Chapter 12 Sections 2
“Jackson: Good guy and Bad guy”
Vocabulary
• Spoils system – practice of rewarding
supporters with government jobs
• “kitchen Cabinet” – group of unofficial
advisors who met with Andrew Jackson in
the White House kitchen
Andrew Jackson Background
• Andrew Jackson was
born to poor Irish
immigrants.
• At the age of 13, he
joined the American
Revolution.
• Jackson studied to
become a lawyer.
• He moved to Tennessee
and was elected to
Congress.
• He had a bad temper.
Review
• Why was Andrew Jackson known as a self
made man?
The Spoils System
• Jackson dismissed more than 200
previous presidential appointees
and replaced them with people who
had helped get him elected. This
became known as the spoils
system.
• Many criticized Jackson, but
Jackson said that he was replacing
all these people to protect the
country from being overtaken by
rich, corrupt men. He felt that
ordinary Americans could fill
government Jobs.
• The spoils system continues today.
Bush filled over 1000 positions with
people who had helped him get
elected.
Kitchen Cabinet
• Andrew Jackson
chose unqualified
people to fill his
cabinet positions.
• When they proved to
be incompetent (gave
bad advise), he
formed a 2nd group of
advisers that met in
the White House
Kitchen.
What was I
thinking?.... Oh
yeah, that I could
run the entire
country by
myself!!!
Review
• What is the spoils system?
• Who did Andrew Jackson give jobs to and
why?
• Why did people criticize Jackson for using
the spoils system?
The Bank of the United States
• Jackson hated the bank
of the United States and
saw it as
unconstitutional. He
also thought that the bank
helped the rich get richer
at the expense of the
everyday working man.
• Jackson passed
legislation that closed the
bank. Many Americans
applauded this action. It’s
closing in 1836, though,
did contribute to a bit of
an economic crisis.
Review
• Why did Jackson veto the bill to extend the
charter of the Bank of the United States?
States’ Rights
• The south was still mad about the
protective tariff that had been put on
all imports. Then, Jackson raised the
tax. The south came to call it the Tariff
of Abomination. Andrew Jackson’s
vice president John C. Calhoun
disagreed so much with the tariff that he
resigned his position. Calhoun then
spent his time fighting Jackson over the
issue.
• Things got so bad that states were
refusing to pay the tariff, and some
were threatening to leave the union.
Jackson lowered the tariff, but made it
clear that if the south continued to resist
payment of the tariff, he would bring in
the army. The south backed down, but
tensions were definitely growing
between the north and south.