SPRING 2012
CHAPTER NINE
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HISTORY 3401
AMERICA TO 1877
BROOKLYN COLLEGE
BRENDAN O’MALLEY, INSTRUCTOR
1) Jackson’s Official Presidential Portrait
2) Political Cartoon Depicting Him as “King Andrew the First”
3) Earlier Portrayal of Jackson as Military Hero
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THE RISE OF MASS POLITICS
 Jackson Inaugurated: Thousands
of Americans crowded before the
Capitol building on March 4, 1829, to
see Jackson inaugurated. Afterwards,
the crowd mobbed the White House
to congratulate the new president,
trampling on one another, soiling the
carpet, and ruining the upholstery.
“It was like the inundation of the northern barbarians into Rome, save that the tumultuous
tide came in from a different point of the compass. The West and the South seemed to have
precipitated themselves upon the North and overwhelmed it.”
--Arthur J. Stansbury, Congressional Reporter
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EXPANDING THE ELECTORATE
 The Franchise Expanded: Up until the 1820s, most states limited the franchise to white male
property owners, taxpayers, or both. But in
that decade, a string of states expanded the
franchise to include all white males, beginning
with Ohio. Many eastern states followed the
example in fear of losing more citizens.
 Rhode Island and the Dorr Rebellion: In
1840, the lawyer Thomas W. Dorr (1805-1854)
formed the “People’s Party,” held a convention, and
drafted a new state constitution. It was approved by
a popular vote, and in 1842 the Dorrites proceeded to
set up their own government with Dorr as governor.
it. The standing legislature rejected the constitution,
declared Dorr and his followers rebels and began to
imprison them. The “Dorr Rebellion” ultimately failed, but it did push the old legislature
to pass a new constitution that expanded white male suffrage.
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EXPANDING THE ELECTORATE
 Limits of Expansion: Slaves and women obviously could not vote, and
almost nowhere in the Union allowed free blacks the vote. And there was
no secret ballot; most votes had to be spoken in public. Nonetheless,
registered voters expanded greatly during the period.
 Presidential Electors: These were chosen mostly by state legislatures
back in 1800, with electors chosen by popular vote only in six states. But
by 1828, all states by South Carolina chose them by popular vote.
 Greater Participation: In 1824, only 27 percent of white males had
voted in the election. In 1828, the figure jumped to 58 percent, and in
1840, it was 80 percent.
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THE LEGITIMIZATION OF PARTY
 Slow Acceptance: Although strong factional politics existed in the 1790s, it was
not until the 1820s and 1830s that full acceptance of formal parties took place.
 New York and Parties: Formal parties first began to
take formal shape in New York. After the War of 1812,
a dissident political faction led by Martin Van Buren
(1782-1862) called the “Bucktails” challenged the
political elites led by aristocratic Governor Dewitt
Clinton, arguing that they wielded an inordinate
amount of power. (Their name supposedly came from
the deer tail that many members of the Tammany
Society wore in their hats; the faction was strongly
associated with that political society.)
New York Governor Dewitt Clinton
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THE LEGITIMIZATION OF PARTY
 Argument for Parties: The Bucktails claimed that formal political
parties with broad constituencies were needed to counter the personal
influence of the clique around Clinton. Permanent opposition would check
the party in power much like the checks-and-balances of the government.
 1828 Election: Jackson supporters railed against the elites like the
Bucktails, and called themselves “Democrats,” starting what is now the
oldest still-existing party, while Anti-Jacksonians called themselves “Whigs,”
after British politicians who resisted the king. The emergence of these
parties marked the beginning of the “Second Party System.”
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PRESIDENT OF THE COMMON MAN
 Jackson’s Political Philosophy: He believed that government should provide “equal
protection and equal benefits” to all white male citizens, regardless of social status. He was
fiercely determined to push ahead with his agenda, steeled by the death of his wife a few
weeks after his election, an event he blamed partly on his political opponents.
