Aim #25: Was Jackson a champion of the “common man” or a “king”?
Subtitle
DO NOW! READ ABOUT THE ELECTION OF 1824 AND ANSWER THE
QUESTIONS

Even with Jackson winning the popular vote, he had to win the electoral vote as well.
•There were 261 total electoral votes and
Jackson needed 131 to win the electoral vote and the election.
•Jackson did not receive a majority of electoral votes to win the election.
•Sent to the House of
Representatives to choose the president

(I) ELECTION OF 1824 a. No one won a majority of the electoral votes b. Thrown to House of Representatives as per 12 th amendment
1. Clay is Speaker of the House, support Adams (Clay will eventually be his Secretary of States) c. “Corrupt Bargain”
1. Jackson claimed that people’s voice had been distorted because the popular vote had been ignored

1790 to 1828
Caucus ---small group of individuals who would choose a candidate
1828 to 1900
Convention ---members from the political parties nominate a candidate.
Eliminated,
“King Caucus”
Current System Used
Direct Primary --allow registered voters to participate in choosing a candidate
Which of these would be the most democratic way to nominate a candidate for your party to run against the opposition party for public office?

•Why such a difference between the election of 1824 and 1828?
•Population shifts to Western
States and South which gives the Common Man more political power
•More men voting in 1828---
-why?
•Property restrictions and education dropped.
•Jackson appealed to common man because he was one.

(II) FACTORS THAT “DEMOCRATIZED” THE US a. Universal male suffrage
1. Property requirements were eliminated that had prevented lower and middle class males from voting
2. Property qualifications for holding officer eliminated so now lower and middle class males could hold public office b. Party conventions c. Popular election of president (rather than caucuses) d. More elected offices e. Popular campaigning

• Jackson’s Inaugural was a victory for the Common Man
• Thousands of commoners came to Washington, D.C. to

(III) JACKSON AS PRESIDENT a. Jackson saw himself as champion of the common man and therefore fought many government policies and bills he felt would have given more wealth to the upper class including:
1. Opposing government spending (i.e. vetoed bills that would have given money for internal improvements); MAYSVILLE
ROAD in Kentucky (home of rival Henry Clay…hmmmm, that’s suspicious!)
2. Removed what remained of Native Americans from the
West in order to allow for more lands to be settled
3. Vetoed re-chartering the Second National Bank

(IV) SPOILS SYSTEM ‘to the victor goes the spoils” a. Jackson removed about 10% of federal workers from their jobs and filled jobs with friends and loyal followers b. “kitchen cabinet”: his friends who served as his advisers c. What was the major disadvantages of the spoils system???

(V) NULLIFICATION AND TARIFF OF ABOMINATIONS a. Jackson’s vice president was John C. Calhoun b. Men opposed each other over issue of the Tariff of 1816 (by 1828, tariff had been raised twice) c. Called “Tariff of Abominations” because it hurt the South who had little industry of their own d. nullification: South had right to disobey the tariff based on principle of nullification (states can nullify federal laws that they felt were unconstitutional)
WHERE HAVE WE SEEN THAT BEFORE??? THINK ADAMS
PRESIDENCY e. Webster-Hayne Debate: Senator Webster (Mass) opposed states’ efforts to nullify a federal law.
1. Senator Hayne of S.C. defended the nullification

(VI) Jackson attacks the Bank a. Jackson viewed the Bank as an agent of the wealthy and elite b. He shut down bank by taking money out of it and putting it in other banks called “pet banks”
1. result: many businesses went bankrupt
2. (1836) Bank went out of business c. Jackson’s actions against the Bank angered a number of people who thought Jackson had become too powerful
1. Those people who opposed him formed their own party called the Whig Party (those who oppose tyranny)

Did President Jackson deserve to be portrayed the way he is in the cartoon?
Why or why not?