[APUSH 1] Age of Jackson #1 Vocabulary

Caucus

closed-door meeting of a political party in Congress or State Legislature to nominate a president

Replaced by nominated conventions (1830s) = more democratic

• Iowa: chose delegates from their 99 counties who then choose their representative

• By 1832, only South Carolina still used the Caucus method

Mudslinging

Attempting to ruin someone’s reputation w/ public insults

• JQA’s wife born out of wedlock

• Jackson’s wife is an adulterer (she dies before he becomes President)

• Election of 1828 more about insults than politics

Spoils System (Patronage)
Election of 1828

Giving government jobs in return for party loyalty (usually friends/supporters)

• JAX famous for it during his Presidency

• Creates a rotation of office so everybody has a “fair chance”

• Job qualifications were irrelevant

• Jackson would split up jobs to have each “friend” serve a term then get switched with another

• “No man has any more intrinsic claim to office than another”

• Jackson did not like experts and believed the common man could hold office = democratic

Andrew Jackson

Nicknamed “Old Hickory”

Self-made man and living legend who became a symbol of the “Common Man” and promoted the expansion of democracy

• Believed in Jeffersonian ideals; opposed increasing federal spending & the national debt

• Vetoes more bills in his presidency than the previous 6 presidents combined

• 1st President to be born west of Appalachians

• 1st President since Washington to NOT have a college education

Kitchen Cabinet

Pres. Jackson’s group of informal advisors that he trusted over his cabinet due to the Peggy Eaton / Petticoat Affair

• Calhoun’s wife and Jackson’s cabinet advisors did not accept

• Jackson's personal animosity for Calhoun seems to have been inflamed by Mrs. Calhoun's treatment of Peggy O’Neale Eaton, wife of Jackson's Secretary of War, John Eaton.

• Mrs. Calhoun and other wives and daughters of several cabinet officers refused to attend social gatherings and state dinners to which Mrs. Eaton had been invited because they considered her of a lower social station and gossiped about her private life. As Jackson reminded of how rudely his own wife Rachel was treated, he defended Mrs. Eaton.

• Most of Jackson’s Cabinet resigned when Jackson tried to force them to socially accept Peggy

• Calhoun resigns 1 year later

• Martin Van Buren (NY) remains loyal to JAX during crisis, and was his new Vice President after Calhoun

Indian Removal Act (1830)

Forced relocation of Indians from States east of the Mississippi River to West

• Most Americans were land-hungry (thinking of the day) (majority of politicians agreed)

• Jackson thought most humane way to get Indians off the land was to compel them to leave their homelands and resettle

• By 1835, most tribes moved

• Bureau of Indian Affairs (1836) was created to help resettlement

Cherokee Nations v. Georgia (1831)

Cherokees are NOT a foreign nation and have the right to sue in federal court

Worcester v. Georgia (1832)

Laws of Georgia had no force within the boundaries of Cherokee territory, meaning they DO NOT have to leave

• Jackson sides with STATE courts

• “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it”
  -Andrew Jackson

Trail of Tears (1838)

Refers to when the Cherokees forcibly left Georgia to Oklahoma

• Under Van Buren’s presidency

• 4,000 of 15,000 die

Secede

Withdraw from the Union

• Q: Is it Legal?

• A: No! States voluntarily signed Constitution, meaning they recognized “National Supremacy Clause”

Nullification

The theory that States have the right to declare a federal law invalid

Created by John C. Calhoun due to the Tariff of 1828 (aka the Tariff of Abominations)

• This goes back to the VA/KY Resolutions!

• Jackson did not like this but his Democratic supporters passed it under JQA to show New Englanders they were willing to uphold some principles

• 1830 Daniel Webster (Mass) debates Robert Hayne (S.C.)

  • Webster stated that no state could defy or leave the Union

• JAX makes a toast at a political dinner “Our federal Union, it must be preserved”

• Calhoun replies immediately “The Union, next to our liberties, most dear!”

• Calhoun nullifies both Tariff of 1828 and 1832

Force Bill

Jackson tells Calhoun/South Carolina he will bring in the military to enforce any federal law

• Jackson issues a Proclamation to the People of South Carolina stating that nullification and disunion were treason

• A new compromise tariff was created (by Henry Clay) which lowered the tariff

• This was used again during the Civil Rights Movement to desegregate Little Rock High School, Arkansas “Little Rock 9” after Plessy v. Ferguson was overturned in Brown v. BoE of Topeka during Eisenhower’s Term

King Andrew

Critics nickname for Andrew Jackson because of the way Jackson used Federal authority

• Jackson wanted a small, limited, but POWERFUL gov’t

• Vetoed more bills then the last 6 presidents combined

Whigs

Political party started to oppose Jackson (favored Clay’s American System)

• Name of the party in England to oppose the King

• Only had 1 universal principle, which was hating Jackson (other than that, the party was very different and split)

“Pet Banks”

After JAX destroys the National Bank, $ is distributed to various State Banks, which were called this by critics

Panic of 1837

Depression caused as a result of banknotes losing value, speculation of western lands, inflated goods, and closing of banks

• Jackson’s presidential order for Specie Circular required all future purchase of federal land to be made in specie rather than banknotes

• Caused banknotes to lose their value and land sales to plummet

• Panic happened under Van Buren’s presidency

“Log Cabin and Hard Cider” Campaign of 1840

• “Tippecanoe and Tyler too” was the Whig campaign slogan of William Henry Harrison and John Tyler

• Put log cabins on wheels & handed out: hard ciders, pins, and hats to votes

• Shows William Henry Harrison’s modest beginnings

• Attacks “Martin Van Ruin” as an aristocrat who liked foreign wines

William Henry Harrison

Former governor, war hero, and Whig President who dies after 32 days in office due to pneumonia

John Tyler

Nicknamed “His Accidency”

• Virginian politician and former states’ rights Democrat who joined the Whigs

• W.I.N.O. (Whig In Name Only), and vetoed Whigs’ laws (national bank)

• Became President when William Henry Harrison died

  • 1st Vice President to become President

• Favored southern and expansionist Democrats during his term (1841-1845)