The Jackson Era (Era of the Common Man) 1824-1840 APUSH Guide for American Pageant Chapter 13 & AMSCO Chapter 10

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The Jackson Era (Era of the Common Man) 1824-1840 APUSH Guide for American Pageant chapter 13 & AMSCO chapter 10

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Connecting the Era of Good Feelings to the Age of Jackson

The War of 1812 ended many of the problems that had plagued the United States since the Revolution. The nation’s independence was confirmed. The long war between Britain and France was over, and with it the need for America to maintain difficult neutrality. The war had convinced Democratic-Republicans that, for the nation’s security, they must protect American industry through tariffs — taxes on imported goods. The Democratic (or Jeffersonian) Republicans even chartered a new national bank to control the nation’s supply of money, something they had vigorously opposed only twenty years before. The Federalist Party, meanwhile, had discredited itself through its opposition to the war (Hartford Convention & Resolutions). As the Jeffersonian Republicans co-opted Federalist positions, the Federalist Party withered away and became essentially extinct outside of New England.

James Monroe presided over the so-called “Era of Good Feelings,” but one-party rule masked serious differences of opinion.

In the elections of 1816, the first after the war’s end, the Republicans took complete control of the federal government. James Monroe succeeded James Madison as President, and the Jeffersonian Republicans won 146 of 185 seats (78%) in the House of Representatives. By Monroe’s second term in office — which he won almost unanimously — the Federalists were reduced to only 4 seats in the U.S. Senate. Monroe’s administration became known as the “Era of Good Feelings” because there was so little opposition to him or to his policies.

Four presidents in U.S. history were elected without Election of 1824 winning the popular vote. John Quincy Adams (1824) lost by 44,804 to Andrew Jackson; Rutherford B. But this one-party system masked real differences in opinion. In 1824, four candidates were Hayes (1876) lost by 264,292 votes to Samuel J. nominated to succeed Monroe as President, all calling themselves Democratic-Republicans: the Tilden; Benjamin Harrison (1888) lost by 95,713 war hero Andrew Jackson, Speaker of the House Henry Clay, votes to Grover Cleveland; George W. Bush (2000)  Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, and Secretary of the lost by 543,816 votes to Al Gore. Despite these Treasury William Crawford. None of the candidates won a majority of examples, the Electoral College remains. the electoral vote, and so election was decided by the House of For what reasons does the College remain? Representatives. Clay had great influence as Speaker of the House, and he threw his support to Adams — some said, in exchange for Adams’ promise to make Clay his Secretary of State. Jackson had won the most electoral votes and the greatest share of the popular vote, and his supporters, who had expected him to be confirmed by the House as President, called this partnership between Adams and Clay a “corrupt bargain.”

During Adams’ administration, his supporters, who included many former Federalists, began to call themselves “National Republicans” to show their support for a strong national government that would promote commerce, support education, and fund roads and canals. But Adams was not particularly popular. In contrast, Jackson was extremely popular, having won national fame as hero of the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812 and later in wars against American Indians in Florida. He was also backed by a well-orchestrated political organization. Jackson’s followers formed the Democratic Party, claiming to be the true successors of Jefferson’s Democratic- Republican Party. Like their predecessors, the Democrats believed in small, decentralized government.

Alexis de Tocqueville (French aristocrat who visited America in the 1830s)

Excerpt from de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America Highlight main ideas then summarize his views in the box below.

Once a people begins to interfere with the voting qualification, one can be sure that sooner or later it will abolish it altogether. That is one of the most invariable rules of social behavior. The further the limit of voting rights is extended, the stronger is the need felt to spread them still wider, for after each new concession the forces of democracy are strengthened, and its demands increase with the augmented power. The ambition of those left below the qualifying limit increases in proportion to the number of those above it. Finally the exception becomes the rule; concessions follow one another without interruption, and there is no halting place until universal suffrage has been attained...

IN AMERICA the people appoint the legislative and the executive power and furnish the jurors who punish all infractions of the laws. The institutions are democratic, not only in their principle, but in all their consequences; and the people elect their representatives directly, and for the most part annually, in order to ensure their dependence. The people are therefore the real directing power; and although the form of government is representative, it is evident that the opinions, the prejudices, the interests, and even the passions of the people are hindered by no permanent obstacles from exercising a perpetual influence on the daily conduct of affairs. In the United States the majority governs in the name of the people, as is the case in all countries in which the people are supreme. This majority is principally composed of peaceable citizens, who, either by inclination or by interest, sincerely wish the welfare of their country. But they are surrounded by the incessant agitation of parties, who attempt to gain their cooperation and support...

In the United States, except slaves, servants, and paupers supported by the townships, there is no class of persons who do not exercise the elective franchise and who do not indirectly contribute to make the laws. Those who wish to attack the laws must consequently either change the opinion of the nation or trample upon its decision.

A second reason, which is still more direct and weighty, may be adduced: in the United States everyone is personally interested in enforcing the obedience of the whole community to the law; for as the minority may shortly rally the majority to its principles, it is interested in professing that respect for the decrees of the legislator which it may soon have occasion to claim for its own. However irksome an enactment may be, the citizen of the United States complies with it, not only because it is the work of the majority, but because it is his own, and he regards it as a contract to which he is himself a party.

