1. The Jacksonian Era Comp Book Notes

2. DEMOCRACY AT WORK More voters (suffrage)
Before 1820s: only white land owners
1830s: all white men over 21
increased voter turnout to 80% by 1840
More people involved in government

3. Limits on Suffrage No Suffrage: Women Native Americans
Most African Americans
slaves

4. Election of 1824 Sectionalism
John Quincy Adams- had support of New England
Andrew Jackson- support from the West
Henry Clay- support of the West
William Crawford- support of the South
Sectionalism

5. Election of 1824 Jackson “Old Hickory”: wins popular vote
No candidate wins majority of electoral votes
House of Reps. chooses president

6. “Corrupt Bargain” Speaker of House (Clay) can influence results
Adams wins
Henry Clay: Secretary of State

7. How do you think John Q. Adams does as President because of the corrupt bargain?

8. Unpopular President
No one likes Adams because Jackson is “the people’s representative,” and he should have been president.
Attempted to bring the country together through a program of growth and internal improvements
Most Americans rejected spending so much money.

9. A Bitter Campaign Jackson v. Adams (1828) Propaganda on BOTH sides:
Jackson easily wins this time
Propaganda on BOTH sides:
Adams: Jackson is a dangerous military chieftain; could become a new Napoleon Bonaparte
Jackson: Adams made a corrupt bargain; is an aristocrat (out of touch, upper class)

10. ELECTION OF 1828 Turning point in American History
Marked the beginning of political involvement
for ordinary Americans.
Beginning of mudslinging campaigns which are
still used today.
Mudslinging Reached New Heights
His opponents accused him of murder,
gambling, slave trading and treason.

11. Why is mudslinging used in political campaigns?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Why had ordinary Americans not really participated in politics up until now?
Why is mudslinging used in political campaigns?

12. Jackson Fact or Fiction
Andrew Jackson exercised his veto power twelve times as President, more than all of his predecessors combined
There was never an assassination attempt on Jackson
Richard Lawrence, an unemployed house painter, approached Jackson as he left a congressional funeral held in the House chamber of the Capitol and shot at him. His gun misfired.
Andrew Jackson was the only President in American History to pay off the national debt and leave office with the country in the black.

13. # ANDREW JACKSON Common man 7 JACKSONIAN Old Hickory DEMOCRACY
Vice Presidents:
John C. Calhoun
Martin Van Buren
Old Hickory
JACKSONIAN
DEMOCRACY

14. Jacksonian Democracy Andrew Jackson:
Military man from war of 1812
Born in a log cabin
Parents were poor farmers
small farmers and others left out of growing U.S. economy admired him

15. JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY Jackson argued that the president, as the only
representative of all
the people, should rule
supreme.
Congress did not agree.
Struggle between
executive branch and
legislature over which
branch should dominate
the government.
A caricature of Andrew Jackson as a despotic monarch, probably issued during the Fall of 1833 in response to the President's September order to remove federal deposits from the Bank of the United States. The print is dated a year earlier by Weitenkampf and related to Jackson's controversial veto of Congress's bill to recharter the Bank in July However, the charge, implicit in the print, of Jackson's exceeding the President's constitutional power, however, was most widely advanced in connection not with the veto but with the 1833 removal order, on which the President was strongly criticized for acting without congressional approval. Jackson, in regal costume, stands before a throne in a frontal pose reminiscent of a playing-card king. He holds a "veto" in his left hand and a scepter in his right. The Federal Constitution and the arms of Pennsylvania (the United States Bank was located in Philadelphia) lie in tatters under his feet. A book "Judiciary of the U[nited] States" lies nearby. Around the border of the print are the words "Of Veto Memory", "Born to Command" and "Had I Been Consulted."

16. JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY:
The idea of spreading democracy to all the people, not just the elite, thus ensuring majority rule.
How is this different from Jefferson's vision of democracy?

17. A new style of Democracy

18. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What principle of the Constitution does not allow one branch to dominate over the other branch?

19. JACKSON STARTED CURRENT DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
OLD HICKORY
JACKSON STARTED CURRENT DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
“Let the people rule!”
-A. Jackson

20. You’ve been elected president of this classroom
You’ve been elected president of this classroom. You now must choose your cabinet. Fill the following positions;
-         Orange Chair Designator:
-         White Board Decorator:
-         Environmental Protection Chairperson:
-         Librarian:
-         Climate Control:
-         Classroom Maintenance:
Did you choose your friends or people you knew would be good for the job? Or was it a mix of both? Is there any danger in just choosing your friends? Danger in only choosing those good for the job?

21. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What problems can occur when jobs are given to people just because they are friends with someone?

22. SPOILS
SYSTEM
Notes: Rewarded supporters with government jobs and threw opponents out!
“Civil Servants”- ordinary citizens who can fill government jobs
Rationale for system:
Government remains
responsive to the people.
Assured loyalty to the
president.
Increases Party support.

23. KITCHEN CABINET
The “Kitchen Cabinet” formed to advise Jackson unofficially – result of spoils system.
Jackson is seated in a collapsing chair, with the "Altar of Reform" toppling next to him, and rats scurrying at his feet. The rats are (left to right): Secretary of War John H. Eaton, Secretary of the Navy John Branch, Secretary of State Martin Van Buren, and Treasury Secretary Samuel D. Ingham. Jackson's spectacles are pushed up over his forehead, and his foot is planted firmly on the tail of the Van Buren rat. "Resignations" fill the air behind him, and a pillar marked "Public confidence in the stability of this administration" falls to the left.

