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CHAPTER 12 – 2 JACKSON IN THE WHITE HOUSE 1. What qualities helped Andrew Jackson succeed? 2. What was the spoils system? 3. Why did President Jackson fight the Bank of the United States? ANDREW JACKSON • Studied law and set up a successful • Strong-willed law practice • Tough • Became wealthy buying and selling • Complex land • Quick temper • While still in his twenties, was • A man of his elected to Congress word • Won national fame for his achievements in the War of 1812 • Ability to inspire and lead others • A champion of the common people THE SPOILS SYSTEM • When he took office, Jackson fired many government employees and replaced them with his supporters. • Critics accused Jackson of rewarding Democrats for helping to elect him instead of choosing men who were qualified. • Jackson said he was serving democracy by letting more citizens take part in government. He felt that ordinary Americans were capable of doing government jobs. THE SPOILS SYSTEM (CONTINUED) • A Jackson supporter explained, “To the victor belong the spoils.” • The practice of rewarding supporters with government jobs became known as the spoils system. • Jackson rewarded a number of supporters with Cabinet jobs. Few of them were qualified, however. So Jackson relied on unofficial advisers. He met with them in the White House kitchen. The group became known as the “kitchen cabinet.” PRESIDENT JACKSON VS. THE BANK OF THE UNITED STATES • The Bank of the United States had great power because it controlled the loans made by state banks. President Jackson thought the Bank was undemocratic. He felt that Bank president Nicholas Biddle used the Bank to benefit the rich. • Whigs persuaded Biddle to try to renew the Bank’s charter before the 1832 election. They thought that if Jackson vetoed the bill to renew the charter, he would anger voters and lose the election. PRESIDENT JACKSON VS. THE BANK OF THE UNITED STATES (CONTINUED) • When the bill to renew the Bank’s charter reached the President, he vetoed it. First, he said the Bank was unconstitutional. Second, he felt that the Bank helped aristocrats at the expense of the common people. • The Whigs brought up the Bank issue in the election of 1832, but Jackson won a stunning election victory anyway. • Jackson ordered the Secretary of the Treasury to stop putting federal money in the Bank of the United States. The bank closed. .

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