 The “Spoils System”: Jackson did not believe in having entrenched government
officeholders, so he turned them out when he took office, supposedly because these jobs
belonged to the “people.” But turning them all out allowed Jackson to reward those who
helped him get elected with government jobs. William L. Marcy of New York, one of
Jackson’s allies, explained, “The the victors go the spoils,” thus naming the practice of
rewarding supporters with patronage jobs the “spoils system.” Ultimately, Jackson removed
only one-fifth of the officeholders.
 Nomination Convention: In 1832, Jackson’s supporters held a national convention, so
that the people could directly decide the presidential candidate, rather than letting a
Congressional caucus decide.
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“OUR FEDERAL UNION”
 Jackson’s Irony: Even as he was pursuing economic
policies that would reduce the power of the national
government, he was asserting its primacy when faced by
challenges from the states. One the foremost challenges
came from John C. Calhoun of South Carolina.
 Calhoun’s Reversal: In 1816, Calhoun was an ardent
protectionist who argued in favor of a high tariff. But by the
late 1820s, he was convinced that a high tariff was the cause of South Carolina’s stagnating
economy (in fact, it had much to do with exhausted soils).
 Nullification Theory: Using a mixture of Jefferson and Madison’s ideas in tandem with the
Tenth Amendment, Calhoun developed a theory of nullification, which was as follows: since the
national government was a creation of the states, the states had the final say in determining the
constitutionality of federal laws, not the federal government itself or its courts. If state officials
thought a federal law was unconstitutional, they could call a special convention that could
declare the law null and void in the state: states had the right to “nullify” the law. The idea that
the Tariff of 1828—the co-called “Tariff of Abominations” could be nullified in South Carolina
became very popular.
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THE RISE OF VAN BUREN
 Martin Van Buren (1782-1862): This skillful politician
briefly served as governor of New York before being chosen
by Andrew Jackson as his secretary of state. Van Buren was a
member of the actual cabinet as well as the so-called “Kitchen Cabinet,” an unofficial group of
advisers to the president. A quarrel between Calhoun and Jackson made him more influential.
 The Peggy Eaton Affair: Peggy O’Neale was an attractive daughter of the keeper of a
boarding-house keeper where Andrew Jackson and his friend Thomas Eaton
stayed while both were senators from Tennessee. Rumors circulated in the
mid-1820s that Eaton and the married O’Neale were having an affair. She
was married to a naval officer who was frequently away; he died in a foreign
port in 1828, rumored to have committed suicide over his wife’s infidelity.
Peggy and John Eaton were married, and a few weeks later, he was appointed
secretary of war by Jackson. The rest of the cabinet wives, led by Mrs.
Calhoun, refused to receive her socially. Jackson was furious since he believed
that slanderous gossip played a role in his own wife’s death. Van Buren, a widower, befriended
the Eatons, ingratiating himself to Jackson and replacing Calhoun as the chosen successor.
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THE WESBTER-HAYNE DEBATE
 Slowing Down Expansion: In 1830 during a routine debate over Western land policy,
Daniel Webster, who had moved to Massachusetts and had become a senator from that
state, proposed that all surveying and sales of federal Western lands be temporarily halted.
Robert Y. Hayne (1791-1839), a young senator from South Carolina, argued that this
delaying tactic only served to preserve the political and economic power of the
northeastern states.
 The Debate: Webster argued that Hayne was not just attacking the federal government’s
ability to control the process of land sales, but the federal government’s authority over the
states. Hayne responded with a defense of nullification. Webster responded with a lengthy
speech that concluded, “Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable!”
 The President’s Response: At an annual dinner in honor of Thomas Jefferson soon after
the debate, President Jackson toasted, “Our federal union—it must be preserved,” and
then looked Calhoun straight in the eye. This was a clear signal that Jackson fell on
Webster’s side of the debate.
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THE NULLIFICATION CRISIS
 New Tariff: In 1832, a new tariff was proposed that offered the South Carolinians no
relief from the 1828 “Tariff of Abominations.” The state legislature summoned a special
convention that voted to nullify the tariffs of 1828 and 1832, and disallow the collection of
federal customs in the state. South Carolinians also elected Hayne as governor and replaced
him in the Senate with Calhoun. But no other state rallied to the South Carolinians’ side, as
they had hoped.
