Transcript Slide 1

CHAPTER 9
JACKSONIAN
DEMOCRACY
The American Nation:
A History of the United States, 13th edition
Carnes/Garraty
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“DEMOCRATIZING”
POLITICS
 Jacksonian inauguration and the reign of the
“common man”
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
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
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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
Eight times as many people voted in 1840 as
in 1824
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“DEMOCRATIZING”
POLITICS
 With increase in importance of voting came increase
in competition among candidates

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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
 Unfortunately resulted in
high voter turnout
Mrs. Andrew Jackson / engd. by J.C. Buttre Library of Congress Prints
and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 U.S.A LCU.S.Z62-25773 (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
 Stood as a symbol for a new democratically
oriented generation
 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 officials for incompetence or corruption
 Some because Jackson believed in concept of rotation which
meant more citizens could participate in tasks of governing

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Would prevent entrenched bureaucracy
Yet also inhibited 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, some that
he deemed inexpedient rather than
unconstitutional
 Did not seek to expand federal
authority at expense of states because
favored a “frugal,” constitutionally
limited government
 Poor administrator, given to pennypinching and lacking in imagination
Andrew Jackson, President of the United States,
[1830]. Library of Congress. Prints and Photographs
Division. Reproduction number: LC-U.S.ZC4-4563
(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
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If done, 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 the 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
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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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Those who disliked all paper money
Bankers who disliked Biddle’s restraints on their ability to lend
freely
New York bankers
Some objected because bank was a monopoly
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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
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
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
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Had to replace two Secretaries of the Treasury before
he 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 VERSU.S. 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 they 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:
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
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 incident had occurred on Cherokee
territory thereby making Georgia’s actions unconstitutional
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INDIAN REMOVALS
 Jackson supported Georgia
 Trail of Tears (1838)
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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
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Upcountry cotton planters suffering
competition from more fertile Alabama
Planter aristocrats of rice-growing Tidewater
were troubled by northern criticisms of slavery
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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:
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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 a 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 BU.S.T
 1833 and 1834 Secretary of the Treasury 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
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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
price increased flow of specie to banks
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BOOM AND BU.S.T
 Bank notes in circulation jumped from $82 million in January
1835 to $120 million in December 1836

Bank deposits rose even more rapidly
 New money flowed into land speculation where prices rose
15 percent in 6 months
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By 1836 U.S. government had eliminated debt and had a $20
million surplus
 Alarmed by speculation, Jackson issued Specie Circular in
1836
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Purchasers must pay for public land in gold or silver
Demand slackened and prices fell
Speculators turned over land to banks who could not make
enough money to recover loans
 Spring 1837 every bank in the country was forced to suspend
specie payments as depositors tried to withdraw their money
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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
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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:
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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:
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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: 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
Martin Van Buren LC-U.S.Z62-13008 (b&w film copy neg. of detail)
of years
LC-BH82401-5239 (b&w film copy neg.) Library of Congress Prints
and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 U.S.A
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THE LOG CABIN CAMPAIGN
 In 1840 Whigs decided to follow Jacksonian strategy and
nominated General William Henry Harrison, “Hero of
Tippecanoe,” as their candidate for president

Chose John Tyler of Virginia as vice president
 Ignoring the realities of Harrison’s financial situation and
upbringing, Whigs used log cabin and cider barrel as their
symbols
 Democrats were as organized as the Whigs but did not
have much heart for the fight
 Four-fifths of the eligible voters turned out and gave the
election to Harrison with 234 electoral votes to 60
 Less than a month after his inauguration, Harrison fell ill
and died on April 4

John Tyler became president
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MILESTONES
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WEBSITES
 Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, Compiled and edited by
Charles J. Kappler (1904)
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler
 Indian Removal Act: Primary Documents in American History
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Indian.html
 The Second Bank of the United States, 1816-1836
http://odur.let.rut.nl/~usa/E/usbank/bank04.htm
 Daniel Webster
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~dwebster
 The American Whig Party, 1834-1856
http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/E/uswhig/whigsxx.htm
 National Museum of the American Indian
http://www.si.edu/nmai
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