1. Jacksonian era
1829 – 1837
How did the United State’s political system change under Andrew Jackson?

2. Why did Kent oppose empowering the poor with the right to vote?
Warm Up: Jacksonian Democracy
James Kent, Chief Justice of New York State’s highest court, opposed the 1821 proposal to drop property
ownership requirements. Here are some of the points he made at the state convention in opposition to
Sanford’s proposal.
Why did Kent oppose empowering the poor with the right to vote?
What do you suppose Kent meant by “tyrannize over the minority”?
What do you suppose he meant by the last line of the quotation?
The tendency of universal suffrage is to jeopardize the rights of property and the principles of liberty. There is a constant…tendency in the poor to covet [desire] and to share the plunder of the rich; in the debtor, to relax or avoid the obligation of contracts; in the majority, to tyrannize over the minority and trample down their rights; in the indolent [lazy] and the profligate [depraved] to cast the whole burdens of society upon the industrious and the virtuous; and there is a tendency in ambitious and wicked men to inflame these combustible materials.

3. Elections of 1824 and 1828 Election of 1824 Election of 1828
Candidate
Electoral
Popular
House
Jackson 99
153,544 7
Adams 84
108,740 13
Crawford 41
46,618 4
Clay 37
47,136 --
Democratic Republicans –Jackson and National Republicans – Adams
Mudslinging- attempts to ruin opponent’s reputation with insults
Election slogans, rallies, buttons and events emerged to favor candidates
Jackson wins with a landslide victory
“Corrupt Bargain” Clay (House) and Adams accused of stealing the election by influencing the vote
Elections of 1824 and 1828

4. Jackson as president Jackson’s nickname was Old Hickory
He was a patriot, a self-made man, and a war hero
Horseshoe bend and New Orleans
New voters – promised suffrage for more than just land owners.
Suffrage – right to vote
Spoils System – Jackson replaced govt jobs with his supporters; practice of handing out government jobs to supporters, replacing govt employees with the winning candidate’s supporters
Tariff Debate – split country over high tariff on European imports
South protests because they feel it isn’t in the best interest, they want to nullify the tariff, some Southern states want to secede – break away from the US
Nullification Act – legislature would not pay illegal tariffs, Jackson compromise would greatly lower the tariffs.
Jackson as president

5. Moving Native Americans
Many wanted the Native Americans to relocate from the south because the area west of the Mississippi seemed unsuitable for farming - Andrew Jackson supported the settlers’ demand
Indian Removal Act (1830) – allowed federal govt to pay Native Americans to move west
Indian Territory – area in present-day Oklahoma for the relocation of Native Americans from the Southeast
Trail of Tears – Trail where they cried – when Cherokees refused to move west, were forced out of their homes and many died along the way bc of brutal weather
Moving Native Americans

6. Native American Resistance
SAUK/FOX
SEMINOLE
1832, Black Hawk, Sauk chieftan, led force of people back to Illinois, their homeland.
Illinois state militia and troops attacked and slaughtered most Native Americans that tried to flee westward to Iowa
Successfully resisted their removal
Osceola – Seminole Chief, led his people to war, refusing to leave Florida (joined forces with African Americans that ran away from slavery)
Guerrilla tactics – surprise attacks and retreating back to forests and swamps
By 1842, over 1,500 Americans died in Seminole wars and the govt gave up, many Seminoles stayed in Florida
Native American Resistance

7. Description of what happened to native Americans when U.S. expanded
Tribe
Description
Cherokee
Legally challenged the removal and won, were forced to move anyway
Sauk/Fox
Tried to reclaim land, were driven off
Seminole
Waged guerrilla war until the United States allowed the Seminole to stay in Florida
Description of what happened to native Americans when U.S. expanded