Transcript SPONGE Chapter 12, Section 1 1.Define Suffrage. (p.361) 2.People who supported Adams and his programs for national growth became known as… (p.364)

SPONGE
Chapter 12, Section 1
1.Define Suffrage. (p.361)
2.People who supported
Adams and his programs
for national growth
became known as…
(p.364)
The Jacksonian Era
Chapter 12
Setting the Scene
Harry Ward, a New England
teacher, made a visit to Cincinnati, Ohio
during the 1824 presidential election. He
described how Ohioans felt about
Andrew Jackson, who was running for
president.
He described Jackson supporters
as “Strange! Wild! Infatuated! All for
Jackson!” Yet Jackson did not win the
election.
A Growing Spirit of Equality
• The spirit of democracy
spread throughout the 1800’s
as Americans began to feel
that the rich did not deserve
special respect.
• Wealthy European visitors
were surprised that American
servants expected to be
treated as equals and
refused to be summoned
with bells.
More Voters
• Growing democratic
values led an increased
number of people to
participate in the voting
process in the 1800’s.
• For the first time, states
granted suffrage (the
right to vote) to all white
males over the age of 21.
Limits on Suffrage
• Despite this democratic
spirit, many Americans still
did not have the right to
vote.
• This included women,
Native Americans and
most African Americans.
• Fewer and fewer African
Americans were allowed to
vote throughout this time.
The Disputed Election of 1824
• There were three excellent
(but sectional) candidates
running for President in
1824.
• John Quincy Adams was
the son of John Adams,
the second President.
• He believed that the
federal government should
promote economic growth.
The Disputed Election of 1824
• From Massachusetts, Adams
served as Secretary of State,
helped end the War of 1812
and negotiated the treaty to
purchase Florida.
• Henry Clay of Kentucky was
the Speaker of the House of
Representatives.
• In Congress, Clay was a
skilled compromiser.
The Disputed Election of 1824
• Andrew Jackson of Tennessee
was born in a log cabin and
raised by poor farmers.
• He was a landowner, a slave
owner and a military hero
nicknamed “Old Hickory.”
• Jackson was a champion of the
common people because he
believed the government should
support workers and farmers
around the country.
The Corrupt Bargain
• Though Jackson won the
popular vote in 1824, no
candidate won a majority of the
votes.
• Clay finished fourth and, as
Speaker, convinced Congress
to choose Adams.
• In the election of 1824, the
House of Representatives
chose John Quincy Adams as
President.
The Disputed Election of 1824
• After Adams won the election, he
made Clay his Secretary of State.
• Jackson accused Clay and
Adams of stealing the election in
a “corrupt bargain.”
• Adams, like Alexander Hamilton,
wanted to improve the economy
through government spending. He
became an unpopular President
because he wanted to increase
federal taxes and spending.
A Bitter Campaign
• In 1828, Adams ran for reelection
against Andrew Jackson.
• Jackson won the election easily.
It was considered a victory for
the common people.
• Jackson was the first westerner
to take the white house.
• Thousands flooded to his
inauguration – Jackson was
nearly suffocated by supporters.
New Political Parties
• The death of the Federalist party in
the 1820’s had led to a temporary
peace between political parties.
• By the 1830’s, however, new political
parties formed.
• People who supported John Quincy
Adams in the 1830’s called
themselves Whigs. They included
eastern businessmen and former
Federalists.
• Jackson supporters called
themselves Democrats.
The Evolution of American Parties
Stronger federal government
Weaker federal government
Democratic
Republicans
Federalists
Democratic
Republicans
Whigs
Democrats
Republicans
Democrats
Democrats
Republicans
Andrew Jackson
• Jackson joined the Patriots in the Revolution at the
age of 13, when he and was captured by the
British. When he refused to clean an officer’s
boots, the man cut Jackson’s face and hand with a
sword.
• Jackson studied law after the revolution and later
became very wealthy selling land in the deep
South. He became a Congressman and later a
judge while still in his 20’s and a general in his late
30’s.
• Though he was friendly with a few tribes, most Natives
knew him as a brutal enemy who broke treaties and
made harsh threats.
The
Spoils
System
• After taking office, Jackson fired many
government employees and replaced them with
his own supporters.
• Most other presidents had also done this, but
Jackson fired many more (over 200.)
• Critics accused him of rewarding Democrats
who had supported him instead of qualified
men.
The Spoils System
• Jackson said that ordinary
citizens could fill government
jobs and that this would
keep a small group of rich
men from controlling the
government.
• Critics accused Jackson of
being a power-hungry king.
• The practice of rewarding
supporters with government
jobs became known as the
spoils system.
The Kitchen Cabinet
Secretary of State Martin Van
Buren was Jackson’s only
qualified cabinet member.
• Jackson gave many
unqualified supporters jobs
in his cabinet, but couldn’t
rely on them for advice.
• Instead, Jackson relied on a
group of unofficial
presidential advisors known
as the “kitchen cabinet.”
• These democratic leaders
and newspaper owners
offered the president sound
advice when they met in the
White House kitchen.
The Bank War
• Like many westerners,
Jackson thought the Bank of
the U.S. was too powerful and
only helped the wealthy.
