Copy the following on the first 8-10 lines of NB p. 39.

42.What is Jacksonian democracy?

43.How did Jackson use the spoils system to change the government?

Copy the following on NB p. 39. (Allow three lines for each item.)

1. Who were the candidates in the 1824 presidential election and their supporters?

2. What was the outcome of the 1824 election?3. What happened as a result of the 1824

election?4. What was the outcome of the 1828 election?5. How did expanding democracy bring Andrew

Jackson to power?6. What personal qualities made Andrew Jackson

a popular candidate and leader?7. What were the characteristics of Jacksonian

democracy?

Lesson 12.1 – Jacksonian Democracy

Today we will analyze Jacksonian democracy and the expansion of

voting rights.

Vocabulary

• spoils – loot taken in war by the winning side

• corrupt – dishonest, crooked• political party – organization committed

to helping the candidates it supports to win elections

Check for Understanding

• What are we going to do today?• What does this mean: “To the victor

belong the spoils?”• What kind of things might cause people

to describe a politician as corrupt?

What We Already Know

Disagreements between Alexander

Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson

led to the formation of political parties,

despite Washington’s

warning against them.

What We Already Know

After the War of 1812, the country settled

into a period of political unity known as the ‘Era of Good

Feelings.’

What We Already Know

One of America’s heroes from the War of 1812 was Andrew Jackson, who scored a dramatic victory over the British at New

Orleans.

The Election of 1824• By 1824, there was only

one political party, but the country had developed into three distinct regions.

• These regional differences played a major role in the 1824 election.

• Four candidates from New England, the South and the West split the Democratic-Republican party.

Secretary of State John Quincy Adams was New

England’s choice.

The South backed Secretary of the Treasury William

Crawford of Georgia.

Westerners supported Speaker of the House

Henry Clay, . . .

and Andrew Jackson, the hero of New

Orleans.

• Jackson won the most popular votes, but no one received a majority of electoral votes.

• As in 1800, the House of Representatives would have to choose the president from the top three vote getters.

The election of 1824 had an unusual outcome.

Henry Clay affected the outcome of the vote in the House of Representatives.

• As Speaker of the House, he threw his support to Adams, who went on to be chosen by the House of Representatives.

• As president, Adams later named Clay to become his secretary of state.

Adams’ appointment of Clay was very significant.

• Washington’s Secretary of State was Thomas Jefferson, who later became president.

• Jefferson’s Secretary of State was James Madison, who became the next president.

• Madison’s Secretary of State was James Monroe, who became the next president.

• Monroe’s Secretary of State was John Quincy Adams, who became the next president.

It appeared to many that Clay had supported Adams during the House

vote in exchange for his appointment as Secretary of State.

According to the historical trend, Clay’s appointment would set

him up to become president after Adams

left office.

Jackson’s supporters reacted angrily to Clay’s appointment.

• They claimed that Adams and Clay made a “corrupt bargain” to make Adams president.

• In fact, such a bargain was unlikely because Adams was a very honest man.

Jackson believed that he represented the ‘common people,’ while Adams represented only the wealthy elite.

He felt the election had been stolen from him, and that the will of the

people had been ignored.

The election of 1824 changed the Democratic-Republican Party.

The accusations of a ‘corrupt bargain’ caused the party to split between the supporters of Jackson and of Adams.

Check for Understanding

As a result of the election of 1824, the Democratic-Republican party was split into two parties by the

supporters of Jackson and of Adams.

A ask B: What happened as a result of the 1824 election?

Be sure to re-state the question in your response!

During the 1828 election, two political parties emerged.

Supporters of Adams formed the National

Republican party and Jackson’s supporters

created the Democratic party.

The election of 1828 was a bitter campaign filled

with vicious personal attacks.

Newspapers published articles that accused both sides of immoral

activities.

Jackson’s supporters made several accusations against President Adams.

• They claimed he had delivered an American girl to the Czar while serving as Minister to Russia.

• Adams was also accused of using public funds to buy gambling devices for the White House; it turned out that these were a chess set and a pool table.

The Adams campaign accused Rachel Jackson of bigamy.

• Rachel Jackson had an unhappy first marriage and the state legislature gave her husband permission to sue for divorce.

• Believing she was divorced, Rachel married Andrew Jackson in 1791.

• When the mistake became known to them, the Jacksons remarried in 1794, but the embarrassing and hurtful gossip persisted.

Many voters saw Jackson as the candidate of the common man.

• Jackson crusaded against control of the government by the wealthy.

• He promised to look out for the interests of common people.

• He also promoted the concept of majority rule.

The goal of Jacksonian democracy is to spread political power to all the people, to

guarantee majority rule.

These ideas became known as Jacksonian democracy.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

1. What is Jacksonian democracy?A. Government by the peopleB. Limited government with a

strong presidentC. Democracy in social,

economic, and political lifeD. Support for the farmer and

the workerE. More political power for the

wealthy and well-educated

Choose the description that is NOT true!

By 1828, political power had begun to shift.

• States began to allow men who were not property owners or taxpayers to vote.

• This easing of voting restrictions increased the number of voters.

• Voting was still limited to adult white males.

In 1828, the expansion of voting rights

led to a stunning

victory for Jackson, who

won the presidency in a

landslide election.

Jackson’s election was hailed as a victory for common people.

• Large numbers of Western farmers and Eastern city workers had supported Jackson.

• Their votes put an end to the idea that the government should be controlled by an educated, elite upper class.

Jackson won partly because of his reputation as the hero of the Battle of

New Orleans in the War of 1812.

Jackson won the presidency for several reasons.

Also, he was very popular among common people, who were gaining the right to vote in more and more states.

Check for Understanding

B ask A: How did expanding

democracy bring Andrew Jackson to

power?

Be sure to re-state the question in your response!

Expanding democracy brought Andrew Jackson to power because he was very

popular among common people, who were gaining the

right to vote in more and more states.

Andrew Jackson’s background was different from previous presidents.

• Jackson wasn’t from a rich family from Massachusetts or Virginia.

• He was from a poor family and was orphaned early in life.

• He had earned great wealth as a successful lawyer and land speculator.

• He was the first president who was a true war hero and he was the first president from the West.

Jackson was a popular candidate and leader because he was . . .

• not from a wealthy family, but was born poor.

• a self-made man.• a Westerner, not a Virginian.• a military hero.

Check for UnderstandingA ask B: Why was Andrew Jackson a popular

candidate and leader?

Be sure to re-state the question in your response!

Jackson suffered deep personal loss as a

result of the election.

• Shortly after he won, Rachel died of a heart attack and was buried on Christmas Eve.

• Jackson believed that the campaign attacks on her reputation had killed her.

Jackson’s election brought reforms in

the government.

Jackson introduced a practice that came to

be known as the spoils system.

He replaced many former government officials with

his supporters, to reward them for helping him

get elected.

Jackson’s opponents called

the practice corrupt, but he defended his use of this ‘spoils

system.’

Jackson defended his use of this

‘spoils system.’

• He believed that doing this broke up one party’s hold on government.

• He also felt that common, ordinary Americans were quite capable of performing most government jobs.

Although Jackson believed in Thomas Jefferson’s ideas about democracy, his election brought about several changes.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

2. How did Jackson use the spoils system to change the government?

A. He gave government jobs to factory workers in the cities.

B. He forced the National Bank’s managers to resign.

C. He gave government jobs to his political supporters.

D. He made sure government jobs went to the people best suited for them.

E. He filled his cabinet with former political enemies.