Transcript The Age of Jackson

The Age of Jackson
Learning Targets
• I can define “Jacksonian Democracy” as it
relates to the “common man”.
• I can compare and contrast the
relationship of Andrew Jackson and the
Cherokee during the Creek War and the
Indian Removal Act.
• I can assess the impacts of Andrew
Jackson’s policies on Native American
relations.
The Age of Jackson
• Problems between North and South
continue
• People moved west and settled more land
• Native Americans were forced form their
homelands
• “Jacksonian Democracy” becomes a
common thread in American Culture
Andrew Jackson
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President for the common man.
Born in a log cabin.
Son of poor farmers
Age 13 he fought in Revolutionary War
Age 14 he was an orphan
Later became a famous general that
defeated the British in the Battle of New
Orleans
Andrew Jackson
• Lived on the Frontier in Tennessee
• Studied law and politics
• Jackson joined the DemocraticRepublicans but later he split this political
party in two
• Jackson’s side became known as the
Democratic Party
Democratic Party
• Andrew Jackson (a southerner) created a
party that stood for states rights and for
taking government control away from the
rich.
• He stood for the common people.
• 1828 Jackson became president, even
though by then he was rich and owned
slaves, he was still a “man of the people”.
• What does it mean to be a man of the
people?
• What does it mean to a president for the
common man?
• What does it mean to stand for the
common people?
Problems between North and
South
• The fight over tariffs
• Tariffs were good for the North and bad for
the South.
• Tariffs are taxes on imported goods and
raised the prices on goods from outside
the United States
Tariffs in the South
• Tariffs were bad for people in the South
• In the South many plantation farmers sold
their goods to European nations
• Cotton was in huge demand in Europe but
because of the tariffs the United States
had on imports, other European countries
put tariffs on United States exports
• So people in Europe paid more for US
cotton
Tariffs
• Southerners also liked to buy cheap
European goods but because of tariffs
they had to pay more for them.
• Everything cost more.
Less cotton was sold to Europe so they
did not make that much money.
• Why was this bad for the South?
The story of John Calhoun and
Daniel Webster
• John C. Calhoun was a southerner and
the Vice President under Jackson
• Daniel Webster was a northerner from
Massachusetts
• Both had different opinions about what
states should do because of tariffs
Calhoun and Webster
• Calhoun believed that since the states
joined the US under their own free will
then the state can decide if a federal law
has to be obeyed.
• This was called nullification.
Calhoun and Webster
• Daniel Webster believed that it wasn’t the
states that made up the Union but it was
“made by the people, for the people, and
answerable to the people”
• Meaning that the states had to follow the
federal laws for the good of the people in
the Union not just where you live.
• In 1832 the tariff was raised again
Webster and Calhoun
• After the tariff was raised again South
Carolina threatened to secede or leave the
Union
• Jackson not wanting this lowered the tariff
to give the people of the south some relief
and sent troops to South Carolina to make
sure that they are following the rules and
that they do not secede.
• This angered the people of the South
Jacksonian Democracy
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Majority rule and “pure democracy”
Showed the best and worst of democracy
Egalitarian or all inclusive (for men)
Always benefitted white men at the cost of
all others
• Egalitarianism, masculine privilege, and
racial prejudice
• Do we see this in today’s world?
Settling the lands to the West
• During the Presidency of Jackson more people
continued to move west
• That meant more and more Native Americans
were pushed from their homelands.
• A new idea spread across the nation “Manifest
Destiny” or Clear Destiny, the United States
would settle all the land to the Pacific Ocean.
• One problem, the Native Americans they did not
have the same idea and feared losing more of
their land
The Indian Removal Act of 1830
• Settlers and Indians were fighting over land
rights.
• The land to the east of the Mississippi River was
prime or excellent land.
• The white settlers wanted it and the Cherokee
and other Indian tribes lived there
• In 1830 the US government forced all Native
American tribes living east of the Mississippi to
move west of the Mississippi to Indian Territory
Trail of Tears
• The Cherokee Nation refused to leave
their land
• They were the largest Indian group in the
east
• They lived like most other people in
Georgia, they went to school, had farms
and businesses, and had their own written
language.
• Some even owned slaves
Trail of Tears
• The Cherokee sued the state government
of Georgia to stay and the government
said NO
• The United States Supreme Court sided
with the Cherokee
• Jackson responded by saying, “let the
court enforce their decision” and continued
to remove the Cherokee from their land
Trail of Tears
• The Cherokee left behind their homes and
land and entire towns to go to the new
land to the west.
• All they had worked for was gone.
• Most Cherokee walked the trail to the new
land others used horse and wagons to
travel the 100s of mile
• More than 25% of the Cherokees died
during this journey called the Trail of Tears