Andrew Jackson:
Champion of the
Common Man Or
King Andrew?
Alexis deTocqueville,
Democracy in America, 1831
“The people reign in the American political world as the Deity does
in the universe…I confess that in America I saw more than
America; I sought there the image of democracy itself, with its
inclinations, its character, its prejudices, and its passions, in order
to learn what we have to fear or to hope from its progress.”
*De Tocqueville saw democracy, for good or ill, as the future of
Europe and the world.
Democratic trends
th
in the early 19 c?
1. Greater voter participation
Voter turnout 1820-1860
Due to:
*Controversial
issues of the era
AND….
2. Universal white male suffrage
• Due to the Market Revolution, less people fell into the independent
landowning yeoman farmer demographic (Jeffersonian vision)
• The notion that one needed to own land to be independent-minded seemed
outdated in a rapidly industrializing, urbanizing nation
3. Popular Campaigning
⦿
Party nominating
committees democratized
process
⦿
Modern tactics – rallies,
picnics, mudslinging
(involved the public more)
⦿
Use of nicknames – ie.
“Old Hickory” and “The
Little Magician”
*Jackson was the first to invite the public
to his inauguration ball at the White
House - “Reign of King Mob”
3. Wider availability of news
sources
ie. the “penny press” (first
modern newspaper)
→
due to new steampowered printing
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The Election of Jackson
⦿
⦿
Lost to John Quincy Adams in the alleged
“corrupt bargain” of 1824
Began immediately campaigning for 1828
“VOTE FOR JACKSON
WHO CAN FIGHT,
NOT ADAMS WHO
CAN WRITE!”
Andrew Jackson – The Man
⦿
⦿
⦿
⦿
⦿
⦿
Born poor
No formal education
Self-made man
First president from outside the eastern elite/colonial gentry
First western president
Distrusted special privilege and the “establishment” (particularly
in the Northeast)
⦿ Belief that common men were capable of uncommon
achievements (instinctual leadership)
Second Two-Party System (emerged in 1832)
DEMOCRATS
⦿ Belief in limited government
WHIGS
⦿ Belief in active federal
government (ie. American
⦿ Supported by planters, white
System, tariffs, fed. Funded
“common men” – frontier
improvements)
farmers, immigrants in
growing cities
⦿ Supported by many
Northeastern states and those
opposed to Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson:
Champion of the
Common Man Or
King Andrew?
1. Spoils System
(Patronage)
● Jackson’s practice of
appointing federal
officials who had
supported him
1. Spoils System
Common Man
King Andrew
● Based on idea that any
● Opponents believed
man can do the job;
more people should
participate in gvt →
less danger for an
entrenched
bureaucracy to form
this practiced
subordinated fitness
and merit; offices were
prostituted for political
ends; encouraged
“cronyism”
2. The Bank War
“The bank, Mr.
Van Buren, is
trying to kill me,
but I will kill it.”
(1832)
Andrew Jackson
2. The Bank War
Common Man
● Jackson felt national bank
restricted entrepreneurship and
business practices (esp land
speculation) in the S and W
● Saw bank as “moneyed monster”
tied to eastern elite → exploited
common people
King Andrew
● Bank had been declared
constitutional by Supreme Court
● National Bank President Biddle’s
policies created economic stability by
regulating smaller banks from
excessive printing/loaning
● Wild use of veto power set the exec
branch on a higher plane than L or J
● Outcome: irresponsible banking
practices (need for Specie Circ.)
Aftermath of Bank War
● Without the stabilizing influence of the 2nd BUS, smaller banks (“pet banks”)
resumed old habits
● Wild speculation and overextension of credit grew to dangerous levels
● Jackson responded with Specie Circular, which ended up triggering a recession
● Van Buren (1836-1840) created Independent Treasury system to protect US
money from the fluctuations in banking
3. The “Tariff of Abomination”
3. The “Tariff of Abominations”
Common Man
King Andrew
● Jackson saw the SC
● Supporters of “states
rights” (Calhoun, Hayne)
claimed that the federal
gvt was growing
dangerously tyrannical ie. militarization of tax
collectors through the
Force Act)
Ordinance of
Nullification as
threatening to
nation/individuals
At a White House dinner in honor of Jefferson’s
birthday:
“Our federal union, it must be preserved.”
(Jackson)
“The Union, next to
our liberties,
most dear.” (Calhoun)
● “Tell the Nullifiers from me that they can talk and
write resolutions and print threats to their hearts’
content…But if one drop of blood be shed there in
defiance of the laws of the United States, I will
hang the first man of them I can get my hands on
to the first tree I can find.”
- Jackson in response to the nullification crisis
Consequences/Aftermath
● Hayne-Webster Debates – states rights vs. nationalists/unionists
- began national discussion about nullification
“The tariff was only a pretext, and disunity and
southern confederacy the real object. The next
pretext will be the negro, or slavery question.”
– Jackson
● Force Act – raised possibility of military confrontation
● Compromise (Henry Clay) – tariff would be slowly reduced over 10 years
4. Indian Removal
“The Great Father” →
● US had signed treaties recognizing Indian
nations as separate and sovereign
● Pressures to expand economically and
settle the frontier made these treaties
seem unsustainable
● By this time the “Five Civilized Tribes”
had tried to live in harmony with whites
by giving up their traditional ways of life
4. Indian Removal
Common Man
King Andrew
● Jackson claimed Indian
Removal Act would
protect lifestyle of Native
tribes by moving them W
beyond Mississippi R.
while providing economic
progress for white settlers
● Ignored Supreme Court
(Worcester v. GA),
thereby abusing power of
the executive branch
Aftermath of Indian Removal Act
● Most of the “Five Civilized Tribes” were relocated to the Oklahoma Territory
(“Indian Territory”)
● Supposed to be voluntary
but more often than not, it
was by force (US army
oversaw march)
● “Trail of Tears”
due to conditions and
mortality rates (25%)
Legacy of Andrew Jackson?
Leader of the Common Man?
King Andrew?