American History Lecture Review

Andrew Jackson v. John Quincy Adams (again).
Similar to the election of 1800 between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson - got nasty.

Daughter of John Donaldson (Nashville founder).
Married Louis Robards, separated.
1791: Rachel and Andrew Jackson lived together as husband and wife before her divorce was final.
1794: Legal divorce from Robards, then official marriage to Jackson.
This history was used against Jackson during the election.
Jackson's defenders claimed they were unaware of the divorce issue, but this is unlikely.
Frontier Nashville had different values than the East Coast.

Jackson won the election.
Inauguration was a wild and rowdy affair.
Portrayed as a common man, and many from the frontier attended.
Large party with heavy drinking.
Servants had to remove alcohol from the White House.
The White House was damaged, and Jackson had to ask Congress for remodeling funds.

Involved Jackson's Secretary of War, John Eaton, and his wife Peggy.
Peggy had been married before, and her husband allegedly committed suicide after finding out she was having an affair with John Eaton.
Peggy married John Eaton three months before he became Secretary of War.
Washington D.C. ladies socially snubbed Peggy.
Florise Calhoun (John Calhoun's wife, Jackson's VP) led the social rejection.
Jackson was reminded of what happened to Rachel and sympathized with Peggy.
Jackson expected Calhoun to control his wife's actions, but Calhoun did nothing.
Secretary of State Martin Van Buren (unmarried) was kind to Peggy.
This started a rift between Jackson and Calhoun.

Tariff of 1816: First tariff to protect industry.
Tariff of 1828 also involved.
Calhoun restated the theory of nullification, similar to Madison and Jefferson's Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions.
Southern states felt they should be able to nullify federal laws.

Decreased tariff rates slightly, but not enough for Southern states.
South Carolina adopted a nullification ordinance, forbidding the collection of the tariff within their borders.
They expected other Southern states to join them, but none did.

Issued the Nullification Proclamation, calling nullification an absurdity and threatening action.
Sent General Winfield Scott to Charleston Harbor and requested the Force Bill from Congress.

Removing Indians from their territory and forcing them onto reservations in the West.
Tribes moved. Some fought back.

Tried to hold onto their land through the court system.
Series of lawsuits that went to the Supreme Court.
1837-1838: The army forced the Cherokee off their land to the Oklahoma territory.
Trail of Tears: About 4,000 died on the trip.

Rechartering the Bank of the U.S. became an issue in the election of 1832.
James Madison had renewed the charter for the first bank, creating the second bank.
Henry Clay (Republican candidate for president) made this the key issue of the election of 1832.
Jackson was against the bank.
Clay thought Jackson would not veto the recharter bill in an election year.

The bill passed Congress, but Jackson vetoed it.
Congress did not have enough votes to override the veto.
Jackson presented the bank as aristocratic and controlled by wealthy Easterners.
Jackson won the election.

Four years before the charter expired, Jackson wanted to dismantle the bank early.
He wanted to remove government funds from the bank.
Went through multiple secretaries of the treasury before finding one who agreed.
Government funds were transferred to state banks.

Congress passed the Distribution Act, allowing the federal government to distribute the surplus as loans to the states.
The money had been moved into state banks and was being loaned out.
This financial situation was setting up a bit of a disaster.

Jackson stepped down after two terms.
His VP, Martin Van Buren (Democrat), ran.
Whigs were a new party that had replaced the Republicans.
They supported multiple candidates, hoping to throw the election into the House.
Van Buren won the election.
A financial panic broke out after Van Buren was in office, though the causes started under Jackson.
Van Buren became unpopular.

Van Buren (Democrat) v. William Henry Harrison (Whig).
Van Buren had the stigma of financial disaster.
Harrison was portrayed as the simple man, despite being from a wealthy Virginia family.
Used cider and log cabin symbols to depict him in the campaign.
John Tyler (Virginia) was his VP candidate.
Tyler had Democrat tendencies but disliked Jackson.
Campaign slogan: "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" (from Harrison's fame in the Battle of Tippecanoe).
Harrison easily won.
Gave the longest inauguration speech ever, caught pneumonia, and died one month after being inaugurated.

John Tyler became president (His Accidency).
He was meant to balance the ticket and get Southern votes.
Favored strict construction of the Constitution and states' rights (not Whig ideologies).
Congress tried to renew the bank bill, but Tyler vetoed it.
Alienated his entire party and became known as the president without a party.