Chapter 9 The American YAWP

Andrew Jackson

military leader turned politician who rose to the presidency embodying the spirit of the common man. came from humble origins and promoted the interests of ordinary white Americans against the wealthy elite.

James Tallmadge

congressman from New York who in 1819 proposed an amendment to Missouri’s statehood application that would prohibit further introduction of slavery and provide for the gradual emancipation of children born into slavery.

Tallmadge Amendment

would have prevented the introduction of new enslaved persons into Missouri and required that children born to enslaved people there be freed at age 25. passed the House but failed in the Senate, intensifying the sectional crisis.

Henry Clay

Known as the “Great Compromiser,” played a key role in crafting the Missouri Compromise of 1820 to settle the crisis over Missouri’s admission and the balance of slave vs. free states.

Missouri Compromise

admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state to maintain the balance in the Senate, and established the 36°30′ latitude line across the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase territory north of which slavery would be prohibited.

First Seminole War

General Jackson invaded Spanish-held Florida. helped persuade Spain to cede Florida to the United States.

Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819

Treaty between the United States and Spain in which Spain ceded Florida to the U.S.

Election of 1824

A presidential election in which no candidate secured an electoral majority; the decision went to the House of Representatives. Jackson had the most popular and electoral votes, but the House chose John Quincy Adams. Jackson’s supporters cried foul.

John Quincy Adams

Son of John Adams, he became the sixth U.S. president (1825-29). He leveraged his role as Secretary of State and political alliances to win the presidency in 1824. He later faced Jackson in the 1828 election.

Corrupt Bargain

term used by Jackson’s supporters to describe the alleged deal in the 1824 election

Election of 1828

rematch between Adams and Jackson, this campaign was especially vicious with personal attacks. Jackson won decisively

The Nullification Crisis

major confrontation in 1832-33 between the federal government and the state of South Carolina over the state’s attempt to nullify (declare void) the Tariff of 1828 and 1832

Tariff of 1828 (Tariff of Abominations)

protective tariff passed in 1828 that benefited northern manufacturers but disadvantaged southern planters

John C. Calhoun

Vice President under Jackson (and former Congressman/Senator from South Carolina). He authored the South Carolina Exposition and Protest.

“South Carolina Exposition and Protest”

A secretly drafted essay that argued the U.S. was a compact of states and that states retained sovereign powers to nullify federal laws they considered unconstitutional

Martin Van Buren

A New York political leader (“the Little Magician”) who helped build the modern Democratic Party and served as Jackson’s vice president

Force Act

authorized the president to use military force to enforce federal tariff laws in states that attempted nullification

compromise tariff (bill)

authorized the president (Jackson) to use military force to enforce federal tariff laws in states that attempted nullification

The Eaton Affair

social controversy involving the wife of the Secretary of War and escalated into a political crisis, causing the dissolution of Jackson’s cabinet.

Margaret O’Neale Timberlake

widow who married John Henry Eaton (Secretary of War); her marriage and reputation triggered the Eaton Affair scandal

John Eaton

Jackson’s Secretary of War

Floride Calhoun

Wife of Vice President John C. Calhoun, she led the social exclusion of Margaret Eaton in Washington society during the Eaton Affair.

Rachel Jackson

The wife of Andrew Jackson.

The Bank War

Major political struggle where Jackson vetoed the rechartering of the Second Bank of the United states for the common people

Second Bank of the United States

The national bank at the centre of the Bank War.

Panic of 1819

financial panic and instability in this era as part of the broader context of Jacksonian democracy and economic issues.

Nicholas Biddle

President of the Second Bank of the United States who opposed Jackson’s policies.

Election of 1832

The presidential election in which Jackson ran for re-election with the Bank as a central issue (via the recharter battle) and leveraged his populist appeal against opponents of the Bank.

Bank Charter Veto

Jackson’s veto of the Bank’s re-charter bill in 1832.

Pet Banks

The state banks that received federal deposits after Jackson removed them from the Second Bank of the United States.

The Panic of 1837

A major economic downturn triggered by factors including Jackson’s banking policies (Bank War, removal of deposits, “specie circular”), land speculation, and speculative credit extension.

Species Circular

A policy issued by Jackson’s Treasury requiring payment for public lands in hard currency (gold/silver) rather than bank paper.

Whig Party

The major political opposition to Jackson and the Democratic Party — formed in the 1830s.

Election of 1840 (log cabin and hard cider campaign)

William Henry Harrison and John Tyler ticket for the Whig Party, running a campaign in which Harrison was portrayed as the “log cabin and hard cider” candidate — a man of the people, in contrast to what Whigs depicted as the elitist incumbent Martin Van Buren.

William Henry Harrison

chosen by the Whigs in 1840 as their presidential candidate. He was known primarily for his military reputation. The Whigs portrayed him as a frontier hero and man of the common people.

John Tyler

nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in 1840 to provide regional balance (a southern slave-owning senator) on the Whig ticket with Harrison. When Harrison died, Tyler assumed the presidency — but his policies soon aligned more with Democratic and states-rights positions, alienating many Whigs.

Anti-Masonic Party

Party opposing freemasonry. Born from suspicion of secret society influence in politics, after the disappearance of William Morgan (who planned to publish an exposé of Masonry).

Freemasonry

a fraternity that by the late eighteenth century had become a broader social-elite network with rituals and secrecy.

William Morgan

disappearance in New York became the catalyst for organized anti-Masonry. had announced his intent to publish a book, Illustrations of Masonry, exposing Masonic rituals.

Illustrations of Masonry

supposedly revealed the secret rites and rituals of Freemasonry. Its planned publication triggered counter-actions by Masons (such as attempts to burn the press or have Morgan jailed), and Morgan’s disappearance made the book a flashpoint in anti-Masonic politics.

“Anti-Masonic Declaration of Independence”

laid the ideological foundation for the Anti-Masonic Party.

Anti-Immigrants

another political force — especially regarding urban Irish Catholic immigrants, which the Whigs noticed.

Know-Nothings

American Party who, when asked about their secret activities, would say they “know nothing.”

American Party

formed out of nativist (anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic) sentiment.

Nativists

Americans who opposed the growing number of immigrants (especially Irish and Catholic newcomers) and worried that the newcomers were unfit for participation in American democracy.

Catholics

viewed by some white Americans as competitors or as outsiders whose loyalties or assimilation were suspect.

Samuel F. B. Morse

warned in 1834 that European tyrants were conspiring together to “carry Popery through all our borders” by sending Catholic immigrants to the United States.

Lyman Beecher

warned that immigrants were encouraging violence, crowding poorhouses, and voting in American elections

Black suffrage

voting rights expanded for white men, but simultaneously contracted for black men. It notes:

New York’s 1821 state constitution

extended the vote to nearly all white male taxpayers, but only to the wealthiest Black men.

Pennsylvania constitution

prohibited black men from voting altogether

Free Blacks

African Americans not enslaved, but who still faced major restrictions politically and socially.

Race Riots

violent clashes driven by racial and ethnic resentment. For example:

Black Face

white performers using makeup to caricature Black people and reinforce racist stereotypes.

Jim Crow

a character in blackface entertainment

Female Anti-Slavery Society

multi-class organization of women (in Boston) engaged in the abolitionist movement