In 1819, the territory of

Missouri applied for statehood

Slavery already well established there: it had a

population of about 60,000 and 10,000 of

those were slaves

When Missouri’s application was being

considered by Congress,

Representative James Tallmadge Jr. of New York introduced an

amendment prohibiting the

introduction of any more slaves into

Missouri and providing for the

gradual emancipation of those who already

lived there

So-called Tallmadge

Amendment would start controversy that would rage for the

next two years

ISSUES• By 1819, the concept of a balance of power between North and South was well-

developed– Ever since 1789, new states had come into the union more-or-less in pairs

• One from the North, one from the South– In early 1819, the Union contained an equal number of free and slave states

• Eleven each• Even balanced in the Senate, although free states had slight majority in the

House of Representatives– Admission of Missouri as a slave state would tip balance in South’s favor

• Federalists saw Missouri issue as way to revive their fortunes– By appealing to Northerners on the issue of preventing the extension of

slavery, Federalists hoped to win Northern Republicans away from the southern leadership of the party

– Wanted to create new sectional alignment of political parties that would benefit them

• A solidly anti-slavery Federalist North against a pro-slavery Republican South

IMPASSE

• Southerners blocked Maine’s application for statehood in order to force northerners to drop their support of Tallmadge Amendment– Speaker of the House Henry

Clay announced that Southerners would continue to block Maine’s application if northerners refused to let Missouri in as slave state

• Total impasse

Henry Clay

Two-part compromise broke deadlock

Engineered by Henry Clay

Called Missouri Compromise or

Compromise of 1820

Missouri let in as slave state and Maine let in as

free state

Balance in Senate remained equal—24

senators each

To appease abolitionist

sentiment in the North, a line was drawn

along southern border of

Missouri

No slavery would be allowed in

territory north of this line

WHO WON?

• Northern anti-slave groups got a firm geographic limit to the extension of slavery

• Southern pro-slave elements got the Talmadge Amendment dropped and Missouri in as a slave state

• Real importance was that this was the first issue to divide America along sectional lines– South clearly took one side and the North clearly

took the other– Division was papered over by compromise this

time but, sooner or later, compromise would be impossible

1824• Republicans had controlled White House from

1800-1824– Jefferson, 1800-08– Madison, 1808-16– James Monroe, 1816-24

• Party became so divided by end of Monroe’s second term that four men, each representing a different faction within the party, ran for president in 1824– John Quincy Adams– William H. Crawford– Henry Clay– Andrew Jackson

James Monroe

ELECTION OF 1824• Jackson ended up with the most electoral

college votes– Jackson (99)– Adams (84)– Crawford (41)– Clay (37)

• But he did not have a majority so the top three finishers were submitted to the House of Representatives and it would pick president– Clay used his influence as Speaker to sway

House to pick Adams• Clay was promised position as Secretary

of State by Adams in exchange for his support

– Jackson was outraged and called this deal a “corrupt bargain” but Adams became president

John Quincy Adams

BIRTH OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY

• Jackson worked non-stop for the next four years to construct a solid political party to support him when he ran for president again in 1828– Known as “Democratic

Republicans”• John Quincy Adams’

supported known as “National Republicans”

• Both new parties were breakoffs from Jefferson’s old Republican Party

Andrew Jackson

ELECTION OF 1828

• Ugly campaign where each candidate engaged in personal attacks– Jackson charged that Adams was

guilty of gross waste and extravagance, that he had used tax money to buy gambling devices for himself, and that he was a pimp

– Adams charged that Jackson was a murderer and an adulterer

• Had cold-bloodedly shot several of his soldiers during War of 1812

• That he lived with another man’s wife

Rachel Jackson

PRESIDENT ANDREW JACKSON• Jackson won election and

believed that he had a mandate to change things in America in a big way– Presidency did open a new era in

American politics• Jackson was real American success

story• Although born poor he became a

lawyer and the richest man in Tennessee by the time he was 40

• Also a military hero• Always claimed to be a man of the

people and a symbol of the American frontiersman

• Had a fanatical devotion from his followers

JACKSON’S PRINCIPLES

• Jackson did not have a clear program when he became president– Partly because his supporters

had diverse interests that were difficult to reconcile

– But there was one principle to which he was strongly attached

• Principle of a strong presidency and a strong national union

– Never wavered from this

JOHN C. CALHOUN’S DILEMMA

• John C. Calhoun was Jackson’s vice-president in 1828– But he had a problem

• So-called Adams tariff very unpopular in his home state of South Carolina

• Calhoun had to be strong opponent to tariff if he wanted to retain political leadership back home

• But if he opposed the tariff too strongly he would alienate voters in other states and damage his chances to ever become president

NULLIFICATION: THEORY

• Ultimate source of power of the federal government was the individual states– Because they, through their ratification

conventions, had created it• The Supreme Court did not have the power to judge

whether acts of Congress were constitutional– Each state must decided for itself whether or not an

act of Congress was constitution• States should have ultimate say regarding the

constitutionality of laws because they were the ultimate source of power– The source that had created the federal government

itself

NULLIFICATION: PROCESS

• If Congress passed a law that seemed unconstitutional:

– A state would hold a convention to examine law

• If they found it that the law was unconstitutional, they would declare it null and void within their state

• Law would remain null and void until other states made up their minds about the law in question

– If they also found it to be unconstitutional, it would be revoked

– If a majority found it to be constitutional, the state that had originally declared it to be null and void could either go along with them or secede from the Union

