BEGINNINGS OF
MODERN
AMERICAN
DEMOCRACY
(1824-1844)
THE ELECTION
OF 1824 AND
JOHN QUINCY
ADAMS'
PRESIDENCY
turning point in
presidential elections …
majority of states now
allowed voters to choose
their presidential
electors directly
Democratic-Republican caucus
chose William H. Crawford
Others--among them John
Quincy Adams, Henry
Clay, and Andrew
Jackson--decided to
challenge the nomination
Of the four, Andrew
Jackson received the
greatest number of
popular votes and
electoral votes
But none of the four had
won a majority, so …….
the election was
decided in the House of
Representatives
Clay threw his support to
Adams, thereby handing
Adams the victory
… and Clay was
named Secretary of
State (importance of this ..)
Opponents
referred to Clay's
appointment as
the "corrupt
bargain."
THE JACKSON
PRESIDENCY AND
JACKSONIAN
DEMOCRACY
1828 ushered in the
beginning of the
modern political
party system
Jackson had been denied the
presidency in 1824 despite
winning a plurality of the vote
He put together a
support network
coalition of state
political
organizations,
newspaper
publishers, and other
community leaders
That group
became the
present-day
Democratic party
Jackson accused Adams
of being a corrupt career
politician, while Adams
accused Jackson of being
a stupid and violent
drunkard
The modern
political
campaign was
born
He dismissed numerous
government -officials and
replaced them with political
supporters
Trading jobs for political
favors came to be known as
the "spoils system."
Jacksonian
democracy
replaced
Jeffersonian
democracy
Jefferson had conceived of a
nation governed by middleand upper-class educated
property holders, in which
the government would be
only as large as absolutely
necessary
Jacksonian democracy was
based on universal
manhood suffrage,
meaning the extension of
voting rights to all white
males, even those who did
not own property
A strong
presidency also
characterized
Jacksonian
democracy
Jacksonian
democracy is not a
coherent vision of
how a government
should function
Strongest support came from
the western frontier states
Jackson accordingly
pursued an aggressive
Indian removal
program
The Supreme Court had
protected Native
American rights to their
land in Cherokee Nation
v. Georgia and Worcester
v. Georgia
Jackson forcibly evicted tribes
Removal Act of 1830
set in motion the
events that resulted in
the Trail of Tears
Jackson wanted to
“downsize” the federal
government.
He saw to it that the
Second Bank of the
United States failed
Deposited Federal
funds in state banks
Remember, Clay (the
American System) had
helped deny Jackson
the presidency earlier
Jackson put a halt
to all programs
associated with
Clay's American
System
made extensive
use of the
presidential
veto
One of the major
issues of Jackson's
presidency focused
on nullification
Individual states
have the right to
disobey federal laws
if they find them
unconstitutional
View expressed by
Jefferson and
Madison in the
Virginia and
Kentucky Resolutions
Tariff of 1828
also known as the
Tariff of Abominations
Became a national crisis during
Jackson's administration
Some states started to
consider nullifying
the tariff in 1830
1830 nullification movement
failed
Laid the groundwork
for opposition to the
Tariff of 1832, which
South Carolina
nullified
Compromise Tariff (1833)
agreed to reduce tariff
gradually over time (1842)
but gave president power to
employ troops to collect from
the states.
Jackson threatened to call in
troops
crisis subsided with
the compromise
However ……..
it would continue
to be an issue until
the War Between
the States
Jackson's economic
policies demonstrated his
distrust of both big
government and
Northeastern power
brokers
(He may not have
wanted BIG
government, but he did
want POWERFUL
Presidency.)
suspicious of paper money
Specie Circular
ended the policy of selling
government land on credit
(buyers now had to pay
"hard cash")
… caused a money
shortage, a sharp
decrease in the
treasury, and overall
economic hardship
Slavery
controversial
issue during
Jackson's tenure
South experienced several
slave revolts
Nat Turner's
Rebellion
Turner had a vision
and took this vision as
a sign from God that a
black liberation
movement would
succeed
rallied a gang that
proceeded to kill
and then mutilate
the corpses of sixty
whites
In retaliation, 200
slaves were executed
States passed a series of
restrictive laws, known as
black codes, prohibiting
blacks from congregating
and learning to read
THE ELECTION
OF 1836 AND
THE RISE OF
THE WHIGS
Jackson's Democratic party
could not represent the interests
of all its constituencies
Northern abolitionists,
Southern plantation
owners, Western pioneers
1834
Opposition party, the
Whigs, was formed
… loose coalition that
shared opposition to one
or more of the
Democrats' policies
Whigs believed in
government activism -supported the
temperance movement
and enforcement of the
Sabbath (Sunday Blue
Laws)
1836, Jackson
supported his second
vice-president,
democrat Martin Van
Buren, who …
had the misfortune to
take over the
presidency just as the
country entered a
major economic crisis
(Panic of 1837)
Van Buren made the
situation worse by
continuing Jackson's policy
of favoring hard currency
Downturn lasted through
Van Buren's term
1841, former military
hero William Henry
Harrison became the
first Whig president
He died of pneumonia a
month after taking office
John Tyler, a former Democrat,
assumed the presidency …
began championing
states' rights …
much to his own
party's chagrin
He alienated Whig leadership
… referred to as the
"president without a party"
his presidency lasted
only one term
ECONOMIC
HISTORY,
1800-1860
BEGINNINGS OF A
MARKET ECONOMY
Market economy:
people trade their labor
or goods for cash, which
they then use to buy
other people's labor or
goods
From the time the first
settlers arrived most
people made their own
clothing and built their
own furniture and
homes
Developments in
manufacturing and
transportation changed all
that.
