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CHAPTER 7 SECTION 2
REVIEW
Jacksonian Democracy and States’ Rights
Specific Objective: Discover how Andrew Jackson’s election to the presidency in 1828 opened a new era of
popular democracy.
Directions: Read the summary below to answer questions on the next page.
The 1828 Presidential Election
• The campaign between Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams was bitter and included vicious
personal attacks.
• Jackson was the first president from the West. He was also a war hero.
• Jackson promised to look out for the interests of common people.
• The idea of spreading political power to all the people and ensuring majority rule became known as
Jacksonian democracy
Andrew Jackson’s election to the presidency in 1828 brought a new era of popular democracy. In 1824, four men
hoped to replace President Monroe. John Quincy Adams, Monroe’s secretary of state, was New England’s choice. William
Crawford of Georgia was the Southern choice. Westerners supported Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson. Jackson won the
most popular votes but did not receive the majority of electoral votes. According to the Constitution, the House of
Representatives must choose the president if no one wins a majority of electoral votes. Clay, who had come in fourth,
voted for Adams, who won.
The split between Jackson and Adams created another two-party system. Jackson’s supporters became the
Democrats. Adams’s supporters became the National Republicans. The election of 1828 again pitted Adams against
Jackson. Jackson promised to look out for the common people and to promote majority rule, an idea that became known as
Jacksonian democracy.
In the early 1800s, laws were passed that allowed more common people to vote. The expansion of voting rights
helped Jackson win, which was viewed as a victory for common people. Andrew Jackson was a war hero and the first
president from the West. People from all kinds of backgrounds came to Jackson’s inauguration. Eventually the crowd at
the White House became so rowdy and destructive that the president was forced to leave. Jackson had promised to reform
the government. He started by giving many government jobs to his supporters. This practice became known as the spoils
system.
Sectionalism
The Northeast’s economy was based on factories manufacturing goods. The South’s economy relied
on plantations and farms producing agricultural products. With different economic interests, both the
Northeast and the South wanted the federal government to help their economies prosper.
One way that the government could help American manufacturers was through tariffs. Tariffs were fees
that the federal government could charge foreign countries to sell their goods in America. Tariffs made imported
goods more expensive than American-made goods. The Northeast favored tariffs because they made it more
likely that consumers would buy the goods produced by Northeastern factories. Tariffs hurt the South’s
economy because planters depended on exchanging cotton for foreign manufactured goods.
Tariffs caused growing tension between the Northeast and the South, which increased sectionalism.
Sectionalism occurs when people put the interests of their region over the interests of the country as a whole.
Nullification Crisis
Congress passed a bill in 1828 that raised tariffs on raw materials and manufactured products. It
outraged Southerners, who called it the Tariff of Abominations. Vice-president and fellow South Carolinian
John C. Calhoun sympathized. As a solution, he created the doctrine of nullification. States could reject a
federal law that they considered to be unconstitutional. South Carolina nullified two tariffs and threatened to
secede, or withdraw from the Union, if the government tried to collect the tariffs. Senator Henry Clay
offered a compromise tariff in 1833 and the crisis passed.
When President Jackson took office in 1829, conflicts between the Northeast, the South, and the West were pulling
the nation apart. The first conflict involved Western lands that the federal government was selling. Westerners wanted low
prices to attract more settlers. Northeasterners feared that the cheap land would attract workers needed in the Northeastern
factories.
The second conflict was about transportation improvements. The Northeast and West wanted the government to
spend money to improve the transportation of goods. Southerners were opposed, because the money would come from
increased tariffs.
The third conflict involved tariffs. Northerners supported high tariffs because they made imported goods
more expensive than American-made goods. Southerners were opposed. They had to sell their cotton at low prices to
be competitive. But tariffs forced Southerners to pay high prices for the foreign goods they bought in exchange.
When Congress raised the tariff on raw materials and manufactured goods in 1828, Southerners called it the “Tariff
of Abominations.” Some South Carolina leaders began talking about leaving the Union. Vice President John C.
