UNIT 10 ___ . ___ In Our American Story for Unit 10, we learn about the presidencies of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. God’s Wonder for this unit is America’s The Knapp Children islands. The Alamo in Texas is our by Samuel Lovett Waldo (c. 1834) American Landmark. Our American Biography is about Chief Justice Jay and his service as president of the American Bible Society. In our Daily Life lesson, America in the we learn about the Cherokee people and their hardships on the Trail of Tears. Jacksonian Era AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL 357 357 Dining room in Jackson’s home, the Hermitage Lesson 46 Old Hickory, First President Our American Story from the West ndrew Jackson of Tennessee was the first president who was not from one of the original 13 colonies A and the first president from west of the Appalachian Mountains. Until 1829 each of the presidents of the United States came from only two states: Virginia and Massachusetts. Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe were from Virginia; Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams were from Massachusetts. As we learned in Unit 9, Jackson’s victory at the Battle of New Orleans had made him a national hero. Though Jackson received the most votes in the election of 1824, four men had run for president and no one had enough votes for a majority. Jackson felt cheated when the House of Representatives chose John Quincy Adams as the sixth president. While Adams served as president in Washington, Jackson made plans to run against him in 1828. During the bitter campaign, opponents sharply criticized Jackson’s marriage to Rachel Donelson, who was an early pioneer to Nashville (see page 277). Before Rachel married Andrew Jackson, she had married Lewis Robards. Rachel and Robards had a troubled marriage. Andrew Jackson at his home, the Hermitage, 1830; Mrs. Andrew Jackson, engraved by John Chester Buttre 358 While Rachel was visiting friends near Natchez, Mississippi, she heard that Robards had divorced her. Andrew Jackson and Rachel were married in Natchez. When they came back to Nashville, they learned that the report of the divorce was not true. After this, Robards did divorce Rachel. Andrew and Rachel married again in Nashville. This kind of communication breakdown was common on the sparsely populated frontier. Because of these events, Jackson’s opponents greatly defamed the character of the fragile, devoutly religious Rachel during the campaign. She had been unwell for some time. The strain of the harsh campaign caused her health to decline further. Jackson won the presidential election of 1828, but his beloved Rachel died a few weeks later on December 22, 1828. Rachel was buried on Christmas Eve in her garden at the Hermitage, the couple’s plantation near Nashville, Tennessee. A lonely and heartbroken Andrew Jackson traveled to Washington to be inaugurated in March of 1829. Many Americans saw Andrew Jackson as a common man who represented the common people. Many wealthy and highly educated Easterners were worried about this man from the frontier. Jackson supporters did mob the President’s House on Inauguration Day, making a mess of the grand mansion. Trouble with South Carolina John C. Calhoun from South Carolina was elected as Jackson’s vice president. One of the major problems Jackson faced as president came from Calhoun’s home state. Some people from South Carolina, including Vice President Calhoun, believed that if John C� Calhoun by George Peter Alexander Healy, a state disagreed with a law that Congress passed, that state could c. 1845 refuse to enforce the law. In 1828 Congress passed high tariffs on goods imported into the United States. In 1832 Congress passed more high tariffs. People from South Carolina met in a special convention. They declared that South Carolina would not make people pay the tariffs. They also declared that a state could secede from the United States if it chose to do so. President Jackson strongly disagreed with Vice President Calhoun and those who met in the convention in South Carolina. He believed that America needed to be strong and that the states needed to stay together. Jackson sent soldiers to South Carolina. Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky helped to work out a compromise. Congress began to lower the tariffs. Henry Clay 359 Trouble with the National Bank Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the Treasury, had urged Congress to establish a national bank. Jackson opposed the bank. He believed that the Constitution did not authorize the U.S. to have a national bank. Jackson also believed that things the bank’s managers had done had been harmful to America. Jackson ran for a second term as president in 1832 and won. Henry Clay was his opponent. Clay made the bank a major issue during the campaign. When Congress passed a bill renewing the national bank’s charter in 1832, Jackson vetoed the bill. Congress did not have enough votes to override his veto. The national bank went out of existence in 1836. Railroads and More Successes In the 1800s, Americans began to use railways to haul containers of rocks away from quarries. Horses pulled the containers. In 1826 John Stevens built a circular track on his Replica of the Tom Thumb, land in Hoboken, New Jersey. There he demonstrated travel B & O Railroad’s first locomotive by rail, using a steam-powered vehicle. The first commercial railroad company in America was the Baltimore and Ohio. The B & O opened 14 miles of track in 1830. At first, the B & O used horses; but it began using an American-made steam-powered locomotive in 1831. In 1833 Andrew Jackson became the first U.S. president to ride on a train while in office. Jackson rode from Ellicott Mills, Maryland, to Baltimore on the B & O. By 1833 America had the longest steam railroad in the world. The South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company operated a 136-mile-long line between Charleston and Hamburg, South Carolina. Railroads became an important way to travel and to ship goods. However, during the early years of American railroads, canal companies continued to Replica of B & O Railroad’s first horse-drawn railroad car give them stiff competition. One of Jackson’s great accomplishments as president was paying off all of America’s national debt in 1835. This is the New States only time in American history that the federal government has 1836 been debt-free. Other countries respected President Jackson Arkansas – June 15 and many foreign governments paid debts that they owed 1837 Michigan – January 26 the United States. Two new states joined the Union during the Jackson presidency, Arkansas in 1836 and Michigan in 1837. 360 Van Buren Presidency During his first term in office, Andrew Jackson chose Martin Van Buren of New York to be his secretary of state. Van Buren was a U.S. senator from New York. He was a wise and talented advisor who had organized Jackson’s campaign for the presidency in 1828. Van Buren became one Formal parlor of Jackson’s most trusted advisors. Van Buren was an avid horseman. He and Jackson took many rides through the countryside while Jackson was president. When Jackson ran for a second term, he chose Van Buren as his vice president. In 1835 Van Buren ran for president. During the campaign, Jackson gave him a walking cane made of hickory from the Hermitage. The walking cane has a silver knob at the top, inscribed with “M. Van Buren for the Next President.” Silhouette of Van Buren, Portrait of Jackson Van Buren was victorious but the country soon suffered severe economic problems. Van Buren’s opponents began to call him Martin Van Ruin. Van Buren inspired other nicknames. Some called the five-foot-six politician Little Magician because he was good at making political deals. Another Van Buren nickname was Old Kinderhook, because he was from Kinderhook, New York. People often shortened Old Kinderhook to “OK.” Servants’ dining room in the cellar Van Buren ran for a second term in 1840, but he was defeated. Enjoy the home styles of the 1840s in these photos inside and outside of Lindenwald, the home in Kinderhook where Van Buren retired. Lindenwald, home of Martin Van Buren Library 361 The Jacksonian Era Andrew Jackson showed strong leadership. He didn’t just go along with what Congress decided. Jackson made the role of president a more powerful role in American government. Historians call the time period of the Jackson and Van Buren presidencies the Jacksonian Era. Andrew Jackson respected Martin Van Buren and called him “a true man with no guile.” To Martin Van Buren by Edward Hlavka be without guile means to be honest and without in a downtown park in Kinderhook, New York deceit. May the same be said of each of us. In the first chapter of John, Jesus complimented Nathanael when the two met for the first time. Jesus said: Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile� John 1:47b KJV Activities for Lesson 46 Presidential Biography – Read the biography of Andrew Jackson on the following page. Map Study – Complete the assignments for Lesson 46 on Map 12 “The Lower 48” in Maps of America the Beautiful. Timeline – In Timeline of America the Beautiful next to 1830, write: The Baltimore and Ohio opens the first commercial rail line in the United States. Student Workbook or Lesson Review – If you are using one of these optional books, complete the assignment for Lesson 46. Vocabulary – Look up each of these words in a dictionary: sparse, compromise, authorize, existence, inscribe.