Democratic Politics, Religious Revival and Reform

1824-1840

Essential Questions

• In what ways did American politics become more democratic by 1840 than in 1800?

• What factors explain Andrew Jackson’s popularity?

Man of the People?

“King Andrew”?

OR

Voting Requirements in Early 1800s

Voter Turnout 1820-1860

Why Increased Democratization?• White male suffrage increased• Party nominating committees.• Voters chose their state’s slate of Presidential

electors.• Spoils system.• Rise of Third Parties.• Popular campaigning (parades, rallies, floats, etc.)• Two-party system returned in the 1832 election

The Election of 1824

The “Common Man’s”

Presidential candidate

Andrew Jackson’s Belief in the Common Man

Intense distrust of Eastern“establishment,” monopolies, & special privilege.

His heart & soul was with the“plain folk.”

Belief that the common man was capable of uncommon achievements.

Jackson’s Opponents in 1824

Henry Clay[KY]

John Quincy Adams[MA]

John C. Calhoun

[SC]Also:

William H. Crawford[GA]

Results of the Election of 1824

• All candidates are Republicans

• No one received a majority of the electoral votes, so House decided

• A “Corrupt Bargain”?• House votes for Adams,

Adams appoints Clay to cabinet

John Quincy Adams

• Father still alive at time of election• Tried to be above partisan politics• Sub-group of Republicans called the “National

Republicans” formed behind Adams• Not winning the popular vote and shadow of

“corrupt bargain” tainted his presidency• One term President, just like father

Election of 1828• John Quincy Adams vs. Andrew Jackson• Issues were personal and harsh—charges of

bigamy, illiteracy, elitism, and more

Final Divorce Decree

Election of 1828 Results

Jackson doubles

the electoralvote of Adams

Two partiesemerge:

Democratic-Republicans (later calledDemocrats)

and theNational

Republicans

The New “Jackson Coalition”

• The Planter Elite in the South• People on the

Frontier• State Politicians –

spoils system• Immigrants in the

cities

Important Issues in Jackson Administration

• Indian removal: strengthened his support in the south

• Tariffs • Nullification• Fights with VP Calhoun—banks, tariffs,

relationships, Maysville Road, punishment of Jackson

• Bank veto

Tariffs

• Tariff of 1828: Passed by Jackson’s supporters in Congress before his election. Favored western agriculture and northern manufacturing. Called Tariff of Abominations by southerners who now paid higher prices for manufactured goods and got no benefit from protectionist policies

• Tariff of 1832: Reduced tariff rates to try, unsuccessfully, to pacify SC and nullification.

Nullification

• SC legislature declared the tariff of 1828 (Tariff of Abominations) null.

• The Nullification Theory, promoted by John Calhoun, proposed that states could decide which federal laws they would obey.

• Compromise kept US from using force to enforce tariff.

X

Results of Election of 1832

Bank Charter Veto

Nicholas Biddle President Jackson

Opposition to the 2nd Bank of

the.U.S.“Soft”(paper) $

“Hard”(specie) $

• state bankers feltit restrained theirbanks from issuingbank notes freely.

• supported rapid

economic growth & speculation.

• felt that coin was

the only safecurrency.

• didn’t like any bankthat issued banknotes.

• suspicious of expansion &speculation.

Jackson’s “Pet Banks”

• Once the Second Bank of the U.S. was set to expire without renewal, Jackson took US money out of the Bank of US and put it in several favored state banks.

• This extra money to “pet banks” caused a wave of lending, driving up speculation in land and business by the end of 1833.

• Eventually this led to Panic of 1837.

Evolution of Political Parties• 1824—Just one party—Democratic-Republicans,

often known as Republicans.• 1828—With the popularity of Andrew Jackson,

this one party became known as the Democrats.• 1832—Opposition to Jackson became known as

“National Republicans.”• 1836—National Republicans morphed into

“Whig Party” to show opposition to “King” Andrew Jackson.

More voting changes

• By 1821 the U.S. had universal white male suffrage• In 1830s the parties began nominating

conventions, giving more nominating power to the common man

• By 1832 all states except SC had popular election of presidential electors.

• Rise of third parties: Anti-Masonic, Workingman’s, etc.

• Campaigning became entertainment.

Election of 1836Martin Van Buren

DemocratOpposed by:

• William Henry Harrison (Whig--OH)

• Daniel Webster (Whig—MA)

• W. P. Mangum (Whig—NC)

• Hugh Lawson White (Democrat—TN)

Panic of 1837

• Money from 2nd Bank of US going to state banks caused inflation and speculation

• Because money was cheap to borrow, states made commitments to build canals.

• 1837 prices began to fall • Economic downturn lasted from 1836-1842

when there was massive unemployment and workers with jobs saw wages fall by 1/3

Election of 1840

• William Henry Harrison (Whig), cast as rugged frontiersman and soldier

• Running mate John Tyler• Slogan “Tippecanoe and

Tyler, too”• Age 67 by time of election,

age became backlash issue

• Martin Van Buren, cast as “elitist”

• Supporters referred to Harrison as “Old Granny” to emphasize age

• Politically crafty, but was beaten at own game by Harrison

Election results of 1840

The Second GreatAwakening

“Spiritual Reform From Within”[Religious Revivalism]

Social Reforms & Redefining the Ideal of Equality

Temperance

Asylum &Penal

Reform

Education

Women’s Rights

Abolitionism

The Rise of Popular ReligionIn France, I had almost always seen the

spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom pursuing courses diametrically opposed to each other; but in America, I found that they were intimately united, and that they reigned in common over the same country… Religion was the foremost of the political institutions of the United States.