In the United States, then, that numerous and turbulent multitude does not exist who, regarding the law as their natural enemy, look upon it with fear and distrust. It is impossible, on the contrary, not to perceive that all classes display the utmost reliance upon the legislation of their country and are attached to it by a kind of parental affection.

I am wrong, however, in saying all classes; for as in America the European scale of authority is inverted, there the wealthy are placed in a position analogous to that of the poor in the Old World, and it is the opulent classes who frequently look upon law with suspicion. I have already observed that the advantage of democracy is not, as has been sometimes asserted, that it protects the interests of all, but simply that it protects those of the majority.

In the United States, where the poor rule, the rich have always had something to fear from the abuse of their power. This natural anxiety of the rich may produce a secret dissatisfaction, but society is not disturbed by it, for the same reason that withholds the confidence of the rich from the legislative authority makes them obey its mandates: their wealth, which prevents them from making the law, prevents them from withstanding it. Among civilized nations, only those who have nothing to lose ever revolt; and if the laws of a democracy are not always worthy of respect, they are always respected; for those who usually infringe the laws cannot fail to obey those which they have themselves made and by which they are benefited; while the citizens who might be interested in their infraction are induced, by their character and station, to submit to the decisions of the legislature, whatever they may be. Besides, the people in America obey the law, not only because it is their own work, but because it may be changed if it is harmful; a law is observed because, first, it is a self-imposed evil, and, secondly, it is an evil of transient duration.

Summarize de Tocqueville’s observations.

In w hat ways does he highlight the American concept of equality?

Politics of the Common Man Andrew Jackson became the symbol of a more open, populist, and boisterous democracy. Explain how each of the following increased democracy in America.

1. Universal male suffrage

2. Party nominating conventions

3. Popular election of the president

4. Two-Party system

5. Third parties

6. Increased elected offices

7. Popular campaigning

8. Spoils system… “to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy.” -William Marcy

What is the message of the political cartoon at right?

9. Rotation of officeholders

Election of 1828; The Revolution of 1828

Jackson’s inauguration reflected this new, more open democracy — and not in an entirely positive way. While most previous presidents had been inaugurated indoors and in private, Jackson was inaugurated outdoors, on the East Portico of the Capitol. More than 20,000 people came to witness the event, even though in an era before microphones and loudspeakers, most could not hear Jackson speak. The crowd followed the new president to the White House, where the doors were opened for a public reception. Jackson eventually left through a window to escape the mob, which broke thousands of dollars’ worth of china and was dispersed only by the promise of alcoholic punch on the White House lawn. Although Jackson’s opponents were horrified by the display, they would soon learn to campaign to crowds as successfully as Jackson.

Era of the Common Man Identification Review Part 1 Historical Analysis

How did protests against the supposed “corrupt bargain” impact politics? Many of Jackson’s supporters protested against the corrupt bargain with fervor, and the fervor increased when Jackson called Henry Clay the “Judas of the West.”

Mudslinging reached new lows in 1828. Adams would not stoop that Compare the election of 1828 to the election of 1800. low, but his followers did, describing Jackson’s mother as a prostitute and his wife an adulteress. Jackson said that Adams’ billiard table and chessboard were “gaming tables” and “gambling furniture.” He also accused Adams of getting a servant girl for the lust of the Russian tsar. Jackson’s wife, Rachel, died one month after the election, and he attributed her death to the mudslinging.

In 1824 Jacksonites played a political game that resulted in the Why did Democrats dislike plans for internal improvements? passing of the “Tariff of Abominations” in 1828. Trying to cause problems for Adams who was encouraging furtherance of Henry Clay’s American System, they promoted a high tariff bill that they assumed would be defeated, but when it passed the South became infuriated. The suffering South could not afford the new high tariff for manufactured goods, and, spearheaded by South Carolina, they What impact did the tariff have on the election? loudly protested the new tariff. Not only did the tariff weaken the South’s economy, but it helped the Northern manufacturers at the same time. This caused the rift between the two regions to grow, making tensions increase as well.

South Carolina Exposition and Protest, 1828, secretly written by Vice President John C. Calhoun Highlight main ideas and summarize his view. . . . [The Federal] Government is one of specific powers, and it can rightfully exercise only the powers expressly granted, and those that may be "necessary and proper" to carry them into effect; all others being reserved expressly to the States, or to the people. It results necessarily, that those who claim to exercise a power under the Constitution, are bound to shew [sic], that it is expressly granted, or that it is necessary and proper, as a means to some of the granted powers. The advocates of the Tariff have offered no such proof. It is true, that the third [sic; eighth] section of the first article of the Constitution of the United States authorizes Congress to lay and collect an impost duty, but it is granted as a tax power, for the sole purpose of revenue; a power in its nature essentially different from that of imposing protective or prohibitory duties. . . . The Constitution grants to Congress the power of imposing a duty on imports for revenue; which power is abused by being converted into an instrument for rearing up the industry of one section of the country on the ruins of another. The violation then consists in using a power, granted for one object, to advance another, and that by the sacrifice of the original object ...... So partial are the effects of the system, that its burdens are exclusively on one side and its benefits on the other. It imposes on the agricultural interest of the South, including the South West, and that portion of our commerce and navigation engaged in foreign trade, the burden, not only of sustaining the system itself, but that also of sustaining government. In stating the case thus strongly, it is not the intention of the committee to exaggerate. If exaggeration were not unworthy of the gravity of the subject, the reality is such as to render it unnecessary. . . .

