The Rise of Jacksonian Democracy In the full

The Rise of Jacksonian Democracy In the full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior industry, economy, and virtue, every man is equally entitled to protection by law; but when the laws undertake to add to those natural and just advantages artificial distinctions…and exclusive privileges…the humble members of society-the farmers, mechanics, and laborers…have a right to complain of the injustice of their government. Andrew Jackson, 1832

Politics for the People • Democracy in its pure form (universal manhood suffrage) was not highly regarded by the Founding Fathers nor the “aristocracy. ” • They believed in a “Republican form of Government” by which the people would vote for “representatives” to make laws. They did not believe that the people as a whole could adequately make laws. • By the 1820’s, the aristocracy was becoming less privileged and “democracy (universal manhood suffrage and rule by the people as a whole), was a becoming respectable.

• Many immigrants and land seekers were pouring into the western lands west of the Appalachian Mountains. As a result, the western lands were gaining voting strength as well as more members in the House of Representatives. • It was now an advantage for a politician to boast of being born in a log cabin (the influence of the western states was now becoming Politicians were now forced to unbend and favor the voting masses which were growing in the western lands. • a political power).

• In the West, the belief was spreading that a man was well qualified for high office if he was a superior militia commander or a victorious Indian fighter, like Andrew Jackson, or an outstanding hunter like Davy Crockett. • Wealthy politicians now had to forsake all social pretensions and cultivate the common touch if they hoped to win elections. • Jeffersonian democracy had proclaimed that the people should be governed as little as possible; Jacksonian democracy now added that whatever governing was to be done should be done directly by the people. The common man was at last moving to the center of the national political stage.

• Instead of the old divine right of kings, America was now bowing to the divine right of the people. • The New Democracy was based on universal white manhood suffrage rather than the old property qualifications. • The frontier state of Vermont (1791) was the first to place the ballot in the hands of all adult white males. This trend continued, notably in the West, where land was so easily obtained that property qualifications were meaningless. • Property tests for office holding were also widely abolished, and even judges were now being popularly elected by the people.

• Many of those within the “upper class” looked down upon the Westerners. They called them “coonskin congressmen” and “bipeds of the forest. ” To them, the tyranny of King Numbers was as offensive as King George. • The masses continued to move forward politically in gaining control over the Republic’s political affairs.

Nourishing the New Democracy • What caused this outgrowth of political democracy? – In part it was the logical outgrowth of the egalitarian ideas (advocating political and social equality for all) that had taken root in colonial days and was nurtured during the Revolutionary era. – The steady growth of the market economy (business operations) led increasing numbers of people to understand how banks, tariffs, and internal improvements affected the quality of their lives. – The panic of 1819 and the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was also a major development in establishing political democracy.

• The panic of 1819 was blamed by many workers and farmers on banking irregularities (no bank controls) and speculation (carelessly making western loans). Resentment grew at the government-granted privileges of the banks. Farmers unable to pay their debts usually lost their farms. Paper money became worthless as banks could not redeem them with coin money.

• People wanted to restore the republican ideals of Jefferson which made many interested in American politics, especially the followers of Andrew Jackson. They sought control of the government in order to: – Break its control of the bank – Substitute hard money for bank notes – Abolish banks altogether • Those who opposed the Jacksonians were those people who: – Favored the current banking system – Believed that the federal government had a legitimate role to play in promoting America’s economic growth.

• The Missouri Compromise also awakened many Americans, especially white southerners, to the importance of politics. There were fears of further federal aggression against states’ rights’ especially the right to perpetuate (continue to grow) slavery. • Southerners’ prime goal was to control the federal government in order to prevent the abolishing of slavery. • Economic distress in the west and slavery in the south raised the interest in politics in the 1820’s, ushering n a whole new chapter in the history of American politics.

• Political effects of this heightened role in politics: – Voter turn out rose dramatically – A new style of politicking emerged, as candidates made use of banners, badges, parades, barbecues, free drinks in order to “get out the vote. ” – The old suspicion of political parties as being disrupters of society was now looked upon as being accepted in promoting national unity. – Vigorous political conflict came to be celebrated as necessary for the health of democracy. – Members of the electoral college (voters chosen by state legislatures to vote for a presidential candidate) were being chosen directly by the people.

