1. CHAPTER 10 A Democratic Revolution 1800–1844
James A. Henretta
Eric Hinderaker
Rebecca Edwards
Robert O. Self
America’s History Eighth Edition America: A Concise History Sixth Edition
CHAPTER 10
A Democratic Revolution
1800–1844
Copyright © 2014 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

2. 1. What action is depicted in this image
1. What action is depicted in this image? Who are the figures on the stage, and what are they doing? Who are the figures surrounding the stage? (Answer: This image depicts a political stump speech. The political candidates stand on the improvised stage—perhaps a real tree stump—making their political speeches. Surrounding them are the townspeople who have come to hear the candidates.)
2. What are the different types of people listening to the speakers on the stage? What does the image suggest about the various groups of people who were present? (Answer: The audience includes both well-dressed gentlemen and local farmers wearing more casual clothes and broad-brimmed hats. Some of the listeners look bored, while others are engaged. The composition of the group suggests that all types of men were interested in the candidates’ speeches, and that politics was the business of all men.)
3. What was the artist aiming to convey in this painting? What was his opinion about the scene? (Answer: The artist was probably trying to show how the democratization of politics in the United States had transformed political contests, bringing them to the people and attracting the attention of men from a variety of social groups. It is hard to know for sure, but the painting seems to celebrate democracy with its depiction of diverse candidates and constituencies.)

3. I. The Rise of Popular Politics, 1810–1828
A. The Decline of the Notables and the Rise of Parties 1. The Rise of Democracy 2. Parties Take Command
I. The Rise of Popular Politics, 1810–1828
A. The Decline of the Notables and the Rise of Parties
1. The Rise of Democracy – Only Pennsylvania and Vermont allowed all male taxpayers to vote (“franchise”); in all states, the wealthy dominated politics; in the 1810s, Maryland men argued that property requirements for voting were “tyranny”; the state offered wider franchise and in time these men would vote “simple” men into office (no more of the finery that symbolized politics in England and early America); new states allowed more men to vote; Indiana, Illinois, and Alabama all elected middle-class men to office; politics attracted powerful entrepreneurs and speculators who wanted land grants.
2. Parties Take Command – During the Revolution, politicians had discouraged the formation of parties, believing them to be “factions”; parties began to emerge in the early 19th century—“political machines” that had specific interests they desired to turn into legislation; Martin Van Buren (NY) wanted to create a system based on party identity, not family connections. Between 1817 and 1821, Van Buren created the first statewide political machine in New York; purchased a newspaper to promote his policies and get out the vote. Patronage, the ability to appoint friends to positions in the state (judges, justices of the peace, sheriffs, commissioners, coroners), created a “spoils system” that Van Buren argued would favor each party alternately; a “party caucus” would help discipline the voters of the party to the same ideology.

5. I. The Rise of Popular Politics, 1810–1828
B. The Election of 1824
1. The Republican Party
2. Andrew Jackson
I. The Rise of Popular Politics, 1810–1828
B. The Election of 1824
1. The Republican Party – Broke into competing factors after the War of 1812; five candidates came forward for the 1824 election: John Quincy Adams (Sec. of State), John C. Calhoun (Sec. of War), William H. Crawford (Sec. of the Treasury), Rep. Henry Clay (KY), Sen. Andrew Jackson (TN). When the caucus Republicans in Congress selected Crawford, the other four appealed directly to voters; each man found support in different parts of the country and among varying constituents.
2. Andrew Jackson – Was a celebrated war hero (War of 1812); married into an influential Tennessee family; a lawyer and slave owner, he had a reputation as a “plain solid republican”; though he received the most electoral votes, there was no absolute majority; vote went to Congress and J. Q. Adams was chosen.

