Chapter 8
Market Revolution
Section 5
The Age of Jackson
Jackson as President
O Jackson’s support came from new, less-wealthy
voters because any white male could vote
O For many years elected gov’t officials gave their
friends and supporters jobs – this was called
patronage
O Jackson dismissed more than 200 Presidential
appointees and nearly 2,000 officeholders with
Jacksonian Democrats
O Jackson called this the spoils system, in this
case the spoils, or loot, were jobs for party
supporters
Jackson as President
O Jackson feared the power of the federal
gov’t
O He used his veto power to reject federal
activity as much as possible. He rejected
more acts of Congress than six previous
Presidents combined
The Tariff
O Prior to Jackson the Tariff of 1828, a heavy tax
on imports to discourage foreign imports and
encourage American manufacturing, was passed
by Congress
O The tariff benefited the North but forced the
South to pay more for their manufactured goods
O The Tariff made SC declare that states had the
right to judge when the federal gov’t had
exceeded it authority and it could nullify or
rejected federal laws they thought were
unconstitutional
The Tariff
O After the passage of another tariff SC declared
the tariffs “null, void and no law, nor binding
upon this State, it officers or citizens”
O The state threatened to secede, or withdraw
from the Union if its nullification wasn’t
respected
O At Jackson’s urging Congress passed the Force
Bill, which required SC to collect the tariff or
Jackson would send troops to enforce the law
O A compromise was reached that reduced some
of the import duties and SC canceled its
nullification act.
The Bank War
O Jackson thought the Bank of the US was a
“monster” and was controlled by wealthy
easterners who did nothing for the west
O He refused to extend a new charter to the
bank because he did not like the practices
of their loans
O He vetoed the bank and won the election of
1832 by a landslide
Jackson’s Successors
O Jackson backed Martin Van Buren for president
O
O
O
O
in 1836 but set him up for failure
After shutting down the Bank of the US, Jackson
started withdrawing federal funds and putting
them in “pet banks”
They printed and lent $ recklessly, as a result
Jackson declared the feds would only accept
gold and silver as payment
This helped create the Panic of 1837 and limited
Van Buren to one term
He lost to William Henry Harrison who was
replaced by Zack Tyler after his death.