Calhoun/South Carolina’s view of the nature of federalism:

Excerpt from the Webster-Hayne Debates Robert Hayne, 1830 Highlight main ideas and then summarize historical viewpoint and significance.

Thus it will be seen, Mr. President, that the South Carolina doctrine [of nullification] is the [Jeffersonian] Republican doctrine of 1798; that it was first promulgated by the Fathers of the Faith; that it was maintained by Virginia and Kentucky in the worst of times; that it constituted the very pivot on which the political revolution of that day turned; that it embraces the very principles, the triumph of which, at that time, saved the constitution at its last gasp, and which New England statesmen were not unwilling to adopt, when they believed themselves to be the victims of unconstitutional legislation.

Sir, as to the doctrine that the Federal Government is the exclusive judge of the extent, as well as the limitations, of its powers, it seems to me to be utterly subversive of the sovereignty and independence of the States. It makes but little difference, in my estimation, whether Congress or the Supreme Court are invested with this power. If the Federal Government, in all or any of its departments, is to prescribe the limits of its own authority, and the States are bound to submit to the decision, and are not to be allowed to examine and decide for themselves, when the barriers of the Constitution shall be overleaped, this is practically "a Government without limitation of powers." The states are at once reduced to mere petty corporations and the people are entirely at your mercy.

I have but one word more to add. In all the efforts that have been made by South Carolina to resist the unconstitutional laws which Congress has extended over them, she has kept steadily in view the preservation of the Union by the only means by which she believes it can be long preserved - a firm, manly, and steady resistance against usurpation. The measures of the Federal Government, have, it is true, prostrated her interests and will soon involve the whole South in irretrievable ruin. But even this evil, great as it is, is not the chief ground of our complaints. It is the principle involved in the contest - a principle which, substituting the discretion of Congress for the limitations of the Constitution, brings the States and the people to the feet of the Federal Government and leaves them nothing that they can call their own.

Sir, if the measures of the Federal Government were less oppressive, we should still strive against this usurpation. The South is acting on a principle she has always held sacred - resistance to unauthorized taxation. These, sir, are the principles which induced the immortal Hampden to resist the payment of a tax of twenty shillings. Would twenty shillings have ruined his fortune? No; but the payment of half twenty shillings, on the principle on which it was demanded, would have made him a slave. Sir, if, in acting on these high motives, if animated by that ardent love of liberty which has always been the most prominent trait in the Southern character, we should be hurried beyond the bounds of a cold and calculating prudence, who is there with one noble and generous sentiment in his bosom that would not be disposed, in the language of Burke, to exclaim: "You must pardon something to the spirit of liberty!"

Who was Robert Hayne?

According to Hayne, what is the nature of the federal union under the Constitution?

How did Andrew Jackson respond to Hayne’s views?

Excerpt from the Webster-Hayne Debates Daniel Webster, 1830 Highlight main ideas and then summarize historical viewpoint and significance.

If anything be found in the national Constitution, either by original provision or subsequent interpretation, which ought not to be in it, the people know how to get rid of it. If any construction, unacceptable to them, be established, so as to become practically a part of the Constitution, they will amend it, at their own sovereign pleasure. But while the people choose to maintain it as it is, while they are satisfied with it and refuse to change it, who has given, or who can give, to the state legislatures a right to alter it, either by interference, construction, or otherwise?

I profess, sir, in my career hitherto, to have kept steadily in view the prosperity and honor of the whole country, and the preservation of our federal Union. It is to that Union we owe our safety at home, and our consideration and dignity abroad. It is to that Union that we are chiefly indebted for whatever makes us most proud of our country-that Union we reached only by the discipline of our virtues in the severe school of adversity. It had its origin in the necessities of disordered finance, prostrate commerce, and mined credit. Under its benign influences, these great interests immediately awoke, as from the dead, and sprang forth with newness of life. Every year of its duration has teemed with fresh proofs of its utility and its blessings. And although our territory has stretched out wider and wider, and our population spread farther and farther, they have not outrun its protection or its benefits. It has been to us all a copious fountain of national, social, and personal happiness.

I have not allowed myself, sir, to look beyond the Union, to see what might he hidden in the dark recess behind. I have not coolly weighed the chances of preserving liberty when the bonds that unite us together shall be broken asunder. I have not accustomed myself to hang over the precipice of disunion, to see whether, with my short sight, I can fathom the depth of the abyss below; nor could I regard him as a safe counselor in the affairs in this government whose thoughts should be mainly bent on considering, not how the Union may be best preserved but how tolerable might be the condition of the people when it should be broken up and destroyed. While the Union lasts, we have high, exciting, gratifying prospects spread out before us, for us and our children. Beyond that I seek not to penetrate the veil.

