The Jacksonian Age: 1820-1850
Economics in the Jacksonian Age
New inventions
 More opportunities
 “Equal playing field for all”
 Attempt to get rid of privileged groups
 general incorporation laws
 best example is the bank war
 Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge
(1837) (Roger B. Taney)
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Jacksonian Democracy
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NOT the invention of Andrew Jackson
 He approves and benefits from it, but it is
created by the states
Universal white manhood suffrage
Voters vote directly for president
Voting rates increase dramatically
New style of political parties brings more
Americans into active participation in politics
 spoils system/rotation in office
 Van Buren is first to argue that parties are good
for America
Politics in the Age of Jackson
Election of 1824
 JQA elected through the “corrupt bargain”
 Election of 1828
 Jackson wins by landslide and is easily reelected in 1832
 Whig Party develops within the Democratic –
Republicans among Jackson’s rivals and
opponents
 Henry Clay from Kentucky
 John Calhoun from South Carolina
 Daniel Webster from Massachusetts
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The Indian “Problem”
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Cherokees and others of the Five Civilized Tribes
were “in the way” of white settlement
Jackson’s solution is “removal”
Johnson v. McIntosh (1823)
 Only federal government may but tribal land
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831)
 Tribes are “domestic, dependant nations”
Worcester v. Georgia (1832)
 State laws do not apply to Indian land
 “John Marshall has made his decision, lets see
him enforce it.”
Trail of Tears
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One faction of
Cherokees signs
the Treaty of New
Echota & trades
land for land in
Indian Territory
4,000 of 18,000
Cherokees die
from disease,
exposure and
starvation en route
to Oklahoma
The Nullification Crisis
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High tariffs in 1828 & 1832
John Calhoun protests in The South Carolina
Exposition and Protest
SC “nullifies” the tariff
Jackson threatens to use force, and Congress
authorizes it in the Force Bill
Jackson & Clay already had personal conflicts over
the Peggy Eaton affair and Jackson’s invasion of
Florida
Clay gets both sides to compromise through a bill
that would gradually lower tariffs
SC accepts, but nullifies the Force Bill
The Bank War
Jackson wants to get rid of bank
 Thinks it is a privilege for an elite few
 Doesn’t trust banks
 Vetoes recharter bill
 Pulls federal government’s $ out of
National Bank and puts it in “pet banks”
 Causes inflation
 Biddle tries then demands specie from other
banks
 Causes deflation
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The Bank War II
Biddle then decides to give up and loans
money at low interest rates at the same time
that the federal surplus is given to the states
(Bonus Bill)
 Causes huge inflation
 Jackson then demands that land be purchased
with specie (hard currency)
 Causes huge deflation and results in Panic
of 1837
 Jackson out of office by the time the panic
hits. Van Buren gets blamed.
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