CALHOUN’S STRATEGY

• South Carolina published Calhoun’s theory anonymously in 1828 and declared that Adams Tariff should be declared null and void– But this is as far as they went at

this time– Calhoun did not want to push the

issue too hard and alienate Jackson• Used nullification to keep folks

back home happy but did not push it hard enough to jeopardize his national political career

CALHOUN CHANGES HIS MIND (I)

• Jackson and Calhoun had serious falling out over personal and minor political issues– Peggy Eaton Affair– Not even friends by 1832

• Jackson picks Martin Van Buren to be his vice-presidential running mate for 1832 election

– Not Calhoun• Since Calhoun no longer had

Jackson’s favor, he pushed nullification as a way to build a strong political base in the South and West

Peggy Eaton

CALHOUN CHANGES HIS MIND (II)

• Calhoun had become convinced that industrial development would never happen on a significant scale in the South– Also foresaw that the North would continue to

rapidly industrialize and thereby gain a clear dominance over the South in terms of population, economic wealth, and political power

• North would then use its superior power to attack the “southern way of life”– Would try to abolish slavery in the South

• Only line of defense for the South was nullification– Could declare northern anti-slave laws null and

void and secede if need be

SOUTH CAROLINA ACTS

• In 1832, the South Carolina legislature declared Adams tariff unconstitutional, null and void within the state, and vowed to secede if the federal government tried to use force to make South Carolina obey it

EMBEDDED DANGER

• If South Carolina was allowed to get away with its “nullification” of the Adams tariff, any state, in the future, could “nullify” any law it didn’t like– The result would be anarchy

• Congress and the federal government would become a joke as states only obeyed those laws they liked and nullified those they did not like

• Nullification, in short, was a clear threat to the existence of an united United States

JACKSON’S REACTION• Jackson reacted strongly

– Threatened to hang Calhoun from “the first tree I can find”

– Sent reinforcements to federal forts in South Carolina

– Argued that nullification was “incompatible with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object of which it was formed?”

– Claimed any attempt to secede would be treason and treated as such

– Asked Congress for authorization to use armed force to enforce tariff in South Carolina

ANOTHER COMPROMISE

• Faced with Jackson’s strong stand, Calhoun had no choice but to back down– No southern state would support

South Carolina• No way South Carolina could win a

war against the other 23 states• Jackson offered Calhoun a compromise

so he could save face– Engineered again by Henry Clay– Drop nullification in exchange for

gradual reduction of Adams tariff to zero by 1842

RAMIFICATIONS• Calhoun claimed victory

– Because he had brought about reduction of Adams tariff

– But nullification and the theory of state’s rights had lost an important battle

• Calhoun also learned an important lesson– No state could assert and maintain

its rights by independent action– Worked from this point on to

construct a strong sense of southern solidarity so the entire South would act together in the future in resisting federal authority

Jefferson had started program of

removing all Indians east of the Mississippi to west

of the river

Jackson carried out this program vigorously with

the goal of moving all eastern

tribes into the west

Even built forts along

river to make sure Indians stayed in the

West

THE BLACKHAWK “WAR”

• Fox Indians tried to re-cross Mississippi River from Iowa to return to their homeland in Illinois – Led by Chief Blackhawk– White settlers put together an

army of state militiamen and regular army troops

• Attacked Blackhawk’s camp• Slaughtered survivors who

had tried to escape to Wisconsin

– Both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis participated in this conflict

Chief Blackhawk

SEMINOLE WAR

• Chief Osceola refused to move west in 1833

• Jackson sent in federal troops to crush the uprising– But Seminoles could

not be subdued • Even after Osceola

was captured and killed

• Finally, the U.S. just gave up and left them alone

CHEROKEES

• Cherokees were most civilized tribe in the U.S.– Had their own written

language– Settled life as farmers– Even had their own native-

language newspaper• But white farmers were

anxious to get their hands on the millions of acres of good farmland they had in Georgia

SHOWDOWN• Cherokees adopted their

own constitution and declared their independence as the Cherokee Nation– Not part of Georgia but

a real independent nation

• Georgia legislature passed law authorizing seizure of Cherokee land– Cherokees appeal to

Supreme Court in response

Cherokee farm

CHEROKEES WIN

• Supreme Court issues two decisions supporting Cherokee position– Written by John Marshall– Cherokees were an “domestic

independent nation” and that no one could touch their land unless Cherokees voluntarily gave it up

– The laws of Georgia did not apply in Cherokee territory and that no white man could enter it without their prior permission

THE TRAIL OF TEARS

• Jackson refuses to enforce Supreme Court decisions

– So they went unenforced

• One year later, Cherokees were forced to give up their land and move to Oklahoma

– Trail of Tears

– Forced to walk, only bringing what they could carry with them

BIRTH OF THE WHIGS

• Jackson made lots of enemies as president– They grouped together to

form a new opposition party to the Democrats in 1834

• Called the Whigs• Made up of a collection of

different groups– Old National Republicans– Democrats who had turned

on Jackson because of his stand on one issue or another

NATURE OF THE WHIGS

• Strongest among New England merchants and manufacturers, large planters, and western farmers– Never appealed strongly to

mainstream voter• Only won two presidential

elections in 20 years– 1840 and 1848– And only because they ran a

military hero• Led by Henry Clay and Daniel

Webster of Massachusetts– Calhoun often cooperated with

Whigs but never officially joined the party