God grant that in my day, at least, that curtain may not rise! God grant that on my vision never may be opened what lies behind! When my eyes shall be turned to behold for the last time the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union; on states dissevered, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood! Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the republic, now known and honored throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original luster, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured, bearing for its motto, no such miserable interrogatory as "What is all this worth?" nor those other words of delusion and folly, "Liberty first and Union afterwards"; but everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true American heart-Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!

Who was Daniel Webster?

According to Webster, what is the nature of the federal union under the Constitution?

How did Jackson respond to Webster’s views?

What is the lasting impact and/or significance of Webster’s views?

The Ordinance of Nullification, 1832, excerpt Highlight main ideas and summarize the viewpoint.

…And we, the people of South Carolina, to the end that it may be fully understood by the Government of the United States, and the people of the co-States, that we are determined to maintain this, our Ordinance and Declaration, at every hazard, Do further Declare that we will not submit to the application of force, on the part of the Federal Government, to reduce this State to obedience; but that we will consider the passage by Congress, of any act... to coerce the State, shut up her ports, destroy or harass her commerce, or to enforce the acts hereby declared null and void, otherwise than through the civil tribunals of the country, as inconsistent with the longer continuance of South Carolina in the Union: and that the people of this state will thenceforth hold themselves absolved from all further obligation to maintain or preserve their political connection with the people of the other States, and will forthwith proceed to organize a separate Government, and do all other acts and things which sovereign and independent States may of right do....

Explain how the Ordinance of Nullification illustrates the view of compact theory. [COMPACT THEORY: Regarding the Constitution of the United States, the compact theory holds that the nation was formed through a compact agreed upon by all the states, and that the federal government is consequently a creation of the states]

To what extent did each of the following serve as precedents for the Ordinance of Nullification?

Prior Events Definition/Description of Event/Document Extent to which it served as precedent to Ordinance of Nullification

Articles of ______extent, because… (list three reasons) Confederation (large or small)

Whiskey ______extent, because… (list three reasons) (large or small) Rebellion 1.

Virginia and ______extent, because… (list three reasons) (large or small) Kentucky Resolutions 1.

Hartford ______extent, because… (list three reasons) (large or small) Resolutions 1.

Have you figured it out yet? ….. The first major problem Jackson faced as President  Nullification Crisis

Explain the significance of South Carolina’s response to the Tariff of 1828 along with the debate that followed.

Explain how South Carolina responded to Jackson and Congress’s reactions.

To what extent did the Compromise Tariff end the battle between compact and contract theories?

John Calhoun, ascending a pedestal of Southern affronts to the Union, Reaches for a despot’s crown in this Northern cartoon from 1833. At right President Andrew Jackson warns Calhoun and his fellow separatists to Reverse their perilous course from NullificationS.C. Ordinance Treason  Civil War  Deception  Disunion.

How would you explain reaction to the Ordinance based on this political cartoon?

The second major problem Jackson faced as President  the Second BUS

BACKGROUND: Today, the federal government has such power and influence over the nation’s economy that it may be difficult to understand why people were so strongly opposed to a national bank. The first Bank of the United States had been chartered in 1791, under the leadership of Alexander Hamilton. It was a private corporation, only partially owned by the government, and its profits went to stockholders. But the bank had three important and unique privileges. First, the federal government deposited all tax receipts into the bank. Second, the bank made short-term loans to the government. Third, and most important, the national bank refused to accept notes from other banks in individual states unless those banks had enough gold and silver to back up their paper. At that time, all official U.S. money was in coin, but banks issued “bank notes” — pieces of paper with a promise to pay a stated value in gold or silver when they were redeemed or brought back to the bank. These notes could be traded for goods and services, and so they functioned as paper money. If banks issued too much paper money, though, inflation would result — prices would rise, and the dollar would be worth less — and if the banks did not have the assets to back up their promises, people would be left holding worthless paper, the financial system could crash.

To Republicans, though, the bank seemed elitist. Private stockholders earned interest on government deposits. And in the South and West, money had always been in short supply (remember the protests of the Regulators). Southerners and westerners believed that the development of their regions depended on access to money and credit — which the national bank did not give them.

The bank’s charter expired in 1811, and the Republican Congress did not renew it. But the result was just what Hamilton had feared — inflation and confusion over the value of bank notes. To provide for a sound national SYMPTOMS OF currency, Congress chartered a second bank of the United States in 1816, again for twenty years. And again, it was resented as elitist — by state and local bankers who resented its privileges, and by people in new states and territories A LOCKED JAW who needed access to money and credit.

When Congress voted to renew the bank’s charter early, President Jackson vetoed the bill with a speech railing against monopoly and privilege. Until that time, presidents had rarely used the veto to override the wishes of Congress. But his veto was popular, and after his re-election in 1832, he issued an executive order ending the deposit of government funds into the Bank of the United States. By issuing an executive order, he was essentially refusing to enforce the act of Congress that had chartered the bank. Jackson’s acts served as precedents that would concentrate power in the executive branch. This began the Bank War.

