Jackson Era

Missouri Compromise

1820 compromise balancing the admission of Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state and setting a line across the continent dividing future free and slave states.

Henry Clay

Senator, planner of the American System and founder of the Whig Party in 1833 who threw his support behind Adam’s in the 1824 election

American System

Clay’s plan for federally sponsored internal improvements and protective tariffs to promote commerce and link all sections of the U.S.

John Quincy Adams

National Republican President who was considered an aloof aristocrat. He called for big federal outlays for something like the American System. He was distrusted and wound no tone down his ideas to compromise with his party. Jackson’s men passed the Tariff of Abominations to make him look bad.

Adams-Onis Treaty

Treaty negotiated by John Quincy Adams to purchase Florida from Spain after Jackson invaded Florida to fight the Seminole Indians who harbored runaway slaves, reflecting nationalism

Monroe Doctorine

Reflects nationalism

Monroe feared France or Spain may retake independent republics in Latin American

Policy warning European monarchies not to interfere with America’s in return for U.S. noninterference

North and South American not subject to further colonization by Europe

US. Would take any attempt at colonization in New World as “unfriendly act”

John Marshall

Chief Justice on the Supreme court who applied Federalist principles by supporting Judicial Review in Marbury v. Madison and limiting state power to interfere with business contracts in Dartmouth College v.s Wood ward and Fletcher v. Peck. In McCulloch v. Maryland when Maryland tried to tax a branch of the 2nd National Bank, he ruled that the power to tax is the power to destroy and a state can’t use taxes to destroy a bank created by Congress, broadly defining commerce.

Nationalism in U.S. at this time

Supreme Court rulings supported nationalism by favoring federal power

Monroe Doctrine showed Americas new strength and separation from Europe

U.S.’s policy toward Florida reflected nationalism, as Jackson invaded Florida to fight Seminole Indians who hid runaway slaves

Clay believed all regions could work together for the prosperity of the nation and his American System reflected that by including internal improvements to link different sections of the nation

Calhoun’s Bill was supposed to tie America together

American Renaissance works like James Cooper’s The Leatherstocking Tales, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlett Letter writing of New Englands Puritan past, and the painting of the Hudson River School reflected nationalistic spirit

Sectionalism in U.S. at this time

Democrats (south/west) vs. National Republicans (north) vs. Whigs

Missouri sought admission as slave owning state

In election of 1828 Jackson only got 56% of the popular vote, with most of the South/ southwest voting him and most of New England voting for Adams

Andrew Jackson and the impact of his policies

Popular war hero elected president as a Democrat (Jacksonian Democracy) in 1828. He was born poor, orphaned, and wounded in the Revolutionary war before earning a fortune as a lawyer and planter as well as becoming a hero in the Battle fo New Orleans which is why he was called the “people’s president.” He urged the Indian removal acts, as he supported southerners. He vetoed the renewal of the Bank’s charter leading to the “Bank War” which strengthened his popularity with commoners. His economic policies led to disaster for the next president, including the Panic of 1837.

Martin van Buren

Jackson’s campaign manager who ran 1st modern election campaign in 1828. He was Jackson’s handpicked successor who who the election of 1836 and was left with the crisis left by Jackson’s economic policies.

Indian Removal Act

1830 Act forcing relocation of 5 Civilized Tribes from southeast to present day Oklahoma

Marshall ruled seizure of native lands unconstitutional in 1832, but Jackson defied the ruling

Trail of Tears

Forced march to Oklahoma in winter of 1838, during which 4,000 Cherokees died

Spoils system

Practice of giving government jobs to loyal party supporters

John C. Calhoun

Vice president who made a bill to pay for roads and canals to tie the country together. He later resigned to lead South Carolina’s fight over nullification in the Senate

Nullification Crisis

South Carolina voted to nullify the tariff of abominations and threatened to secede from Union if the government forced the tariff. Jackson only modified the tariff slightly, so Calhoun resigned as VP to lead the nullification battle. Jackson rejected this challenge to his authority while nationalists rejected nullification, so Congress passed a Force Bill authorizing troops to enforce collection and in a compromise Congress lowered tariff instead of resolving the issue.

