Name:____________________________________ Class Period:_____ The Jackson Era (Era of the Common Man) 1824-1840 APUSH Guide for American Pageant chapter 13 & AMSCO chapter 10 Directions Print document and take notes in the spaces provided. Read through the guide before you begin reading the chapter. This step will help you focus on the most significant ideas and information as you read. This guide can earn bonus points PLUS the right to correct a quiz for ½ points back. AMSCO: begin on page 184 Pageant: begin on page 256 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.