The cartoon shows Jackson as a king trampling on both the U.S. Bank and the Constitution. He olds a veto in his hand. The cartoon at right depicts Jackson getting his mouth sewn shut by Henry Clay. From Clay's pocket protrudes a slip of paper reading, "cure for calumny." Below the image is a quote from Shakespeare's "Hamlet," ". . . Clay might stop a hole, to keep the wind away." On the wall behind him are the words "Plain sewing done here." Jackson had been censured for his actions against the bank and Clay had successfully prevented Jackson’s protests from being added to the Senate record.

What do the cartoons reveal about the era?

. Era of the Common Man Identification Review Part 2 Historical Analysis

Nicholas Biddle the president of the Bank of the United States Explain why Henry Clay proposed an extension of the Bank Charter. held an immense- and to many unconstitutional- amount of power over the nation’s financial affairs. Jackson had made his disdain over Biddle (who was extremely arrogant and elitist, although fair and intelligent) and the bank known, and consequently Henry Clay pushed for the renewal of the national bank in 1832, four years prior to its termination, as to make it an issue for the upcoming Explain why so many voters supported Jackson’s veto of the Bank Recharter Bill. election, unfortunately it resulted in the Bank War. The renewal bill went through Congress and was expectantly vetoed by Jackson, but surprisingly gained him more power and popularity. Jackson hastened the destruction of the bank to the general approval of the public, because they saw the bank as corrupt and unnecessary; however the destruction of the Bank of the United How did this bill ignite the Bank War? States unfortunately harmed the economy.

In addition to the veto, Jackson’s “pet banks” killed the second Explain the impact of Jackson’s victory in the Bank War? BUS. All federal funds were transferred out of the Bank of the United States and placed these funds in small banks chosen because their owners supported President Jackson. “Wildcat banks” were created after the death of the Bank of the United States. These banks often consisted of a few chairs and a suitcase, but they flooded the country with paper money, which ultimately led the financial panic of 1837. Jackson’s Specie Circular, a decree that required all public lands to be purchased with “hard” or metallic money, also contributed to the panic by stopping the speculative boom and triggering panic and crash.

The rise of the second party system Henry Clay of Kentucky (top) and Daniel Webster (bottom) of New Hampshire led the new Whig Party.

As the Democratic Party took shape around Jackson, his opponents came together in opposition to him. The opposition coalesced into the Whig Party, which named itself after the Whigs of the Revolution and of eighteenth-century Britain who opposed the strong monarchy. Their choice of a name implied that Jackson was taking too much power and might, if left unchecked, make himself a king. Some Whigs especially feared that Jackson, as a former general, would use the military to consolidate his power. The Whigs would continue to believe that the legislature should have the most power in government, while the Democrats would continue to support a strong executive.

Whigs were strong proponents of social order. At a time when “Jacksonian democracy” and religious revivals weakened established order and the influence of traditional elites, many wealthy lawyers and businessmen and members of older churches found a home in the Whig Party. But not all Whigs were elites; the party attracted many men who wanted to improve their position in the world. Whigs also led antebellum reform movements, working to reform prisons and treatment of the mentally ill, discouraging alcohol consumption, and supporting public schools. They saw these reforms, like their efforts to promote commerce and build roads and canals, as a way of building a more orderly society.

By 1840, the Whigs had built a party organization as strong as the Democrats’. Borrowing their opponents’ strategies, they nominated a war hero for president, William Henry Harrison of Ohio, who had earned fame in the War of 1812 and in conflicts with American Indians on the frontier. Like Jackson, he came from the democratic, egalitarian West. The Whigs, like the Democrats, campaigned through rallies, barbecues, debates, songs, and slogans. The Democratic incumbent, Martin Van Buren, had been Jackson’s vice-president, but he was not nearly as popular as his predecessor, and the Panic of 1837 — a serious economic recession — made Americans ready for a change of leadership. William Henry Harrison won in a landslide.

The Whigs accomplished little with their new power, though, because a month after his inauguration, Harrison died. His vice- president, John Tyler, now became president. But Tyler was a Virginian who like most southerners supported states’ rights and a low tariff, and he fought the Whig majority in Congress during his four years in office.

FYI: By the 1850s, the Democrats had come to support the Whig plan of internal improvements — just as Democratic-Republicans had adopted similar ideas from Federalists after the War of 1812. The issue of slavery, meanwhile, would soon come to dwarf all others on the national stage, and the resulting debates would reshape the nation’s political parties again. SECOND TWO-PARTY SYSTEM OVERVIEW Democrats v. Whigs, 1836 - 1850 Democrats Whigs 1. The party of tradition. 1. The party of modernization. 2. Looked backward to the past. 2. Looked forward to the future. 3. Spoke to the fears of Americans 3. Spoke to the hopes of Americans. 4. Opposed banks and corporations as. state-legislated economic 4. Wanted to use federal and state government to promote privilege. economic growth, especially transportation and banks. 5. Opposed state-legislated reforms and preferred individual 5. Advocated reforms such as temperance and public schools and freedom of choice. prison reform. 6. Were Jeffersonian agrarians who favored farms and rural 6. Were entrepreneurs who favored industry and urban growth independence and the right to own slaves. and free labor. 7. Favored rapid territorial expansion over space by purchase or 7. Favored gradual territorial expansion over time and opposed war. the Mexican War. 8. Believed in progress through external growth. 8. Believed in progress through internal growth 9. Democratic ideology of agrarianism, slavery, states rights, 9. Whig ideology of urbanization, industrialization, federal rights, territorial expansion was favored in the South. commercial expansion was favored in the North.

