The Age of Jackson

Main IdeaPresident Andrew Jackson’s bold actions defined a period of

American history.

Slide Focus

• What path led to Andrew Jackson’s presidency?• Why was the national bank a source of controversy?• How did a conflict over the issue of states’ rights lead to a

crisis which precipitated the nullification debate and Force Bill?

The Great Triumvirate

Henry Clay John C Calhoun Daniel WebsterKentucky

War Hawk The Great

Compromiser" founder Whig Party

For:-modernizing-protective tariffs-national bank-internal improvements

South Carolina War HawkDemocrat

For (Start):-nationalist, -War Hawk -internal improvements

"Corrupt Bargain" For (End):-States Rights-Nullification

MassachusettsWhig

NationalistsTremendous Orator

For:-constitutionalist-against protective tariffs-federalist

Speak to the Electorate

Jackson understood that politics was also entertainment. He loved torch light parades, songs, and BBQs. At one point he helped start a newspaper in Washington so he could get his message across to the people unfiltered by editors

Path to the Presidency

Andrew Jackson• Served in the army during the Revolutionary War • Practiced law in Tennessee, became a successful land

speculator, and served in a variety of government offices, including the House of Representatives and the Senate

• Served in the War of 1812, nicknamed “Old Hickory” • Was given command of military operations in the South• Led the American forces at the Battle of New Orleans• Became nationally famous as the “Hero of New Orleans”

• In 1824 he ran for president and won the popular vote, but not a majority of the electoral votes.

• John Quincy Adams won the House of Representatives’ vote and became president. (Corrupt Bargain)

Election Results 1824

Path to the Presidency

• Jackson and his supporters created a new political party that became the Democratic Party.

• Adams and his supporters became the National Republicans. • Many thought Adams was out of touch with the people. • Jackson was a popular war hero—“a man of the people.”• In the 1820s voting restrictions in many states—such as the

requirement for property ownership—were being lifted, allowing poor people to become voters.

Election of 1828• These ordinary, working Americans were strong Jackson

supporters. He easily defeated the unpopular President Adams. • Such political power exercised by ordinary Americans became

known as Jacksonian Democracy.• Spoils system: rewarding supporters by giving them positions

in the government.

Election Result 1828

Find People Who Tell It Like It Is

Every year he traveled to the Virginia shore and Back to his Nashville farm staying at hotels and public house so he could talk with ordinary Americans

Turn Weakness Into Strengths

Jackson was hot tempered—he carried two bullets in his body from duels and gunfights. He could frighten opponents into doing his will because they did not know whether he was serious or not

Whig Partyvs

Jacksonian Democrats

The National Bank Controversy

The Second Bank of the United States was a national bank overseen by the federal government to regulate state banks.

• Established in 1816 and given a 20-year charter

• Opponents (including Jackson) thought that the Constitution did not give Congress the authority to create the bank.

• Opponents recognized that state banks were more inclined to make loans to poorer farmers in the South and West—the very people who supported Jackson.

• By contrast, they viewed the bank as an institution devoted to the interests of wealthy northern corporations.

The National Bank Controversy

• In 1832, an election year, Jackson vetoed a bill to extend the bank’s charter.

• When Henry Clay challenged Jackson for the presidency, the controversy over the bank became a major campaign issue.

• Jackson won re-election, defeating Clay in a landslide.

• After his re-election, Jackson ordered the money taken out of the bank and deposited in select state banks.

• In 1836 the Second Bank of the United States was reduced to just another state bank.

Always Have a Back Up Plan

(or Two) Jackson was a master at politics as poker. He always had two cards to play. He could threaten on one hand and work behind the scenes to effect change on the other.

Nullification Controversy

• The tariff was welcomed by industry in the northern states because it increased the price of British goods and encouraged Americans to buy American goods.

• In 1828 Congress raised the tariff on British manufactured goods.

• The concept that states have the right to reject federal laws is called the nullification theory.

• The agricultural southern states despised the tax. It forced southerners to buy northern goods instead of the less expensive British goods.

• Southern cotton growers, who exported most of their crop to Britain, opposed interference with international trade.

Nullification Controversy

• The issue of nullification and states’ rights was the focus of one of the most famous debates in Senate history in 1830.

Nullification Crisis• When Congress passed

another tariff in 1832, South Carolina declared the tariff law “null and void” and threatened to secede from the Union if the federal government tried to enforce the tariff.

• Jackson received the Force Bill from Congress, but South Carolina declared the Force Bill null and void as well.

• Compromise worked out by Henry Clay– Tariffs would be

reduced over a period of 10 years.

– Issues of nullification and of states’ rights would be raised again.

Keep Church and State Separate

Jackson believed that liberty as a fundamental value meant the right to believe or not and that the federal government should stay our of matters of faith.

Jackson on Religion

• In July of 1832 a worldwide cholera epidemic had reached Canada and was headed for New York. President Andrew Jackson refused a request from the Dutch Reformed Church of New York to issue a religious recommendation to the people. His letter of refusal was released to the press and was widely published. He cited the following:

1. No one could believe that the General or State governments ought to have anything to do with the subject of religion; 2. The President of the U. S., unlike the King of England, was not the head of the Established Church; 3. The Constitution conferred no authority on the President to appoint a day for religious purposes