The Presidency of Andrew Jackson – The Rise of Mass Democracy

|Andrew Jackson – Biographical snap shot |
|-His parents had been immigrants |
|-At 14 he fought in the American Revolution |
|-Experienced dueling a couple of times |
|-War hero (Battle of New Orleans and Indian Wars in Florida) |
|-Great ethical man – person life was beyond reproach |
|-A lot of integrity |
|-Not another guy from the Aristocracy |
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|Practiced law in Tennessee, Jackson had become a wealthy land speculator and slave owner, was first man elected from Tennessee to |
|the House of Representatives, and he served briefly in the Senate. A major general in the War of 1812, Jackson became a national |
|hero when he defeated the British at New Orleans. |
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|He was also a western who embodied a number of American ideals: self-sufficiency, patriotism, morality, and tenacity. |

|Developments at the grassroots level prepared the way for democratic changes at the federal level after Jackson took office. There was a widespread belief in | |
|the principle of equality (for the white male majority) – or more precisely, equality of opportunity during the “Age of Jackson” | |
|Review: What was historic about the election of 1800? | |
|What role did the 12th Amendment play in the election of 1824? | |
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|The election of Andrew Jackson in 1828 initiates a new and more democratic era in American political and social history. | |
|#1. "King Caucus" ( closed door meeting of congressional party leaders) – Jeffersonian members of Congress met in caucus to nominate presidential and | |
|vice-presidential candidates. This will be replaced by national nominating conventions | |
|#2. Universal male suffrage – New western states had liberal voter qualifications and the trend towards universal male suffrage took hold elsewhere | |
|#3 Popular elections (and Presidential campaigning) By 1832, in most states, voters, rather than the state’s legislators chose a state’s slate of presidential | |
|electors. | |
|Going "Whole Hog" for Jackson in 1828 | |
|Know: Old Hickory, Mudslinging, Rachel Robards | |
|3. Describe the tone and tactics used in the 1828 election. | |
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|“Old Hickory” as President | |
|Know: Inaugural Brawl, King Mob | |
|4. What was there about Andrew Jackson which made him a man of the people? | |
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|[pic] | |
|During President Andrew Jackson’s open house inauguration in 1829 , a horde of 20,000 celebrants forced President Jackson to flee to a nearby hotel while his | |
|aides filled washtubs with orange juice and whiskey to lure the mob out of the overrun White House and onto the lawn | |
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|Jackson’s First Term | |
|[pic] | |
|The Spoils System | |
|AJ felt that government should be run by common people - a democracy based on self-sufficient middle class with ideas formed by liberal education and a free | |
|press. All white men could now vote, and the increased voting rights allowed Jackson to be elected. He instituted office rotation (called the Spoils system by | |
|his opponents). Jacksonians claimed that office rotation undercut the entrenched bureaucracy of Washington and let normal citizens participate in government. | |
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|Presidential Vetoes | |
|President | |
|Regular veto | |
|Pocket veto | |
|Total | |
| | |
|Washington | |
|2 | |
|0 | |
|2 | |
| | |
|Adams | |
|0 | |
|0 | |
|0 | |
| | |
|Jefferson | |
|0 | |
|0 | |
|0 | |
| | |
|Madison | |
|5 | |
|2 | |
|7 | |
| | |
|Monroe | |
|1 | |
|0 | |
|1 | |
| | |
|JQ Adams | |
|0 | |
|0 | |
|0 | |
| | |
|Jackson | |
|5 | |
|7 | |
|12 | |
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|The Maysville Road veto (May 27, 1830) President Andrew Jackson vetoed a bill which would allow the Federal government to purchase stock in the Maysville, | |
|Washington, Paris, and Lexington Turnpike Road Company, which had been organized to construct a road linking Lexington and the Ohio River, the entirety of | |
|which would be in the state of Kentucky. Its advocates regarded it as a part of the national Cumberland Road system. Congress passed a bill in 1830 providing | |
|federal funds to complete the project. Jackson vetoed the bill on the grounds that federal funding of intrastate projects of this nature was unconstitutional. | |
|He declared that such bills violated the principle that the government shouldn't be an economic affair. Jackson also pointed out that funding for these kinds | |
|of projects interfered with the paying off of the national debt. | |
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|The Battles of President Andrew Jackson | |
|Battle #1 | |
|Vice-President John C. Calhoun and the Tariff issue | |
|Tariff of Abominations (Tariff of 1828) raised the tariff on imported manufactured goods. The tariff protected the North but harmed the South; South said that | |
|the tariff was economically discriminatory and unconstitutional because it violated state's rights. It passed because New England favored high tariffs. | |
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|South Carolina Exposition and protest (nullification) Vice-President Calhoun anonymously published the essay South Carolina Exposition, which proposed that | |
|each state in the union counter the tyranny of the majority by asserting the right to nullify an unconstitutional act of Congress. It was written in reaction | |
|to the Tariff of 1828, which he said placed the Union in danger and stripped the South of its rights. South Carolina had threatened to secede if the tariff was| |
|not revoked; Calhoun suggested state nullification as a more peaceful solution. | |
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|1833 - The Force Bill authorized President Jackson to use the army and navy to collect duties on the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832. South Carolina's ordinance of | |
|nullification had declared these tariffs null and void, and South Carolina would not collect duties on them. The Force Act was never invoked because it was | |
|passed by Congress the same day as the Compromise Tariff of 1833, so it became unnecessary. South Carolina also nullified the Force Act. | |
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|The Election of 1832 | |
|[pic] | |
|Jackson will be re-elected – he will defeat Henry Clay | |
|and what was left of the Republicans | |
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|Andrew Jackson (Democrat) ran for re-election with V.P. Martin Van Buren. The main issue was his veto of the re-charter of the U.S. Bank, which he said was a | |
|monopoly. Henry Clay (Whig), who was pro-Bank, ran against him The Anti-Masonic Party nominated William Wirt. This was the first election with a national | |
|nominating convention. Jackson won - 219 to Clay's 49 and Wirt's 1. The Masons were a semi-secret society devoted to libertarian principles to which most | |
|educated or upper-class men of the Revolutionary War era belonged. The Anti-Masons sprang up as a reaction to the perceived elitism of the Masons, and the new | |
|party took votes from the Whigs, helping Jackson to win the election. | |
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|Worchester v. Georgia; Cherokee Nation v. Georgia 1832 - The Supreme Court decided Georgia had no jurisdiction over Cherokee reservations. Georgia refused to | |
|enforce decision and President Jackson didn't support the Court. “ John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.” By 1836 – Bureau of Indian | |
|Affairs had been established under the Dept. of War | |
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|Cherokee Indian removal, "Trail of Tears" A minority of the Cherokee tribe, despite the protest of the majority, had surrendered their Georgia land in the 1835| |
|Treaty of New | |
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|Echota. During the winter of 1838 - 1839, troops under General Winfield Scott evicted them from their homes in Georgia and moved them to Oklahoma Indian | |
|country. Many died on the trail; the journey became known as the "Trail of Tears". | |
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Jackson and his fight against the Second Bank of the United States

