1. The Growth Of Democracy 1824-1840
Chapter 11
The Growth Of Democracy
© 2015 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

2. Who was Andrew Jackson? Revolutionary War Orphan Lawyer & Judge
A terrible temper & an iron will (“Old Hickory”)
Slave Owner
Duel Fighter
Indian Fighter
“Hero” of the War of 1812
Congressman
“President for the People” (widely loved & deeply hated)
A Nationalist
“A very dangerous man”…Thomas Jefferson

3. Jacksonian Democracy Expanded opportunities for the “common man”
Eliminate the federal debt
Eliminate the 2nd Bank of the U.S.
Remove the Indians from the East
Practiced “The Spoils System”
Takes on Sectionalism
When Jackson was inaugurated, the country was growing at a rapid rate. Land was being purchased and cultivated, and farmers were going into debt to afford it. The United States now had twenty-four states and almost 13 million people. Now Americans would see the market-based economy emerge from the traditional economy of subsistence farming.
Jackson had made a name for himself in the defeat of the British at the Battle of New Orleans. His fame had increased during the Seminole wars as well. The 1824 election, in which he had won a majority of the popular vote but lost the election, put him in the spotlight and made him a candidate for the “common folk.”
Jackson believed that it was best to have politicians serve in every branch of office, instead of career bureaucrats. That way, when the new administration was elected, those appointed in the previous term would return to their previous occupation. Although this was his plan, he would only replace 20 percent of the entire bureaucracy during his terms in office.

4. Internal Improvements
Setting the Stage
The Peggy Eaton Affair
Some questioned his ability to lead
Internal Improvements
Vetoes the Maysville Road Bill
Jackson, unaccustomed to the political infighting in Washington, D.C., soon found himself entwined in a political war between his vice-president, John C. Calhoun, and secretary of state Martin Van Buren. The first battle came over the wife of Jackson’s secretary of war, John Eaton. Peggy Eaton had married John Eaton only three months after her first husband committed suicide. Calhoun’s wife refused to socialize with Mrs. Eaton due to her unsavory past. Van Buren used this rift to grow closer to Jackson.
Jackson would embark on a campaign against internal improvements that only benefited a particular state. He would continue funding interstate projects.

5. The Nullification Crisis
South Carolina’s economic troubles
“Tariff of Abominations”
John C. Calhoun
Resigns as VP
Embraces theory of Nullification
Question: Can a state veto (nullify) a federal law it believes is unconstitutional???
Calhoun’s state of South Carolina had suffered an economic malaise due, her inhabitants thought, to the protective tariff on goods imported from Europe. The approval of the Tariff of 1828 caused Calhoun to support the theory of nullification, that is, the ability of a state to declare null and void an act of Congress that it did not like.
Since the founding of the colonies, a North-South divide had existed. The Webster-Hayne debate would sharpen that edge and put the United States on the path to civil war. When the Foot Resolution was introduced to restrict federal land sales in the West, Daniel Webster and Robert Hayne engaged in a debate over the theory of nullification and the state’s right to do so.

6. The Webster-Hayne Debate
Robert Haynes (S.C.) defends states’ rights
Daniel Webster (MA) – “Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable.”

7. Jefferson Day Dinner – April 13, 1830
“Our Union, it must be preserved!” – A. Jackson
“The Union, next to our liberty most dear!”
– John C. Calhoun
Although both Jackson and Calhoun were slaveholders, a rift developed between the two on the issue of nullification and Calhoun resigned from the vice-presidency to take a seat in the Senate representing South Carolina.
South Carolina pressed the nullification crisis even more when it nullified the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 and refused to allow federal tax collectors to do their job in the state.

8. The Nullification Ordinance
Tariff of 1832
Lowers duties on imports
Calhoun not satisfied
South Carolina issues Nullification Ordinance:
Declares Tariffs of 1828 & 1832 as null & void
Threatens secession
Calhoun links slavery to tariff issue
Unwilling to accept South Carolina’s position in the crisis, Jackson proclaimed such a policy treason and informed the people of the rebellious state that he would insure that the tariffs be collected.
South Carolina found itself alone against the might of the federal government. No other state had joined with the nullification plan.
Henry Clay would end the crisis with a proposal to gradually reduce the tariff rates until This would give South Carolina the opportunity to escape its dilemma.