7. I. The Rise of Popular Politics, 1810–1828
C. The Last Notable President: John Quincy Adams 1. The Fate of Adams’s Policies 2. The Tariff Battle
I. The Rise of Popular Politics, 1810–1828
C. The Last Notable President: John Quincy Adams
1. The Fate of Adams’s Policies – Adams had endorsed Henry Clay’s American System and its three key elements: 1) protective tariffs to stimulate manufacturing, 2) federally subsidized roads and canals to facilitate commerce, and 3) national bank to control credit and provide a uniform currency. Northeasterners and Midwesterners supported Adams, but little support in the South; some politicians opposed these ideas on constitutional grounds; Jeffersonian Republicans opposed the majority of Adams’s policies.
2. The Tariff Battle – Adams advocated high import tariffs on English cotton cloth so that New Englanders could dominate the market; tariffs appealed to Van Buren and others who wanted high tariffs on wool, hemp, and other raw materials so that New York, Ohio, and Kentucky farmers would support them in the 1828 election. The Tariff of 1828 raised duties on raw materials, textiles, iron goods; angered southerners who saw increases in the prices of manufactures despite their monopoly on cotton; southerners blamed Adams for the tariffs (despite support by Van Buren, Jackson, and others) and criticized his overly sympathetic policy towards Native Americans. Americans saw Adams as aloof, overly moral, and paternalistic; Adams did not “run” for reelection in 1828 but “stood” for it.

8. 1. Describe the scene depicted in this cartoon
1. Describe the scene depicted in this cartoon. Who are the two figures, and what do they symbolize? (Answer: The man on the left, under the S on the weather vane, represents a southern planter who has been impoverished by the tariff. The man on the right, under the N on the weather vane, symbolizes a northern manufacturer who has been enriched by the tariff.)
2. What do the buildings behind each of the men represent? (Answer: The building behind the planter is his house upon which a “To Let” sign is hung, indicating that he can no longer afford to pay for it. Next to the house is an empty ship, indicating that he can no longer grow cotton to export to Europe. The building behind the manufacturer is a factory with a busy worker out front, revealing that northern factories have remained busy and productive.)
3. What was the goal of the cartoonist? Which side of the tariff conflict do you think he supported? (Answer: The political cartoon was an attack on the tariffs implemented by the U.S. government in 1828 and The cartoonist sympathized with the southerners, who criticized the tariff as “little less than legalized pillage” and called it a “Tariff of Abominations.”)

9. I. The Rise of Popular Politics, 1810–1828
D. “The Democracy” and the Election of “Democrats” 2. Equal rights and popular rule
I. The Rise of Popular Politics, 1810–1828
D. “The Democracy” and the Election of 1828
1. “Democrats” – Van Buren ran Jackson’s campaign; sought appeal to northern farmers and artisans as well as southern slaveholders and small farmers; organized massive publicity campaign with newspapers and public meetings; called themselves “Democrats” or “the Democracy.”
2. Equal rights and popular rule – Democrats argued that they were fighting for equality for the people; achieved mass national appeal; increased participation at the polls with more than half of eligible voters participating in the election; some wealthy Americans feared Jackson’s popularity and decried the unruly crowd in the White House on Inauguration Day.

12. II. The Jacksonian Presidency, 1829–1837
A. Jackson’s Agenda: Rotation and Decentralization 1. “Kitchen Cabinet” 2. Patronage
II. The Jacksonian Presidency, 1829–1837
A. Jackson’s Agenda: Rotation and Decentralization
1. “Kitchen Cabinet” – Jackson relied primarily on his so-called Kitchen Cabinet, a small group of advisors who helped him make policy; its most influential members were two Kentuckians, Francis Preston Blair (editor of Washington Globe) and Amos Kendall (speechwriter); Roger B. Taney of Maryland became attorney general, treasury secretary, and then chief justice of the Supreme Court; Martin Van Buren was named Jackson’s secretary of state.
2. Patronage – Used to instill party loyalty and discipline; insisted that his administration’s officers rotate positions; rewarded friends at home with government jobs, believing this to be his right as “victor”; opposed government intervention in economic development; vetoed or rejected plans for national subsidies of transportation initiatives and internal improvements, including extension of the National Road.