 Force Bill: When Congress started a new session in early 1833, Jackson proposed a bill
that would allow him to use military force to enforce the tariff. He also supplied the
federal forts in South Carolina and sent a warship to Charleston.
 Clay’s Compromise: As the force bill was making its way through Congress, Henry Clay
of Kentucky proposed a compromise: the tariff would be lowered annually until it reached
the 1816 level by 1842. Both the force bill and the compromise bill passed and reached
Jackson’s desk on the same day, March 1. He signed them both. The special convention in
South Carolina reconvened and repealed the nullification act, but unwilling to give
Congress the last say, the convention nullified the force bill! Violence had been averted.
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THE REMOVAL OF THE INDIANS
 Jackson’s Attitude toward Indians: Ever since his early military expeditions into Florida,
Jackson had a deep-seated hostility toward Indians. His Indian policy was brutally simple: they
had no other option but to keep moving west.
 Changing White Attitudes toward the Tribes: In the eighteenth-century, many whites
shared Thomas Jefferson’s view of Indians as “noble savages,” who with the right approach could
be “civilized” and made fit for white civilization. But these attitudes were changing in the early
nineteenth century, with whites thinking more of them as only
“savages” due to a series of conflicts between Indians and settlers.
In addition, they lusted after the land that the Indians occupied.
 The Black Hawk War: In 1832, an alliance of Sauk and Fox
Indians under the leadership of Chief Blackhawk sought to push
back what they viewed as an illegal cession of tribal lands to the
United States in Illinois. The war was notable for its viciousness on
both sides. Blackhawk was eventually captured and imprisoned.
Curiously, he and his companions were taken on tour and shown to
the public in eastern cities who were eager to see real “savages.”
They conducted themselves with utmost dignity during the ordeal.
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THE REMOVAL OF THE INDIANS
 The “Five Civilized Tribes”: The remaining Indian tribes in the South, known as the
“Five Civilized Tribes”—the Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw—lived
across lands in Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. The federal and state
governments were pushing them to move west, and most were too weak to resist, although
some did.
 Cherokee Legal Resistance: The Cherokee “lawyered up” and sought to fought removal
through the courts. Two Supreme Court cases favored the Cherokeesclaim that state
representatives had no right to negotiate with them: Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) and
Worcester v. Georgia (1832). But Jackson repudiated these claims, reportedly saying: “John
Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it.” The U.S. government extracted a
deal from a Cherokee minority faction that gave the U.S. their in exchange for $5 million
dollars, and requiring the Cherokee to move to a reservation west of the Mississippi. Most
of the 17,000 Cherokee did not accept this treaty. But Jackson sent General Winfield Scott
with a force of 7,000 armed men to force the Cherokee to move.
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THE REMOVAL OF THE INDIANS
 The “Trail of Tears”: About 1,000 Cherokee fled to North Carolina wher ethey were
eventually provided with a reservation in the Smoky Mountains. But most were forced to
march, beginning in January 1838, to “Indian Territory,” an area that eventually became the state
of Oklahoma in 1911. Perhaps a quarter of the emigrés died on trip. The Indians dubbed the
journey, “The Trail where They Cried,” or “Trail of Tears.”
 Removal: Between 1830 and 1838, virtually all of the Five Civilized Tribes were forced to
move to Indian Territory. The Choctaw of Mississippi and western Alabama were the first in
1830. The Creek were moved from Georgia and Alabama in 1836, while the Chickasaw were
pushed from northern Mississippi in 1837. Only the Seminoles were able to put up a real fight.
 Seminole Resistance: The majority of Seminole had agreed to a deal to give up their land
and move to Indian Territory in three years. But a sizeable minority, under the leadership of
Chief Osceola, staged an uprising in 1835 to defend their lands. They were joined by runaway
slaves who had been living with the tribe, and together became masters of guerilla fighting in
the jungle-like conditions of the Everglades. Jackson sent troops, but could not root the
Seminoles out. The government gave up the fight in 1842, but most Seminole had been either
moved westward or killed by that point.