9. Jackson’s Response Publicly promises “firmness & forbearance”
Privately threatens to hang the nullifiers
South Carolina stands alone
Jackson requests “Force Bill”
Authorizes use of military

10. “The Great Compromiser”
Henry Clay Responds
“The Great Compromiser”
S.C. postpones nullification
Clay’s plan – reduce the tariff gradually
Congress approves
S.C. “saves face”:
Accepts compromise
Rescinds tariff nullification
Nullifies Force Bill
Civil War averted (for now)

11. Jackson’s Indian Policy
1830 – Congress passes the Indian Removal Act
Cherokees attempted to assimilate
Georgia’s craving for land
Cherokee Nation vs Georgia
John Marshall rules in favor of Cherokee
Jackson defies the Supreme Court
The Trail of Tears
17,000 Cherokee forced west of Mississippi River
800 mile journey on foot = 4,000 die
As the population of the United States continued to expand and grow, Native Americans continued to find themselves pushed from one area to another while treaties forbidding such actions were dismissed. In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, which swapped land that the Indians were currently inhabiting for federal land west of the Mississippi. At this point very few tribes were able to resist.
The Cherokees of Georgia were required to move out West. When they initially resisted on grounds of a treaty with the United States that declared them an independent nation, they did so through legal means. The Supreme Court sided with the Cherokees, but Jackson took no steps to enforce the ruling. The Cherokees would lose nine thousand members of the tribe over their eight-hundred-mile walk to the new land.

12. The Trail of Tears
The Trail of Tears Thousands of Cherokee Indians died on a nightmarish march from Georgia to Oklahoma after being forced from their native lands.
© 2015 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

13. Indian Removal,
Why did Congress exile the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, Seminoles, and Cherokees to territory west of Arkansas and Missouri?
How far did the tribes have to travel, and what were the conditions on the journey?
Why were the Indians not forced to move before the 1830s?
© 2015 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

14. The Bank War The Bank was always controversial
An issue in the 1832 Presidential election
The Recharter Effort:
Nicholas Biddle vs Andrew Jackson
“The Bank, I will kill it!”
Rechartering the Bank President Andrew Jackson battling the “Hydra-headed” (many headed serpent) Bank of the United States.
Jackson believed that the only acceptable format of money was in hard currency, not paper, which, depending on the whim of the bankers, could be made worthless. He was joined in opposing the Bank of the United States by many state and local banks, which by law were forced to control their paper currency more than they would like.
In an effort to make the recharter of the Bank of the United States an election issue, the banks’ supporters urged that it be readopted in 1832 instead of 1836, when the charter was due to expire. Jackson surprised the supporters by vetoing the bill, and Congress did not have the votes to override it.
© 2015 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

15. 1832 – Jackson Reelected Jackson goes to “war” with Nicholas Biddle
Removes government funds and deposits them in state (“pet”) banks
Biddle responds by taking control of the $ supply
1841- Bank of U.S. closes
Result: Hundreds of new state banks open
Economic troubles begin
States go deeply into debt
The election of 1832 was the first presidential election to have a third-party candidate run for office. It was also the first national election to hold a nominating convention to choose the party’s delegates. The National Republicans chose Henry Clay and the Democrats renominated Jackson. Jackson would win a second term.
In his second term, Jackson further deflated the power of the Bank of the United States. He was unable to disband it outright, but he could control the funds being sent to it. Jackson halted all payments to the bank and spent the remaining funds that it had on deposit.
Without the fiscal control of the Bank of the United States, cheap money threatened to flood the market. To curtail this, the government passed a series of laws limiting transactions in certain areas to hard money only.

16. Nicholas Biddle

17. Jackson “Kills” the Bank

18. Economic Troubles Worsen
Federal government piles on:
Distribution Act – Surplus federal funds withdrawn from state banks & given to the states
Specie Circular – Federal govt. demands land payments to be made only in gold or silver
Added strain on the nation’s economy
Due to what the National Republicans viewed as Jackson’s “tyrannical” actions, they changed their name to the Whigs, which was the party of the people in Great Britain.
In 1836 the Democrats nominated Martin Van Buren for the presidency and the Whigs nominated William Henry Harrison. Van Buren won.

19. Van Buren’s Presidency
The 1836 Election
Martin Van Buren elected 8th president
The Panic of 1837
Great Britain’s depression spreads to U.S.
Land prices drop
Internal improvements stop
State banks close
“Martin Van Ruin”

20. 1840 Election The new Whig party: The Lasting legacy of Andrew Jackson
William Henry Harrison wins election
“Tippecanoe & Tyler too” slogan
Promises to reestablish B.U.S.
Highest voter turnout to date
The Lasting legacy of Andrew Jackson
In 1840 the Whigs would once again nominate William Henry Harrison for the presidency and the Democrats would once again nominate Van Buren. In an attempt to make Harrison appear uninterested and unattached to the American people, the Democrats tried to paint him as a man willing to spend his days in a log cabin drinking hard cider. This plan backfired, making Harrison appear to be a man of the people, and he won the election.