· Martin Van Buren Forges a New Kind of Political Community
o Dewitt Clinton
o Bucktail faction – Albany Regency
o New York Constitutional Convention of 1821
§ Eliminates patronage
§ Expanded manhood suffrage (4/5 of white men)
· The New Democratic Politics in North America
o Introduction
§ Early years of the 19th century were a time of extraordinary growth and change for many countries in the Americas including the US
§ American embrace of popular democracy was unusual because elsewhere crises over popular rights dominated
o Continental Struggles Over Popular Rights
§ 1821 – Mexico achieves independence from Spain
· Originally Mexico was a constitutional monarchy under Colonel Agustin de Iturbide
o The constitutional monarchy was short lived with Iturbide ruling as Emperor of Mexico for little more than a year
· The Constitution of 1824 created a federal republic which gave the president extraordinary power in times of emergency and gave the Catholic Church a powerful political role
· General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna – president 1833-1853
o National hero saving Mexico from a Spanish invasion in 1829 and overthrowing an unpopular dictatorship in 1832
o Loses Texas 1836
o More territorial loss to US in 1848 – Mexican Cession – result of Mexican-American War
§ Haiti gained independence in 1804 setting the pattern for events in many other Caribbean islands
§ Britain abolishes slavery in their American colonies (Jamaica, Barbados, etc.)
§ Canada rebelled against Great Britain in 1837 because of the limited representation imposed on them in the Constitutional Act of 1791
· Act of Union 1840 – eliminates lower and upper Canada – establishes the Province of Canada
§ Spanish Cuba – sugar producing slave colony until 1880
§ In contradiction to the events in the Americas the US had a rapid spread of suffrage, a vibrant but stable democratic political culture, and a basic sectional difference—slavery
o The Expansion and Limits of Suffrage
§ Prior to 1800 limited white property owners and /or taxpayers
· Traditional elite
§ Many westward states that entered the Union during the late 1700s and early 1800s had either universal manhood suffrage (like Kentucky) or low taxpayer qualifications (like Tennessee and Ohio)
§ 1840 – more than 90% of adult males could vote
§ Free African Americans voting
· Free African Americans could vote in ME, NH, MA, VT, RI
· Democrats opposed African American suffrage
· Ohio constitution of 1802 denied free African Americans the right to vote, hold public office, and testify against white men in court cases
· Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Oregon denied African Americans entry into the state
· All blacks were prohibited to vote in the South
· The reason behind this lack of suffrage was RACISM
§ Women
· Women could not vote due to the idea that men headed households and represented the interests of all household members
· Even single wealthy women were considered subordinate to male relatives and couldn’t vote
· Women managed to play a role in politics still
o The wives of presidents provided social settings in which their husbands could conduct political business
o Women who ran the boardinghouses where most congressmen stayed were often valuable sources of information and official contacts
o Locally women in various groups, usually church-related, provided charity and raised money for community institutions setting community priorities
§ The exclusion of minorities marked the limits of liberalization
§ Although minorities and women were excluded, nowhere else in the world was the right to vote as widespread as it was in the US.
· Europe – Could “mob rule” succeed?
o Election of 1824
§ Marked the end of the “Era of Good Feelings”
§ 5 Republican candidates ran for the presidency:
· Secretary of State – JQA – New England support
· Speaker of the House – Clay – Western support
· Secretary of Treasury – William Crawford – southern support
· Former US Senator & Rep, War Hero – Andrew Jackson – south and west
· Secretary of War—John C. Calhoun—dropped out before election to run as VP
§ Jackson won 43% of the popular vote and 99 electoral votes, while the runner-up JQA won only 31% of the popular vote and 84 electoral votes
§ JQA won after Henry Clay gave his support and the House elected Adams
· After this ordeal Adams elected Clay his Secretary of State and many of Jackson’s followers accused them of “corrupt bargaining”
§ JQA presidency
· Strong opposition in Congress from Jackson’s supporters to “American System” legislation
· Did fund the extension of National Road
· Southerners limited his hemispheric influence in fear of legitimizing Haiti
o The New Popular Democratic Culture
§ Was vastly influenced by the increase in suffrage and print revolution
§ Van Buren style party loyalty leading into election of 1828
· Richmond Junto – John C. Calhoun
· Nashville Junto – supported Andrew Jackson
· NH Concord Regency
· Albany Regency – Martin Van Buren
o The Election of 1828
§ Jackson:
· Van Buren – Jackson’s campaign advisor
· Appealed to “common man”
· Pegged JQA as aristocratic
· Dropped the “Republicans” and called party the Democrats
· Calhoun – vice presidential running mate
· Decisive victory over JQA – 1780 to 83
· The Democrats emerge as a true national party (North, South, West all represented)
· The Jackson Presidency
o Introduction
§ Age of the Common man?