24. Viewed Jackson's appointments as dangerous to the country.
Today presidents routinely appoint their supporters to head government departments and offices, but in Jackson's day many government positions were held by men who had been there since George Washington.
Even before his inauguration, Jackson planned to replace men he saw as corrupt federal employees (civil servants) with new appointees who could restore virtue and morality to government.
Jackson's POV
Jackson's Critics
Viewed Jackson's appointments
as dangerous to the country.
Felt Jackson was only rewarding
supporters and not filling
positions with qualified people.
Called it a "spoils system"
"In a country where offices are created solely for the benefit of the people no one man has any more intrinsic right to official station than another."
Jackson called this process "rotation in office".

25. SECOND NATIONAL BANK
Notes: Jackson vetoed the bank charter and withdrew federal money to “pet banks” – state banks who supported Jackson
Disliked the bank because he felt bank was organization by wealthy Easterners in which ordinary citizens had no control

26. This 1834 lithograph by David Claypool Johnson shows Kentucky senator Henry Clay sewing President Andrew Jackson's mouth shut. Jackson's fight to destroy the Bank of the United States and his removal of the Treasury secretary led to the Senate's censure of Jackson for abuse of presidential power.

27. Who benefits from tariffs?
Northern Economy
Southern Economy
Turn to you neighbor and discuss which region would benefit from a high tariff.

28. Nullification Crisis
In 1828, Congress passed the highest tariff in U.S. history. It was so bad that the Southerners called it the Tariff of Abominations (something that is hated).
The fight against this tariff was led by Vice President John C. Calhoun. He said that states had a right to nullify a federal law that they considered unconstitutional.
What does nullify mean?
His reasoning was that since the states made up the national government, they had final authority.
Because he disagreed with President Jackson, Calhoun resigned and became governor of South Carolina.

29. Why did Southerners dislike the tariff, even after it was lowered
Why did Southerners dislike the tariff, even after it was lowered? South Carolina passed the Nullification Act, which declared the tariff illegal.
They also threatened to secede if the government challenged them. What does secede mean?
Finally, the president offered a lower tariff, which Calhoun supported, ending the Nullification Crisis. But even though the crisis was over, tensions between North and South increased for years.

30. FEDERAL LAW vs. STATE'S RIGHTS
Congress had passed Tariff of Abominations and
Tariff of 1832.
Calhoun resigned as Vice President when Jackson
supported federal law over state law.
South Carolina passed Nullification Act declaring
tariffs of 1828 and 1832 unconstitutional and
threatened to secede from the Union. Known as
the “Nullification Crisis”

31. Why would South Carolina feel like the tariffs were unconstitutional?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Why would South Carolina feel like the tariffs were unconstitutional?
Does a state have the “right” to declare a law unconstitutional?
What do you think the Supreme Court would say?

32. Jackson's Response “Union must be preserved” against states’ rights
Jackson got Congress to pass the Force Act
which allowed him to use the army to enforce
federal law.
Henry Clay, “The Great Compromiser,” proposed a
compromise bill which lowered the tariffs over a
10 year period so crisis eased.

33. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What are the geographic, economic, and social reasons why the United States would be divided into the West, the North, and the South?

34. The Indian Removal Act
“It is impossible to civilize Indians because they were essentially inferior to the Anglo-Saxon race”

35. Cherokee Indians
Lived peacefully in the Appalachian Mountains of Georgia and Tennessee
Adopted culture of whites - wrote and spoke English
Had own written language and newspaper
Based their government on the U.S. Constitution

36. Battle over land
The State of Georgia wanted Indian lands to build things on. They also wanted the lands so that they could build larger plantations. The Indians refused to move.

37. Cherokee Sue For Land
Cherokee sued the government of Georgia for taking their land
Worcester vs. Georgia John Marshall of the Supreme Court ruled Georgia’s actions are illegal and that the Cherokee can stay

38. President Jackson said, “Chief Justice John Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it.”
What is the job of the Supreme Court?
What is the job of the President?
What should happen if a government official refuses to do his job?

39. Indian Removal Act
In 1830 Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act which forced Native Americans to leave their homes in the USA and move West of the Mississippi.

40. Jackson saw Indian Removal as an opportunity to provide for the needs of the white farmers and businessmen. He also claimed that removal was also in the best interest of the Indians. Why?

42. Jackson forced 15,000 Indians to walk to their new land
Jackson forced 15,000 Indians to walk to their new land. The walk took several months. It was in the winter and ¼ of them died on the trail. Most of the people that died were the elderly and kids. This was called the Trail of Tears.

44. Was the removal of the Cherokee Nation constitutional?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Was the removal of the Cherokee Nation constitutional?
Why did the government feel it was necessary to remove the Indians?

45. You have taken me prisoner with all my warriors - I fought hard
You have taken me prisoner with all my warriors - I fought hard. But your guns were well-aimed. The bullets flew like birds in the air, and whizzed by our ears like the wind through the trees in the winter. My warriors fell around me, it began to look dismal. I saw my evil day at hand.