MID-19TH CENTURY POLITICAL CRISIS Disputes over slavery in the territories first erode, then destroy what had become America's second two-party system. The erosion began in the 1840s as various factions opposed to the post-Jackson Democratic political coalition begin to form. Third parties reveal conflicts. The third two-party system will solidify in the 1850s.

THIRD PARTIES

Anti-Masonic Party 1. Fear of cults, fear of freemasons, fear of secret societies and fraternities 2. The first third party in America 3. Introduced nominating parties and conventions which were embraced by the main parties 4. More regional, starting in NY, in New England, most blended into American Party

The Anti-Masonic Party first appeared in the 1832 presidential elections. This party opposed the influence and secrecy of the Masonic order, a private group renowned for its many famous members. The ideals of the Anti-Masonics were similar to those of the Jacksonians, but since Jackson was himself a member of the Masonic order, the Anti-Masonic party was essentially an anti-Jackson party.

Free Soil Party Liberty Party 1. Run abolitionist candidate James Birney, for president in 1844. 1. Not abolitionist but opposed to expansion of slavery in the 2. Won only 2% of the vote but drew votes from the Whigs, territories. especially in New York. 2. Won 10% of the popular vote with Martin Van Buren as their candidate in 1848. 3. Lost 50% of their support in 1852 when their candidate repudiated the Compromise of 1850

Whigs American Party Split over slavery into: 1. Popularly known as the "Know Nothing" Party. 1. Southern, "Cotton" Whigs who eventually drifted into the 2. Nativist party based on opposition to immigration and on Democratic Party. temperance. 2. Northern, "Conscience" Whigs who moved to new parties, i.e. 3. Run Millard Fillmore in 1856 and win 21% of the popular vote. Free Soil and, later, into the Republican Party. 4. Absorbed into the Republican Party after 1856.

Summarize the issues dividing the nation during Antebellum Era:

Indian Removal

Era of the Common Man Identification Review Part 3 Historical Analysis

Sequoyah, a Cherokee Indian, developed an alphabet and What is significant about some tribes being “civilized” while others were not? writing system that allowed for the writing of a legal code and a constitution. Mimicking the American government by dividing their new government into three branches. This helped the Cherokees become one of the Five Civilized Tribes. The Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles were called by whites the Five Civilized Tribes. They had How would you refute Andrew Jackson’s claims that forced removal of these tribes was in their best governments that included executive, legislative and judicial interest? branches; they had a written language, private property, schools and effective farms and plantations. They made these changes in order to look more civilized in the eyes of the Americans so there was less chance of another forced removal.

Passed in 1830, the Indian Removal Act provided for the How did Jackson’s concept of democracy extend to Native Americans? transplant of all remaining Indians (over 100,000) to land beyond the Mississippi. It mostly affected the Five Civilized Tribes.

In fall and winter of 1838-1839 the U.S Army forcibly removed Why were Native Americans treated so poorly? What was the priority of U.S. government? about 15,000 Cherokees from their ancestral grounds, in what is known as the “Trail of Tears.” The 116 day trek resulted in 4,000 fatalities due to starvation and the freezing cold.

Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 1831 ruled that the Cherokees who had sued for their land rights and liberties were not How did Jackson respond to these rulings? citizens of the U.S…. and therefore couldn’t sue. In Worcester v. Georgia, 1832, the Marshall Court ruled that Georgia couldn’t control Cherokee lands by passing laws trying to control them.

Andrew Jackson State of the Union Speech December 30, 1830. Highlight main ideas and summarize in the space provided.

