Jackson’s Approach to Governing

Political cartoon Andrew Jackson is a puppet master who is pulling strings attached to people who want to be appointed to public offices. What is the cartoonist’s opinion of Jackson?

The Kitchen Cabinet Jackson did not rely on his cabinet for advice. Instead, he turned to his trusted friends and political supporters. These advisors were said to meet with him in the White House kitchen. The rich and well-born looked at the “kitchen cabinet” with suspicion, believing that they were not the proper sort to be running the country.

The Spoils System Jackson upset many opponents when he decided to reward his political supporters with jobs in the government. This was called the spoils system. However, only about 10% of all civil servants were replaced by Jackson and many of them were dismissed for good reason.

The common man and the wealthy

The Nullification Crisis In 1828, Congress passed a law raising tariffs, or taxes, on imported goods such as cloth and glass. Jackson wanted to encourage the growth of manufacturing. Higher taxes meant higher prices for imported factory goods. American manufacturers could then outsell their foreign competitors. However, southern states thought the taxes raised the prices they paid for factory goods and that it would hurt cotton sales to other countries. Southerners said that a law favoring one region was unconstitutional. Based on this, Jackson’s vice president, John C. Calhoun, called upon southern states to declare the tariff “null and void,” or illegal and not to be honored.

The Nullification Crisis In 1832, Jackson signed a new law that lowered tariffs, but it wasn’t enough for states’ rights supporters in South Carolina. Led by Calhoun, they stated that South Carolina had the right to nullify, or reject, the tariff laws of 1828 and 1832 (this action was called nullification). South Carolina threatened to secede, or withdraw, from the United States. An outraged Jackson called upon Congress to pass the Force Bill, which allowed him to use the federal army to collect tariffs if needed. At the same time, Congress also passed a compromise bill that lowered tariffs still further. South Carolina backed down and the nullification crisis ended.

The Nullification Crisis

Political cartoon John C. Calhoun is at the top of the staircase. He believed that states have the right to nullify or reject federal laws. The crown symbolizes his desire for power. Jackson is pulling on the coattails of a Calhoun supporter. Jackson wants to prevent Calhoun from trampling the constitution and destroying the Union.

States’ Rights Believer

Jackson Battles the Bank of the United States The Bank of the United States was partly owned by the federal government. Jackson thought that it benefited rich Eastern investors at the expense of farmers and workers as well as smaller state banks. The bank’s charter was due to come up for renewal in 1836, but Henry Clay (who was planning on running for president against Jackson) decided to push a renewal bill through Congress in 1832 in hopes of forcing Jackson to take a political stance on the issue that could cost him votes.

Jackson Battles the Bank of the United States If Jackson signed the bill, renewing the bank’s charter, then he would lose votes from farmers who shared his dislike of banks. If Jackson vetoed the bill, he would lose votes from businesspeople who depended on the bank for loans. Jackson vetoed the bill, calling the bank an unconstitutional monopoly that existed mainly to make the rich richer even though the Supreme Court had already ruled the bank Constitutional.

Jackson Battles the Bank of the United States Jackson’s move was popular with most Americans and he won reelection by a large majority. But rather than wait for the bank to die in 1836 when its charter ran out, Jackson decided to starve it to death by ordering the secretary of the treasury to remove all federal deposits from the bank and put the money in the state banks. Business owners begged Jackson not to kill the bank, but he refused, calling it a victory for economic democracy.

Political cartoon Andrew Jackson is attacking the many-headed Bank of the U.S. with a veto stick. The banks president, Nicholas Biddle is in the center wearing a top hat. The many heads represent the 24 state directors of the bank

The common man and the wealthy

Jackson’s Indian Policy While admirers of Jackson called him “Old Hickory” because he was as tough as “the hardest wood in creation,” Native Americans called him “Sharp Knife.” Jackson earned this name because of his reputation for ruthlessness in battle. Jackson’s Indian Policy

In 1817, President Monroe had ordered Jackson to lead a campaign in Georgia against the Seminole and Creek Indians. He proved successful at defeating both in battle. Jackson had no sympathy for Native Americans and he made it national policy during his presidency to remove Native Americans from the East by force. This engraving shows General Andrew Jackson having defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. After the battle, the Creeks were forced to sign a treaty that required them to give up much of their land in Georgia and Alabama.

Jackson’s Indian Policy White settlers moving westward always created conflicts with Native Americans living in those regions. The national government had tried to resolve these conflicts with treaties, where Native Americans agreed to give up part of their land in exchange for food, supplies, money, and they promise that they would be able to keep the land that they had left forever.

Jackson’s Indian Policy Despite these treaties, Native Americans continued to be pushed off their land by white settlers hoping to farm or mine the land. Jackson wanted to remove the remaining Native Americans to a new Indian Territory in the West.

Jackson’s Indian Policy Most of the eastern Indians lived in the South. They belonged to five tribes: the Creek, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole. These tribes had adopted many white ways including farming, reading, and writing. These “Five Civilized Tribes” hoped to live in peace with their white neighbors. However, when cotton production spread westward, wealthy planters and poor settlers wanted to take the Native Americans’ homelands.

In 1830, President Jackson urged Congress to pass the Indian Removal Act, which allowed the president to make treaties in which Native Americans in the East traded their lands for new territory on the Great Plains. In 1831, the Supreme Court ruled that Indians had a right to their lands, but an angry Jackson disagreed and decided to remove any Indians who refused to leave by force if necessary. Indian Removal Act

The Trail of Tears

The Trail of Tears In 1836, thousands of Creeks who refused to leave Alabama were rounded up and marched west in handcuffs. Two years later, under President Martin Van Buren, more than 17,000 Cherokee were forced from their homes in Georgia and herded west by federal troops. Four thousand died from starvation and disease. The journey was called the “Trail of Tears.”

Native Americans and Common man