Jacksonian Democracy
Jackson personified the desireable and undesireable qualities of Westerners. He stood for the right of the common people to have a greater voice in government. Distinct changes in laws, practices, and popular attitudes gave rise to Jacksonian Democracy and were in turn accelerated by the new equilitarian spirit.
Jacksonian Revolution of 1828: Jackson won more than twice the electoral vote of John Quincy Adams. However the popular vote was much closer. Adams had strong support in New England while Jackson swept the South and Southwest. In the middle states and the Northwest, the popular vote was close.
age of the common man: All white males had access to the polls. Jackson was portrayed by the opposition as a common man, an illiterate backwoodsman, during the election of 1828. He was depicted as being uncorrupt, natural, and plain. His supporters described his simple and true morals and fierce and resolute will.
spoils system: Jackson defended the principle of "rotation in office," the removal of officeholders of the rival party on democratic grounds. He wanted to give as many individuals as possible a chance to work for the government and to prevent the development of an elite bureaucracy.
National Republicans: They became the Whig party during Jackson’s second term. John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay guided this party in the 1830s. They were the Jeffersonian Republicans, along with numerous former Federalists who believed that the national government should advocate economic development.
Trail of Tears: A pro-removal chief signed the Treaty of New Echota in 1835 which ceded all Cherokee land to the United States for $5.6 million. Most Cherokees condemned the treaty. Between 1835 and 1838, 16,000 Cherokees migrated west to the Mississippi along the Trail of Tears. 2,000 to 4,000 Cherokees died.
kitchen cabinets: During his first term, Jackson repeatedly relied on an informal group of partisan supporters for advice while ignoring his appointed cabinet officers. Supposedly, they met in the White House kitchen. Martin Van Buren and John H. Eaton belonged to this group, but were also members of the official cabinet.
Worcester v. Georgia, 1832: Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the Cherokees were not a state nor a foreign nation and therefore lacked standing to bring suit. Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 1831: Marshall ruled that the Cherokees were a "domestic dependent nation" entitled to federal protection from mistreatment by Georgia.
Whigs: The National Republican party altered its name to the Whig party during Jackson’s second term. They were united by their opposition of Jackson’s policies, committed to Clay’s American System and believed in active intervention by the government to change society. They became a national party with appeal by 1836.
Maysville Road veto: President Jackson vetoed a bill to grant federal aid for a road in Kentucky between Maysville and Lexington in 1830. He believed that internal improvements violated the principle that Congress could appropriate money for objectives only shared by all Americans. It increased Jackson’s popularity in the South.
election of 1832: Jackson, a strong defender of states’ rights and Unionism won the presidency. The National Republicans ran Henry Clay whose platform consisted of his American System. The Anti-Masonic Party ran William Wirt who received 7 electoral votes.
Bank War: Nicholas Biddle operated the Bank of the United States since 1823. Many opposed the Bank because it was big and powerful. Some disputed its constitutionality. Jackson tried to destroy the Bank by vetoing a bill to recharter the Bank. He removed the federal government’s deposits from the Bank and put them into various state and local banks or "pet banks." Biddle tightened up on credit and called in loans, hoping for a retraction by Jackson, which never occurred. A financial recession resulted.
Roger B. Taney: Jackson’s policy was to remove federal deposits form the Bank of US and put them in state banks. Secretary of treasury Roger B. Taney implemented the policy. Critics called the state-bank depositories pet banks because they were chosen for their loyalty to the Democratic party.
Webster-Hayne Debate: Senator Robert Hayne of South Carolina made a speech in favor of cheap land in 1830. He used Calhoun’s anti-tariff arguments to support his position and referred to the plausibility of nullification. Webster contended that the Union was indissoluble and sovereign over the individual states.
Peggy Eaton affair: Jackson’s secretary of war, John H. Eaton, married Peggy Eaton in 1829. They were socially disregarded by Calhoun’s wife and Calhoun’s friends in the cabinet. Jackson believed that the Eaton affair was Calhoun’s plot to discredit him and advance Calhoun’s presidential ambitions.
Calhoun resigns: When Jackson favored the higher rates for the Tariff of 1832, Calhoun resigned in the same year. He went back to South Carolina and composed an Ordinance of Nullification which was approved by a special convention, and the customs officials were ordered to stop collecting the duties at Charleston.
Nullification Crisis: Calhoun introduced the idea in his SC Exposition and Protest. States that suffered from the tariff of 1828 had the right to nullify or override the law within their borders. Jackson proclaimed that nullification was unconstitutional and that the Constitution established "a single nation," not a league of states. A final resolution of the question of nullification was postponed until 1861, when South Carolina, accompanied by other southern states, seceded from the Union and started the Civil War.
Clay Compromise: He devised the Compromise Tariff which provided for a gradual lowering of duties between 1833-1842. The Force Bill authorized the president to use arms to collect customs duties in South Carolina. Without the compromise, he believed that the Force Bill would produce a civil war.
Martin Van Buren: The accepted name for a group of Democratic party politicians, their activities were centered in Albany, NY. They took a leading role in national and NY State politics between 1820 and 1850. One of the earliest, competent political machines in the US, prominent members included Van Buren.
Chief Justice Roger B. Taney: The Charles River Bridge Company sued to prevent Mass. from permitting the construction of a new bridge across the Charles River. Taney ruled that no charter given to a private corporation forever vested rights that might hurt the public interest.
panic of 1837: Prices began to fall in May 1837 and bank after bank refused specie payments. The Bank of the United States also failed. The origins of the depression included Jackson’s Specie Circular. Also, Britain controlled the flow of specie from its shores to the US in an attempt to hinder the outflow of British investments in 1836.
Dorr’s Rebellion: As a popular movement emerged in Rhode Island to abolish the limitations set forth by the charter granted by Charles II in 1663, so did much violence and serious disturbances. The protesters sought to do away with the state constitution which restricted suffrage to freeholders led the reform to grant suffrage to non-property owners.
Independent Treasury Plan: Instead of depositing its revenue in state banks, Van Buren persuaded Congress to establish an Independent Treasury in which the federal government would keep the revenue itself and thereby withhold public money from the grasp of business cooperation.
election of 1840: Van Buren was nominated but no vice president was put up. His opponent, William Henry Harrison was ridiculed as "Old Granny" by the Democrats, and was given the most successful campaign slogans in history. "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" Harrison won 80% of the electoral vote but died a moth later.
rise of the second party system: Because of the gradual hardening of the line between the two parties, interests in politic erupted among the people. New things such as rousing campaign techniques, strong contrasts, and simple choices began to appeal to the ordinary people.
Tariff of 1842: In August of 1842, due to the need of revenue to run the government, Tyler signed a bill which maintained some tariffs above 20%, but abandoned distribution to the states. This satisfied northern manufacturers, but by abandoning distribution, it infuriated many southerners and westerners