The BANK—

Ownership: 20% stock owned by the US Government

80% stock owned by private investors (foreign and domestic) Profit Share: 20% to US Government/80% to private investors

Its Powers—

1. Received all of the government’s deposits 2. Made loans to banks, businesses and individuals. (Jackson charged that by making loans to Congressmen, the bank’s Board of Trustees could control Congress.) 3. Regulated the availability of credit and the ease or difficulty an individual had in borrowing. a. set high or low interest rates on money lent to local and state banks b. loaned large or small amounts of money to local banks and influenced how much money was available for loans by local banks to individuals 4. Issued bank notes (paper currency) backed by gold or silver to stabilize the currency.

Its Opponents—The bank had…

1. A monopoly—a few rich people in the Northeast and Europe who owned stock in the Bank had the right to make private profits from lending out public funds. The common man or small businessman had little chance of getting loans from the Bank which, instead, preferred to lend its money to big businesses and important political figures. 2. Too much control over credit—Those who preferred an easy credit or easy money policy resented the tight controls enforced by the Bank over credit and the issuance of bank notes. This group included mainly farmers, land speculators, and small businessmen. 3. Too much power over the economy—by too few individuals who set policy for the national Bank. 4. Also, state and local banks would be a more democratic solution— a. it would give more people a chance to make profits by using government funds b. it would make more money available for making loans to the common man

Jackson’s Actions—

1. He vetoed the bill for renewing the Bank’s charter for another 20 years. 2. He quit depositing federal funds in the Bank and, instead, deposited them in certain state and local banks. He felt this was more democratic (see above).

Nicholas Biddle’s Response—

As President of the Bank, he began to recall loans, causing many businesses economic problems and resulting in a panic or depression. He intended to blame the slump on Jackson’s policies, but Jackson was quick to point out to the public that if one man, in direction of one bank could throw the entire nation into an economic panic, the Bank must be too powerful and be done away with.

The Result—

With no real control over banking, “wild cat” banks would issue worthless bank notes which were not backed by gold or silver. When the government demanded gold or silver in payment for public land (the Specie Circular), people tried to cash in those bank notes and found them worthless. This led to a depression, known as the Panic of 1837.

Second Two-Party System
Democrats v. Whigs, 1836 - 1850

|Democrats |Whigs |
|The party of tradition. |The party of modernization. |
|Looked backward to the past. |Looked forward to the future. |
|Spoke to the fears of Americans |Spoke to the hopes of Americans. |
|Opposed banks and corporations as. state-legislated economic privilege. |Wanted to use federal and state government to promote economic growth, |
|Opposed state-legislated reforms and preferred individual freedom of choice. |especially transportation and banks. |
|Were Jeffersonian agrarians who favored farms and rural independence and the |Advocated reforms such as temperance and public schools and prison reform. |
|right to own slaves. |Were entrepreneurs who favored industry and urban growth and free labor. |
|Favored rapid territorial expansion over space by purchase or war. |Favored gradual territorial expansion over time and opposed the Mexican War. |
|Believed in progress through external growth. |Believed in progress through internal growth |
|Democratic ideology of agrarianism, slavery, states rights, territorial |Whig ideology of urbanization, industrialization, federal rights, commercial |
|expansion was favored in the South. |expansion was favored in the North. |