Andrew Jackson

By: Anna

A.J.

Nathan

Rise of the Common man• After the end of the war of 1812 expansion and social

change followed. Many Americans moved to the new western territory. In these new western states, there was a greater sense of equality among the people than in the original colonies. Frontier life required hard work. There was little appreciation for politicians afraid to get their hands dirty.

• The first six Presidents were from the same type: wealthy, educated, and from the east. Jackson was a self-made man who declared education an unnecessary requirement for political leadership. Jackson launched the era when politicians would desperately try to show how poor they had been.

Suffrage

• Universal manhood suffrage is a form of voting rights in which all adult males are allowed to vote, regardless of income, property, religion or race.

• In the United States, universal manhood suffrage helped bring Andrew Jackson to presidency as poorer, frontier citizens felt better represented. During the first elections that saw “manhood suffrage”, it did not included African American males.

2nd american party system

• The Second Party System is a term of period used by historians and political scientists to name the political party system existing in the United States from 1828 to 1854, after the First Party system. The major parties were the Democratic Party, led by Andrew Jackson, and the Whig party, founded by Henry Clay and other opponents of Jackson. Minor parties included the Anti-Masonic Party 1827–34, the abolitionist Liberty Party in 1840, and the anti-slavery Free Soil Party in 1848 and 1852.

Democratic practices

• Jacksonian democracy promoted the strength of the presidency and executive branch at the expense of Congress, while also seeking to broaden the public's participation in government. They demanded elected judges and rewrote many state constitutions to reflect the new values. Jackson favored geographical expansion, justifying it in terms of Manifest Destiny. There was usually a consensus among both Jacksonian and Whigs that battles over slavery should be avoided. The Jacksonian Era lasted roughly from Jackson's 1828 election until the slavery issue became dominant after 1850.

Eaton Affair

• Eaton's appointment was unpopular with many Jackson supporters. To make matter worse was Eaton's marriage on New Year's Day 1829 to Margaret O'Neale Timberlake. Peggy, the daughter of a Washington inn keeper, had gained a nasty reputation for being too forward with her father's visitors when her first husband was away.

• This caused trouble between the cabinet and their spouses

Bank War

• The Bank War is the name given to the controversy over the Second bank of the united states, and the attempts to destroy it by President Andrew Jackson.

• Jackson viewed the Second Bank of the United States as a monopoly since it was a private institution managed by a board of directors, and in 1832 he vetoed the renewal of its charter.

Nullification crisis• By the late 1820's, the north was becoming more

industrialized, and the south was remaining strictly agricultural.

• In 1828, Congress passed a high protective tariff that infuriated the southern states because they felt it only benefited the industrialized north. This tariff benefited American producers of cloth in the north and it shrunk English demand for southern raw cotton and increased the final cost of finished goods to American buyers. Southern states looked to Vice President Calhoun for leadership against the tariff that they named “tariff of abomination." Calhoun argued for a less drastic solution the doctrine of “nullification." Calhoun stated, the federal government only existed at the will of the states. Therefore, if a state found a federal law unconstitutional, it would have the right to "nullify" that law within its borders. Calhoun advanced the position that a state could declare a national law void.

Tariff of 1828 and 1832

• The major goal of the tariff of 1828 was to protect industries in the northern united states which were being driven out of business by low-priced imported goods by putting a tax on them. The south, however, was harmed directly by having to pay higher prices on goods the region did not produce

• The tariff of 1832 was a protectionist tariff in the United States. It was mostly written by John Quincy Adams and reduced tariffs to satisfy the conflict created by the tariff of 1828, but it was not approved by most southern states.

Ordinance of Nullifcation• The Ordinance of Nullification declared the Tariff of

1828 and 1832 null and void within the state borders of South Carolina. It began the Nullification Crisis. Passed by a state convention on November 24, 1832, it led, on December 10, to President Andrew Jackson's proclamation against South Carolina, the Nullification Proclamation of 1832, which sent a naval flotilla and a threat of sending government ground troops to enforce the tariffs. In the face of the military threat, and following a Congressional revision of the tariff, South Carolina repealed the ordinance.

• The protest that led to the Ordinance of Nullification was caused by the belief that the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 favored the North over the South. This led to an emphasis on the differences between the two regions.

Force Bill

• The United States Force Bill, formally titled "An Act further to provide for the collection of duties on imports“.

• This bill expanded the presidential power.

• The guidelines are written out in eight sections.

Compromise Tariff of 1833

• The Tariff of 1833 (also known as the Compromise Tariff of 1833), was proposed by Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun as a resolution to the Nullification Crisis. It was adopted to gradually reduce the rates after southerners objected to the protectionism found in the Tariff of 1832 and the 1828.This Act set up that import taxes would gradually be cut over the next decade until, by 1842, they matched the levels set in the Tariff of 1816. The compromise reductions lasted only two months.

