jackson (2)
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Jackson
Common Man President?Old HickoryBackground
A Democratic AutocratAn Urbane savage, An atrocious SaintSelf made man, slave holder, Indian
oppressor
Common ManExtraordinary ordinary Man?
• He became a symbol of the emerging working class and middle class
• Born in a log cabin• Lived in a mansion• Slave-owner• Never lost his rough manner• No college degree
• Was he an egalitarian?• Equal rights for African Americans, Indians,
women?• He was a frontier aristocrat and most who
served with him were wealthy—so what was the difference?
• Talents and energies• What was their goal?• What/who did he hate?• Who did he champion?• A frugal Jeffersonian—interpreted the
constitution narrowly—vetoed more bills than the total of the preceding presidents
• Maysville Road
• “Kitchen Cabinet”• Peggy Eaton Affair
Jacksonian Democracy
• It is debatable whether Jackson was a major molder the events of the era, or whether he took advantage of the democratic fever of the times, or just a symbol of the times, but his name is linked to the time.
The Rise of Mass Politics
• What did his inauguration look like?• “King Mob”• The Expanding Electorate—What does
democracy expanding look like?
1824-1840
• Politics moved from the wealthy homes to the lower and middle classes.
• 1824-350,000 votes cast for President• 1840-over 2.4 million • Why?
Reasons for Voter Participation
• New state suffrage laws--• Changes in Political parties-- Caucus to Party
Conventions• (Was power really transferred to the people?)• Campaign methods• Improved education• Increase in newspaper circulation
• Dorr Rebellion in RI.• Who was not voting regardless of all this
expanding?
The Legitimatization of Party
• With the growth of an electorate and a growing interest in politics came the need of a two party system—political parties were becoming desirable and even some said essential—Why?
• Democrats and Whigs (opposed absolute monarchy)
Jackson’s theory of Democracy
• “equal protection and equal benefits” to all its white male citizens and favor no region or class over another
• An assault against who?• The Spoils System :To the Victor belongs the
Spoils—established the right of elected officials to appoint their own followers to public office—an established feature of American politics today.
• Rotation of officeholders
3 Major Events in Jackson’s Presidency
• Nullification Crisis• The Removal of the Indians• The National Bank War
Nullification Crisis• Jackson--Was he a Unionist/Nationalists or a States Rights
kind of Man?? Vice President John C. Calhoun• Theory of Nullification-sincethe federal government was thecreation of the states, the statesthemselves had the final say in a law and its constitutionality(what does this sound like?)Published anonymously entitled“The South Carolina Expositionand Protest”
• Tariff of Abomination 1828• Promoted sectional differences• Daniel Webster (Mass.) debated Robert Hayne
(S.C.) on states rights and the nature of the federal Union under the constitution—was the Constitution a compact between states or between the people of the US. If it was a compact made by the states, then each state had the right to interpret it..
• “Our Federal Union-It must be preserved”—Jackson
• “The Union-next to our liberty most dear”—Calhoun
• South Carolina turned up the war of words by declaring the state would nullify the tariff and threatened to secede from the Union if the government tried to collect duties.
• Jackson insisted this was treason• Henry Clay resolves the issue with the
Compromise Tariff of 1833• Force Bill “Bloody Bill”—President could use
military to collect federal tariffs
The Removal of the Indians• Attitudes went from “noble savages” to simply
“savages-uncivilized and uncivilizable• “Five Civilized Tribes”
• Indian Removal Act 1830-appropreated money to finance federal negotiations with the Indians aimed at relocating them to the West.
• Many tribes were too weak to resist pressure and ceded their land over.
• Not the Cherokees
• Cherokee Nation v. Georgia 1831-not a nation therefore cannot sue in Court
• Worcester v. Georgia 1832-Georgia cannot force the Native Americans to move west.
• “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it”—Jackson
• Alternatives to the removal of the Indians--
Jackson and the Bank War
• Bank of the United States: Privately owned, received federal deposits, controlled loans made by state banks and determined the interest rates
• President of the Bank-Nicholas Biddle—represented everything Jackson hated.
• Jackson vetoed the new charter of the bank in 1832
• Bank “Unconstitutional?”• Removed the funds and put them into “Pet
Banks”
Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge1837
• The first court decision that found in favor of the state in challenges that invoked the Contract Clause of the Constitution. This was a sign of the court's shift away from the Marshall Court's nationalism towards state's rights. It fought against the unfairness of implied contracts that would impede economic progress
• If Jackson was consistent on anything, it was his consistency on expanding economic opportunities.
The Changing Face of American Politics
• Whigs—United in opposition of Jackson’spolicies, committed to Clays’American System, and believedin active intervention by the government to change society
Martin Van Buren-The Panic of 1837
• The Killing of the Bank • Specie Circular• Speculation of Western Land
The Log Cabin Campaign of 1840
• Whigs: William Henry Harrison and John TylerPresented themselves as the party of the
common people, slogans “Tippee Canoe and Tyler too”- “Get the Ball Rolling”
Democrats: Martin Van “Ruin”
President John Tyler
• A man with no party
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