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JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACYChapter 9

President's Levee, or all Creation going to the White House, Washington, [March 4, 1829]. Library of Congress. Rare Book and Special Collections Division. Call number: E165.P72. Reproduction number: LC-USZC4-970 (color film copy transparency)

The American Nation, 12eMark. C. CarnesJohn A. Garraty

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“DEMOCRATIZING” POLITICS

• Jacksonian inauguration and the reign of the “common man”– Jefferson: believed ordinary man could be educated to

believe what was right– Jackson: insisted ordinary man knew what was right by

instinct• “Servant” replaced by “help”• Increasingly democratic elections

– Most states removed property qualifications– By Jackson’s time only Delaware and South Carolina

had electors chosen by state legislature rather than by popular vote

– Soon after 1828 presidential candidates were nominated by party conventions

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“DEMOCRATIZING” POLITICS• Emphasis on idea that every citizen equally

important and all should participate in government– Final disestablishment of churches– Beginnings of free-school movement, early interest

in adult education and slow spread of secondary education

– Increase in number of newspapers and the decline in their prices

– Increase in voting:• 1824 300,000 ballots cast• 1828 1.1 million• 1840 2.4 million

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“DEMOCRATIZING” POLITICS• With increase in importance of voting came

increase in competition among candidates– Running campaigns and getting vote out required

money, people and organized effort– Parties became powerful institutions that instilled

loyalty among adherents

• 1828 election stimulated party formation– Created bureaucracies– Devoted party workers were rewarded with political

offices– Candidates decided best way to attract voters was

by flattery

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1828: THE NEW PARTY SYSTEM IN EMBRYO

• Party system developed as result of battle to succeed John Quincy Adams

• 1828 election full of character assassination– Denigrating remarks

about Jackson’s wife and marriage

– Accusations about Adams conduct in office

Mrs. Andrew Jackson / engd. by J.C. Buttre Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA LC-USZ62-25773 (b&w film copy neg.)

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THE JACKSONIAN APPEAL

• Jackson similar to Washington– Soldier first– Inveterate speculator in western lands– Owner of plantation and slaves– Man with few intellectual interests and only sketchily

educated

• More like a southern planter than a frontiersman

• Drew support from every section and social class

• Believed in equality of opportunity and distrusted entrenched status

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THE SPOILS SYSTEM• Jackson decided to punish those who wronged him during

campaign• Political office seen as reward for victory• Removed some for incompetence• Some because believed in concept of rotation which meant

more citizens could participate in tasks of governing– Would prevent entrenched bureaucracy– Yet also inhibit governmental efficiency

• Jacksonian democracy characterized by contempt for knowledge and belief that ordinary Americans can do anything they set their minds to– Jackson actually appointed people from social and intellectual elite– Did not rotate a lot of positions especially in War and Navy

departments

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PRESIDENT OF ALL THE PEOPLE

• Jackson relied not on formal cabinet (where only secretary of state, Martin Van Buren, had any talent) but on informal “Kitchen Cabinet”

• Vetoed over a dozen bills that he deemed inexpedient

• Did not seek to expand federal authority at expense of states because favored a “frugal” constitutionally limited government

• Poor administrator, given to penny-pinching and lacking in imagination

Andrew Jackson, President of the United States, [1830]. Library of Congress. Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction number: LC-USZC4-4563 (color film copy transparency).

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SECTIONAL TENSIONS REVIVED

• Moderate course– Slight reduction in tariff– “constitutional” internal improvements– Once federal debt paid off, distribute rest among

states• If did this could not reduce price of public land which

upset westerners• Created proposal for South-West alliance based on

cheap land and low tariff• Alliance cut down by Daniel Webster

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JACKSON: “THE BANK… I WILL KILL IT”

• Jackson was re-elected in 1832 over Henry Clay– One of main issues was Second Bank of U.S.

