Eight Presidents 1809-1849
•Madison
•Monroe
•Quincy Adams
•Jackson
•Van Buren
•Harrison
•Tyler
•Polk
1809-1817
1817-1825
1825-1829
1829-1837
1837-1841
1841
1841-1845
1845-1849
Madison (1809-1817) two terms
• Small, scholarly, perceived as weak…
• Took office with America caught between
Britain and France at War
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Impressment
Chesapeake Incident
Non-importation
1811 a new Congress
Tecumseh
The War of 1812
• Causes
– 1. Impressment of American sailors rankled national
pride
– 2. Southern states eager to expand into Florida and
Canada
– 3. Southerners and Westerners hurt by embargoes
– 4. Warhawks feel need to assert American
nationhood vigorously
– 5. Tecumseh defeated at Tippecanoe (1811) by Wm.
Henry Harrison
• Nation divided (no Federalist voted for the
declaration of war) 79-49,19-13
• New England loaned gold to England, sent
food to Canada, kept militia at home
• Folly: leading a divided nation and
apathetic people into war
Nature of the War of 1812
• Small by European standards
• 1. Canadian Front:
– Initial setbacks, then victories
– Lake Erie cleared by Commodore Oliver Hazard
Perry
– Tecumseh defeated and killed at Battle of Thames
(Toronto) 1814
– British invasion stopped in NY at Battle of Lake
Champlain 1814
Nature of the War of 1812
• 2. British invasion of Chesapeake region
– Burn Washington D.C.
– Stopped at Fort McHenry (unable to reach
Baltimore)
– Star-Spangled Banner written by Francis Scott
Key
Nature of the War of 1812
• 3. British invasion of the Mississippi valley
– Stopped by General Andrew Jackson at New
Orleans
• 4. Treaty of Ghent (Belgium)--timing is
everything
Effects of the War of 1812
• Treaty does not address territory or
impressments
• New spirit of national pride and a little
more respect abroad
• Death of the Federalist Party—
– *The Hartford Convention
• Within a few years trade agreements and
borders with British are worked out
Monroe (1817-1825) two terms
• Tall
• Fourth Virginian but least distinguished of
the first eight presidents
• Rode into the presidency on the Federalist
defeat (183 to 34 electoral)
• Name fixed to Monroe Doctrine and
Monrovia
• Last of the Revolutionary War fighters
Monroe
• *The Missouri Compromise (1820)
– Highlights slavery and foreshadows the ACW
– Missouri applies for admission as a slave state
– Desire to diminish and end national “sin” vs.
Southern desire to expand their “peculiar
institution”
Missouri Compromise (1820)
• Congressman Henry Clay of Kentucky proposes
a compromise
– Admit MO as a slave state
– Admit ME as a free state
– Divide the LA Purchase at 36-30 with everything N
being free and everything S being slave
– Puts off conflict over the issue until the next
generation
Monroe
• Experiment in colonizing Africa with free
African-Americans
• Liberia
Monroe Doctrine
• Spanish Latin American colonies declare
independence
• Russia begins inserting influence from
(Alaska) to (California)
• Monarchy vs. Democracy
Monroe Doctrine
• Monroe’s 1823 Address to Congress (State of the
Nation) warns European monarchies not to
interfere in the Western Hemisphere
– Non-colonization in Americas
– Non-intervention in Europe
• Probably would not have succeeded without
British cooperation
• Influences US policy in Western Hemisphere to
this day
John Quincy Adams (1825-1829)
• Not popular, disputed election, reputation of
being cold, full of himself
• “I am certainly not intentionally repulsive”
• Saw enjoyment as a sign of weakness, but
kept a pet alligator, went skinny dipping in
the Potomac almost everyday
JQA and the Election of 1824
• Essentially one party--Republican
• Four candidates
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J Q Adams--natural as Secretary of State
W H Crawford (GA)
H Clay (KY) Speaker of the House of Reps
A Jackson (SC/TN) hero of the Battle of New
Orleans
JQA
• When Adams wins and appoints Clay as
Secretary of State it looks like a shady deal
• Jackson’s supporters undermine Adam’s
administration (Tariff of Abominations)
• The election of 1828
– Both Republicans
– Adams--National Republicans
– Jackson--Democratic Republicans--Democrats
Election of 1828
• A respectfully close but viciously dirty
campaign
– Jackson’s mother called a prostitute, his wife a
bigamist and adulterer (she dies--supposedly
from heartbreak over the insult)
– Adams dubbed a pimp
– Jackson wins
Jackson (1829-1837) two terms
• Had fought in wars and numerous duels--still
had bullets in his body, may have murdered
captured Indian chiefs
• Know as “old hickory” for his toughness
• First president from west of the Appalachians
(TN) and first from a “poor” family
• Election was a political “revolution”
• Inaugural party looked more like mob rule
Jackson and the IRA (1830)
• IRA passed in 1830--”not only liberal but generous”
– Creeks of AL taken in chains
– Choctaws of MS taken in winter w/o proper
provisions
– Sac and Fox of IL slaughtered by local militia
– Seminoles of FL fight for 7 years until eliminated
– Cherokee of GA declare independence--upheld by the
US Supreme Court--GA militia w/presidential
support remove Cherokee; harassed along the way,
forced exodus known as the Trail of Tears (25% die
on the way to inferior land in OK)
Jackson and the Nullification
Crisis of 1832
• High Tariff of 1828 keeps foreign goods at
a high price
• Hurts S. export of cotton
• Theory of “nullification” comes from VP
Calhoun of SC
– “If US is compact of sovereign states then each
state has the right to determine what is
constitutional w/in its borders and to nullify any
laws that are not.”