– Congressional caucuses (secret congressional groups who nominated presidential candidates) was not being accepted. The idea of checks and balances among the three federal branches were thought to be weakened when the president was indirectly indebted to Congress. – New and more democratic methods of nominating presidential candidates were devised. In 1824, the voters were crying, “The People Must Be Heard” and “Down with King Caucus. ” The candidate Crawford had been denounced for being nominated by the Congressional Caucus. – Some presidential candidates were being nominated by state legislatures. However, this did not seem democratic either. In 1831, the first national nominating conventions was held by the short-lived but significant Anti-Masonic party.

The Adams-Clay “Corrupt” Bargaining • Four candidates ran in the election of 1824 -they were all Republicans Democratic-Republicans): – Andrew Jackson of Tennessee (“Old Hero” of New Orleans-War of 1812) – Henry Clay of Kentucky- “Harry of the West” – William H. Crawford of Georgiaailing in health – John Quincy Adams Massachusetts-highly intelligent, experienced without “people skills. ” • Jackson campaigned to save “republicanism” from the corruption of “King Caucus. ” • Jackson won the popular votes but did not win a majority of the electoral votes (Jackson, Adams, Crawford, Clay in order of electoral votes

• According to the Constitution (12 th Amendment), if no one wins a majority (51% or higher) of the electoral votes, the vote will then go to the House of Representatives to choose among the top three candidates. • Since Clay received the least Electoral votes he was dropped from the list of candidates. Clay was the Speaker of the House of Representatives and could sway the votes. Crawford suffered a stroke and Clay did not like Jackson, so he swayed the House to vote for Adams. Both Clay and Adams were strong nationalists and advocates of the American System. • Adams was elected president and appointed Clay as Secretary of State. • Jackson and his followers cried a “corrupt bargain. ”

A Yankee Misfit in the White House • Adams had received less than 1/3 of the popular votes. In the time of his father, Adams might have won based upon his abilities, however, in an age where the vote was based upon popular vote, his ability to win popular votes were slim. He was not a politician. • Adams did not recognize the “spoils system” (rewarding political supporters with government jobs). His popularity declined among his own party. • The trend was favoring states rights and sectionalism versus the “post-Ghent” nationalism. Adams urged Congress to construct roads and canals; a national university; and astronomical observatory.

• The South did not like these national projects since it would have to keep tariffs high in order to pay for them. If the national government could build roads and universities, then it might try to get rid of the “peculiar institution” of black slavery. • Adams attempted to curb the speculation of western lands (unregulated loans for western lands). • White Georgians wanted the Cherokees out of Georgia while Adams tried to deal fairly with them. The Georgia governor threatened to use force in order to resist efforts of national government to use federal authority on behalf of the Cherokees. Again, the South looked at this as being government interference within states. • This was another example of nullification of the national will.

The Tricky “Tariff of Abominations” • Jacksonites in congress drew up a tariff bill designed to make Adams look bad. Congress drafted an extremely high tariff bill (45%) on imports especially wool. Though the New Englanders wanted higher tariffs, they also needed wool to manufacture in their factories. Thinking that New England would blame Adams for this unusual high tariff, they went ahead and accepted it since it was protecting American industries. The plan backfired on the Jacksonians who actually were against tariffs.

• Southerners call the tariff the “Tariff of Abominations” why? : – The South relied on imported manufactured goods. – The southerners were also concerned that further congressional action could limit slavery. – The South was the least flourishing of all the sections economically. The Northeast was experiencing a boom in manufacturing. The West was prospering from rising property values and a multiplying population was making the west politically strong. The Southern land, being overcropped was not producing well and the South west was expanding into the cotton lands. – The South, feeling vulnerable, used the Tariff of 1828 as a “scapegoat” (something used upon which to put the blame) for all its weaknesses.

The Tariff Yoke in the South • Though the Southerners saw the tariff as “discriminating” against them, the tariff actually protected the New England manufacturers, thus allowing them to buy Southern goods. • South Carolina published “The South Carolina Exposition” written secretly by Vice President John C. Calhoun. Going beyond the nullification of the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions of 1798, it bluntly and explicitly proposed that the states should nullify the tariffthat is, they should declare it null and void within their borders.