• Bank was run by Nicholas Biddle who realized it could act as rudimentary central bank– State banks often issued more paper money

than hard currency reserves– By collecting bank notes and submitting them for

redemption, Biddle could compel local banks to maintain reserves of gold and silver

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JACKSON: “THE BANK… I WILL KILL IT”

• Biddle’s policies were good for Bank– Earned substantial profits

• But state banks pressured to print money which caused farmers to overextend themselves– Led to decline in prices and agricultural

depression– Reckless lending caused inflation and greatly

exaggerated ups and downs of business cycle

• Biddle had supporters but they were outnumbered by detractors who did not understand what he was doing

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JACKSON’S BANK VETO• After Jackson admitted his

dislike and fear of Bank, Biddle gravitated to the opposition (National Republicans)

• In 1832 Biddle asked for renewal of Bank charter due to expire in 1836

• Congress passed but Jackson vetoed saying Bank was– Unconstitutional– Inexpedient– Stock owned by foreigners

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JACKSON’S BANK VETO

• Jackson withdrew government funds from the Bank of the United States and deposited them in state banks– Had to replace two Secretaries of the Treasury before

found Roger Taney who made transfer– By 1836 funds distributed to 90 institutions

• In response to withdrawals, Biddle– Presented all state bank notes and checks for specie– Contracted own lending– Paper money became scarce and specie unattainable– In 1834, Biddle caved to pressure and returned to lending

freely

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JACKSON VERSUS CALHOUN• Jackson: “Our Federal Union: It must be preserved”• Calhoun: “The Union, next to our liberty, most dear”• Strained relations

– Peggy Eaton– Calhoun’s 1818 response to Jackson’s invasion of Florida

• Jackson’s views:– Did not believe that the area of national power was large or

should be expanded– Interested in government economy, distribution of federal

surpluses to the states, and interpreting powers of Congress narrowly

– Favored internal improvements but preferred local projects be left to states

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INDIAN REMOVALS

• Jackson’s Views: – Indians were “savage” because roamed wild in

trackless wilderness and therefore were incapable of self-government

– Ignored reality of Cherokee life– Jackson insisted that Indians must be removed

from path of white settlement but must be paid fairly for land and government must bear expense of relocating them

– Saw relocation as protecting Indians from “degradation and destruction”

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INDIAN REMOVALS

• Between 1831 and 1833 some 15,000 Choctaw migrated from Mississippi to region west of Arkansas Territory

• Resistance:– Black Hawk’s Sac and Fox in Illinois– Osceola’s Seminole in Florida

• Accommodation: Cherokee – Took up farming and cattle raising– Developed a written language– Drafted a constitution

• 1828 Georgia declared all Cherokee laws void and claimed their land as part of Georgia

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INDIAN REMOVALS

• Cherokees sued in Supreme Court• Cherokee Nation v Georgia (1831)

– Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the Cherokee were not a foreign nation and thus could not sue in U.S. court

• Worcester v. Georgia (1832)– Involved two missionaries to Cherokee who had not

obtained license required by Georgia– Marshall ruled state could not control Cherokee or their

territory– Supported this decision in follow up case when Cherokee

convicted in Georgia court sued and Marshall overturned conviction since had occurred on Cherokee territory thereby making Georgia’s actions unconstitutional

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INDIAN REMOVALS• Jackson supported

Georgia• Trail of Tears (1838)

– 15,000 Cherokees were forced to leave Georgia for Oklahoma

– At least 4,000 died on the way

• Jackson’s actions regarding Georgia convinced many southern states’ righters that he would not oppose doctrine of nullification

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THE NULLIFICATION CRISIS

• 1832 Tariff failed to lower prices enough to satisfy southerners, especially South Carolina– Upcountry cotton planters suffering competition

from more fertile Alabama– Planter aristocrats of rice-growing Tidewater

were troubled by northern criticisms of slavery• Blacks outnumbered whites two to one in region• Many were African born• 1822 planned revolt of Denmark Vesey exposed• 1831 Nat Turner revolt terrified even more

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THE NULLIFICATION CRISIS• Radical South Carolinians saw protective tariffs and

anti-slavery agitation as tyranny of the majority to which nullification was the logical defense