14. II. The Jacksonian Presidency, 1829–1837
B. The Tariff and Nullification 1. The Tariff of South Carolina and “nullification”
II. The Jacksonian Presidency, 1829–1837
B. The Tariff and Nullification
1. The Tariff of 1828 – Opposition to tariffs continued in the South; South Carolina was the only state with a black majority (56 percent population), feared rebellion by slaves; slaveholders in South Carolina criticized the tariff, arguing for lower rates; wanted to keep public discussion away from British decision to end slavery in the West Indies in 1833.
2. South Carolina and “nullification” – Tariff was reenacted in 1832; South Carolina adopted an Ordinance of Nullification in November 1832; declared the 1828 and 1832 tariffs null and void in the state; threatened to secede if the government tried to force collection; argued that protective tariffs were illegitimate because each state/geographic region had distinct interests; Vice President John C. Calhoun supported South Carolina (SC); Jackson wanted a middle ground but believed the Constitution gave the federal government the power to establish tariffs; declared SC’s Ordinance of Nullification a violation of the Constitution; Jackson was granted power by Congress to use military means to end the standoff with SC if needed; SC gave up. 14

15. 1. Who are the two men in this political cartoon
1. Who are the two men in this political cartoon? (Answer: The man standing is Andrew Jackson. The man Jackson is carrying is Martin Van Buren. They are preparing to enter the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.)
2. Why did the artist depict Van Buren as Jackson’s passenger? What was the cartoon intended to convey to the viewer? (Answer: Jackson had recently dumped John Calhoun as his vice presidential candidate in the 1832 election and replaced him with Martin Van Buren, the “Little Magician” who had engineered Jackson’s successful run for the presidency in The artist did not place Van Buren on Jackson’s back because he saw him as a burden. Rather, he was suggesting that Jackson would carry Van Buren to the vice presidency because he could not have gotten there on his own.)
3. What can we glean from this cartoon about the political proclivities of the artist, if anything? (Answer: It is certain that the artist did not think much of Van Buren, but it is hard to judge his opinion of Jackson or of Calhoun, whom Van Buren replaced on the ticket. Perhaps the artist supported Calhoun and resented Jackson for rejecting him? Or perhaps he was simply seeking to represent the actions that had placed Van Buren on the ticket rather than Calhoun.)

16. II. The Jacksonian Presidency, 1829–1837
C. The Bank War 1. Jackson’s Bank Veto 2. The Bank Destroyed
II. The Jacksonian Presidency, 1829–1837
C. The Bank War
1. Jackson’s Bank Veto – Politicians who supported the Second Bank of the U.S. (est. 1816) wanted to maintain the bank’s role in stabilizing the money supply; bank maintained a cautious monetary policy supported by creditors in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia; opponents wanted to found state banks and not be supervised by the Second Bank; bank’s president (Biddle) sought to have its charter renewed early; Jackson vetoed the re-chartering, condemned the bank as “subversive” and “dangerous to the liberties of the people”; in 1832, Jackson was reelected; Van Buren was elected as VP; people believed Jackson correct in his criticism of the bank.
2. The Bank Destroyed – Early in 1833, Taney was appointed head of Treasury Department; Taney withdrew the federal government’s gold and silver from the Second Bank and deposited it in various state banks; tense political debate ensued; in 1836, Jackson did not renew the Second Bank’s national charter.

17. II. The Jacksonian Presidency, 1829–1837
D. Indian Removal 1. Cherokee Resistance 2. The Removal Act and Its Aftermath
II. The Jacksonian Presidency, 1829–1837
D. Indian Removal
1. Cherokee Resistance – White peoples’ demand for land continued to push native peoples westward; Cherokees were one of many groups adopting white culture; many were mixed blood and some were slave owners; mixed-bloods wanted to fully integrate into American society to protect their property; full-blood Cherokees wanted to maintain their culture and their ancestral lands; Jackson stopped using federal troops to protect Cherokee people/land in the western part of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.
2. The Removal Act and Its Aftermath – Indian Removal Act of 1830 was challenged by evangelical Protestants but passed the House narrowly; created the Indian Territory outside the western boundaries of the states; promised money and land to those who would give up their lands east of the Mississippi River; violence erupted in some areas; Cherokees challenged their removal to the Supreme Court; in Worcester v. Georgia (1832), Court sided with Cherokees against the state; in 1835, U.S. government signed Treaty of New Echota with a minority faction of Cherokee and forced removal began in 1838; “Trail of Tears”: approx. 3,000 Cherokee died of starvation and exposure on the 1,200-mile hike to Indian Territory.

