CHAPTER 14 NOTES

1
CHAPTER 14 NOTES
2

• Jacksonian Democracy

3
Spread of Manhood Suffrage

• Democracy was becoming respectable because of
  the numbers
• It was becoming important for politicians to be
  born in a log cabin it was no longer a wealthy
  mans club
• Vermont becomes the first state to grant white
  man suffrage and it continues in the west as land
  was so plentiful so as to render property
  qualifications meaningless.
• there was a change in campaign styles to appeal
  to the masses such as banners, badges, parades,
  BBQ's, free drinks, baby kissing, etc.
• Men like Davy Crockett were being elected to
  office on their prowess with a gun
• In 1831 the first National Nomination convention
  was held by the Anti-Masonic party.
• if you were a good military commander you were
  well qualified in the west
• at the core of this new democracy was the
  belief that government should be in the hands of
  the common people

4
The panic of 1819 helped to fuel this turn in
political activity as people resented the
privileges granted to the Banks by government

• they hated the banks because of the
  over-speculation by banks
• they disliked the banks lack of ability to
  redeem bank notes
• they hate the property foreclosures made by
  these banks

5

• The Missouri compromise helped to bring on this
  growth in democracy as southerners sought to keep
  their state's rights and keep their slaves

6
The Corrupt bargain election 1824

• All of the candidates were democratic-
  republicans all were outstanding and all were
  nationalists.
• Jackson was the most popular from Tenn. elec.
  99 pop.153000
• Clay was the great compromiser from Kentucky
  elc.37 pop.47000
• Crawford was from Georgia elec. 41 pop. 46000
• Adams was intelligent, had a lot of experience,
  the author of the Monroe Doctrine and from Mass.
  elec. 84 pop.108000

7
Results

• Jackson fails to get a majority of the electoral
  votes
• The election was sent to the house where the
  top three vote getters are considered--then
  Crawford has a stroke and the two candidates left
  are Adams and Jackson with Clay as speaker
• Clay will meet privately with Adams and assure
  his support
• Sick members of the house were brought in on
  stretchers to vote
• Adams wins on the first ballot and Clay was
  appointed as sec. of State Jackson supporters cry
  "corrupt bargain

8
Adams as President.

• He was from the old way -- gaining office by
  commanding respect rather than by courting the
  masses.
• He possessed none of the arts of the politician
• He did not push the spoils system
• Strong Nationalist
• pushed the construction of roads and canals
• National university
• Astronomical observatory
• the public reaction to Adams was unfavorable
• He was in favor of being fair with the Indians
  in Georgia

9
Adams will fail at foreign affairs

• the British will not open West Indian Trade
• he failed to get representatives to the Panama
  Conference
• he was one of the least effective presidents in
  American history.

10
Tariff of Abominations 1828

• 1824 The Tariff was increased from 20-25 to 37
• wool manufacturers wanted it higher
• Jacksonites in congress wanted to use the tariff
  to make Adams who was in favor of some tariff
  look bad
• the tariff was set at 45 on manufactured goods
• A heavy tariff on wool and other raw
  materials-- which would hurt New England
  manufacturing this was used to cause New England
  to vote against the tariff and Adams popular in
  New England would get a black eye

11
Results

• New England instead went along with the Tariff
  of 1828 because they wanted protection so bad.
• Now the south and the west became angry because
  it hurts them so bad and they name the Tariff of
  1828 the Tariff of Abominations.
• The south feared the Tariff because believed
  that the federal power this bill represented
  could be used to suppress slavery.

12
South Carolina Exposition and protest

• Written by John C. Calhoun seeking a formula
  that would protect the minority in the South from
  the North
• it denounced the tariff as unjust and
  unconstitutional
• it proposed that the states should nullify it
• his idea was that with the power of
  nullification you could
• preserve the union and prevent secession-- he
  did not want to destroy the union but save it
  from those forces that might one day destroy it.
• It was a strong argument for states rights

13
Election of 1828

• National republicans -- John Q. Adams
• Democratic--Republicans-- Andrew Jackson
• Shall the people rule was the chief issue
  according to Jackson

14
Lots of mudslinging

• Adams campaign
• describes Jackson's mother as a prostitute
• printed handbills shaped like a coffin signifying
  Jackson's duels
• called Jackson an Adulterer which crushes his
  wife Rachel -- he married Rachel before she was
  properly divorced
• Jackson campaign
• of having gaming tables in the white house
• of providing a girl for a Russian nobleman

15
Jackson wins with 178 electoral vote to Adams 83

• votes came mostly from the west and from eastern
  laborers
• The election is sometimes called the revolution
  of 1828 for the following reasons
• more common people had gained the right to vote
  with universal white manhood suffrage.
• the continuing shift of the political center to
  the west
• the wealthy was loosing some political power to
  the poor

16
Jackson's Presidency Jackson's political
philosophy was based on the suspicion the federal
government was to remote from the people.

• Jackson nationalizes the spoils system.
• rewarding political supporters with public
  office
• it was already quite common in many states in
  their political machines
• the results however sometimes leads to the
  appointment of many corrupt and incompetent
  officials to federal jobs
• Jackson believed that the swiftest road to
  reform was to sweep out the Adams-Clay gang

17
Jackson's Cabinet was not very good

• Martin Van Buren was probably the best
• Problem arose over the marriage of Sec. of War
  Eaton to Peggy Eaton the daughter of a boarding
  house keeper.
• The other ladies of the cabinet refused to
  socialize with Peggy, especially Mrs. Calhoun
• Jackson urged acceptance of Peggy after what
  happened to his wife during the election
• Martin Van Buren paid special attention to her
  which won favor with Jackson.
• Jackson turned more and more against Calhoun
  and eventually purged many of his men from the
  cabinet
• Calhoun resigns over this which places Calhoun
  in a states rights position instead of a
  nationalist

18
Webster -- Hayne Debate

• The debate centered around the sale of western
  land
• New England seeing their power base slip to the
  west was opposed to this. Webster will be the
  champion of the north east view
• The South who wanted political allies supported
  the West position which was the need for cheaper
  land sales.

19
The champion of the South was Hayne (Robert) from
South Carolina

• Hayne claims that the only way to protect the
  minority rights of their section was through
  nullification

20
Webster insisted that the people not the states
created the union. He condemned nullification
because it would make the union nothing more
than a rope of sand. "Liberty and union now and
forever one and inseparable."

• The ideas of Webster became the champion of the
  idea of Union.
• Hayne the champion of nullification
• Both sides had their own winners

21
Jefferson Day Dinner

• During a Jefferson day dinner a toast was given
  by Jackson which said, "Our Union it must be
  preserved.
• Calhoun came back with, " The Union, next to our
  liberty, most dear.