• Calhoun’s Exposition and Protest based on false assumptions:– That the Constitution was subject to definitive

interpretation– That one party could be permitted to interpret a compact

unilaterally without destroying it– That a minority of the nation could reassume its

sovereign independence but that a minority of the state could not

• Jackson realized if state could nullify a law of Congress, the Union could not exist

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THE NULLIFICATION CRISIS

• October 1832 South Carolina state legislature provided for the election of a special convention which wound up containing a majority of nullifiers

• November 24, 1832: convention passed an ordinance of nullification prohibiting collection of tariff duties after February 1, 1833 and authorized raising of army

• Jackson threatened to use force while also pressuring Congress to further lower tariff and warning South Carolina of the consequences

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THE NULLIFICATION CRISIS• Calhoun resigned as Vice President and replaced

Senator Hayne• Sought solution aided by Henry Clay• Administration allies introduced new tariff bill and a

Force Bill (granting president additional authority to execute revenue laws)

• No other southern states joined South Carolina• March 1833 Calhoun and Clay got compromise

tariff through Congress that lowered tariff over 10 year period

• South Carolina repealed nullification law and nullified force law

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BOOM AND BUST

• 1833 and 1834 Taney insisted “pet” state banks maintain large reserves

• Other state banks began to offer credit on easy terms because had increase in their reserves of gold and silver– Decline in Chinese demand for Mexican silver

led to increased exports of metal to U.S.– Rise of American interest rates attracted English

capital – Heavy English purchases of American cotton of

high prices increased flow of specie to banks

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BOOM AND BUST

• Bank notes in circulation jumped from $82 million in January 1835 to $120 million in December 1836

• New money flowed into land speculation where prices rose 15% in 6 months– By 1836 U.S. government had eliminated debt

and had a $20 million surplus

• Alarmed by speculation, Jackson issued Specie Circular in 1836– Purchasers must pay for public land in gold or

silver

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JACKSONIANISM ABROAD

• Reciprocal trade agreements negotiated– One with Great Britain opened British West

Indian ports to American ships

• Pressed American claims dating from Napoleonic Wars– 1831: France agreed to pay $5 million– Initially the French Chamber of Deputies

refused to pay and only after Jackson had severed relations and threatened war did Chamber finally give in

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THE JACKSONIANS

• Jacksonians of Democratic Party believed in certain underlying principles:– Suspicion of special privilege and large

business corporations– Freedom of economic opportunity, unfettered

by private or governmental restrictions– Absolute political freedom, at least for white

males– Conviction that any ordinary man is capable of

performing the duties of most public offices– Supported public education

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RISE OF THE WHIGS

• Opposition to Jackson less cohesive though clearly anti-Jackson

• Whigs: – Bankers– Those who found “pushiness and coarseness” of

Jacksonians offensive– Lawyers, ministers, doctors and other well educated

people joined due to anti-intellectual and anti-scientific bias of administration

• Problems– Too many generals, not enough troops– Could agree on little besides dislike of Jackson

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MARTIN VAN BUREN:JACKSONIANISM WITHOUT JACKSON

• Took office as Panic of 1837 hit• By 1838 the banks resumed specie payment• 1839 bumper crop caused a sharp decline in

price of cotton• States that had overextended themselves in

internal improvements were forced to default on debts

• Discouraged foreign investments• Result was economic depression that lasted

until 1843

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MARTIN VAN BUREN:JACKSONIANISM WITHOUT JACKSON

• Van Buren ignored economy

• Did pass Independent Treasury Act 1840– Called for the construction

of government owned vaults where federal revenues could be stored until needed

– All payments to the government were to be made in hard cash

• Despite criticism system actually worked for a number of years Martin Van Buren LC-USZ62-13008 (b&w film copy neg. of detail)

LC-BH82401-5239 (b&w film copy neg.) Library of Congress Prints and

Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

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WEBSITES

• Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, Compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler (1904)

http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler • The Second Bank of the United States, 1816-1836http://odur.let.rut.nl/~usa/E/usbank/bank04.htm • Daniel Websterhttp://www.dartmouth.edu/~dwebster • The American Whig Party, 1834-1856http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/E/uswhig/whigsxx.htm • National Museum of the American Indianhttp://www.si.edu/nmai