20. II. The Jacksonian Presidency, 1829–1837
E. The Jacksonian Impact 1. The Taney Court 2. States Revise Their Constitutions
II. The Jacksonian Presidency, 1829–1837
E. The Jacksonian Impact
1. The Taney Court – Taney served a long tenure as chief justice (1835–1864); was an advocate of states’ rights and free enterprise; enhanced the regulatory role of state governments; Mayor of New York v. Miln (1837) ruled the state could use “police power” to inspect the health of arriving immigrants.
2. States Revise Their Constitutions – Throughout the country, Democrats called for new conventions (in 20 states) to write new state constitutions; mandated election of public officials, justices of the peace, judges, and sheriffs; new constitutions embodied the principles of classical liberalism, or laissez-faire, by limiting the government’s role in the economy.

21. III. Class, Culture, and the Second Party System
A. The Whig Worldview 1. Calhoun’s Dissent 2. Anti-Masons Become Whigs
III. Class, Culture, and the Second Party System
A. The Whig Worldview
1. Calhoun’s Dissent – Whig Party (est. 1834) initially opposed Jackson’s policies and his high-handed “kinglike” conduct; identified themselves with pre-Revolution party that opposed arbitrary actions by the king; supported political candidates of wealth and ability (talent); Whigs were not as strong in the South because they disagreed with party’s support of high tariffs and social mobility; Calhoun argued that the wage-labor system in the North was a contradiction of Whig ideology; urged northern industrialists and southern slave owners to unite against their common foe: the working class of enslaved blacks and propertyless whites.
2. Anti-Masons Become Whigs – Recruited Anti-Masons by advocating Mason’s causes: temperance, equal opportunity, and evangelical morality. In 1836, Van Buren ran against four Whig candidates; Van Buren contended less government was better; though the four candidates received 49 percent of the popular vote, Van Buren won.

22. III. Class, Culture, and the Second Party System
B. Labor Politics and the Depression of 1837– Workers form a political party 2. Financial panic and economic depression
III. Class, Culture, and the New Party System
B. Labor Politics and the Depression of 1837–1843
1. Workers form a political party – In 1828, Philadelphia artisans and workers organized Working Men’s Party, which spread to 15 states by 1833; shared common ideology with local foci; convinced Pennsylvania legislature to authorize tax-supported schools; the parties’ weakness in statewide elections took a toll; by the mid-1830s, most politically active workers had joined the Democratic Party.
2. Financial panic and economic depression – The Panic of 1837 resulted from a drop in money flowing from Britain to the U.S.; cotton (and other) prices dropped significantly; more economic problems seen in 1839 when bond prices fell in Europe; nine states could not pay interest on their bonds and defaulted on foreign loans; by 1843, U.S. was in a depression: canal construction down 90 percent, prices and wages fell nearly 50 percent, unemployment reached almost 20 percent in some sectors; unions virtually disappeared.

24. III. Class, Culture, and the Second Party System
C. “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!” 1. The Log Cabin Campaign 2. Tyler Subverts the Whig Agenda
III. Class, Culture, and the Second Party System
C. “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!”
1. The Log Cabin Campaign – Public blamed Democrats for economic problems, especially Van Buren who did nothing to stimulate the economy; Whigs held first national convention in 1840; William Henry Harrison (OH) nominated for president, John Tyler (VA) for VP. Harrison was a hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe and War of 1812, was 68 years old, and had little political experience; “log cabin campaign”—both parties competing for votes through songs, parades, mass meetings, and lots of negative campaigning; Harrison won 53 percent of popular vote.
2. Tyler Subverts the Whig Agenda – Harrison died of pneumonia after one month in office; Tyler’s politics supported the Democrats more than Whigs; similar economic policy to Jackson, committed to slavery and states’ rights; Democrats benefitted from crisis among Whigs, increased immigration, and ethnocultural politics (the practice of voting along ethnic/religious lines).