The Age of Jackson
Changes to Politics
• Movement of population to the West
• Changes in state constitutions concerning voting
qualifications
• Spoils System
• New Leaders and some familiar names:
• New Political Parties: Democrats 1828, Anti
Masons 1832 and Whigs 1836
Changes to the American Economy
• Growth of Urban America, manufacturing and
commerce
• Chartered corporations
• Transportation revolution
• Emergence of commercial agriculture:
Beginning of national and global market
Continuities
• republican fear of financial and
commercial elites
• state versus national power divide
• Issue of slavery simmering just beneath
the surface
Jacksonian Philosophy
• Egalitarian principles….for Whites.
• Equality of Opportunity, not outcomes
• To attain opportunity, privileges must be
vanquished.
• Federal Government should intervene in
national issues, not state issues
• Morality is a personal matter, not an issue
for social control
Jacksonian Principles in Action
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Vetoes the Maysville Road (1830).
Continues support of the National Road
Blocks John C. Calhoun on Nullification
Refuses to intervene on behalf of Cherokee to uphold
Supreme Court vs. State of Georgia
• Attacks the Bank of the United States
• Is a slave owner and never attacks slavery
• Replaces John Marshall with Roger B. Taney on the
Supreme Court. Charles River Bridge Case (1837)
Election of 1828
• Jackson v. Adams rematch
• “Corrupt Bargain”
• Rachel Jackson
Rachel Jackson
Peggy Eaton
Floride Calhoun
Nullification Crisis: Sources
• South Carolina Exposition and Protest
(1828) Why did Calhoun Switch?
• Tariff of Abominations: Martin Van
Buren’s Role
• Webster-Hayne Debate
• Hayne: Constitution is a compact
• Webster: A state can neither nullify nor
secede
• Hanging John C. Calhoun
Daniel Webster
The Nullification Crisis Resolved
• 1832 SC Nullification Convention nullifies
tariffs of 1828 and 1832
• Jackson addressed Congress: “The laws
of the United States must be executed”
• 1833: Clay compromise: Force Bill and
Compromise Tariff
• South Carolina lifts nullification on tariffs
and nullifies Force Bill
The Bank War
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Why did Jackson hate the BUS II?
Recharter effort.
Jackson’s Veto.
The Election of 1832.
The Bank War leads to Economic
Chaos
• Jackson vetoes extension of charter 1832
• Jackson orders withdrawal of Federal
Government deposits 1833
• Deposits directed to state “Pet Banks”
• Biddle calls in Federal Loans, demands
specie payment
• Distribution Act 1834 moves Federal
surplus to states, not state banks
The Panic of 1837
• Specie Circular of 1836 calls for payment
of federal lands be made in hard currency
• British recession causes withdrawal of
foreign capital
• British depression in 1837 cuts off exports
of cotton
• Van Buren calls for National Treasury to
give haven for the proceeds of Federal
land sales
Jackson’s Racial Policy
• Jackson had owned and traded slaves.
• Jackson had fought his entire life to
remove Native Americans from land that
he wanted for whites.
• Horseshoe Bend, Treaty of Fort Jackson,
Invasion of Florida, Georgia policy
• Blackhawk War
• Worcester v. Georgia (“Marshall has
made his decision, now let him enforce it!”)
“Marshall has made his decision,
now let him enforce it.”
Manifest Destiny and Politics
Manifest Destiny
The First Political Convention
Henry Clay
What did Clay believe in?
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The American System
A Third Bank of the United States
Protective Tariffs
Internal Improvements
Being President
The Whigs Come In
John Tyler
• Why did Tyler become a Whig?
• What did his actions, in combination with
Henry Clay’s actions in the Senate, do to
the Whigs?
• What were his opinions about expansion?
• Who was his Secretary of State?
• How did he manage to annex Texas?
Secretary of State, John C.
Calhoun
Oregon Territory Map
Oregon Trail
Hudson River School View of Oregon Trail
Problems with Oregon
• What problems vexed Anglo-American
relations during the 1840s?
• Why didn’t “54 40 or fight” work out?
• How did the U.S. and Britain deal with the
Oregon issue?
Santa Fe Trail
Santa Fe Trail as Cultural Icon
Annexin’ Texans
Sam Houston
Santa Anna
The Alamo
Battle of San Jacinto
Sam Houston at San Jacinto
President James Polk
Mexican War
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Political Problems with Mexican
War