Calhoun believed that Congress had no right to impose a tariff that favored one section of the country. He proposed
the doctrine of nullification, which said that a state had the right to reject a federal law that it found unconstitutional.
In January 1830, Webster and Hayne debated the issue of nullification in the Senate. Daniel Webster, a
senator from Massachusetts, was opposed to nullification. Robert Hayne of South Carolina supported it. When
President Jackson made it clear that he opposed nullification, he and Calhoun became political enemies. Although
Congress lowered the tariff in 1832, Southerners still thought it was too high.
South Carolina nullified the tariff acts and threatened secession, or withdrawal from the Union, if the
government tried to collect tariffs. Jackson said he would use force to make sure that federal laws were
obeyed and that the Union stayed together. Henry Clay worked out a compromise tariff in 1833 that kept
South Carolina in the Union.
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CHAPTER 7 SECTION 2
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PRACTICE
Jacksonian Democracy and States’ Rights Directions: Choose the letter of the best answer.
Use the table to answer question 1.
Sectional Interests
Westerners
Southerners
Northeasterners
• Wanted Western lands sold at
• Opposed federal spending on
• Feared that cheap Western land
low prices to encourage settlement internal improvements
would attract workers needed to run
• Supported federal spending on
financed through tariffs
factories
internal improvements, such as
• Opposed rising tariffs
• Supported federal spending on
roads
internal improvements to bring
and canals
food and materials to the North and
manufactured goods to the West
• Supported rising tariffs
1. What issue divided Westerners and
Northeasterners?
A. the establishment of national parks
B. the use of the spoils system
C. the price of Western lands
D. federal spending on better transportation
routes
2. Tariffs increased sectionalism during
A. the Missouri Compromise.
B. the Nullification Crisis.
C. the Emancipation Proclamation.
D. the Lincoln-Douglas debate.
3. The doctrine of nullification declared that
A. some states were more powerful than others. B.
the national government had the right to enforce
federal law.
C. states had the right to reject federal law.
D. the Supreme Court had the right to declare
federal laws unconstitutional.
4. Jacksonian democracy spread the idea that
A. more people could vote.
B. fewer people could vote.
C. the wealthy minority ruled.
D. everyone was considered a citizen.
B. Read the following sentences. Write N next to those that describe Northern views,
S next to those that describe Southern views, and W next to those that describe
Western views.
_1. Supported high tariffs
_2. Opposed high tariffs
_3. Wanted Western lands sold at high prices
_4. Supported selling Western land at cheap prices
_5. Voted against federal spending on things such as roads and canals
_6. Proposed doctrine of nullification
_7. Threatened to secede if tariff law was enforced
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CHAPTER 7 SECTION 2
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Jacksonian Democracy and States’ Rights
A. Terms and Names Write the letter of the best answer.
1.
The idea of widening political power to more of the people is known as
a. nationalism.
c. republicanism
b. federalism.
d. Jacksonian democracy.
2.
What practice became known as the spoils system?
a. supporters contributing money to candidates’ election campaigns
b. elected officials rewarding political backers with government jobs
c. the House of Representatives choosing the president
d. political party leaders choosing who will run in an election
3.
The candidate who was elected president in 1824 as a result of what some Americans believed to be
a corrupt political deal was
a. Henry Clay.
c. Andrew Jackson.
b. William Crawford.
d. John Quincy Adams.
4.
Which political leader was a strong supporter of states’ rights in the debate over
the doctrine of nullification?
a. Daniel Webster
c. Andrew Jackson
b. John C. Calhoun
d. John Quincy Adams
Open ended response: Use complete sentences to answer the following questions
5. Why did Andrew Jackson lose the 1824 presidential election if he received the majority of the popular vote?
6. Explain the principles of Jacksonian Democracy.
7. How did the expansion of voting rights help Jackson win in 1828?
8. Why was Jackson’s win hailed as a victory of the common people?
9. What is the spoils system?
Extended Response: Write a brief answer to the following question.
10. How did South Carolina respond to the Tariff of Abominations?