Transcript CH 11 Democrats and Whigs

Chapter 11
Democrats and
Whigs
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
The American System
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Henry Clay: Speaker of the House
– Second Bank of the United States (1816)
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Result of War of 1812
20 year charter
Headquarters in Philadelphia
Could establish branches
First semblance of a national currency
– Tariff of 1816 – protective tariff
 Encouraged domestic manufacturing
 Rates increased an average of 25%
 Favored by Northeast and West and enough
Southerners for it to pass
– Internal Improvements: roads and canals
Markets and the Law
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Courts prioritize legal principles desired by merchant class
John Marshall
– Dartmouth College v. Woodward
 Upheld charters/contracts (royal charter of 1769)
 Could not be changed by states
– McCulloch v. Maryland
 States cannot tax federal government
– Gibbons v. Ogden
 Established national supremacy regulating interstate commerce
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State courts: right to develop property for business
purposes more important than neighborhood wishes
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
The Missouri Compromise
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1819: Slaveholding Missouri applies for admission as a
state
– Congressman James Tallmadge, Jr. (NY) proposed two
amendments:
 Ban additional slaves
 Slaves born after admission emancipated at age 25
– Debate sectionalist, not moral
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Henry Clay, The Great Compromiser
– Maine, 1820, detached from Massachusetts as a new free state
– Senator Jesse Thomas (IL) and the Thomas Proviso
 No slavery north of the southern boundary of Missouri
– Missouri admitted to the Union in 1821 as a slave state; maintained
balance: 12 and 12
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Crisis brought out evidence of:
– South’s commitment to slavery
– North’s resentment of southern political power
The Panic of 1819
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Nationwide collapse in the economy
Origins of the Panic of 1819
– Drop in American foodstuff exports due to European recovery after
the Napoleonic wars
– Collapse of cotton prices
– Supply of metals for money cut off due to revolutions in Mexico
and Peru
– Easy credit and speculative boom in the U.S.
– Rise in unemployment
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Second Bank of the United States (1816-1836)
– Langdon Cheves: stopped credit and demanded banknotes be
redeemed in specie (hard money)
– “The bank was saved and the people were ruined.” (William
Gouge)
– Resentment against the Bank of the United States
The Election of 1824
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William H. Crawford (Treasury Secretary from
Georgia)
– Candidate of Van Buren and the Congressional Caucus
– States’ rights, strict interpretation of the Constitution
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John Quincy Adams: Federalist converted to
Democratic-Republican Party
– Dedicated to internal improvements
– Very successful Secretary of State under President
James Monroe
Henry Clay: American System (Speaker of the
House – KY)
 Andrew Jackson: the wild card
 John C. Calhoun (SC): only candidate for VicePresident
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“A Corrupt Bargain”
– Election thrown into the
House of
Representatives
– Rumor of a “corrupt
bargain”
 Clay and Secretary of
State appointment
Florida: 1816-1819
Spanish sovereignty from St. Augustine to
Pensacola; south not developed
 1816: American forces clash with runaway slaves
at the Apalachicola River
 1817 - 1819: First Seminole War
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– Premise was to capture runaway slaves, but really
wanted to push Spain out and claim Florida
– Gen. Andrew Jackson claimed he had permission to
invade Florida; Pres. Monroe said he did not
– Destroyed Seminole settlements and Negro posts; in
four months, controlled the Panhandle - 1818
John Quincy Adams as Secretary of State
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Adams-Onis Treaty (1819)
– Spain ceded Florida to the United States
– Defined US-Spanish border west of the Mississippi, giving US claim
to the Pacific Coast in the Northwest
– America assumed private debts against Spain up to $5 million
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Monroe Doctrine (1823)
– American continents not subjects for European colonization
– Any attempt by Europe to impose its political system on the western
hemisphere would be considered dangerous to US peace and safety
– U.S. would not interfere with existing European colonies
– U.S. would stay out of European internal affairs and wars
John Quincy Adams
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Proposed ambitious national
development plan
– Included national university, scientific
explorations, astronomical observatories,
reformed patent laws, Department of the
Interior
– “Lighthouses in the sky” = political joke
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(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
Easily portrayed as enemy of
democracy and proponent of high
taxes and intrusive government
The Election of 1828
Slander more than debate of public policy; very dirty
 Adams’s supporters attack Jackson
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Duels and brawls
Coffin handbill
Bigamist with Rachel Donelson Jackson
Strategy backfires, many see Jackson as melodramatic hero
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Jackson attacks Adams
– ”Corrupt bargain”
– Gambler and spendthrift
– Invaded Jackson’s privacy and honor by attacking Rachel
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High voter turnout and Jackson landslide (56% to 44%
popular vote)
Andrew Jackson
Robert Cruikshank’s depiction of
Andrew Jackson’s first inaugural
reception March 4, 1829.