It gives me pleasure to announce to Congress that the benevolent policy of the Government, steadily pursued for nearly 30 Main Ideas of Andrew Jackson years, in relation to the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements is approaching to a happy consummation. Two State of the Union Speech important tribes have accepted the provision made for their removal at the last session of Congress, and it is believed that their example will induce the remaining tribes also to seek the same obvious advantages…. Humanity has often wept over the fate of the aborigines of this country, and Philanthropy has been long busily employed in devising means to avert it, but its progress has never for a moment been arrested, and one by one have many powerful tribes disappeared from the earth. To follow to the tomb the last of his race and to tread on the graves of extinct nations excite melancholy reflections. But true philanthropy reconciles the mind to these vicissitudes as it does to the extinction of one generation to make room for another….Philanthropy could not wish to see this continent restored to the condition in which it was found by our forefathers. What good man would prefer a country covered with forests and ranged by a few thousand savages to our extensive Republic, studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms, embellished with all the improvements which art can devise or industry execute, occupied by more than 12,000,000 happy people, and filled with all the blessings of liberty, civilization, and religion?.... The present policy of the Government is but a continuation of the same progressive change by a milder process. The tribes which occupied the countries now constituting the Eastern States were annihilated or have melted away to make room for the whites. The waves of population and civilization are rolling to the westward, and we now propose to acquire the countries occupied by the red men of the South and West by a fair exchange, and, at the expense of the United States, to send them to a land where their existence may be prolonged and perhaps made perpetual. Doubtless it will be painful to leave the graves of their fathers; but what do they more than our ancestors did or than our children are now doing?.... Can it be cruel in this Government when, by events which it can not control, the Indian is made discontented in his ancient home to purchase his lands, to give him a new and extensive territory, to pay the expense of his removal, and support him a year in his new abode? How many thousands of our own people would gladly embrace the opportunity of removing to the West on such conditions! If the offers made to the Indians were extended to them, they would be hailed with gratitude and joy…. Rightly considered, the policy of the General Government toward the red man is not only liberal, but generous. He is unwilling to submit to the laws of the States and mingle with their population. To save him from this alternative, or perhaps utter annihilation, the General Government kindly offers him a new home, and proposes to pay the whole expense of his removal and settlement.

The Great White Father, 1835 political cartoon depicting Jackson seated with American Indians in his lap and on the floor before him. He has written a letter to the Seminoles in Florida titled “My Children” which explained how their forced removal was actually in their best interest.

How would you describe this image?

Should government (or President) ever be seen as a father? Explain your answer.

Letter by Elias Boudinot 1837, a Cherokee who supported Indian Removal (and who signed the Treaty of New Echota that gave away Cherokee land). The letter is to Chief John Ross, leader of the Cherokees who opposed Indian Removal.

...I consider my countrymen, not as mere animals, and to judge of their happiness by their condition as such, which to be sure is bad enough, but as moral beings, to be affected for better or for worse, by moral circumstances, I say their condition is wretched. Look, my dear sir, around you, and see the progress that vice and immorality have already made!...

If the dark picture which I have drawn here is a true one, and no candid person will say it is an exaggerated one, can we see a brighter prospect ahead? In another country, and under other circumstances, there is a better prospect. Removal, then, is the only remedy--the only practicable remedy. By it there may be finally a renovation--our people may rise from their very ashes to become prosperous and happy, and a credit to our race....I would say to my countrymen, you among the rest, fly from the moral pestilence that will finally destroy our nation.

What is the prospect in reference to your [John Ross's] plan of relief, if you are understood at all to have any plan? It is dark and gloomy beyond description. Subject the Cherokees to the laws of the States in their present condition? It matters not how favorable those laws may be, instead of remedying the evil you would only rivet the chains and fasten the manacles of their servitude and degradation. The final destiny of our race, under such circumstances, is too revolting to think of. Its course must be downward, until it finally becomes extinct or is merged in another race, more ignoble and more detested. Take my word for it, it is the sure consummation, if you succeed in preventing the removal of your people. The time will come when there will be only here and there those who can be called upon to sign a protest, or to vote against a treaty for their removal--when the few remnants of our once happy and improving nation will be viewed by posterity with curious and gazing interest, as relics of a brave and noble race. Are our people destined to such a catastrophe? Are we to run the race of all our brethren who have gone before us, and of whom hardly any thing is known but their name and perhaps only here and there a solitary being, walking, "as a ghost over the ashes of his fathers," to remind a stranger that such a race once existed? May God preserve us from such a destiny. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient and humble servant, E. BOUDINOT.

Compare the message of The Great White Father with the Letter by Elias Boudinot.

To what extent was the Indian Removal Act (and Jackson’s views in general) a departure from American policy with the native peoples? ______extent, because… (list three reasons) (large or small)

Peggy Eaton …THE PEGGY EATON AFFAIR Highlight main ideas from this article and then answer the questions that follows.

Margaret O'Neale Timberlake Eaton was not the focus of the first sexual scandal in American history, but she was at the center of one of the most interesting ones. Daughter of a popular Washington tavern keeper, Peggy was an attractive, vivacious young woman who attracted the attention of some of the most powerful men in America, including Senator John Eaton, a close friend of Andrew Jackson. As a young woman Peggy had married John Timberlake, a Navy purser who spent considerable time at sea. It was said that his untimely death in a foreign port was a suicide brought about by Peggy's infidelity, a charge never proven. Whether true or not, Peggy got married again, this time to John Eaton, who soon became a Secretary of War in Andrew Jackson's cabinet, whom she had met in her father's establishment.

Soon after Jackson's inauguration it became apparent that the wives of the other members of Jackson's Cabinet did not approve of Mrs. Eaton's allegedly lurid past. She was snubbed at White House receptions, and Washington political society refused to accept or return social visits from Mrs. Eaton, and pronounced themselves scandalized that Mrs. Eaton was even invited to participate in polite Washington company.

