Jacksonian Democracy

• Election of Jackson seen as triumph of the “common man” or “King Mob”

• Founders believed common man should vote to protect himself but superior man would lead

• Western states increasingly dropped property qualifications for voting and made more offices elective rather than appointive

• By Jackson’s time most presidential electors were selected by popular vote

• The beginning of the free school movement• Increasing literacy and numbers of newspaper• Numbers of voters increased every election as people became more

politically aware

• As voting increased, so did competition between candidates• Growth of political parties

Party organization became more importantParties first formed at state levelThe Election of 1828 stimulated formation of political parties as both

nominees had nationwide stature- especially in states where neither candidate was strong

Loyal party workers were rewarded with political office (the spoil system)

• The party system began the day Adams took office due to the “Corrupt Bargain”

• Jackson did not take firm stands so as not to offend possible voters

• Campaign - lies and character assassination but did bring out the voters

• Jackson won - Adams refused to attend the inauguration

• Jackson a symbol of the new democracy – a man of the people

• He was intensely patriotic• He drew support from every

region and social class• He believed in equality of

opportunity

• Jackson entered the presidency intent on punishing those who had attacked his wife

• He “cleaned house” in Washington by appointing political loyalists – believed in the principle of “rotation”

• Rotation also replaced trained workers that soon made government inefficient (except the War & Navy departments)

• Jackson held expert knowledge in contempt believing ordinary Americans capable of anything

• The Bank of the United States’ policies, under Nicholas Biddle, succeeded in keeping state banks sound

• Biddle’s policies, though sound, provoked opposition by those who distrusted paper money, bankers who wanted more freedom to make loans, New Yorkers who disliked the power of the Bank in Philadelphia, and those who were against monopolies

Nicholas Biddle

• Jackson was ignorant of intricate bank dealings and was suspicious of all money institutions

• Biddle gravitated towards Henry Clay and the New Republicans as Jackson became more threatening

• Daniel Webster and Clay sought to use the issue against Jackson and urged Biddle to renew the bank’s charter

Webster

Clay

Renew the bank’s charter!

Yes! And we’ll get Jackson

too!

• The re-charter bill passed Congress but Jackson vetoed it

• Jackson insisted the bank was unconstitutional and a dangerous monopoly

• He withdrew government funds and had his new treasurer, Roger Taney, put them in state banks that were less safe (after getting rid of two treasurers who advised against it)

You will NOT get

your bank!

• Taney carried out Jackson’s orders and placed the funds in seven state “pet” banks (one in which he owned stock)

• By 1836, government money was in 90 state banks• With the deposits drying up in the Bank of the United States, Biddle

pressed banks to pay specie for notes hoping Jackson would be blamed for the drying up of specie

• Commerce came to a standstill as money became scarce and loans ceased

• Congress complained against Jackson

• Jackson refused to budge• In the end, Biddle reversed policy

and money and lending flowed freely

• Jackson was pro-Union and disliked Calhoun personally and his arguments about states’ rights

• Calhoun, who was vice-president, also wanted to be president but Jackson was standing in the way

If I become president we

will have states’ rights!

“Squirrely Boy” John C. Calhoun

• Jackson believed Indians were savages and incapable of living among settled society

• Indians inhabited regions that whites wanted for cotton production so Jackson called for Indian removal

• Some, like the Choctaw, went without a fight. Others like the Seminole, resisted

• The Cherokee sought to hold their lands by becoming like the whiteThey began farming and raising livestock Developed a written languageDrafted a constitutionNegotiated several treaties

• Georgia would not recognize the Cherokee state – 1828 passed a law voiding all Cherokee laws

• The Cherokee challenged the law in the Supreme Court in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia 1831

• Marshall ruled that the Cherokee could not sue in federal court even though previous rulings recognized Cherokee sovereignty

• Jackson backed Georgia• In 1838, The US forced 15,000

Cherokee to leave Georgia for Oklahoma- 4,000 died (The Trail of Tears)

Cherokee Indians

• New tariff in 1832 and Northern agitation against slavery caused South to talk once again of nullification

• Southern concerns intensified by Nat Turner uprising and planned uprising by slave named Vesey

• Despite warnings from Jackson, South Carolina passed a law nullifying the tariff. It then raised an army and supplied it with weapons

• Jackson tried diplomacy first in dealing with South Carolina while making military preparations

• Jackson equated nullification with treason – threatened to hang Calhoun

• Calhoun sought to defuse situation- resigned as vice-president and as senator tried to reach agreements

• New tariff bill was produced along with a force bill that would allow Jackson to enforce the tariff

Everybody calm down! Let’s talk

this out!

• South Carolina’s appeal for support from the rest of the South went unheeded

• Unionists within the state threatened civil war if the state persisted• In 1833, a compromise tariff was passed along with another force bill• War was averted but South Carolina was becoming more radicalized-

convinced that only secession could protect slavery

• Large increases in gold and silver holdings due to

Decline in Chinese demand for Mexican silver

English capital attracted by higher US interest rates

Heavy English purchases of cotton• Much of the new money flowed

into land speculation• Increase in currency caused

prices to soar

• Land near cities was bought up• Farmers borrowed heavily to buy more land• Jackson became alarmed at the speculation mania- issued the Specie

Circular which made public land sales payable in gold and silver only• Demand halted- prices sagged- speculators defaulted on debts• Panicked depositors drained banks of specie- forcing banks to close

• Jackson approached even small diplomatic problems with forceful and rash behavior

Britain finally opened West Indian ports to US trade but snag caused Jackson to threaten boycott on trade with Canada

France agreed to pay for damages to US during Napoleonic wars but failure of France to authorize funds caused Jackson to threaten war

Jackson’s actions gave US bad reputation in Europe

• The Jacksonian Democratic PartySuspicion of special privilege and large business corporationsDistrust of the Bank of the United StatesEndorsed freedom of opportunity – few restrictions by governmentAbsolute political freedom (for white males)Belief that any ordinary man could perform the duties of most public offices

Jackson

• Nucleus was Clay’s National Republican Party• Mostly made up of differing anti-Jackson factions including Calhoun’s

states’ righters• The groups consisted of many intellectuals and wealthy businessmen• Lacked a leader and shared ideals

Van Buren

Don’t hate me just because I’m

beautiful

• Democrats hurt by economic depression• Whigs passed over Clay and Webster (their views were known) and

nominated William Henry Harrison, “Hero of Tippecanoe,” and John Tyler

• Contrasted Harrison as man of the people versus Van Buren as elite• Log cabin and cider barrel became symbols of campaign

• Harrison elected • Harrison did not believe in powerful

executive of Jackson – left much of administration up to congress

• Clay and Webster squabbled over power

• Harrison died a month after taking office

• Tyler became president

Harrison

William Henry Harrison

John Tyler

John Tyler Trivia

• John Tyler was the only President to serve as a Confederate Congressman and when he died his coffin was draped with the Confederate flag

• John Tyler’s grandson is still alive (as of June 2011). Tyler was president 20 years before Lincoln! How is that possible?!!

• John Tyler was born in 1790 when Washington was President. Just 3 generations of Tylers span All of the US presidents

John Tyler’s grandson on left