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The Birth of the Democratic Party
Martin Van Buren – Secretary of State
 Supported Jackson, but committed to Jeffersonian ideals
 Jackson’s most trusted advisor
• Spoils System
Jackson and Indian Removal
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“Civilized Tribes” sanctioned by federal
government as sovereign nations
– Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, Seminole:
attempts at assimilation
– Resented by white Southerners as challenge to states’
rights
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1827: Cherokee Republic
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Indian Removal Act of 1830
– Written language and written constitution
– 1829: Gold discovered in Georgia
– Leaving suppose to be voluntary
– Those who stayed would be under state jurisdiction
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Choctaws: Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek (1830)
– Had to cede remaining land: over 10 million acres
– Three removals over three years
 All plagued by problems of transportation, weather, and illness
 About 1500 died during removal = “trail of tears”
– U.S government sold Choctaw land for more than $8
million
 Choctaws sued: Won lawsuit, but most of money went to lawyers
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The Cherokees
– John Marshall and the Cherokees
 Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1830) – Indians a ward
of the federal government
 Worcester v. Georgia (1832) – banned Georgia’s
extension of state rule into Cherokee territory
– “Marshall has made his decision: now let him enforce it.”—
Andrew Jackson
– Treaty of New Echota (1833): a
small faction of Cherokees signed
the removal agreement, but they
were not the official leaders
 15,000 Cherokees, led by Chief John
Ross, protested; some whites also
protested
 Cherokees placed in stockade prior to
removal
– Trail of Tears (800 miles) 1838 –
1839
 18,000 Cherokees left Georgia; 4,000
died on the trail due to cold, hunger,
and disease
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The Seminoles
– Second Seminole War: 1835-1842
 Small group coerced into signing a removal treaty in 1833;
majority declared treaty illegal and refused to leave
 Thousands of lives lost at a cost of $40 to $60 million – ten times
the amount allotted for Indian removal
 Osceola captured under a white truce flag; died in prison
 Most Seminoles left Florida
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Creeks: refused to leave
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Chickasaws: removal inevitable and did not resist
(1837 – 1838)
– Treaty of 1832 opened most of their Alabama lands to
settlers, allowed them to keep some, promised protection
– Government didn’t protect them; Indians became destitute
– 15,000 migrated west by 1837
– Government failed to protect them against white settlers
as promised
– Had to pay Choctaws for lands in the west
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Results of Removal Policy
– Strengthen Jackson’s reputation as an enemy
of rule and a friend of local “democratic”
solutions
– Reaffirmed link between racism and white
democracy in the South
– Announced Jackson’s commitment to state
sovereignty and limited federal authority
Southerners and the Tariff
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Tariff of 1828
– Passed to get Mid-Atlantic votes
– Protective tariff on raw wool, flax, molasses,
hemp, and distilled spirits
– Increased sense of Southern unease
 Diminished cotton exports
 Increased price of imports that the South depended on
 Showed willingness of other agrarian regions to make
deals contrary to interest of slave-owning South
 “Tariff of Abominations”
 Nullification and John C. Calhoun
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
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Jefferson birthday dinner toasts
– Jackson: “Our federal union, it must be preserved.”
– Calhoun: “The union, next to our liberties, the most
dear.”
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Tariff of 1832 lowered the tariffs of 1828
– South Carolina’s Nullification Convention
 Nullified Tariffs of 1828 and 1832
– Force Bill (1833) – Gave Jackson authority to lead
federal troops against South Carolina if necessary
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Compromise Tariff of 1833 – Henry Clay
▪ Reduced tariffs over a period of years
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
The Fall of Calhoun
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Break between Jackson and Calhoun result of:
– Tariff issue
– Shunning of Peggy Eaton (The Petticoat Wars)
– Release of letter regarding invasion of Florida
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Van Buren and rest of cabinet resign
– New cabinet does not have Calhoun supporters
– “Kitchen Cabinet”
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Van Buren is Jackson’s 1832 running mate and designated
successor
The Second Bank of the United States
1816 - 1836
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The Bank War
– 1832: Clay supports early recharter of the bank
– Jackson’s bank veto message
 Bank is special privilege that allows Northeastern and British
merchants to take Southern and Western wealth
 Unconstitutional; subversive to states’ rights
 Danger to personal liberties
– Election of 1832
 William Wirt Anti-Masonic candidate
– First third party; first to have a nominating convention; first to have
a platform
– “Pet Banks”
 Jackson ordered government funds be transferred from the BUS
to favored state banks
– Attorney General Roger Taney
 Speculation and easy credit resulted
Cartoon depicts President Jackson’s removal of federal deposits
from the Second Bank of the United States
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
Jackson: Balanced Budget
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Budget surplus
– Tariffs brought in more revenue
– Jackson administration spent little
– Sale of public lands brought in more revenue
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National debt paid off 1833
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
“Martin Van Ruin”
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Election of 1836
– Whigs 3 candidate sectional strategy:
 Daniel Webster (MA) – Northeast
 William Henry Harrison (IN) – West
 Hugh Lawson White (TN) - South
– Van Buren’s national Democratic party wins
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Panic of 1837
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Britain cuts off credit to firms doing business in America
Banks can’t give people hard money for notes
Demand for cotton decreases; wheat crop failed
Businesses, especially in seaports, closed;
unemployment
The Election of 1840
“Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too”
 “Log Cabin Campaign”
 “Martin Van Ruin”
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Both parties competitive in all regions
 High voter turnout
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– Harrison won 53% of the popular vote and
80% (234) of the electoral vote
 Harrison dies a month after taking office
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Signaled the solidification of the two-party
system