•Population shift and West becomes
politically powerful
•Jackson appealed to the Common Man
because he was one.
1790
Qualifications to vote in
most states
21 yrs. Old White Male.
educated and property
owner…….
voting
Most qualifications are
dropped. Majority of White
men can now vote
Jacksonian Democracy.
• European visitors to the U.S. like Alex de
Tocqueville in the 1830s were amazed by
the informal manners and democratic
attitudes of Americans
• The hero of the age was the “self-made
man”
• The idea of spreading political power to all
men and having majority rule became
known as Jacksonian Democracy.
New Democracy
JEFFERSONIAN DEMOCRACY
People should be governed as little possible
JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY
Whatever governing needed to be done, it
should be done by the common man.
“Government by the majority of people
(Majority Rule) instead of a government
run by the upper class was introduced
during Jackson’s Presidency.
“All men are created equal” –Declaration
of Independence
•Born March 15, 1767, on North
Carolina/South Carolina border
•Orphaned at 13, self-educated and
no formal education. Killed a man in
a duel.
•Lawyer, Judge, senator, military
general and finally President
•Defeated the Creeks at Horseshoe
Bend, the British at New Orleans,
took Florida and claimed it for the
US in 1819. Loved by his soldiers
called him “Old Hickory”
•Many considered him dangerous.
They viewed him as a potential
“American Napoleon
Jackson’s First Presidential Run
Opponents in 1824
Henry Clay John Quincy Adams John C. Calhoun
[MA]
[KY]
[SC]
Jackson would go on to hate all of these men
The Election of 1824
•261
electoral
votes and
131 needed
to win.
•Jackson won the
popular vote, but
did not win the
131 electoral
votes to win the
electoral vote
and the election.
•The election
would be decided
in the House of
Representatives.
corrupt
The Corrupt Bargain
•Henry Clay gives his support to John Q. Adams and the
House of Representatives chooses Adams as the President.
•Two weeks later, Adams appoints Henry Clay as his
Secretary of State….
•Jackson cries out corruption and calls this the “Corrupt
Bargain.”
•Jackson promises he would run again for the Presidency
in 1828 and would smash Adams.
The Corrupt Bargain
corrupt1
Suspicions of a “corrupt bargain” have been
strengthened by entries in the diary of John Q. Adams.
On January 1, 1825, after a public dinner, he wrote,
“He (Clay) told me (in a whisper) that he should be glad to
have with me soon some confidential conversation upon
public affairs. I said I should be happy to have it whenever it
might suit his convenience.”
In the diary entry for January 9, reads in part,
“Mr. Clay came at six and spent the evening with me in a
long conversation explanatory of the past and prospective of
the future.”
Exactly a month later, with Clay’s backing, Adams was
elected. This happened because Clay was Speaker of the
House…..They both disliked Andrew Jackson…...
John Quincy Adams
• John Quincy Adams was born into wealth
and privilege as the son of President John
Adams.
• During the Revolution and early Republic
he served his country as a young man if
various European countries as an American
Ambassador
• College educated, he was extremely
intelligent and served as a professor at
Harvard University.
• Served as Sec. of State and negotiated
many treaties including the Adams-Onis
Treaty.
•
Read constantly and in many languages. Kept
a diary for almost 70 years that comprise 50
volumes.
John Quincy Adams
POSTIVES
• One of the ablest men, hardest workers, and
finest intellectuals ever in the White House.
– Tried to promote not only manufacturing and
agriculture, but also the arts, literature, and
science.
– Paid down the national debt and continued the
“American System” of internal improvements.
NEGATIVES
• He was not a “Common Man” and like his
father distrusted what he called “Mob Rule”
– Most found him cold and tactless.
– Could not build any popular support for his
programs.
JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY
After the election of 1824 the DemocraticRepublican party split in to two new parties.
1.
2.
3.
4.
NATIONAL REPUBLICANS
Adams and Clay
Strong national govt.
Favored business, tariffs,
internal improvements,
industry, public schools
and moral reforms such
as prohibition of liquor
and abolition of slavery.
Best/privileged run the
govt.
1.
2.
3.
4.
DEMOCRATS
Jackson
Believed in state’s rights
and federal restraint in
economic and social
affairs.
Favored the liberty of the
individual and was
against the power of the
privileged (rich) in the
government.
Protected the “common
man.”
The election of 1828
REMATCH! ADAMS VS JACKSON
The issues
•End corruption in Washington.
•Reform and eliminate the National debt
•The “People” vs. the “Elite”
•Rachel Jackson vs “His Fraudulency”
Election of 1828
Jackson and J. Q. Adams ran
against each other for the
presidency
One anti-Jackson newspaper declared,
“General Jackson’s mother was a common
prostitute, brought to this country by the
British soldiers! She, afterwards married a
mulatto man with whom she had several
children, of which one was Andrew Jackson.”
•Anti-Adams people accused
him of hiring a servant girl for
a visiting Russian
ambassador…and the “Corrupt
Bargain” making him a fraud.
•One of the worst elections in US History for its “mudslinging.”
•As a result of this, Jackson’s wife Rachel, died of a heart attack just
before he became President…He blamed Adams and Clay and never
forgave them…..
The Election of 1828
•Why such a
difference between the
election of 1824 and
1828?
261 total
electoral votes
and 131
electoral votes
to win……
•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.
The Election of 1824
•Election
of 1824,
355,817
voted.
The Election of 1828
•Election
1828,
1,155,350
voted.
•Jackson’s Inaugural was a victory for the Common Man.
Thousands of commoners came to Washington, D.C. to see
Jackson inaugurated and there was a riot at the White
House!
Inaugural
A Lafayette “Souvenir”
Lafayette in 1825
He was 68
Lafayette when he
was young during the
Revolution
“Lafayette, we are here!”
From July 1824 to September 1825, the last surviving French General of the
Revolutionary War, the Marquis de Lafayette, made a famous tour of the 24 states
in the United States. At stops on this tour he was received by the thousands of
people with a hero's welcome, and many honors and monuments were presented to
commemorate and memorialize the Marquis de Lafayette's visit.
Inaugural
Common man cluster
Land easy to
obtain in the
West
Education
not as
important
•Jackson brought
democracy to the
Common man
Rise of the Common
Man and The New
Democracy
Other “Common
Men” of the time: expand participation
of the common man
Davy Crockett
in democracy.
Sam Houston
Examples
Blacksmith
Farmers
Carpenters
The Working
Class
Jackson
represented
the common
man
Which one is John Quincy Adams and which one is
Andrew Jackson? Why?
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