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THE MEANING OF REMOVAL
 The “Trail of Tears”: About 1,000 Cherokee fled to North Carolina wher ethey were
eventually provided with a reservation in the Smoky Mountains. But most were forced to
march, beginning in January 1838, to “Indian Territory,” an area that eventually became the state
of Oklahoma in 1911. Perhaps a quarter of the emigrés died on trip. The Indians dubbed the
journey, “The Trail where They Cried,” or “Trail of Tears.”
 Removal: Between 1830 and 1838, virtually all of the Five Civilized Tribes were forced to
move to Indian Territory. The Choctaw of Mississippi and western Alabama were the first in
1830. The Creek were moved from Georgia and Alabama in 1836, while the Chickasaw were
pushed from northern Mississippi in 1837. Only the Seminoles were able to put up a real fight.
 Seminole Resistance: The majority of Seminole had agreed to a deal to give up their land
and move to Indian Territory in three years. But a sizeable minority, under the leadership of
Chief Osceola, staged an uprising in 1835 to defend their lands. They were joined by runaway
slaves who had been living with the tribe, and together became masters of guerilla fighting in
the jungle-like conditions of the Everglades. Jackson sent troops, but could not root the
Seminoles out. The government gave up the fight in 1842, but most Seminole had been either
moved westward or killed by that point.
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JACKSON AND THE BANK WAR
 Jackson’s Use of Federal Power: Against the Indian tribes, Jackson
was perfectly willing to use federal powers, but when it came to using
them in the realm of economic development, he was far more reluctant.
For example, he vetoed a bill that would have used federal funds to build
a road in Kentucky, seeing it as unconstitutional since the road was not
involved in interstate commerce. He also saw it as an extravagant waste
of federal funds.
Nicholas Biddle
 Biddle’s Institution: The Second Bank had been charter for twenty years in 1816. Since
1823, it had been run by an aristocratic Philadelphian by the name of Nicholas Biddle. The bank
had a monopoly on receiving federal deposits, but Biddle often operated the bank like his own
personal property, giving loans and favors to his friends.
Nonetheless, the bank did offer credit to many enterprises,
issued reliable bank notes, and helped to shore up less
steady state-level banks. Nonetheless, many Americans,
including Andrew Jackson, were determined to destroy
bank, seeing it as a symbol of financial elitism.
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JACKSON AND THE BANK WAR
 Hard Money vs. Soft Money: Both “hard money” and “soft money” people opposed the
bank, but for very different reasons. “Soft money” people, mainly state bankers and their allies,
disliked the bank because it applied a brake on the state banks’ ability to freely issue paper
notes.“Hard money” people, like Andrew Jackson, did not trust in any currency that was not
gold or silver coin, condemning bank notes since they allowed too much risky and overvalued
speculation. The “hards” disliked the bank because it issued paper money. Jackson made it
known that he would not sign a new charter after the expiration of the last one.
 Recharter Bill Vetoed: Biddle enlisted the powerful politician, Daniel Webster, and his
friend, Henry Clay, to assist in the fight against Jackson. Biddle had made Webster the legal
counsel of the bank and the director of its Boston branch. Clay and Webster encouraged Biddle
to apply for a charter renewal four years earlier, and it passed. But Andrew Jackson vetoed the
bill, and the bill’s advocates could not get enough votes to override the veto. Clay hoped the
“Bank War” would provide him with a good campaign issue.
 1832 Election: Henry Clay ran against Jackson as the unanimous choice of the Whigs, but he
was soundly beaten by Jackson and his running mate, Van Buren. Jackson received 55 percent of
the vote. The “Bank War” was not an issue that resonated with Whig voters.
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THE MONSTER DESTROYED
 Jackson’s Tactic: He could not legally abolish the Bank before its charter
expired, but he could remove the government’s deposits from it. He order the
secretary of the treasury to do this, who refused, so Jackson fired him. The new
secretary also refused, so he was fired as well. Finally Jackson found a man who
was willing to do it: his attorney general, Roger B. Taney, who as secretary of the
treasury moved the federal deposits to state banks. In response, Biddle called in
loans and raised interest rates, sparking a minor recession. Financial conditions
worsened in the winter of 1833-34, and Biddle had to relent and gave up using the
bank’s power to gain a new charter, giving Jackson a significant victory.
