion: Tocqueville’s Wisdom
• Alexis de Tocqueville praised most
aspects of American democracy
• Warned of future disaster if white males
refused to extend liberty to women,
African Americans, and Indians
Timeline