· Rich slave owner, military hero, belligerent, prideful – killed men in duels, ruthless towards Indians
o Symbolized pioneer independence
o A Popular Figure
§ Jackson was born in 1767, raised in North Carolina, and during the Revolution he was captured and beaten by the British
§ As a young man he moved west to the frontier station at Nashville, Tennessee, in 1788
§ He got the nickname Old Hickory
§ He made his career as a lawyer and his wealth as a slave-owning planter
§ Jackson got into many duels to defend his honor
§ He gained fame winning the Battle of New Orleans in 1815
§ He came to symbolize pioneer independence
§ On March 4, 1829, Andrew Jackson was inaugurated president while still mourning the death of his wife Rachel
· His inaugural address was almost drown out by the sound of cheering and afterwards he was mobbed by well-wishers
o A Strong Executive
§ Jackson’s presidency signaled higher levels of controversy in national politics and quickly stripped national politics of the polite and gentlemanly aura of cooperation it had during the Era of Good Feelings
§ Except for Martin Van Buren Jackson ignored the department heads who were official members of his cabinet
§ Kitchen Cabinet – Van Buren and western friends
· Calhoun not included
o Eaton episode & open disagreements over Nullification
o Eventually he resigns (1832)
§ Jackson used social distancing to separate himself from other politicians
· When John Henry Eaton married Peggy Eaton, who was a “fallen woman” not fit for polite society, Jackson urged his cabinet to make their wives hang out with her
§ Jackson used the power of presidential veto more times in his presidency than did all previous presidents combined
§ Jackson’s vehement and popular leadership made it easy for him to make Congress consider his opinion and restrict federal activities
o The Nation’s Leader Versus Sectional Spokesmen
§ Jackson was more concerned with asserting strong national leadership than promoting sectional compromise
· He believed that since the president symbolized the popular will of the people the president should dominate politics
§ Jackson thought that the majority should govern and that politics shouldn’t be sectional things
§ John C. Calhoun of South Carolina represented the South’s sectional interests
§ Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts was the main spokesperson for the new northern commercial interests
§ Henry Clay of Kentucky was Speaker of the House from 1811 to 1825 and later a Senator; he was the spokesman of the West
§ The prominence and popularity of those three men show how deep sectional differences were in the era even with President Jackson who was determined to override them and disrupt “politics as usual”
o Nullification Crisis
§ Exposition and Protest –Written anonymously by John C. Calhoun
§ Tariff of 1816 – supposedly a postwar measure
§ Tariff of 1828 – “Tariff of Abominations”
· High tariffs on iron and textiles (up to 50%)
· 2 reasons why tariffs made southerners mad
· Jackson’s congressional supporters passed it to gain more northern support for presidential election
§ Tariff of 1832
· SC Ordinance of Nullification
o Nullification – SC declares tariff null and void in their state
o Calls on local militia and threatens secession if Jackson used force
· President issues Force Bill
§ Tariff of 1833
· Henry Clay – Great Pacificator
· SC nullifies Force Bill – Jackson ignores them – crisis averted
· Changing the Course of Government
o Introduction
§ Jackson came into his presidency with a clear agenda to do three things:
· Remove the Indians from the white population to beyond the Mississippi
· Stop abuses of the federal government in regards to internal improvements
· Oppose existing re-incorporation of the existing National Bank
o Indian Removal
§ From assimilation to removal
§ Five Civilized tribes – Cherokees, Seminoles, Choctaws, Creeks, Chickasaw
§ States began invalidating federal land treaties…. Nullification?
§ Doesn’t matter – Jackson wants Indians gone anyway – he supports “land-hungry whites”
§ Indian Removal Act 1830
· Ignored Cherokee Nation v. Georgia 1831 & Worcester v. Georgia1832
o Marshall - “domestic dependent nations” – cannot be forced to relocate
· Trail of Tears
o Cherokee marched from TN to OK
o Quarter of 16,000 Cherokees die
· Northern (Women and Protestants) protest
o Women gain a voice of petition – gain momentum for abolitionist cause
o Internal Improvements
§ Jackson was strict about federal govt. funding internal improvements – states funded most infrastructure
· By 1842, 9 states defaulted on transportation loans
o Legal Support for Private Enterprise
§ Marshall
· Dartmouth College v. Woodward(1819) – states cannot interfere in contracts
· Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) – inventions are protected by patents but not commercial application of the invention
o NY, steamboat, Robert Fulton
o Bank War
§ Congress reapproves National Bank Charter in 1832
§ Jackson (distruster of business and banks) vetos
§ Jackson reelected in 1832 – sees it as a mandate to kill the bank
· Anti-Masonic Party
o Innovation – first national nominating convention
§ Transfers US deposits (10 million) to pet banks
§ End of American System – beginning of laissez faire economic policy where commercial interests regulate the economy instead of govt.