 Long-Term Impact: When the Bank ceased to function as the national bank in
1836, the country was left with an unstable and fragmented financial system that
drove the economy into depression for many years.
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DESTROYED
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THE TANEY COURT
 Taney as Chief Justice: When John Marshall died
in 1835, Jackson replaced him with his close ally,
Roger B. Taney. Taney did not change Constitutional
interpretation much, but he did inject a bit of
egalitarianism into Marshall’s economic nationalism.
 Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge: In this case,
one bridge company that charged a toll sued a new
bridge company that offered a crossing with a toll,
noting that the new bridge would impair the value of
the initial charter that Massachusetts had given to the first company, infringing on
the inviolability of contract. The Taney court ruled that the greater public good
generated by the new bridge superseded the inviolability of the earlier charter.
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THE EMERGENCE OF THE TWO PARTY SYSTEM
 A Polarizing Figure: Jackson’s aggressive use of presidential power in crushing
the nullification issue and destroying the Bank of the United States began to
galvanize an organized opposition in the 1830s. Jackson’s opponents began to call
him “King Andrew I” on account of what they saw as his abuse of executive power.
 Democratic Beliefs: The Democrats believed that the power of the federal
government should be weak, except when it worked to eliminate social and
economic arrangements that entrenched privilege and stifled economic
opportunity (for white men, of course!). Democrats were more likely to support
territorial expansion than their opponents because they saw it as opening up
economic opportunity. The most radical Democrats were the Locofocos—mostly
urban workers, small business owners, and some professionals—who believed in a
vigorous assault, even a violent one, against privilege and monopoly.
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THE EMERGENCE OF THE TWO PARTY SYSTEM
 Whig Beliefs: The political philosophy that became known as “Whiggery” (after
eighteenth-century British politicians who resisted the king’s policies) favored a strong
national government that encouraged economic development. Whigs were cautious about
westward expansion, believing that it could cause political instability. Instead, they favored
federal power being used for industrial and commercial development.
 Whig Supporters: The wealthy merchants of the Northeast, the wealthiest planters of
the South, and some ambitious farmers and commercial men from the West were the
Whigs’ source of support. They tended to be from wealthier backgrounds, and were more
commercially ambitious.
 Democratic Supporters: Smaller merchants and workingmen of northeastern cities,
westerners who favored an agricultural economy were the chief supporters of the
Democrats.
 Ideological Flexibility: Overall, both parties were more interested in winning
elections than maintaining ideological purity. For example, New York Whigs aligned
themselves with the Anti-Mason Party in the late 1820s, a movement against the secret
society, the Masons, who supposedly had a conspiratorial and anti-democratic agenda.
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THE EMERGENCE OF THE TWO PARTY SYSTEM
 Religious and Ethnic Divisions: German and Irish immigrants tended to
support the Democrats since that party was more in line with their traditional
values and beliefs. Evangelical Protestants and temperance advocates tended to
support the Whigs. Whigs viewed immigrants as in need of being educated and
disciplined in “American” ways.
 Whigs’ Leadership Problem: The Whigs were more successful at articulating
their platform and attracting supporters than they were in rallying behind one
leader, which explains why the Whigs only elected two presidents in their twodecade existence: William Henry Harrison in 1840 and General Zachary Taylor in
1848 (Vice President John Tyler became president after Harrison’s death in 1841).
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THE EMERGENCE OF THE TWO PARTY SYSTEM
 The “Great Triumvirate”: The Whigs, in effect, had three great national leaders, who
became known as “The Great Triumvirate”: Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel
Webster. These men tended to split loyalties in the party. Clay’s “American System”—a
coherent plan of internal improvements and economic development—was popular, but
Clay himself was often seen as too much of political operator to be president. Calhoun
never considered himself a true Whig, and the nullification crisis revealed him to be against
many key Whig principles. Webster was popular, but his connection to the Bank of the
United States and his advocacy of a high tariff made him a liability on the national level.