• Calhoun was both a Unionist and a nationalist, but he was also a southern sectionalist. He wanted to protect the minority in the South from the “tyranny of the majority” in the North and West. By embracing nullification, he tried to preserve the Union and prevent secession. • Though no other state joined South Carolina theory of nullification was further publicized and the more dangerous doctrine of secession was foreshadowed. • The election of Andrew Jackson (the “Old Hero”) was viewed as one to bring sympathy to the plight of the South.

Going “Whole Hog” for Jackson in 1828 • The election of 1828 was very controversial. “Shall the people rule? ” was the chief issue of the Jacksonians. They felt that the will of the voters had been thwarted in 1824 by the backstairs “bargain” of Adams and Clay. “Jackson and Reform” was the slogan. Jacksonites planted hickory poles for the hickory-tough hero; “Adamsites” adopted the oak as the symbol of the oakenly independent candidate Adams.

• Hickory brooms were brandished as tokens of a forthcoming “clean sweep. ” • Mudslinging (insulting remarks against a candidate) reached a disgraceful level. • • Adams’ men described Jackson’s mother as a prostitute; they printed black-bordered handbills, shaped like coffins, recounting his numerous duel and brawls. He was also branded an adulterer. His wife Rachel died before Jackson took office. Jackson insulted Adams by insinuating that he was a gambler since he had paid for a billiard table and a set of chessmen to be brought into the White House.

The Jacksonian “Revolution of 1828” • Jackson overwhelmingly won the election of 1828. Support for Jackson came mainly from the South and West and from the sweat-stained laborers of the eastern seaboard the “common people. ” • The election of 1828 has often been called the “Revolution of 1828. ” The reasons: – Increased turnout of voters proved that the common people, especially in the universal-white-manhood-suffrage states, now had the vote and the will to use it for their benefit. – The results of the election showed that the political center of gravity was continuing to shift away from the conservative eastern seaboard toward the emerging states across the mountains. – It was a peaceful revolution much like that of 1800 (from East coast to West coast; from wealthy to commoner).

• America had been ruled by an elite of brains and wealth, whether aristocratic Federalist shippers or aristocratic Jeffersonian planters. Jackson’s victory accelerated the transfer of national power from the well-todo to the commoner; from the East to the West. As Jefferson had been the hero of the gentleman farmer, Jackson was the hero of the dirt farmer. • Adams went on to accept election to the house of Representatives from Massachusetts. Known as “Old Man Eloquent, ” he fought for free government, free speech free soil, and free people.

The Advent of “Old Hickory” Jackson • Jackson reflected the new West. He reflected its individualism its jack-of-all trades versatility, its opportunism, its energy, its directness, and also its prejudices. He was a genuine folk hero -an uncommon man. • Jackson was: – The first president from the West – the first nominated at a formal party convention (in 1832) and not a congressional caucus – The first without a college education (except Washington) – A frontier aristocrat who owned many slaves

– Lived in one of the finest mansions in America-the Hermitage, near Nashville, Tennessee. – Suspicious of the federal government and wanted to reduce its power – Hostile to the active federal economic role envisioned by Henry Clay’s American System. – Favored the democracy building up in the states – Economic activism concerning state government – He would disappoint some of the southern states’ rights supporters in the South by his insistence on the sacredness of the Union and the ultimate supremacy of federal power over that of the states.

• Jackson strengthened the role of the President by: – Ignoring the Supreme Court on several occasions – Vetoed congressional laws more than any president up to that time. He was sometimes called “King Andrew the First. ” – During Jackson’s inauguration, many western commoners mingled in the White House with elites. The mob about destroyed the White House and Jackson had to be ushered out. – Many traditionalists feared for the country

Jackson Nationalizes the Spoils System • Jackson utilized the spoils system (rewarding political supporters with public office) into the federal government on a large scale. • The phrase came from Senator William Marcy’s classic remark in 1832, “To the victor belong the spoils of the enemy. ” • It was actually time to “clean house. ” Some of the old guard from Washington were still in office-now in their 80’s. • .

