chapter 12: the rise of a mass democracy (1824 - 1840) - part 2

part 2 (12.8 - 12.14)

How did the Nullification Crisis develop?

• Unionists in South Carolina at first blocked the two-thirds vote nullifiers needed.

• The Tariff of 1832 lowered rates only slightly and looked permanent, which angered the South.

What did South Carolina's convention do in 1832?

• Nullifiers won a two-thirds majority in the state election.

• A convention declared the tariff null and void in South Carolina.

• It threatened to secede if the federal government tried to collect duties by force.

How did Jackson respond to nullification?

• He was not strongly pro-tariff, but he would not allow defiance or disunion.

• He privately threatened to hang the nullifiers, sent military reinforcements, and issued a proclamation against nullification.

What was the compromise Tariff of 1833?

• Henry Clay proposed it to avoid civil war.

• It would cut tariff rates by about 10 percent over eight years, back to the level of 1816 by 1842.

• Calhoun and the South supported it, while protectionist New England opposed it.

What was the Force Bill (1833)?

• Congress passed it alongside the compromise tariff as a face-saving device.

• It let the president use the army and navy to collect federal tariff duties.

• South Carolinians called it the "Bloody Bill."

How did the Nullification Crisis end?

• No other southern state supported South Carolina, and a Unionist minority inside the state was arming.

• South Carolina repealed its nullification of the tariff, then nullified the Force Bill as a final gesture.

• Neither side won clearly; Clay was the hero, and the underlying issues remained unresolved.

What toasts did Jackson and Calhoun give in 1830?

• Jackson: "Our federal Union: It must be preserved."

• Calhoun: "The Union, next to our liberty, most dear."

Who was John C. Calhoun?

• He began as a strong nationalist but became the leading defender of the South and slavery.

• He called slavery a "positive good" and led South Carolina's nullification effort.

• He hoped nullification would protect the South without secession.

How did federal policy toward Native Americans work before Jackson?

• From the 1790s the government treated tribes as separate nations and acquired land through treaties.

• But Americans repeatedly broke those treaties as settlers moved west.

• Many whites also tried to "civilize" and Christianize Native peoples through missionaries and federal funding.

How did Georgia move against the Cherokee?

• In 1828, Georgia declared the Cherokee tribal council illegal and claimed authority over Cherokee lands.

• The discovery of gold on Cherokee land in 1829 made Georgia even more determined.

How did Jackson respond when the Supreme Court sided with the Cherokee?

• The Court upheld Cherokee rights and the supremacy of federal treaties three times.

• Jackson refused to enforce the rulings.

• He allegedly said, "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it."

What was the Indian Removal Act (1830)?

• It provided for moving all Native American tribes east of the Mississippi to lands west of the river.

• It led to the forced removal of more than 100,000 Native people, hitting the Five Civilized Tribes hardest.

What was the Trail of Tears (1838–1839)?

• The U.S. Army forced about 15,000 Cherokee to march to Indian Territory, present-day Oklahoma.

• About 4,000 died from cold, hunger, and disease on the 116-day journey.

How did Jackson justify Indian removal?

• He said Native peoples could not survive in the midst of white civilization.

• He claimed they could preserve their cultures in the open West.

What happened to the promise of a "permanent" Indian frontier?

• The Bureau of Indian Affairs was created in 1836 to manage relations with Native peoples.

• But settlers pushed west so fast that the "permanent" frontier lasted only about fifteen years.

What was the Black Hawk War (1832)?

• Sauk and Fox warriors led by Black Hawk resisted removal from Illinois and Wisconsin.

• They were crushed by troops and volunteers, including Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln.

• Black Hawk was captured and paraded through eastern cities.

How did the Seminoles resist removal?

• Joined by people escaping slavery, they fought a guerrilla war in the Florida Everglades from 1835 to 1842.

• Their leader Osceola was seized under a flag of truce in 1837.

• About four-fifths were eventually moved to Oklahoma; some escaped deeper into the Everglades.

Why did Jackson and westerners hate the Bank of the United States?

