Chapter Ten

THE AGE OF JACKSON

THE AGE OF JACKSON• Andrew Jackson campaigns against John Quincy Adams in 1828

• One of the most bitter elections in U.S. history

• Jackson’s wife is publically criticized by Adams and his supporters

• Jackson wins the election and ushers in a new age for the “common man” or “self-made man”

• At this point in U.S. history, political parties had become a spectacle

• National political conventions elected candidates

• Defining Freedom

• Party battles reflected the conflict between public and private definitions of freedom

• The relationship of freedom to government power was crucial

ELECTION OF 1828

WHIGS• Were considered the revised Federalist party

• Most of the old Federalists joined

• Considered the party of progress and prosperity

• Promoted a strong federal government and believed it was necessary to promote liberty

• Believed that the role of government was to promote the welfare of the people

• Aligned with the North

• Harrison and Tyler are the party’s only two elected Presidents

• Party eventually dies because of slavery

• Most defect to the new Republican Party

DEMOCRATS• After 1830, becomes a coalition of farmers, city laborers, and Irish Catholics

• Opposed elites, aristocrats, and the Bank of the United States

• Favored expansion to the west

• Opposed attempts to impose a unified moral vision on society

• Wanted to build up industry at the expense of the taxpayer

• Supported a weak federal government

• Championed individual and states' rights

• Reduced expenditures

• Reduced tariffs

• Abolished the national bank

THE NULLIFICATION CRISIS• Jackson's first term was dominated by a battle to uphold the supremacy of federal over state law.

• Tariff of 1828 (and 1832)

• A continuation of the national tariff policy that resulted after the War of 1812 (boost business in the North by promoting American manufacturing over British competition)

• South Carolina led the charge for a weakened federal government via nullification

• Nullification is the concept that the power of state government could rule a law unconstitutional, therefore, a law could become null and void within the boundaries of the state

• John C. Calhoun (Jackson's Vice President) led the charge for nullification and became a prominent theorist on the concept

• He resigns as VP to run for Senate in order to better defend nullification

• He later leaves the Democratic Party to join the Whigs

• Essentially, the states created the Constitution, therefore, the states had the right to declare some aspects unconstitutional

• Daniel Webster (a Northerner) argued that the people, not the states, created the Constitution

THE NULLIFICATION CRISIS• South Carolina's politicians believed that the federal tariffs in conjunction with the economic

downturn of the 1820s was responsible for the growing problems in South Carolina

• The issue reaches a boiling point when South Carolina makes military preparations to resist federal authority

• Congress passes a Force Bill to authorize Jackson to use military force against South Carolina if it resisted federal law

• Also, a new treaty was negotiated that was satisfactory to South Carolina

• The crisis ends with both sides finding reasons to believe they were victorious

INDIAN REMOVAL• The expansion of cotton and slavery forced the relocation of Indians

• Also, Jackson's personal hatred against Indians led him to insist upon calling on politicians to support the Indian Removal Acts

• Indian Removal Act of 1830

• The "Five Civilized Tribes"

• Cherokee

• Chickasaw

• Choctaw

• Creek

• Seminole

• The Indian Removal law marked a repudiation of the Jeffersonian idea that civilized Indians could be assimilated into the American population

INDIAN REMOVAL• Indian responses to removal

• Cherokees go to court to protect their rights (Cherokee Nation v. Georgia; Worcester v. Georgia)

• The Seminoles fought a war against removal (one of the tribes that Jackson particularly disliked)

• John Ross led Cherokee resistance (resulted in the Trail of Tears)

• Others argue for harmony between white Americans and Indians

THE BANK WAR• The Bank of the United States symbolized the hopes and fears inspired by the market revolution

• A bank that was mostly privately owned, but supporting the needs of an entire nation

• Nicolas Biddle (Pennsylvania) was the head of the bank

• Jackson's distrust of the bank

• Owed debts to banks in his youth

• Was an ardent supporter of "hard money"; coinage

• Jackson vetoed a bill to renew the Second Bank of the United States as a result of his distrust and personal bias

• Biddle threatened to compromise Jackson's reelection campaign as a result

• Jackson's "Pet Banks"

• Soft money and hard money advocates supported Jackson's veto

• Jackson authorized the removal of federal funds from the vaults of the national bank and deposited them into local "pet" banks

• As a result, prices rose dramatically, but real wages declined

• This sets up the perfect storm for the Panic of 1837

Martin Van Buren becomes President (with Jackson’s help)

Martin Van Buren

•Andrew Jackson’s hand-picked successor

•First president to be born an American citizen

•Democratic Party

•Continued most of Jackson’s policies; kept all but one of Jackson’s cabinet members

•“Independent Treasury Plan”

• Public funds were passed from the National to State level

• Gave the Treasury control of all federal funds

• Plan did not work as Whigs were gaining ground at the local level

• Later repealed in 1841

•Van Buren advocated lower tariffs and free trade, all in an attempt to maintain the Southern Democrats

THE PANIC OF 1837• Origins

• Essentially is caused by a speculative fever

• Lots of money had been loaned to the U.S. by Great Britain

• A ton of U.S. crops failed during 1837 and the money was lost

• Great Britain demands repayment, Southerners cannot pay back

• Southerners’ credit levels and agriculture bomb as a result.

• Results

• 5 year depression

• Failure of many banks

• Record high unemployment

• Whigs blame Van Buren for the panic, but he inherited it

• Jackson’s economic policies were an issue

• His refusal to reinstate the Second Bank of the United States

• Coinage Act (everything must be paid in gold and silver to the government)

Anti-Van Buren Propaganda (circa 1837)