Jackson had known Peggy Eaton for some time and liked her. Perhaps more important, Jackson had lost his wife, Rachel, just months before his inauguration, and he blamed her death in part on what he saw as slanderous attacks on Jackson's own marriage. (When Andrew and Rachel Jackson first married, questions arose about the timing of her divorce from her first husband, a situation that led to the charge that the Jacksons had been living in sin.) Always one to take offense at any attack on his personal honor, Jackson naturally sided with Peggy and John Eaton and became furious with the allegations. He fumed: "I did not come here to make a cabinet for the ladies of this place, but for the nation!" The situation deteriorated to the point where it became a difficult even for Jackson's cabinet to conduct its regular business, so preoccupied were the members with the Eaton affair. Martin Van Buren, Jackson's Secretary of State, was a widower and therefore safe from wifely criticism of Mrs. Eaton. Van Buren could therefore afford to be kind to Mrs. Eaton, which gratified Jackson. Finally, as a way out of the "Eaton malaria," Van Buren offered to resign and suggested that the rest of the cabinet do so also. Jackson gratefully accepted his offer and promised to aid Van Buren, which he did, naming him Ambassador to Great Britain. There was more to this story, however. The attack on Mrs. Eaton had been led by Floride Calhoun, wife of Vice President John C. Calhoun. Calhoun had been elected vice president both in 1824 and 1828 and had run separately from Jackson, and there was some old animosity between Jackson and Calhoun dating back to the time when Calhoun was Secretary of War under President Monroe and Jackson was chasing Indians in Florida. Van Buren's appointment to the Court of St. James had to be approved by the Senate, and because of growing opposition to Jackson's policies in the Senate, the vote for approval turned out to be a tie. Vice President Calhoun, presiding over the Senate, cast the deciding vote against Van Buren. Henry Clay, a savvy politicians himself, remarked to Calhoun that he had destroyed an ambassador but created a Vice President.

And so it was. In 1832 Andrew Jackson asked Van Buren to join him on the Democratic Party ticket as his running mate and candidate for vice president. Jackson and Van Buren were elected, and Van Buren succeeded President Jackson in the election of 1836. Thus the Peggy Eaton affair, the story of a woman scorned, rather than remaining a low-level scandal, altered the course of American political history, not the first time nor the last in which a woman would play that role. Peggy's colorful life did not end there. Some years later John Eaton died, leaving his widow a small fortune. But she was not destined to live a quiet retirement—at age 61 she married twenty-one year old Antonio Buchanan, her granddaughter's dancing teacher and deeded all her belongings to him. Less than a year later he eloped to Italy with her granddaughter, and Peggy was forced to work as a dressmaker to support herself. She died in 1879 and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in a grave next to that of John Eaton. At had her funeral a large floral piece of white roses sent by President and Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes was placed on Peggy's grave. In her own autobiography Peggy Eaton wrote, "My likes and dislikes are not small. The fact is I do not believe I ever did exactly like or dislike anybody. I think they always hated everybody I did not love and always loved everybody I did not hate."

Explain the historical significance of the Peggy Eaton Affair.

What does this affair reveal about Andrew Jackson?

Era of the Common Man Identification Review Part 4 Historical Analysis

Denmark Vessey led a slave rebellion in Charleston, SC in 1822 that How did the issue of slavery impact the Jackson presidency? triggered Southern worry about the pressure that abolitionism was mounting on them.

Martin Van Buren, the 8th President, whose nickname was the “Little Why did William Henry Harrison easily beat Van Buren in 1840? Magician,” defeated Whig candidate William Henry Harrison in the 1836 Presidential election. Van Buren was the first president to be born under the American flag, but his presidency was marred by the panic of 1837, which he battled for most of his term in office.

Sam Houston, an ex-governor of Tennessee, led the small Texas Meanwhile in Texas…. army, numbering about 900 men, against the Santa Anna and the Mexicans so that Texas could avenge the massacre of Texans at the Alamo and declare its independence from Mexico. Houston took the Mexicans by surprise and forced Santa Anna to surrender on April 21, 1836. Santa Anna was forced to sign two treaties calling for the removal of Mexicans troops and to reorganize the Rio Grande as the extreme southwest border of Texas.

The Texan war cry “Remember the Alamo” swept through the United States as numerous American took up arms and rushed to the aid of their relatives, friends, and compatriots in Texas.

The Whig Presidential campaign of 1840 was famous for its slogan What did this campaign reveal about American politics? “Tippecanoe and Tyler too.” Tippecanoe referenced William Henry Harrison whose victories against the Indians at the Battles of Tippecanoe and the Thames made him a National Hero. Virginia’s John Tyler was selected as Harrison’s running mate. Although he was not the best Whig candidate (Webster or Clay would have been better) he had no enemies and therefore was believed to be the ablest vote getter for the Whig party.

Frederick Jackson Turner saw the western frontier as the source of How does this relate to the title, “Era of the Common Man,” often given to the Jackson democratic virtue and hailed Jackson as a hero from the West who years. protected the people against the progressive thinkers of the day. In his 1893 essay, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” he argued that the survival of democracy was due to the rise of the west and not the conservative, aristocratic east.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT!

To what extent was change good for America in this era?

Is it possible to have too much change at once?