• It was a private institution answerable to wealthy investors, not the people.

• It held enormous power over the nation's money under its president, Nicholas Biddle.

• It foreclosed on western farms and sent profits to eastern investors.

What useful role did the Bank of the United States play?

• It held the government's funds and much of the nation's gold and silver.

• Its notes were stable in value, so it provided credit and stability to the growing economy.

How did the Bank War begin in 1832?

• Clay and Webster pushed a bill to recharter the bank four years early, to make it an issue in the 1832 election.

• Clay thought Jackson would lose either way: signing would anger the West, and vetoing would anger the wealthy East.

Why was Jackson's bank veto significant?

• He vetoed the recharter because he found the bank harmful, not just unconstitutional.

• Earlier vetoes had been based almost only on constitutional grounds.

• It greatly increased the power of the presidency; Jackson vetoed more bills than all six previous presidents combined.

How did Clay misjudge the bank veto?

• He printed thousands of copies of Jackson's veto message as campaign material.

• Easterners saw it as demagoguery, but it made perfect sense to the common people who supported Jackson.

What was the Anti-Masonic party?

• It was the first third party in a presidential election, in 1832.

• It opposed the secret Masonic order as a stronghold of privilege, after a critic of the Masons disappeared in 1826.

• It drew evangelical Protestants who wanted moral reforms, and it opposed Jackson, a proud Mason.

What new political practices appeared in the election of 1832?

• Three parties held national nominating conventions to pick candidates.

• The Anti-Masons and the National Republicans adopted formal party platforms.

What were the results of the election of 1832?

• Jackson defeated Clay 219 to 49 in the Electoral College, despite Clay's money from the bank.

• Jackson saw the victory as a mandate to destroy the bank.

How did Jackson destroy the Bank of the United States?

• In 1833 he stopped depositing federal money in the bank and spent down the existing deposits.

• He had to reshuffle his cabinet twice to find a treasury secretary willing to do it.

• Biddle called in loans to cause a minor crisis, but Jackson held firm.

What were pet banks?

They were state banks chosen for their pro-Jackson sympathies to receive federal funds.

What were wildcat banks?

They were unstable "fly-by-night" banks, especially in the West, that flooded the country with unreliable paper money.

What was the Specie Circular (1836)?

• Jackson ordered that public lands be bought only with gold or silver ("hard" money), not paper.

• It slammed the brakes on the speculative boom and helped cause the panic of 1837.

What were the effects of killing the Bank of the United States?

• It left a financial vacuum with no central control of currency or credit.

• Surplus federal funds went to pet banks, and the economy swung through booms and busts.

How did the Whig Party form?

• Jackson's opponents called him "King Andrew I" and took the name Whigs, recalling opposition to monarchy.

• In 1834 Clay, Webster, and Calhoun united in the Senate to censure Jackson for removing the bank deposits.

• At first, hatred of Jackson was the only thing holding the diverse party together.

Who joined the Whig Party?

• Supporters of Clay's American System and southern states' righters offended by Jackson on nullification.

• Northern industrialists, merchants, and eventually many evangelical Anti-Masons.

What did the Whigs believe in?

• They supported active government: internal improvements such as canals, railroads, and telegraphs.

• They supported institutions like prisons, asylums, and public schools, and welcomed the market economy.

How did the Whigs turn Jacksonian rhetoric against the Democrats?

• Absorbing the Anti-Masons, they portrayed Jackson and Van Buren as imperious aristocrats.

• They claimed to defend the common man and called the Democrats the party of cronyism and corruption.

Who was Jackson's chosen successor in 1836, and how did he get the nomination?

• Vice President Martin Van Buren of New York.

• Jackson rigged the nominating convention to force Van Buren on the party.

What was the Whig strategy in 1836?

• They ran several regional "favorite sons" instead of one candidate.

• They hoped to scatter the vote and throw the election into the House.

• Their leading candidate was William Henry Harrison of Ohio, hero of Tippecanoe.

What were the results of the election of 1836?

Van Buren won a close popular vote but a comfortable electoral vote of 170 to 124.