Jackson and the Nullification
Crisis of 1832
• In 1832 Jackson overwhelmingly re-elected
• He approves a new, lower tariff
• SC declares the new and the old tariffs to be
“null and void” and says if federal troops
try to enforce the tariff they will secede
• Jackson declares this is treason and requires
the use of force
• Congress passes the Force Bill
Henry Clay Proposes a
Compromise
• A new tariff that gradually lowers duties over a ten
year period
• SC repeals nullification of tariff (but nullifies the Force
Bill)
• Both sides claim victory
• “Appeasement” of SC linked to SCs 1860 secession
leading to ACW?
• Best move for the time
Force is an admission of failed statesmanship
Nation less ready for civil war in 1832 than in 1861
Jackson and the Destruction of
the National Bank
• First National Bank chartered 1791-1811
– To issue standard currency--increase confidence
– Handle federal tax receipts and other govt. money
– Facilitate business between the states
• Second National Bank chartered in 1816 when
state banks prove insufficient
• SNB due to expire in 1836--push for an early
recharter
• Jackson vetoes the recharter and kills the bank
Jackson and the Destruction of
the National Bank
• Effects
– Financial center of US shifts to NY (Wall
Street)
– Diverse elements (bank supporters, state’s
righters (nullifiers), northern industrialists, antiMasons) form a new political party--the Whigs
with a strategy to run several candidates in
1836
– Strengthens power of the executive
Martin Van Buren (1837-1841)
• Rides into the presidency on Jackson’s
coattails
• The original office toadie--yes man
• 1st president born an American citizen
• Known chiefly for the economic depression
that occurred during his presidency
• Referred to as Martin Van Ruin
Wm. Henry Harrison (1841)
• Election of 1840--Democrat Van Buren vs.
Whig Wm. Henry Harrison
• Harrison hero of War of 1812 (and Battle of
Tippecanoe--1811)
• Largely issueless and energyless--John Tyler
selected as an afterthought to gain southern vote
• Campaign slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too”
• Harrison portrayed as a “log cabin and hard
cider man”
• He was the oldest president before Reagan
• Gave the longest speech and died
Tyler (1841-1845)
• Tyler was in the right place at the right time
• Generally alienated his party and accomplished
nothing
• Entire cabinet resigned except for Secretary of
State Daniel Webster who tried, but failed, to set
boundaries of OR Territory w/ British
• Admitted TX to the Union just before leaving
office
Polk (1845-1849)
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Aggressively expansionist president
Instituted “Hail to the Chief”
Campaign slogan “54-40 or fight”
Polk offered to buy CA from Mexico
Polk and the Mexican War
• Essential cause of the war was dispute over
southern border of TX
– US claimed it was the Rio Grande--stationed troops
there
– Mexico saw this as an invasion and attacked the
American troops
– Polk urged a declaration of war and Congress obliged
• Future president U.S. Grant (a young lieutenant
during the Mexican War)
– “…most unjust [war] ever waged by a stronger
against a weaker nation”
Polk and the Mexican War
1846-1847
• In less than one year Mexico City is captured and
Mexico surrenders
– US gained recognition of TX border
– US gained NM and CA
– Mexico lost 1/3 of its territory--change of govt.
– Lasting distrust of Latin America toward US
– Issue of slavery in the new territories becomes a
major issue of the 1850s
• General Zachary Taylor becomes a war hero