Transcript Don`t hate me just because I`m beautiful

Jacksonian Democracy
• Election of Jackson seen as triumph of the “common man” or “King
Mob”
• Founders believed common man should vote to protect himself but
superior man would lead
• Western states increasingly dropped property qualifications for voting
and made more offices elective rather than appointive
• By Jackson’s time most presidential electors were selected by popular
vote
• The beginning of the free school movement
• Increasing literacy and numbers of newspaper
• Numbers of voters increased every election as people became more
politically aware
• As voting increased, so did competition between candidates
• Growth of political parties
Party organization became more important
Parties first formed at state level
The Election of 1828 stimulated formation of political parties as both
nominees had nationwide stature- especially in states where neither
candidate was strong
Loyal party workers were rewarded with political office (the spoil system)
• The party system began the day
Adams took office due to the “Corrupt
Bargain”
• Jackson did not take firm stands so as
not to offend possible voters
• Campaign - lies and character
assassination but did bring out the
voters
• Jackson won - Adams refused to
attend the inauguration
• Jackson a symbol of the new
democracy – a man of the
people
• He was intensely patriotic
• He drew support from every
region and social class
• He believed in equality of
opportunity
• Jackson entered the presidency intent on punishing those who had
attacked his wife
• He “cleaned house” in Washington by appointing political loyalists –
believed in the principle of “rotation”
• Rotation also replaced trained workers that soon made government
inefficient (except the War & Navy departments)
• Jackson held expert knowledge in contempt believing ordinary
Americans capable of anything
• The Bank of the United States’ policies,
under Nicholas Biddle, succeeded in
keeping state banks sound
• Biddle’s policies, though sound,
provoked opposition by those who
distrusted paper money, bankers who
wanted more freedom to make loans,
New Yorkers who disliked the power of
the Bank in Philadelphia, and those
who were against monopolies
Nicholas Biddle
• Jackson was ignorant of intricate bank
dealings and was suspicious of all
money institutions
• Biddle gravitated towards Henry Clay
and the New Republicans as Jackson
became more threatening
• Daniel Webster and Clay sought to use
the issue against Jackson and urged
Biddle to renew the bank’s charter
Renew the bank’s
charter!
Webster
Yes! And we’ll
get Jackson
too!
Clay
• The re-charter bill passed
Congress but Jackson vetoed it
• Jackson insisted the bank was
unconstitutional and a dangerous
monopoly
• He withdrew government funds
and had his new treasurer, Roger
Taney, put them in state banks
that were less safe (after getting
rid of two treasurers who advised
against it)
You will
NOT get
your bank!
• Taney carried out Jackson’s orders and placed the funds in seven state
“pet” banks (one in which he owned stock)
• By 1836, government money was in 90 state banks
• With the deposits drying up in the Bank of the United States, Biddle
pressed banks to pay specie for notes hoping Jackson would be
blamed for the drying up of specie
• Commerce came to a standstill as
money became scarce and loans
ceased
• Congress complained against
Jackson
• Jackson refused to budge
• In the end, Biddle reversed policy
and money and lending flowed
freely
• Jackson was pro-Union and
disliked Calhoun personally and
his arguments about states’
rights
• Calhoun, who was vicepresident, also wanted to be
president but Jackson was
standing in the way
If I become
president we
will have
states’ rights!
“Squirrely Boy” John C. Calhoun
• Jackson believed Indians were savages and incapable of living among
settled society
• Indians inhabited regions that whites wanted for cotton production so
Jackson called for Indian removal
• Some, like the Choctaw, went without a fight. Others like the
Seminole, resisted
• The Cherokee sought to hold their lands by becoming like the white
They began farming and raising livestock
Developed a written language
Drafted a constitution
Negotiated several treaties
• Georgia would not recognize the Cherokee state – 1828 passed a law
voiding all Cherokee laws
• The Cherokee challenged the law in
the Supreme Court in Cherokee
Nation v. Georgia 1831
• Marshall ruled that the Cherokee
could not sue in federal court even
though previous rulings recognized
Cherokee sovereignty
• Jackson backed Georgia
• In 1838, The US forced 15,000
Cherokee to leave Georgia for
Oklahoma- 4,000 died (The Trail of
Tears)
Cherokee Indians
• New tariff in 1832 and Northern
agitation against slavery caused
South to talk once again of
nullification
• Southern concerns intensified by
Nat Turner uprising and planned
uprising by slave named Vesey
• Despite warnings from Jackson,
South Carolina passed a law
nullifying the tariff. It then raised
an army and supplied it with
weapons
Everybody calm
down! Let’s talk
this out!
• Jackson tried diplomacy first in dealing
with South Carolina while making
military preparations
• Jackson equated nullification with
treason – threatened to hang Calhoun
• Calhoun sought to defuse situationresigned as vice-president and as
senator tried to reach agreements
• New tariff bill was produced along
with a force bill that would allow
Jackson to enforce the tariff
• South Carolina’s appeal for support from the rest of the South went
unheeded
• Unionists within the state threatened civil war if the state persisted
• In 1833, a compromise tariff was passed along with another force bill
• War was averted but South Carolina was becoming more radicalizedconvinced that only secession could protect slavery
• Large increases in gold and silver
holdings due to
Decline in Chinese demand for
Mexican silver
English capital attracted by higher
US interest rates
Heavy English purchases of cotton
• Much of the new money flowed
into land speculation
• Increase in currency caused
prices to soar
• Land near cities was bought up
• Farmers borrowed heavily to buy more land
• Jackson became alarmed at the speculation mania- issued the Specie
Circular which made public land sales payable in gold and silver only
• Demand halted- prices sagged- speculators defaulted on debts
• Panicked depositors drained banks of specie- forcing banks to close
• Jackson approached even small diplomatic problems with forceful
and rash behavior
Britain finally opened West Indian ports to US trade but snag caused Jackson
to threaten boycott on trade with Canada
France agreed to pay for damages to US during Napoleonic wars but failure of
France to authorize funds caused Jackson to threaten war
Jackson’s actions gave US bad reputation in Europe
• The Jacksonian Democratic Party
Suspicion of special privilege and large business corporations
Distrust of the Bank of the United States
Endorsed freedom of opportunity – few restrictions by government
Absolute political freedom (for white males)
Belief that any ordinary man could perform the duties of most public offices
Jackson
• Nucleus was Clay’s National Republican Party
• Mostly made up of differing anti-Jackson factions including Calhoun’s
states’ righters
• The groups consisted of many intellectuals and wealthy businessmen
• Lacked a leader and shared ideals
Don’t hate me
just because I’m
beautiful
Van Buren
• Democrats hurt by economic depression
• Whigs passed over Clay and Webster (their views were known) and
nominated William Henry Harrison, “Hero of Tippecanoe,” and John
Tyler
• Contrasted Harrison as man of the people versus Van Buren as elite
• Log cabin and cider barrel became symbols of campaign
• Harrison elected
• Harrison did not believe in powerful
executive of Jackson – left much of
administration up to congress
• Clay and Webster squabbled over
power
• Harrison died a month after taking
office
• Tyler became president
William Henry Harrison
John Tyler
Harrison
John Tyler Trivia
• John Tyler was the only President to
serve as a Confederate Congressman
and when he died his coffin was
draped with the Confederate flag
• John Tyler’s grandson is still alive (as
of June 2011). Tyler was president 20
years before Lincoln! How is that
possible?!!
• John Tyler was born in 1790 when
Washington was President. Just 3
generations of Tylers span All of the
US presidents
John Tyler’s grandson on left