• Jackson believed in the New Democracy that “every man is as good as his neighbor”-perhaps “equally better. ” • Jackson felt that any office was thought to be simple enough for any upstanding American to learn quickly. So why encourage the development of an aristocratic, bureaucratic, office holding class? Experience, had some value. But alertness and new blood were the main call of the Jacksonians. • The New democracy also trumpeted the ideal of “rotation in office”-or “a turn about is fair play. ” It was good for citizens to experience public office since it was a valuable training for citizenship

More Victors Than Spoils • As a reformer, Jackson believed that the best road to reform was to sweep out the Adams-Clay gang and bring n his own trusted men. In actuality Jackson dismissed 2, 000 public officials out of the original 11, 000. • Scandal accompanied the new system. Men bought their posts by campaign contributions were appointed to high office. Illiterates and plain crooks were given positions of public trust. • The spoils system eventually became a powerful and entrenched system. It would be more than half a century before its grip could be loosened.

Cabinet Crises and Nationalistic Setbacks • Jackson’s cabinet was not one of major importance. Martin Van Buren of New York was a noteworthy secretary of state. He was know to this enemies as the “Little Magician” and to Jackson as “Matty. ” • The official cabinet of six was privately supplemented by an extra unofficial cabinet of about thirteen members. It grew out of Jackson’s informal meetings with his advisers, some of whom were newspaper people who kept him in touch with public opinion.

• Jackson’s enemies branded these outsiders as “the Kitchen Cabinet. ” The Kitchen Cabinet never actually met officially. It was not unconstitutional and grossly exaggerated. Presidents are free to consult with such unofficial advisers as they desire. • Jackson’s regular was ruined in 1831 with the Eaton scandal. • Secretary of War John H. Eaton had married the daughter of a Washington boardinghouse keeper, Peggy O’Neale. She was probably unfairly scandalously linked with the male boarders. She was consequently snubbed by the ladies of Jackson’s cabinet, especially by Vice President Calhoun’s wife. Jackson, whose own wife had been victimized by scandalmongers, stood up in behalf of Peggy Eaton’s chastity. Jackson eventually lost the “Petticoat War. ”

• The Eaton scandal played into the hands of Secretary Van Buren. Jackson, turned against Calhoun causing him to resign as vice president. Jackson further purged the cabinet of Calhoun’s South Carolina followers. Calhoun entered the Senate as a champion of South Carolina. • Calhoun had been a strong nationalist, despite his secret writings of nullification in “The South Carolina Exposition” of 1828. As vice president, Calhoun thought himself as next in line to the presidency. Now this lost, he gradually abandoned his nationalistic position and became an inflexible defender of southern sectionalism. In trying to protect the states and preserve the Union by “The South Carolina Exposition” of 1828, the “Great Nullifier” contributed to the almost fatal illness of the Union.

• Jackson himself dealt nationalism a blow by is hostility to localized roads and canals. He did not like using federal money to build roads that were not linked to an interstate network. Jackson vetoed a bill for improving the Maysville Road, which was within Henry Clay’s Kentucky. This brought a sharp setback at internal improvements and the American System so ardently championed by Clay, the “corrupt bargainer” whom Jackson never forgave (election of 1824).

The Webster-Hayne Forensic Duel • Sectional jealousies was heightened in the Senate during 1829 -1830. New England, resenting the expansion of the West, tried to call a halt to western expansion. The west was draining off eastern population and upsetting the political balance congress. In 1829, a New England senator introduced a resolution designed to curb the sale of public lands in the west. • The South, wanting sectional allies against the Northeast, sided with the West. Robert Y. Hayne, of South Carolina, condemned the disloyalty of New England during the War of 1812 as well as its “Tariff of Abominations” (1828).

• Hayne promoted Calhoun’s dangerous doctrine of nullification as the only means of safeguarding the minority interests of his section. He did not advocate a breakup of the Union; only to protect southern rights within the Union. • Daniel Webster who had spoken many times in Chief Justice Marshall’s Supreme Court defended New England. Webster, an ex. Federalist, turned the attention to the larger issue of the Union. He insisted that the people and not the states had framed the Constitution. He denounced the doctrine of nullification. If each of the twenty-four states were free to go its separate way in obeying or rejecting federal statues, there would be no union but only a “rope of sand. ” Webster concluded, “Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable. ”

Websterian Cement for the Union • Though no one won the debate, about forty thousand copies were printed of Webster’s defense of the Union. The phrase, “Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable” lad embedded in the minds of the Northerners as well as in the mind of a young Abraham Lincoln, just 21 and moving from Indiana to the Illinois frontier. • Webster had a large hand in winning the Civil War in instilling the northerners to fight for the ideal of Union.