• The Bank had great power
because it controlled loans
made by state banks. This
angered farmers and
merchants who wanted to
borrow more money.
• Jackson also saw the Bank as
undemocratic because it was
controlled by rich private
bankers.
Mr. Biddle’s Bank
• Jackson especially despised
Nicholas Biddle, the
President of the Bank.
• Biddle was qualified to run
the Bank, but was also
arrogant, vain and wealthy.
• Biddle worried that Jackson
would destroy the Bank by
vetoing it’s renewal, but
Whig Senators Henry Clay
and Daniel Webster devised
a way to save the Bank.
The Bank War
• In 1836, the Bank’s charter
would again expire. Clay and
Webster convinced Biddle to
apply for a renewal in 1832.
• Jackson, a Democrat, was
also up for reelection in
1832.
• The Whigs believed that
most Americans supported
the Bank. If Jackson vetoed
it, voters would be angry and
choose a Whig president
(Clay.)
Jackson’s Veto
• President Jackson did veto the
Bank’s renewal.
• Jackson believed the Bank of
the U.S. was unconstitutional.
He thought that only states had
the power to charter banks.
• When the election results came
in, Jackson had crushed Clay.
The Whigs were shocked to find
that the common people did not
support the Bank of the U.S.
The Bank Closes
• Without a new charter, the
Bank would have to close in
1836, but Jackson refused to
wait.
• He ordered Secretary of the
Treasury Taney to stop putting
money in the Bank. Instead, the
cash went into state banks that
Taney and his friends
controlled.
• Without a federal bank to
control the economy, the nation
faced an economic crisis.
A New Crisis
• One of Jackson’s most
unexpected rivals as President
was John C. Calhoun, his Vice
President.
• Though Jackson did not want to
strengthen the federal
government, he also believed
strongly that the Union must be
preserved at all costs.
• Calhoun, however, was a firm
believer in each state’s rights
to limit the power of the federal
government.
Calhoun Vs. Webster
• Calhoun claimed that states
had the right to cancel, or
nullify, federal laws that they
considered unconstitutional.
This idea is called nullification.
• Daniel Webster disagreed and
attacked the idea of
nullification. He argued that if
the states had the right to
nullify federal laws that the
nation would fall apart.
• Jackson sided with Webster,
and Calhoun quit as VP
A New Crisis
• The crisis peaked when South
Carolina passed the Nullification
Act, which claimed that states
had the right to cancel laws.
• The state threatened to secede
(or leave) from the Union if the
federal government challenged
the act.
• Jackson responded by
threatening to use the military to
make South Carolina cooperate.
In the end, the state repealed the
act and the crisis passed.
Tragedy for Native Americans
• The fertile land of the Creek,
Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee and
Seminole nations was ideal for
growing cotton.
• Though the tribes hoped to live
peacefully alongside whites, settlers
wanted the land for themselves.
• Jackson sided with the settlers, and
forced the Indians to move to
reservations across the Mississippi
River.
The Cherokee Nation
• Whites could not argue that the
Cherokee were unworthy of their
land.
• They had created a legal system
and government that blended
European and Cherokee traditions.
They even had a written alphabet
that was used in Cherokee
newspapers.
• The tribe resisted moving and even
won the support of the Supreme
Court, but Jackson ignored the
court and ordered the tribe west.
The Trail of Tears
• Jackson supporters forced the Indian
Removal Act through Congress in 1830. It
forced tribes to move west.
• In 1838, the U.S. Army drove over 15,000
Cherokees hundreds of miles to Oklahoma.
• Conditions were often freezing cold, and the
military provided little support for the tribe.
• Thousands perished during the march,
mostly women, children and the elderly.
• This long, sorrowful journey west became
known as the Trail of Tears.
The Seminoles Resist
• In Florida, the Seminole
Indians resisted removal.
Led by Chief Osceola,
they began fighting the
U.S. Army in 1817.
• This conflict became
known as the Seminole
Wars.
• It took the U.S. 40 years
to finally defeat the
Seminoles, but the tribe
was eventually removed
from Florida.
New Presidents Struggle
• After Jackson left office in 1836,
his Vice President, Martin Van
Buren, was elected America’s 8th
President.
• Van Buren had the misfortune to
inherit Jackson’s struggling
laissez-faire economy. In 1837,
an economic panic put America
into its worst depression yet.
• The depression lasted three
years – 90% of the nations
factories closed during this time
and thousands lost their jobs.
The Election of 1840
• When Van Buren ran for
reelection in 1840, he
faced Whig candidate,
and hero of the Battle of
Tippecanoe, William
Henry Harrison.
• Both Whigs and
Democrats began to
actively campaign at
this time, travelling the
country and holding
rallies. Mudslinging also
became more common.
New Presidents Struggle
• Harrison won the election for
the Whigs, but died of
pneumonia after making a
long inauguration address on
a freezing, wet day.
• His Vice President, John
Tyler became the new
President. Though he had
ran with Harrison, Tyler had
always been a Democrat.
• Tyler acted against all of
Harrison’s plans, leading to
further frustrations for the
Whigs.