---Alexis de Tocqueville, 1832

Popularity of Revival Meetings

Charles Finney 1792-1895 “soul-shaking conversion”

The ranges of tents, the fires, reflecting light…; the candles and lamps illuminating the encampment; hundreds moving to and fro…;the preaching, praying, singing, and shouting,… like the sound of many waters, was enough to swallow up all the powers of contemplation.

Known as “father of modern revivalism”

Revivalism

• Idea of being “born again” becomes widespread

• Some believed sin was voluntary and could be avoided (perfectionism)

• This was opposed to idea of “original sin,” a common precept of Christianity to this point

• Female converts outnumbered males 2-1

Unitarians

• Critics of revivalism, called them emotional exhibitions• Believed Jesus was not fully divine• Emphasized gradual character building with Jesus

Christ as a model• Like revivalist, they believed that humans could

change behavior. Quotation from Wm. Ellery Channing, Unitarian leader: “Christianity has but one purpose: the perfection of human nature, the elevation of men into nobler beings.”

Mormonism• Founder Joseph Smith• Found & translated Book

of Mormon• Smith—charismatic/

controversial• Moved groups westward• Murdered by mob in jail

in Illinois• Also called Church of

Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Violence against Mormons

• Controversial teachings or perceptions encited anger—polygamy, higher form of Christianity

• Growth also fueled fear• Caused them to move

farther west to avoid unwelcoming mainstream society

Mormons’ MigrationBrigham Young

1801-1877

Shakers• Founder Mother Ann Lee,

British immigrant to US• Got name from a convulsive

dance as part of their religious service

• Tightly knit society, apart from mainstream

• Required followers to abstain from sex, which was evil

• Adopted orphans to continue communities

Mother Ann Lee (1736-1784)

If you will take up your crosses against the works of generations, and follow Christ in theregeneration, God will cleanse you from allunrighteousness.

Remember the cries of those who are in need and trouble, that when you are in trouble, God may hear your cries.

If you improve in one talent, God will give you more.

R1-4

Shaker Hymn

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'Tis the gift to be free,'Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,And when we find ourselves in the place just right,'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gainedTo bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed,To turn, turn will be our delight,'Till by turning, turning we come round right.

Shaker Simplicity & Utility

Owenites

“I have come to this country to introduce an entire new state of society; to change it from an ignorant, selfish system to an enlightened social system which shall gradually unite all interests into one and remove all causes for contest between individuals.”

—Robert Owen

Religious and Utopian Communities 1800-1845

Temperance Movement

Frances Willard The Beecher Family

1826 - American Temperance Society

“Demon Rum”!

R1-6

Annual Consumption of Alcohol

Temperance Movement

• Seen as primarily a male problem that had widespread implications for women and children

• Demanded total abstinence from alcohol (T-total, to emphasize it, became teetotal)

• Gradual shift from emphasis on individual bans to cities, towns and state restrictions on consumption, sale and manufacture.

“Father of American Education”

Horace Mann (1796-1859)•children were clay in the hands of teachers and school officials•children should be “molded” into a state of perfection•discouraged corporal punishment•established state teacher- training programs

R3-6

The McGuffey Eclectic Readers

Used religious parables to teach “American values.”

Teach middle class morality and respect for order.

Teach “3 Rs” + “Protestant ethic” (frugality, hard work, sobriety)

R3-8

Women Educators Troy, NY Female Seminary curriculum: math, physics, history, geography. train female teachers

Emma Willard(1787-1870)

Mary Lyons(1797-1849)

1837 she established Mt. Holyoke [So. Hadley, MA] as the first college for women.

Cult of Domesticity = Slavery

The 2nd Great Awakening inspired women to improve society.

Angelina Grimké Sarah Grimké

Southern Abolitionists

Lucy StoneAmerican Women’s

Suffrage Assoc.edited Woman’s

JournalR2-9

Early 19c Women1. Unable to vote.2. Legal status of a minor.3. Single could own her own

property.4. Married no control over her

property or her children.5. Could not initiate divorce.6. Couldn’t make wills, sign a

contract, or bring suit in court without her husband’s permission.

Abolitionist Movement 1816 American Colonization Society created (gradual, voluntary emancipation.

British Colonization Society symbol

Abolitionist Movement

Gradualists vs. Immediatists

• Aimed to create a free state for slaves in Liberia, West Africa

• No real abolitionist sentiment in the 1820s & 1830s

William Lloyd Garrison1801-1879

• Slavery and Masonry undermined Republican values

• Immediate emancipation with no compensation for slave owners

• Slavery was a moral, not an economic, issue

The Tree of Slavery—illustration depicts slavery as the basis for most human sins

The Liberator

First Issue: January 1, 1831

Other White Abolitionists

Lewis Tappan

Arthur Tappan

James Birney

Liberty Party.Ran for President

in 1840 & 1844.

Black Abolitionists• David Walker (1785-1830)

Wrote Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World in 1829. Fight for freedom rather than wait to be set free by whites.

• Frederick Douglass wrote The Narrative of

the Life of Frederick Douglass and The North Star

Women’s Rights1840 split in the abolitionist movement over women’s role in it.London World Anti-Slavery Convention

Lucretia Mott Elizabeth Cady Stanton

1848 Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments

R2-6/7

Penitentiary and Asylum Reform• Penitentiary (jails, prisons)• Dorothea Dix (1802-1877)

discovered that the insane were being housed in prisons

• Better conditions for prisoners

• Other reformers joined in• Idea that all people could

reform or be reformed