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The Age of Jackson chp 11 “When I was President of the Senate he was a Senator; and he could never speak on account of the rashness of his feelings. I have seen him attempt it repeatedly, and as often choke with rage. His passions are no doubt cooler now… but he is a dangerous man.” Thomas Jefferson on Andrew Jackson 1824
Beginning in the late 1810s many states revised their constitutions to eliminate property qualifications giving the franchise to nearly every male farmer and wage earner over 21. In the election of 1824, the Federalist party had vanished but the Democratic Republican Party had splintered into competing factions. Five republican candidates ran for president ; Sec. Of State John Quincy Adams, Sec. of War John C. Calhoun, Sec of Treasury William Crawford, Speaker of the House Henry Clay & Senator from Tennessee General Andrew Jackson. Calhoun Backed out and Chose to run for Vice President. Andrew Jackson Won the Popular vote and the largest share of Electoral Votes (99) With JQ Adams (84) coming in 2nd , but Jackson did not win enough delegates to take the presidency so the Election went to Congress where the Speaker of the House pushed the vote in favor of John Q. Adams.
Henry Clay, Fearing that Jackson was a mere Military chieftain and knowing that He and Adams shared common goals, threw his support to Adams. • Clay supporters in congress voted for Adams, who became President and then turned around and appointed Henry Clay his Secretary of State. Jackson followers called this a “Corrupt Bargain”.
The First Photograph taken of a Former president • As President, John Quincy Adams supported the National Bank, which would promote uniform currency and expand credit. In general he supported the American System of Henry Clay which was a plan for federally sponsored Improvements to aid commerce and Tariffs to protect American industries. Southerners were strongly opposed to this and very few improvements were made…. Adam’s presidency was a failure.
The biggest battle of Adams administration was over Tariffs. In 1824 a 35% tariff was placed on Expensive Woolen & Cotton cloth and on iron goods. The Tariff of 1828 raised duties on both raw materials and manufactured products and enraged Southerners, as the World’s cheapest producer of cotton, the South needed no tariff to protect its market and in fact not only did the tariff make Cloth products more expensive but it also caused the British to buy less cotton from the Southern Plantation owners. It cost owners about $100 Million a year by raising the price of British goods.
Georgia Governor Troup vowed to take the lands by force and verbally attacked Adams. Congress overrode the President and forced the Creeks to Leave. • Despite the fact that Jackson supported the Tariff of 1828, Election year, Southerners blamed the tariff on Adams, and that, combined with support of The Creek Indians land rights guaranteed Southerners would not vote for Adams. When US commissioners secured a treaty from one faction of creeks that ceded the remaining Creek lands in Georgia to the U.S. The Creek Council claimed the treaty was fraudulent and Adams called for new negotiations.
Jackson in 1828 election • Although Jacksonians were originally a part of the Democratic Republican Party, after a time they began to call themselves Democrats. During the 1828 election they adopted the strategy of seeking votes from all levels of social and economic groups, and this worked very well. The message they sent was equal rights and popular rule… His hostility to special privileges for business, especially corrupt bankers, and to Clay’s American System won support among urban workers and Northern artisans.
As a senator for the state of New York, Martin Van Buren Supported the Jackson Campaign for president by • orchestrating state and local politicians, supervising a national newspaper campaign and sponsoring meetings of voters to gain public support. As an architect of the efficient Political Machine, Van Buren became known as the “little Magician”.
Jackson is elected president in 1828, with the support of the new male suffrage… His inaugural reception was open to the common folk. • Justice Joseph Story lamented that “ King Mob seemed triumphant.” and according to Margaret Bayard Smith, Jackson’s supporters nearly pressed him to death, and when Jackson escaped, they mobbed the Whitehouse and trashed furniture, & fine China in a raucous celebration .
After the Peggy Eaton Affair, where the wives of Jackson’s Cabinet members Snubbed fellow cabinet wife, Peggy Eaton who was accused of harlotry by the class conscious wives • and the Husbands stood by their wives, Jackson depended less on his Cabinet for advice and more on his close confidants known as his “Kitchen Cabinet, “including Martin Van Buren his secretary of State, Francis Preston Blair editor of the Washington Globe, Amos kendall ,and Roger B. Taney his Attorney General and future Chief Justice
John C. Calhoun • The Tariff of 1828 helped Jackson win Industrial northern votes in the Election of 1828 , It spurned much Southern protest in 1832 when congress determined to enforce the Tariff of Abominations. The State of South Carolina in convention declared the Ordinance of Nullification declaring that States had the power to declare laws unconstitutional because the constitution had been ratified in state conventions, a state could determine whether a law should apply within its borders. This was all based the South Carolina Expedition & Protest which was written anonymously by Jackson’s Vice President John C. Calhoun.
Calhoun’s arguments revived Madison and Jefferson’s Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions as well as the arguments made by Anti-federalists during the ratification debate. • In Response to the South Carolina claim to the right of Nullification, Jackson asked congress for a force bill giving him the power to use the military to suppress any act of Nullification… he also threatened to hang Calhoun.
