Jackson Presidency

Andrew Jackson

Known as the 'Common man,' he represented the working class rather than the wealthy and rose through military service.

Corrupt Bargain

Henry Clay convinced the House to vote for John Quincy Adams, who then named Clay his Secretary of State, leading Jackson's supporters to claim a trade of political favors.

Suffrage

The right to vote; most white men over 21 could vote as property requirements were dropped, while women, African Americans, and Native Americans were largely disenfranchised.

Nullification Act

Passed by South Carolina, it declared the Tariff of 1828 illegal and threatened to secede from the Union if challenged.

Trail of Tears

The forced relocation of Native Americans, primarily the Cherokee, from their homelands to designated Indian Territory west of the Mississippi.

Jacksonian Democracy

A political philosophy promoting greater democracy for the common man, focused on individual freedoms.

Indian Removal Act of 1830

Federal law that offered Native Americans land west of the Mississippi in exchange for their eastern lands.

Manifest Destiny

The belief that it was America's destiny to expand westward across the continent.

Panic of 1837

A major economic depression in the United States triggered by the failure of state banks and the removal of the National Bank.

Abolitionism

The movement to end slavery, with notable figures like Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison advocating for immediate abolition.

Missouri Compromise

An 1819 agreement that admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, maintaining the balance between slave and free states.

Wilmot Proviso

A proposed amendment aimed at banning slavery in territories acquired from Mexico, reflecting growing sectional tensions.