Democracy and the Age of Jackson Focus Question

Democracy and the Age of Jackson

Focus Question • What changes did Andrew Jackson represent in American political life? • Jackson encouraged the idea of the common man’s participation in politics • Made elections more inclusive and democratic

Classroom Activity Age of Jackson • In pairs or Triad’s Create a visual representation of Andrew Jackson’s Presidency – Timeline of Sec 4 & 5 – Flow Chart – Outline.

• The Controversial Election of 1824 End of the Era of Good Feeling • Republicans compete for the presidency • Sec of State John Quincy Adams • Speaker of House Henry Clay

• The Controversial Election of 1824 Sec of War John C. Calhoun • General Andrew Jackson • William H. Crawford • Calhoun backed out in the hope of securing the vice presidency

The Controversial Election of 1824 • No majority in the electoral college • Adams finished with 84 votes, Jackson 99, Crawford 41 and Clay 37

• The Controversial Election of 1824 12 th Amendment – if no candidate receives a majority • Election decided by the House of Representatives from among the top three candidates

The Controversial Election of 1824 • Jackson clearly expected to win, figuring that the House would act to confirm his strong showing • However, Clay, as Speaker of the House, used his influence to sway the vote to Adams

The Controversial Election of 1824 • The Philadelphia Observer charged that Adams had made a secret deal to obtain Clay’s support • Three days later, Adams’s nomination of Clay as secretary of state seemed to confirm the charges of a “corrupt bargain. ”

The Election of 1828 • Jackson won every state in the South and West • Adams won the electoral votes of every state in the North except Pennsylvania and part of New York • The election results were a clear victory for Jackson

The Age of Jackson • Jackson’s Appeal to the Common Citizen • Jackson claimed he was of humble backgrounds • Jackson was a wealthy plantation owner

The Age of Jackson • Spoils System • Incoming officials throw out former appointees and replace them with their own friends

What does the cartoonist imply? That Andrew Jackson was corrupt and foolish for rewarding party loyalty with government jobs

The Age of Jackson • Favored a rotational system of staffing the government • Gave away huge numbers of jobs to friends and political allies

The Indian Crisis • Jackson favored the forcible removal and relocation westward on reservations • Using harassment and bribery, Jackson’s Admin. Forced many of the Indian Nations to march west to present day Oklahoma

The Indian Crisis • Occupied massive amounts of land in Georgia, the Carolinas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee • Farmers and miners wanted the land of the five civilized tribes

The Indian Crisis • Indian Removal Act of 1830 • Five Civilized Nations: Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, Choctaw, & Seminole • Federal government provided funds to negotiate treaties that would force the Native Americans to move west

The Indian Crisis • Jackson stated the removal policy was, “not only liberal, but generous, ” because it would enable native Americans to maintain their way of life

Trail of Tears • Cherokee Nation tried to fight Indian Removal Act through the courts • Chief Justice John Marshall refused to rule on first case brought against Georgia • Cherokee nation had no federal standing • Neither foreign nation or a state

Trail of Tears • Worcester v. Georgia 1832 • Samuel Austin Worcestermissionary • Court recognized Cherokee nation as a distinct political community of people

Trail of Tears • SC ruled Georgia was not entitled to regulate lands and remove Indians • Jackson replied by stating • “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it. ”

ANALYZE Political Cartoons: “King” Andrew Jackson

Trail of Tears • By 1837, the Jackson administration had removed 46, 000 Native American people from their land east of the Mississippi • Opening 25 million acres of land to white settlement and to slavery

Trail of Tears: Cause, Effect and Justification • Compare the following maps that illustrate the land holdings of the Cherokee people at specific times in history

Trail of Tears: Cause, Effect and Justification

Focus Question • What major political issues emerged during the 1830 s?

The Nullification Crisis • 1828 Congress passed a high tariff • Know as the Tariff of Abomination – drive up duties to as high as 45% while imposing heavy tariffs on raw materials like wool • Disliked by southerners

Calhoun Champions Nullification • John C. Calhoun – South Carolina • Supported the idea that state have the right to nullify or void any federal law deemed unconstitutional • South Carolina nullified the Tariff of 1828 – Prohibited the collection of tariff duties – Threatened to secede from the nation – Calhoun resigns the Vice Presidency becomes a Senator – Pres. Jackson rejects South Carolina’s nullification and threatens to force if necessary – Force Bill passed

The Bank War • Jackson Opposes the Bank of the United States (BUS) • Jacksonian Democrats opposed the national bank because they thought it favored the wealthy. • In 1832, Henry Clay supported a bill for the rechartering of the BUS—four years early – He felt that if Jackson signed it, he’d alienate his followers, and if he vetoed it, he’d lose the supports of the “best people” of the East.

The Bank War • Jackson vetoed the renewal of the BUS • Declared the bank as unauthorized by the Constitution (despite political foe John Marshall’s ruling that it was okay), and anti-American. • The veto increased the power of the president by ignoring the Supreme Court and aligned the West against the East.

The Whig Party Forms • Henry Clay and Daniel Webster form the Whig party in response to Jackson’s policies – Believed in a strong national government – Broad interpretation of the Constitution • Challenged Jacksonian Democrats in local, state and national elections • Election of 1832 Clay ran for Pres. – Jackson won in a landslide

Politics After Jackson • Van Buren’s Presidency and the Panic of 1837 – The first president to have been born in America – Inherited the depression caused by Jackson’s BUS killing • The panic of 1837 was caused by over speculation and the “Bank War, ” • Hundreds of banks fell, including some of Jackson’s “pet banks, ” banks that had received the money that Jackson had withdrawn from the BUS to kill it

Daily Quiz

The practice of rewarding political supporter with government jobs became known as: spoils system

The Trail of Tears refers to the forced relocation of the Cherokee and other Native Americans to: Oklahoma

How did President Jackson react to Georgia’s seizure of Cherokee lands? • He sided with Georgia in defiance of the Supreme Court.

Andrew Jackson found his greatest support among common people.

Why did the United States government remove Native Americans from the Southeast in the 1830 s? • White Southerners wanted the Native Americans’ valuable land

How was the presidential election of 1824 decided • By the House of Representatives

Indian Removal A Clash of Diverse Cultures