Made it possible to mass
produce goods and transport
them across country cheaply
Market economies favor
those who specialize
Market economies grow
more quickly and provide
more services than
subsistence economies
They also make
people more
interdependent
They are also much
more prone to change
(see panics of 1819 and 1837)
Changes are referred to as
boom-and-bust cycles
War of 1812 and the
events leading up to it
forced the United
States to become less
dependent on imports
The cotton gin, invented
in 1793, revolutionized
Southern agriculture
Now easier and
cheaper to use cotton
Demand for cotton grew
Spread of cotton as the
region's chief crop also
intensified the South's
dependence on slave
labor
Whitney's second
innovation was the
use of interchangeable
parts in
manufacturing
Interchangeable parts gave birth
to the machine-tool industry
Whitney's advances
helped promote assembly
line production
THE NORTH AND THE
TEXTILE INDUSTRY
Machine technology, coupled with
a U.S. embargo on British goods
prior to and during the War of
1812 (England was then America's
chief source of textiles), spurred
the development of textile mills in
New England
mills produced thread
and hired local women
to spin the thread into
cloth at home
Invention of the first
power loom in 1813
meant that textile
manufacturers could
produce both thread
and finished fabric
Women who had
previously woven their
own fabrics at home
started to buy cloth
Growth of the textile
industry resulted in a
shortage of labor in
New England
Manufacturers had to
"sweeten the pot" to
entice laborers
almost all of whom were
women from nearby farms
The Lowell system
also called the Waltham system
Guaranteed employees
housing in a respectable,
chaperoned boardinghouse,
cash wages, and
participation in cultural
and social events organized
by the mill
lasted until great
waves of Irish
immigration in the
1840s and 1850s made
factory labor plentiful
Working conditions
started to deteriorate
workers began to
organize labor
unions
Early unions in the mid-1800s
met with strong, frequently
violent opposition
Still, they succeeded in
shortening the typical
workday to ten hours
They also got the
courts to confirm
their right to organize
TRANSPORTATION:
CANALS,
RAILROADS,
HIGHWAYS, AND
STEAMSHIPS
Prior to the 1820s, travel and
shipping along east-west routes
was difficult
The construction of the
National Road from Maryland
to West Virginia (and
ultimately to central Ohio)
made east-west travel easier
Big change came with the
completion of the Erie
Canal in 1825
Linked the Great
Lakes region to New
York
It became lucrative for a
Midwestern merchant or
farmer to sell his products to
Eastern buyers, and as a result
the Northeast soon established
itself as the United States'
center of commerce
During the 1830s
thousands of miles of
canals were
constructed
Meanwhile, the
railroads developed
By 1850, the canal era
had ended
Steamships became important
freight carriers and replaced
sailing ships for long sea voyages
By 1850 passengers could
travel by steamship from
New York to England in ten
days
America's first railroads
were built during the 1830s
but rail development
proceeded slowly due to
varying gauges (width
between tracks)
Government often paid
the bill for conversion
to common gauge
By 1853, New York and
Chicago were linked
Southern rail
development was much
slower, and superior rails
gave the North a huge
advantage during the
Civil War
The invention of the
telegraph allowed
immediate longdistance
communication
Developments in
transportation and
communication during the
first half of the nineteenth
century revolutionized
American commerce and
culture.
FARMING
The most common
profession throughout
the first half of the
nineteenth century
Many machines came into
common use during this time
mechanical plow,
sower, reaper, thresher,
baler, and cotton gin
Market economy
changed farming. In
1820 about one-third of
all the food grown in the
U.S. went to market.
Farming in the Northeast was
becoming less profitable.
Rocky, hilly terrain was
unsuitable to many of the
machines that were making
farming on the plains easier
and cheaper
Some New England farmers
quit cultivating grain and
started raising livestock and
growing fruits and vegetables.
Others quit farming entirely
and headed to the cities to take
manufacturing jobs.
Midwestern farms-much
larger than New England
farms-were also much more
adaptable to the new
technology that allowed
farmers to nearly double
production
In the South, plantations
focused primarily on
cotton, especially in the
Deep South; tobacco
continued to be a major
cash crop in the Upper
South
Majority of Southerners
were small farmers who
did not own slaves. (In
1860 approximately onequarter of white Southern
families owned slaves.)