Jackson/Calhoun Split

• Kitchen Cabinet- consisted of Martin Van Buren and some of Jackson’s personal friends.

• Jackson’s secretary of war, John Henry Eaton, married a very flamboyant woman named Peggy Eaton who was a social outcast in the Washington society.

– In response to the badgering of Peggy Eaton by the cabinet wives, especially Calhoun’s wife, Jackson defended her.

– This incident further split the divide between Jackson and Calhoun as it started to become more and more obvious that they held different political and social beliefs.

Jackson/Calhoun split

• “Nullification Crisis”- Sectional crisis in the early 1830s in which a states’ rights party in South Carolina attempted to nullify federal law.

– Raised the fundamental question concerning national unity in a federal system.

– Centered around the issue of what system provided the best balance between the rights of the states and the powers of the federal government

– “Tariff of Abominations” (1828)• Imposed extremely high tariffs on textile and iron imports.

• Southerners ,especially ones in South Carolina, feared that if the federal government could pass such tariffs that they would soon attempt to pass laws to outlaw slavery ,just as Great Britain had emancipated all of the British West Indies slaves.

Jackson/Calhoun Split

• Jefferson Day Dinner (1830)– Jackson saw nullification as a threat to national unity, but Calhoun saw it as a safeguard of

the rights of the minority.

– Both the President and the Vice President were conflicted on the largest issue of the U.S. at the time.

– Jackson- “Our federal union, it must be preserved”

– Calhoun- “The Union-next to our liberty most dear. May we always remember that it can only be preserved by distributing equally the benefits and burdens of the Union”

– Calhoun lost any influence that he had on Jackson after this event. He decided to resign from office and succeeding in becoming a senator from South Carolina. He participated in

the last acts of nullification • South Carolina rejected a the tariff of 1832 and even threatened to secede

from the Union. Eventually, South Carolina settled on a revised version of the tariff of 1832, ending the nullification crisis.

Indian Removal Act

• Indian Removal Act- President Jackson’s measure that allowed state officials to override federal protection of Native Americans.

• Allowed military forces to remove Natives from their land.

• In response, the Cherokees made a valiant attempt to fight using the “white man’s weapon”, the law.

– Chief justice John Marshall ruled that the Cherokees, though not a state or a foreign nation, were a domestic dependent nation that could not be forced by the state of Georgia to give up its land against its will.

– Jackson ignored the movement and continued his support for removal

• Trail of Tears- The forced march in 1838 of the Cherokee Indians from their homelands in Georgia to the Indian Territory in the west.

– Almost a quarter of the Cherokees died along the trail.

• Black Hawk War- 1832 war in which federal troops and Illinois militia units defeated the Sauk and Fox Indians led by Black Hawk.

Rise of Sectionalism

• Internal Improvements– Jackson refused to fund internal improvements such as railroads and other

transportation measures. He defended himself by stating that it infringed on the reserved powers of the constitution.

– “Killed” the federal bank. He declared banks as unconstitutional and harmful to the states’ rights. He ordered the transfer of the money of the federal bank to the state banks.

• Webster-Hayne Debate– Famous debate between Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Senator

Robert Hayne of South Carolina on the topic of protectionist tariffs.– This debate birthed the famous quote: “Made for the people, by the people, and

answerable to the people.” Later paraphrased by Lincoln to: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

Maysvillle Road Bill of 1830(veto)

• Jackson felt it was unconstitutional for the federal government to provide funds for a road built across the borders of two or more states because it infringed on the “reserved powers” the constitution left to the states. – Claimed it should be paid for by the state

• His supporters expected him to recognize the nation’s need for better transportation & to provide federal funding for internal improvements.

Taney court

• 1836-1864• Supported economic opportunity by

denying a monopoly. So… by preventing states from interfering with interstate commerce, entrepreneurs had the freedom and security to operate.

• Taney court held that property rights must, when necessary, be secondary to the needs of the community

• Established the rights of corporations, as well as the limits that could be put on those rights.

Texas War for Independence

• Conflict between Mexico and settlers in the Texas portion of the Mexican state.– October 2, 1835 – April 21, 1836

• Why: General Santa Anna abolished the federal constitution of 1824 and replaced it with the 1835 constitution. – Americans convert to Catholicism, give up their

American citizenship, and either free or leave behind their slaves

• Resulted in establishment of the Republic of Texas (Lone Star Republic)

Formal Recognition of the Lone Star Republic

• Result of the Texas War for Independence• Texan-Americans wanted to be annexed

by the U.S.– They feared Mexican gov. would try to take

their land, so they wanted to become a U.S. state so they would have protection.

• Jackson didn’t want to admit another slave state to the union. Annexation was not pursued.

• Result: Texas was an independent country

Specie Circular 1836

• Announced that the government would accept payment for public lands only in hard currency (gold/silver) – States were printing paper money without

anything to back it up

• Result: Stopped the land speculation and the sale of public lands went down – Panic of 1837 followed