Growing Division and Reform

1. Growing Division and Reform Chapter 2.2

2. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • In 1819 Missouri applied for statehood as a slave state. • This set off the divisive issue as to whether slavery should expand westward.

3. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • The Union had 11 free states and 11 slave states.

4. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • Admitting any new state, either slave or free, would upset the balance of political power in the Senate.

5. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • The Missouri Compromise called for admitting Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state.

6. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • An amendment was added to the compromise that prohibited slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of Missouri’s border. • Henry Clay steered the compromise, and the House of Representatives accepted it.

7. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • Four Republican candidates ran for president in 1824, indicating the strong sectionalism within the Republican Party. • John Quincy Adams • Andrew Jackson • John C. Calhoun • Henry Clay

8. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • Andrew Jackson won the popular vote, but no candidate won a majority in the Electoral College. • The election went to the House of Representatives to select the president from the three candidates with the highest number of electoral votes.

9. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • Henry Clay was eliminated, so he threw his support to John Quincy Adams. • John Q. Adams won the House vote. (1825)

10. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • Jackson’s supporters accused Adams and Clay of a “corrupt bargain,” in which Clay was accused of winning votes for Adams in return for the cabinet post of secretary of state.

11. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • Jackson and his supporters took the name Democratic Republicans, later shortened to Democrats. • Adams and his followers became known as the National Republicans.

12. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • In the early 1800s, many states eliminated property ownership as a qualification for voting. • As a result, hundreds of thousands of white males gained the right to vote.

13. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • The presidential candidates for the election of 1828 were John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. • The candidates resorted to mudslinging, criticizing each other’s personalities and morals.

14. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • Jackson won the election of 1828. • Many voters who supported him were from the West and South, rural and small-town men who thought Jackson would represent their interest.

15. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • President Jackson believed in the participation of the average citizen in government. • He supported the spoils system, the practice of appointing people to government jobs on the basis of party loyalty and support.

16. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • He believed that this practice extended democracy and opened up the government to average citizens.

17. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • To make the political system more democratic, President Jackson supported a new say in which presidential candidates where chosen. • At that time, they were chosen through a closed meeting, or caucus, in which congressional party members would choose the nominee.

18. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • Under this system, delegates from the states met at conventions to choose the party’s presidential nominee.

19. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • In the early 1800s, South Carolina’s economy was weakening, and many people blamed the nation’s tariffs. • South Carolina purchased most of its manufactured goods from England, and the high tariffs made these goods expensive.

20. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • When Congress levied a new tariff in 1828 (called the “Tariff of Abominations” by critics) South Carolina threatened to secede, or withdraw from the Union.

21. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • John C. Calhoun, the nation’s vice president, was torn between supporting the nation’s policies and supporting fellow South Carolinians. • Instead of supporting secession, he proposed the idea of nullification.

22. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • This idea argued that because states had not created the federal union, they had the right to declare a federal law null, or not valid.

23. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • The issue of nullification erupted again in 1830 in a debate between Senator Robert Hayne of South Carolina and Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts on the Senate floor. • Hayne defended states’ rights, while Webster defended the Union.

24. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • President Jackson defended the Union. • After Congress passed another tariff law in 1832, South Carolina called a special convention that declared the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 unconstitutional.

25. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • Jackson considered the declaration an act of treason. • After Senator Henry Clay pushed through a bill that would lower tariffs gradually until 1842, South Carolina repealed its nullification of the tariff law.

26. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • Slavery remained a divisive issue. • However, Jackson largely ignored the issue, focusing instead on Native Americans.

27. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • President Jackson supported the idea of moving all Native Americans out of the way of white settlers.

28. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • In 1830 he signed the Indian Removal Act, which helped the states relocate the Native Americans to uninhabited regions west of the Mississippi River.

29. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • The Cherokee in Georgia fought the Indian Removal Act by appealing to the Supreme Court.

30. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • In Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831), and Worcester v. Georgia (1832), Chief Justice John Marshall supported the Cherokees’ right to control their land. • President Jackson refused to support the decision.

31. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • In 1838 Jackson’s successor, Martin Van Buren, sent in an army to force the remaining Cherokee out of Georgia.

32. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • Thousands of Cherokee died on the journey that became known as the Trail of Tears.

33. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • Although most Americans supported the removal policy, some members of Congress and a few religious denominations condemned it.

34. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • President Andrew Jackson opposed the Second Bank of the United States, regarding it as a benefit to the wealthy.

35. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • At the time, the Bank was instrumental in keeping the nation’s money supply stable.

36. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • Many Western settlers who needed easy credit opposed the Bank’s policies. • President Jackson believed the Bank was unconstitutional, even though the Supreme Court ruled otherwise.

37. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • President Jackson vetoed a bill that would extend the charter of the Bank for another 20 years. • During the 1832 presidential election President Jackson opposed the Bank. • He removed the government’s deposits from the Bank, forcing it to call in its loans and stop lending.

38. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • By the mid-1830s, a new political party called the Whigs formed to oppose President Jackson. • Many members were former National Republicans, whose party had fallen apart.

39. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • Unlike Jackson’s Democrats, Whigs advocated expanding the federal government and encouraging commercial development.

40. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • The Whigs could not settle on one presidential candidate in the 1836 election. • As a result, they ran three candidates. • Jackson’s popularity and the nation’s continued economic prosperity helped Democrat Martin Van Buren win.

41. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • However, shortly after Van Buren took office, the country experienced an economic crisis, known as the Panic of 1837.

42. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • Thousands of farmers lost their land in foreclosures, and unemployment soared.

43. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • The Whigs saw the economic crisis as an opportunity to defeat the Democrats. • In the 1840 election they nominated General William Henry Harrison for president and John Tyler, a former Democrat, for vice president.

44. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • The Whig candidate defeated Van Buren. • However, Harrison died one month after his inauguration, and Tyler then succeeded to the presidency.

45. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • Tyler actually opposed many Whig policies and sided with the Democrats on issues such as refusing to support a new national bank or a higher tariff.

46. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • President Tyler did establish a firm boundary between the United States and Canada in the 1842 Webster-Ashburton Treaty.

47. The Resurgence of Sectionalism • What issue helped the Whig candidate win the presidency in 1840? • The economic crisis of 1837. (The Panic of 1837)

48. The Reform Spirit • In the mid-1800s, many Americans worked to reform various aspects of society. • Dorothea Dix worked for improved treatment of the mentally ill.

49. The Reform Spirit • Religious leaders organized to revive the nation’s commitment to religion in a movement known as the Second Great Awakening.

50. The Reform Spirit • An important advocate of this movement was Charles G. Finney, who helped found modern revivalism.