Jacksonian Democracy

1
Jacksonian Democracy

• Reference Chapter 9
• The American Nation

2
Democratizing Politics

• Jackson believed the people knew right from wrong
  by instinct
• Western states eliminate property qualifications
  for voting and office holding
• Delaware and South Carolina still had their state
  legislatures elect presidential electors
• Other states selected them by popular vote
• Free-school movement begins
• Office seekers began to appeal for votes directly
  to the people
• Voting becomes important, and this increases
  competition among the candidates
• Money, people, and organization were needed to
  run for office

3
1828 The New Party System in Embryo

• Jackson believed he had been cheated out of the
  election of 1824 and he began campaigning for
  1828 immediately
• In 1828, Jackson avoided taking a stand on the
  issues
• Both candidates slung mud and assassinated one
  anothers characters
• Voter turnout was high in 1828
• Jackson wins

4
The Jacksonian Appeal

• Jackson was closer to Washington in terms of
  political beliefs, not Jefferson
• He owned a large plantation and many slaves
• He wasnt as rough as he pretended to be
• Drew support from every section and every class
  in America
• President of the common man

5
The Spoils System

• Jackson rewarded his supporters with government
  jobs
• He believed most government jobs were very
  simple, and anyone could do them
• He believed in office rotation so that more
  citizens could participate
• In reality, most of his appointees were of the
  upper class, not lower like he pretended
• He did not practice rotation in the Navy and War
  Departments

6
President of All the People

• Jackson considered himself a direct
  representative of the people
• He vetoed more bills than all his predecessors
  combined
• He had no desire to expand governmental authority
  at the expense of the states
• He did make some unwise decisions because he did
  not like taking or getting advice

7
Sectional Tensions Revived

• Jackson urged a slight reduction on the tariff,
  and small constitutional internal improvements
• He had helped balance the budget
• Wanted the federal surplus distributed to the
  states
• This would not reduce the price of public land
• Westerners wanted cheap land out West
• Daniel Webster in the Senate blocked a West-South
  alliance to get cheap land and low tariffs

8
Jackson The BankI Will Kill It

• Jackson wins reelection in 1832
• Promised to destroy the Second Bank of the United
  States
• Nicholas Biddle-head of the Bank
• Wanted to use it to control credit and force
  state banks to hold money in reserve
• Public opinion turned against Nicholas Biddle
  because of his conservative practices with the
  bank

9
Jacksons Bank Veto

• Biddle becomes close to Henry Clay and Daniel
  Webster-two people President Jackson did not
  trust
• Re-chartering of the bank passed Congress but
  Jackson vetoed it
• After 1832, Jackson pulled all government funds
  from the bank
• This hurt the bank, and Biddle had to stop
  extending so much credit, thus making him even
  more unpopular with the people
• Panic sets in Jackson wont budge
• Eventually, Biddle gave in and started loaning
  more money from the bank, and the national panic
  ended

10
Jackson versus Calhoun

• Calhoun wanted to be president
• He hated Jackson, and Jackson hated him
• Jackson favored internal improvements, be
  preferred local projects be left to the states
• He vetoed projects that were totally within the
  boundaries of a state, thinking that this was the
  responsibility of the state to fund

11
Indian Removal

• Jackson took a states right stand in the
  controversy of Indian removal in Georgia
• Some tribes resisted removal
• Cherokees in Georgia attempted to hold their land
  by mending to white ways
• Georgia refused to recognize the Cherokee
  government
• Georgia declared Cherokee law void and Cherokee
  land part of Georgia

12
Indian Removal

• Cherokees sued in the Supreme Court
• Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia (court ruled that the
  Cherokees could not sue in court)
• Worcester vs. Georgia (court ruled that the state
  could not control the Cherokee or their lands)
• Corn Tassel (convicted of murder)
• Jackson backs Georgia
• Jackson says that no independent nation could
  exist within the United States
• U.S. forces about 15,000 Cherokees to leave
  Georgia for lands in Oklahoma
• 4,000 died along the way on The Trail of Tears

13
The Nullification Crisis

• South Carolina farmers objected to the lowering
  of the tariff in 1832
• They also resented northern agitation over
  slavery
• South Carolina turns to Calhouns doctrine of
  nullification for defense
• Jackson believed that if a state could nullify
  federal law, then the United States could not
  exist
• South Carolina passes an ordinance of
  nullification

14
The Nullification Crisis Continued..

• This ordinance forbids the collection of tariff
  duties in the state
• Also authorizes the raising of an army
• Jackson warns that disunion by force is treason
• Congress compromises by reducing the tariff and
  granting the president the authority to enforce
  the collection laws
• South Carolina repeals the Ordinance of
  Nullification

15
Boom and Bust

• Increased currency causes land prices to soar
• Lands sales wiped out the governments debts and
  caused a money surplus in government
• Jackson issues an order requiring those who
  purchased government land to pay in gold or
  silver
• This hurts the sale of land, and sends prices
  down
• This causes people to default on mortgages, and
  banks could not recover their loans

16
Boom or Bust continued

• People pulled money out of banks in the form of
  gold and silver specie
• Banks exhausted their supply of gold and silver
• Panic swept the nation
• Jackson was partially responsible for the panic

17
Jacksonianism Abroad

• Jackson exaggerated the importance of some
  foreign policy problems
• He was successful on some things
• He helped open more trade with Britain
• Got France to pay for damages done during the
  Napoleonic Wars
• Almost had to threaten France with war to get the
  money, however

18
The Jacksonians

• Jacksonian Democrats included rich and poor,
  easterner and westerner, abolitionist and
  slaveholder
• Democrats agreed on some things
• Suspicion of special privilege and large business
  corporations
• Freedom of economic opportunity
• Political freedom
• Ordinary citizens could participate in politics

19
The Jacksonians continued

• Democrats also tended to favor states rights
• Supported public education for the most part
• Did not want to penalize the wealthy
• Did not want to really get involved in economic
  affairs to aid the underprivileged

20
Rise of the Whigs

• Opposition to Jackson remained less cohesive
• Dissident groups called themselves Whigs
• Those who did not like Jackson were drawn to the
  Whigs
• Poor leadership made the rise of the Whigs slow
• Ran a weak candidate for president in 1836

21
Martin Van Buren

• Statemanlike with an engaging personality
• Fought the Bank of the United States
• Preferred the states to build roads and canals
  rather than the federal government fund it
• Panic of 1837 hit when he took office-not his
  fault
• The panic was short-lived

22
Martin Van Buren continued

• After the panic, cotton prices decline by 1839
• State governments defaulted on their debts
• Investors are discouraged
• Economic depression hit and lasts until 1843
• He did not cause it, but his politics did nothing
  to help the depression
• Van Buren decides to keep federal government
  funds somewhere else besides the state banks
• He decides to remove the government from all
  banking activity

23
Van Buren cont

• Independent Treasury Act-called for construction
  of government owned vaults to store federal money
• All payments to the government were to be made in
  cash
• Not a good system, but it did work well for a few
  years

24
The Log Cabin Campaign

• Depression hurts the Democrats
• It did not cause Van Burens defeat in 1840
• Van Buren lost because the Whigs were better
  organized than before, and they nominated a
  popular general and praised the common man
• William Henry Harrison
• W.H.H. had not been born a commoner, but
  campaigned as one
• Harrison wins in a landslide
• A month after his inauguration, he dies of
  pneumonia, and John Tyler, his Vice President
  becomes the first Vice to become Pres upon the
  death of the President