Topic #4: Age of Jackson

Essential Question: To what extent was the age of Jackson an age of democracy?

White male suffrage

More white men are able to vote due to voting rights not being based on wealth.

• 1824 - 350k vote

• 1840 - 2 million vote

The Election of 1824

• Four candidates run for president: William Crawford, Henry Clay, John Q. Adams, and Andrew Jackson.

• No one wins the majority vote so the House of Representatives choose John Q. Adams to be president.

  • Clay strategically becomes secretary of state after giving his support to Adams (a position that helps you become president).

  • Jackson thinks it is a “corrupt bargain”.

  • New political parties emerge.

Whigs

• Supporters of Clay

• Believed the federal government should support economic growth

• Manufacturing

• Live in the North

• Party of modernization

• Gradual territorial expansion

*Claimed to be the party of common man

Democrats

• Supporters of Jackson

• Believed in limited federal government in favor of state

• Agriculture

• Lived in the South

• Party of tradition

• Rapid territorial expansion

*Claimed to be the party of common man

Election of 1828

• Jackson vs. John Q. Adams

• Jackson wins and becomes the first president born in the West.

• He serves from 1829-1837

Spoils system

The custom of filling federal government jobs with people loyal to the party of the president. This originated during Jackson’s first term.

Tariff of 1828

Tariff passed by Congress that taxed imported goods at a very high rate.

• It caused a lot of opposition in the South, and they called it the Tariff of Abominations.

Nullification crisis

• 1832

• In response to the tariff, South Carolina nullifies and voids the tariff.

• Vice President John C. Calhoun is against the tariff and supports the nullification.

• Jackson opposed it and passed the Force Act, threatening to bring an army to South Carolina and hang Calhoun.

• Congress compromises by passing a new tariff that lowered tax rates, and South Carolina repeals its Ordinance of Nullification later.

Force Act

• 1833

• Legislation authorizing the president’s use of the army to force states to comply with federal law.

Indian Removal Act

Act passed in 1830 that gives funds to move Indians from the east to the West to open land for settlement and cotton. From 1830-1860, 88k Indians are moved West.

• The Cherokee challenge the law in the Supreme Court and Chief Justice John Marshall says the Cherokee have a right to their land.

• Jackson disagrees and doesn’t enforce the Supreme Court’s decision. America eventually forces the Cherokees West on the Trail of Tears. 4k died.

Bank War

• Second National Bank is renewed by Congress

• Jackson vetoes the charter and takes the federal funds outside the national bank and moves it to state banks.

• Result: economic recession, panic of 1837