 The Election of 1836: This election highlighted the problems of the Whigs. They
competed fairly evenly with Democrats in Congressional, state, and local elections, but not
with the presidential ticket. The Democrats united behind Andrew Jackson’s chosen
successor, Martin Van Buren, but the Whigs could not even chose one candidate. The Whigs
hoped to split enough of the votes to allow the House of Representatives would decide the
election, but Van Buren won easily: 170 electoral votes to 124.
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POLITICS AFTER JACKSON
 Jackson Retires: Jackson retired from public life in 1837, one of the most revered, if not
beloved, figures in the country. Martin Van Buren was nowhere near as fortunate as his
predecessor. He was not nearly as charismatic as Jackson, and his administration was
immediately beset by terrible economic problems.
 The Panic of 1837: In 1836, Jackson came to believe that speculation on Western lands,
fueled by the availability of paper money of questionable value, was getting out of control,
putting land out of reach of the common person. Between 1835 and 1837, the government
sold 40 million acres of land, three-quarters going to speculators, not homesteaders. To
counter this trend, Jackson issued an executive order called the “specie circular,” which
required that all public lands had to be purchased with “hard currency”—gold and silver
coins—and that purchases with paper would no longer be allowed. The specie circulated
triggered a financial panic that erupted in the first few months of the Van Buren
administration. Many canal and railroad projects failed, some states stopped paying interest
on their bonds, and the country entered a five-year depression.
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POLITICS AFTER JACKSON
 The Van Buren Program: to replace the Bank of the United States, Van Buren initiated what
was called an “independent treasury” or “subtreasury” program, in which federal deposits would
be placed in an independent treasury in Washington and substreasuries in other cities. No
private bank could have the government’s funds or use its name for the purpose of speculation.
After a failed attempt to pass legislation creating the system in 1837, Van Buren managed to get
it passed in 1840—one of his few substantial legislative victories.
 The “Log Cabin” Campaign of 1840: In their first nominating convention in December
1839, the Whigs chose William Henry Harrison, a well known military hero and popular figure.
The Democrats nominated Van Buren again. Whig campaigners portrayed Harrison as a
frontiersman who had lived in a “log cabin,” despite the fact that he had been born into the
elite. The 1840 campaign was notable for its use of many “modern” campaign techniques.
 The “Penny Press”: The 1840 race was also the first in which the new “penny press” was fully
developed. Older newspapers had been almost entirely catering to the upper classes, but
starting in 1833 with Benjamin Day’s NewYork Sun, a new type of paper emerged. It was
cheaper, and it published lurid stories about murders and sex crimes, and even hoaxes, like one
that claimed a new race of men living on the moon had been discovered. The Sun quickly
achieved the highest circulation in New York. These papers reflected the increasingly popular
inclination of the political system and were actively engaged in advocating for candidates.
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POLITICS AFTER JACKSON
 The Frustration of the Whigs: Harrison won a resounding victory, but in his 32nd day in
office, he died of pneumonia and was replaced by his Vice President, John Tyler. Tyler was a
Virginian and former Democrat who still had many inclinations in that direction. He angered
Whigs by refusing to support Clay’s attempt to recharter the Bank of the United States and by
vetoing several internal improvement projects. Every cabinet member resigned except for
Webster. Eventually, a conference of Whigs kicked Tyler out of the party while he was still in
office.
 A New Political Alignment: Tyler and several other conservative southern Whigs were
preparing to rejoin the Democrats. And within the Democratic Party, a new, more conservative
southern element that called for the protect and even expand slavery, was arising.
 Whig Diplomacy: In 1837, tensions between the British and the U.S. boiled over when antiBritish rebels in Canada launched an unsuccessful assault on the colonial government, and some
of the rebels took fled across the Niagara River in an American steamboat. A cycle of insults
nearly led to war, but the Whigs ultimately did manage a foreign policy success with the
conclusion of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty in 1842, which at least temporarily defused AngloAmerican tensions by resolving border U.S.-Canadian border disputes from Maine to the
Rocky Mountains.