§ Infuriated opposition to Jackson’s bank war establish a new political party, the Whigs
· Formed to resist King Andrew
o Whigs, Van Buren, and the Election of 1836
§ Election of 1836
· Whig strategy – run four sectional candidates and get election thrown into the house
o A 2,000 vote swing in PA would have done this but, Van Buren prevailed
§ Martin “Van Ruin”
· Adopts the looming financial crisis spurred by the bank wars
· Panic of 1837
o State banks – eager to loan on speculative ventures
§ Many end up failing
o Inflation – government distributes $37 million to states
o Increased use of paper currency
§ Specie Circular (Jackson 1836)
o British Banks called in their American loans
§ Contraction of credit
o Banks suspend business in 1837
o Unemployment reaches 10%
o No govt. aid –seen as cyclical
· The Second American Party System
o Introduction
§ The First American Party System was between Jeffersonian Republicans and the Hamilton Federalists
§ By the 1830s expansion of suffrage, economic growth, and social changes due to expansion caused the emergence of two major political parties
· This pattern, called the Second American Party System, remains today
o Whigs and Democrats
§ The two parties did not have sectional differences, but they did reflect just-emerging class and cultural differences
§ Democrats:
· The Democrats inherited Thomas Jefferson’s belief in the democratic rights of the small, independent yeoman farmers
· They had national appeal but more so in the South and West (the rural areas)
· They favored expansion, Indian removal, and the freedom to do as they which on the frontier
§ Whigs:
· The Whigs inherited the Federalist views a strong federal role in the economy
· The Whigs were initiators and beneficiaries of economic change
· The Whigs supported the American System
· Favored government interference in not only economic but social reforms as well
· Most support in New England and the northern part of the West
§ Neither parties were monolithic, but were important because they were a coalition of interests affected by many local and regional factors
§ Van Buren realized the job of the party leader was to forge the divergent local party interests to win a national majority
· The Democrats had to appeal to the northern workers, who could care less about the Democrats stand on rural issues, somehow
o Election of 1840
§ Whigs try to duplicate Jackson’s winning appeal by not only nominating an aging Indian fighter William Henry Harrison, but also a Southerner (gasp), John Tyler
§ Whigs win - William Henry Harrison and John Tyler
· Tippecanoe and Tyler too
o The Whig Victory Turns to Loss: The Tyler Presidency
§ Harrison dies 1 month into office
· Whoops – Tyler is a Democrat as well as an anti-Whig and anti-Jackson
o Only on Harrison’s ticket for sectional support (South)
§ Tyler’s Presidency
· He vetoes a series of bills embodying all the elements of Henry Clay’s American System
· Tyler gets thrown out of the Whig party and his cabinet of Whigs resign
· Tyler replaces his cabinet with former Democrats like himself
§ The Whig victory ended as a stalemate between Tyler and the Whig majority in Congress
§ Whigs only win one more election in 1848
· American Arts and Letters
o Print Revolution begins in 1826
§ American Tract Society installs country’s first steam-powered press
· 300,000 Bibles and 6 million tracts in three years
§ Newspaper
· 1810 – 376 newspapers, 1835 – 1,200
· Some were scandalous and libelous in nature and reflected America’s growing interest in politics
· 1819 – Washington Irvin – The Sketch Book
o Rip Van Winkle and Headless Horsemen
· 1826 – James Fenimore Cooper – Leatherstocking Novels
o Last of the Mohicans
o Samuel F. B. Morse – 1844 sends first telegraph from Washington to Baltimore
§ Communication breakthrough – Morse Code
1. C; page 349 stated in the last paragraph of the beginning excerpt.
2. D; Page 349 intro paragraph to “The New Democratic Politics in North America” & if anyone wants to say A is correct you'd be wrong because of the way it is worded.
3. E; Many states during the 1800s began to increase suffrage to the majority of WHITE MALES and by 1840, around 90% of all white males could vote.
4. A; Page 353 first two sentences under “The Election of 1824” subsection
5. D; Page 356 last paragraph of “The New Popular Democratic Culture” subsection
6. E; Page 357 intro paragraph to “The Jackson Presidency” section
7. B; Page 359 last paragraph of “A Strong Executive” subsection
8. D; Read the “Nullification Crisis” subsection
9. E; Answers A & B are laughable, C was Jefferson, and answer D is wrong because we didn’t exterminate all of them we just relocated them
10. B; Page 360 second sentence of the first paragraph on the page
11. E; Page 366 read “The Bank War” subsection and you’ll see I’m correct
12. D; Page 368 read the first sentence on the page
13. A; Page 372 intro paragraph to “American Arts and Letters” section
14. C; cuz Amy says so