The 2nd Bank of The U.S. • The Most important function of the Bank Of the U.S. was to stabilize the Nation’s money Supply by forcing state banks periodically to convert their paper money into Gold and Silver Coins. And while the Bank kept State banks honest there was a bit of corruption in the bank’s Business Practices. It made Gifts and loans to prominent Politicians such as Senator and bank supporter Daniel Webster. Furthermore. Many Americans were suspicious of the bank because it had many foreign Investors (mostly English). Too many people the BUS was Bank president Nicolas Biddle’s private Kingdom.
THE BANK VETO • The Bank was not to be rechartered for a few more years, but Henry Clay thought that he could destroy Jackson’s reelection bid by bringing the charter up for early renewal, and thereby ruin his coalition of Bank distrusting Southerners and the Industrial Northerners. Jackson Vetoed the recharter. Jackson’s Veto was Popular with the masses. His speech blended constitutional arguments, an appeal to patriotism and of course Class warfare.
Andrew Jackson and The Indians • Andrew Jackson, famous for fighting Indians, Who also adopted an Indian boy (he was responsible for orphaning) Determined that Indians and White men would never be able to coexist. He intended to remove all native Americans East of the Misssissppi… Even those such as the Cherokee tribes that had adapted to White Society.
The State of Georgia tried to control the Cherokee population within its state and in 1831 the Cherokees took the issue to the Supreme court However John Marshall denied their claim of independence , and declared them Domestic Dependent nations. • But in 1832 Worchester v Georgia Marshall Sided with a minister/trader who was arrested for violating Georgia law prohibiting him from entering Indian territory without permission of the state. Here Marshall decides that Georgia does not have the authority to make laws concerning the Cherokee tribes. tribes were distinct political communities within which their authority is exclusive. • Andrew Jackson Famously says, “John Marshall has made his decision, Now let him Enforce it.”
The Indian Removal Act of 1830 • Jackson signed the Indian Removal act of 1830 which forced the Indians to relocate to Oklahoma territory . The result of forced migration of the Cherokee tribe is known as the Trail of Tears
. This decision encouraged competitive business, opening the way for the development of Railways which would compete with canals and turnpikes. • In 1835 John Marshall died, leaving a vacancy in the Supreme Court which was filled by Kitchen Cabinet member Roger B. Taney, the new chief Justice. Taney pushed the court towards acceptance of Jackson Policies of Anti monopoly and States rights. In Charles River Bridge v Warren Bridge, Taney Held that Charles R. Bridge did not convey a monopoly because the contract was not exclusive.
Webster, Calhoun Clay • A new political Party emerged in 1830’s, which was composed of such a diverse crowd of political beliefs, that initially the only thing they were all united in was their opposition to Andrew Jackson.
While Calhoun passed through the Democratic party, and began as a leader of the Whig party with Webster & Clay. Calhoun was opposed to Jackson because of his stand against Nullification. But Calhoun also Challenged the Northern Whig Idea of Economic and political world dominated by men of ability and wealth, Not of Birth. Calhoun said, “ In an advanced Civilization there would always be antagonism between workers and capitalist.”
Jackson killed the Bank of the United States , not only by his Veto but by pulling Federal Funds out of the Bank and depositing it into State Banks. The result was that State banks began to print worthless money without a Bank of the U.S. to check on it. Jackson Passed the Specie Circular act which required Purchases of Federal land to be made in Gold and Silver “Specie” Only. The British, who were the biggest trade partners with the U.S. were concerned about the lack of value of U.S. Currency. The British demanded to have their debt paid in Specie and they stopped all credit with the U.S. because of this drain on the U.S. economy. The Result was the Panic of 1837. (the textbook minimizes Jackson’s blame for the Panic of 1837 , but, the Closure of the bank did have economic consequences)
In the North, Industrialism is beginning to emulate the European factory system and workers are resisting this by organizing into Unions. In the Panic of 1837 , several workers lose their jobs and the Union loses some ground. One Union approach was to fight for Closed Shop Contracts, which Employers brought suits in the Courts, Charging the illegality of Closed shops, and Judges usually agreed. But when employers tried to challenge the legality of Unions in 1842, In the Commonwealth v Hunt Chief Justice Shaw ruled that a Union is not inherently a Criminal Organization.
President Martin Van Buren Responded to the Panic of 1837 , as presidents before and after him responded to recessions…. He Did Nothing, as the traditional Laissez Faire president would hold a limited government stance.
Van Buren was not re-elected and William Henry Harrison (Hero of Tippecanoe) along with his Vice President, who was only Whig in his opposition to Jackson. Harrison dies one month into office. Tyler was opposed to the Whig American System and vetoed it thus ending the Whig program of economic nationalism. But As a champion of the common man, he passed the Preemption act of 1841, which gave the settlers the right to stake a claim to 160 acres of federal land and pay for it later, if they build and develop it. The Whig party divorced him.