Specie Circular

Local/ state banks that issued paper currency with no precious metal sprang up everywhere, leading to inflation. However, all government land had to be paid for in specie (gold and silver coins), so demand increased and local banks didn’t have specie, so they collapsed.

Tariff of 1816

Tax on goods imported into the U.S. from foreign nations.

Tariff of Abominations

Name opponents from agricultural south gave to high protective tariff of 1828

Whigs

Political party formed in 1830’s, favoring a strong federal government, protective tariffs, a national bank and internal improvements.

Rush-Bagot Agreement

1817 agreement with Great Britain for there to be no warships on the Great Lakes and no arms on the land borders between the U.S. and Canada

Northern border of US is the longest unfortified international border

Florida is conquered

Jackson invaded Florida to fight the Seminole Indians who harbored runaway slaves and later John Quincy Adams made the Admas-Onis Treaty in which the U.S. purchased Florida from Spain.

Election of 1824

Jackson received the most popular votes, but no one won a majority in the electoral college, so when it went to the House of Representatives Adams was selected president after Clay threw his support behind him, angering Jackson.

Election of 1828

Jackson swept 56% of the popular vote, winning most of South/ Southwest, but also revealing growing sectionalism

Increase in voting rights

New state constitutions expanded democracy by including workers who didn’t own property during Jackson’s Era. However, loopholes in NJ that allowed woman property owners were closed, free blacks lost the right vote, and natives were not considered citizens and therefore couldn’t to vote.

William Henry Harrison

A member of the Whig party, elected president, who was portrayed as a simple farmer born in a log cabin, but died one moth after his inauguration.

John Tyler

Whig party member, elected Vice President who became president after Harrison died. When he became president he rejected Whig policies and vetoed legislation to restore the Bank of the U.S. and to enact Clay’s American System.

Panic of 1837

Worst depression the nation had experienced due to inflation caused by specie circular. The drop in land value led to bankruptcy and many farmers lost their land and many urban workers lost their jobs and wages dropped by 30 percent.

Immigration during this tiem

Unlike the North, the South saw little urban growth so few immigrants were attracted there.

Immigration grew from 600,000 immigrants a year (1830’s) to 2,800,000 a year (1850’s)

Before 1840 most immigrants English/ Scottish, but after many were Irish (potato famine)/ German (failed revolution, famine, depression)

Many immigrants Catholic/ Jewish, so many protestants distrusted and resented them as competitors for jobs

Whig party campaigned against immigration, so many immigrants joined Democrats

King Cotton

When Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin cotton became the major export of the American South, but the South’s reliance on it limits the south’s economy.

4 Federalist Principles of the Marshall Court

1. Judicial Review: Court’s role is to determine if acts of Congress or the President are constitutional

2. Federal law is superior to state laws

3. The Constitution is to be interpreted broadly based on the governments implied powers

4. Contracts should be strictly enforced

Era of good feelings

Democratic Republicans enjoyed this under Monroe

Backed nationalistic economic policies that used federal power to assist business and industry

Change from the government’s support of agriculture and weak federal government

With little political fighting some though political parties may disappear

How did Jackson stray from his own policies in order to be re-elected in 1832?

His men passed the Tariff of Abominations to make people mad at Adams, but when he got elected he only modified it slightly during the nullification crisis

Ideal was agrarian republic where all white men owned farms and had equality, but industrialization made it unrealistic

Vetoed Bank Charter leading to “Bank War” making his popular among Americans

Bank War

Jackson vetoed Bank Charter renewal

Jacksonian Democrats felt the 2nd bank symbolized money power and encouraged corruption while businessmen believe it was necessary to maintain stable currency supply

Strengthend Jackson’s popularity with commoners and helped him win reelection in 1832