Democracy and the Age of
Jackson
Focus Question
• What changes did Andrew Jackson
represent in American political life?
• Jackson encouraged the idea of the common
man’s participation in politics
• Made elections more inclusive and
democratic
Classroom Activity
Age of Jackson
• In pairs or Triad’s Create a visual
representation of Andrew Jackson’s
Presidency
– Timeline of Sec 4 & 5
– Flow Chart
– Outline.
•
The Controversial Election of
1824
End of the Era of Good
Feeling
• Republicans compete
for the presidency
• Sec of State John
Quincy Adams
• Speaker of House Henry
Clay
•
The Controversial Election of
1824
Sec of War John C.
Calhoun
• General Andrew
Jackson
• William H. Crawford
• Calhoun backed out in
the hope of securing the
vice presidency
The Controversial Election of
1824
• No majority in the
electoral college
• Adams finished with 84
votes, Jackson 99,
Crawford 41 and Clay
37
•
The Controversial Election of
1824
12th Amendment – if no
candidate receives a
majority
• Election decided by the
House of
Representatives from
among the top three
candidates
The Controversial Election of
1824
• Jackson clearly expected
to win, figuring that the
House would act to
confirm his strong
showing
• However, Clay, as
Speaker of the House,
used his influence to
sway the vote to Adams
The Controversial Election of
1824
• The Philadelphia Observer charged that
Adams had made a secret deal to obtain Clay’s
support
• Three days later, Adams’s nomination of Clay
as secretary of state seemed to confirm the
charges of a “corrupt bargain.”
The Election of 1828
• Jackson won every state
in the South and West
• Adams won the
electoral votes of every
state in the North except
Pennsylvania and part
of New York
• The election results
were a clear victory for
Jackson
The Age of Jackson
• Jackson’s Appeal to
the Common Citizen
• Jackson claimed he
was of humble
backgrounds
• Jackson was a wealthy
plantation owner
The Age of Jackson
• Spoils System
• Incoming officials
throw out former
appointees and replace
them with their own
friends
What does the cartoonist imply?
That Andrew Jackson was corrupt and foolish for rewarding
party loyalty with government jobs
The Age of Jackson
• Favored a rotational
system of staffing the
government
• Gave away huge numbers
of jobs to friends and
political allies
The Indian Crisis
• Jackson favored the
forcible removal and
relocation westward on
reservations
• Using harassment and
bribery, Jackson’s
Admin. Forced many of
the Indian Nations to
march west to present
day Oklahoma
The Indian Crisis
• Occupied massive
amounts of land in
Georgia, the
Carolinas, Alabama,
Mississippi, and
Tennessee
• Farmers and miners
wanted the land of the
five civilized tribes
The Indian Crisis
• Indian Removal Act of
1830
• Five Civilized Nations:
Cherokee, Chickasaw,
Creek, Choctaw, &
Seminole
• Federal government
provided funds to
negotiate treaties that
would force the Native
Americans to move west
The Indian Crisis
• Jackson stated the
removal policy was,
“not only liberal, but
generous,” because it
would enable native
Americans to maintain
their way of life
Trail of Tears
• Cherokee Nation tried to
fight Indian Removal
Act through the courts
• Chief Justice John
Marshall refused to rule
on first case brought
against Georgia
• Cherokee nation had no
federal standing
• Neither foreign nation or
a state
Trail of Tears
• Worcester v. Georgia
1832
• Samuel Austin
Worcester- missionary
• Court recognized
Cherokee nation as a
distinct political
community of people
Trail of Tears
• SC ruled Georgia was
not entitled to regulate
lands and remove
Indians
• Jackson replied by
stating
• “John Marshall has
made his decision;
now let him enforce
it.”
ANALYZE
Political Cartoons: “King” Andrew Jackson
Trail of Tears
• By 1837, the Jackson
administration had
removed 46,000
Native American
people from their land
east of the Mississippi
• Opening 25 million
acres of land to white
settlement and to
slavery
Trail of Tears: Cause, Effect and
Justification
• Compare the following maps that illustrate
the land holdings of the Cherokee people at
specific times in history
Trail of Tears: Cause, Effect and
Justification
Focus Question
• What major political issues emerged during
the 1830s?
The Nullification Crisis
• 1828 Congress passed a high tariff
• Know as the Tariff of Abomination
– drive up duties to as high as 45% while
imposing heavy tariffs on raw materials like
wool
• Disliked by southerners
Calhoun Champions Nullification
• John C. Calhoun – South Carolina
• Supported the idea that state have the right to
nullify or void any federal law deemed
unconstitutional
• South Carolina nullified the Tariff of 1828
– Prohibited the collection of tariff duties
– Threatened to secede from the nation
– Calhoun resigns the Vice Presidency becomes a
Senator
– Pres. Jackson rejects South Carolina’s nullification
and threatens to force if necessary – Force Bill
passed
The Bank War
• Jackson Opposes the Bank of the United States
(BUS)
• Jacksonian Democrats opposed the national
bank because they thought it favored the
wealthy.
• In 1832, Henry Clay supported a bill for the
rechartering of the BUS—four years early
– He felt that if Jackson signed it, he’d alienate his
followers, and if he vetoed it, he’d lose the
supports of the “best people” of the East.
The Bank War
• Jackson vetoed the renewal of the BUS
• Declared the bank as unauthorized by the
Constitution (despite political foe John Marshall’s
ruling that it was okay), and anti-American.
• The veto increased the power of the president
by ignoring the Supreme Court and aligned the
West against the East.
The Whig Party Forms
• Henry Clay and Daniel Webster form the
Whig party in response to Jackson’s
policies
– Believed in a strong national government
– Broad interpretation of the Constitution
• Challenged Jacksonian Democrats in local,
state and national elections
• Election of 1832 Clay ran for Pres.
– Jackson won in a landslide
Politics After Jackson
• Van Buren’s Presidency and the Panic of 1837
– The first president to have been born in America
– Inherited the depression caused by Jackson’s BUS
killing
• The panic of 1837 was caused by over
speculation and the “Bank War,”
• Hundreds of banks fell, including some of
Jackson’s “pet banks,” banks that had received
the money that Jackson had withdrawn from
the BUS to kill it
Daily Quiz
The practice of rewarding
political supporter with
government jobs became known
as:
spoils system
The Trail of Tears refers to the
forced relocation of the Cherokee
and other Native Americans to:
Oklahoma
How did President Jackson react
to Georgia’s seizure of Cherokee
lands?
• He sided with Georgia in defiance of the Supreme
Court.
Andrew Jackson found his
greatest support among
common people.
Why did the United States
government remove Native
Americans from the Southeast in
the 1830s?
• White Southerners wanted the Native
Americans’ valuable land
How was the presidential election
of 1824 decided
• By the House of Representatives
Indian Removal A Clash of
Diverse Cultures