ECONOMIC
REASONS FOR
REGIONAL
DIFFERENCES
Old South
North, South, and West
developed in very
different directions -did not see eye to eye on
many issues
The North was
becoming
industrialized
Advances in communications,
transportation, industry, and
banking were helping it become the
nation's commercial center
Slavery had been
outlawed in many
states (immigrants
and unskilled labor)
The South,
meanwhile,
remained almost
entirely agrarian
Tobacco and cotton,
required vast acreage
Southerners were
constantly looking west for
more land
They also looked for
new slave territories to
include in the Union in
order to strengthen
their position in
Congress
Western economic
interests were largely
rooted in commercial
farming, fur trapping,
and real estate
speculation
Distrusted the North,
which they regarded
as the home of
powerful banks that
could take their land
They had little more
use for the South,
whose rigidly
hierarchical society
was at odds with the
egalitarianism
Westerners wanted
to avoid involvement
in the slavery issueregarded as
irrelevant
SOCIAL HISTORY,
1800-1860
Southern Hierarchy
Cotton gin altered Southern agriculture –
needed more slaves …
Commerce led to a larger middle class (esp.
North) and industrialization resulted in
bigger cities (and large groups of
“impoverished” immigrants) …
Westward migration created a new
frontier culture …
Each of these sets of
circumstances
influenced people's
attitudes and ambitions
Remember these
generalizations about the
different regions of the U.S.,
because by using them and
some common sense, you
can often answer specific
AP questions
If a question asks about support for a
particular tariff, which area would almost
certainly support and which oppose?
It wouldn’t matter what
tariff is asked about –
the North would
support it while the
South opposed it!
THE NORTH AND
AMERICAN CITIES
nation's industrial
and commercial
center
Modern waste disposal,
plumbing, sewers, and
incineration were still a
long way off …
unhealthy
environments
Epidemics not
only likely but
inevitable, but
cities meant jobs
Northern farmers, unable to
compete with cheaper
produce carted in from the
West and South (by
steamship and rail), moved
to cities to work in the new
factories
Cities offered more
opportunities for social
advancement
Provided important
services
Labor unions began to form
Americans in cities formed
clubs and associations
through which they could
exert more influence on
government
wide variety of
leisure-time options
A very few (the
aristocracy) controlled
most of the personal
wealth
Middle class made up of
tradesmen, brokers, and
other professionals
Women in their families
could devote themselves to
homemaking
This was known as the
Cult of domesticity
Since labor was usually
performed away from the
home …
the notion developed that
men should work while
women kept house and raised
children
Middle classes
constituted much of the
market for luxury
goods such as
housewares and fine
furniture
In working-class families, men
often worked in factories or at
low-paying crafts; women often
worked at home
Families lived just above
the poverty level
Were most often recent
immigrants
1840s and 1850s: when the
great immigration waves
from Ireland and then
Germany arrived
Met with hostility, especially
from the working classes, who
feared competition for lowpaying jobs
The Irish, in particular, were
subject to widespread bias,
directed in part at their
Catholicism.
1830s and 1840s, religious,
ethnic, and/or class strife
could escalate to violence
THE SOUTH AND
RURAL LIFE
Few major urban
centers in the South
(agricultural economy)
1860 the population density
of Georgia was 18 people
per square mile …
(Massachusetts, the most
populous state, had 153
people per square mile)
Not enough people
around to support
organized cultural
and leisure events
While the North
developed canals,
railroads, and highways,
the South did not
South did not develop a
strong market economy
Wealthiest Southern
citizens consisted mainly
of plantation owners
More than threequarters of white
Southerners owned no
slaves. Of the rest, half
owned five or fewer
slaves
Southern Paternalism
relied on the
perception of blacks as
childlike and unable to
take care of themselves
Slave owners almost always
converted their slaves to
Christianity, again convinced that
they were serving the slaves' best
interests. The Africans, in turn,
adapted Christianity to their
cultures and incorporated their
own religions and traditions into
their new faith
most worked
extremely long hours
at difficult and
tedious labor
But remember ….
Slaves were an
investment
(importing African slaves was banned in
1808, making it essential to keep one's
slaves alive and reproducing)
Majority of Southern planters
farmed smaller tracts of land
Yeomen owned no slaves and
worked their small tracts of land
with only their families. Most were
of Scottish and Irish descent and
farmed in the hills, which were
unsuitable for plantation farming
South was also home to
more than 250,000 free
blacks
Black codes, prevented them
from owning guns, drinking
liquor, and assembling in
groups of more than three
Prejudice was a constant
fact of life
Some were mulattos, (mostly
descendants of wealthy whites)
and led lives of relative luxury
and refinement in the Deep
South, particularly in and
around New Orleans
RELIGIOUS AND
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
Impulse to improve the
lives of others
Early social reform
movements grew out of
the Second Great
Awakening
Second Great Awakening
began in the Northeast in
the 1790s
Gave birth to numerous
societies dedicated to
saving humanity from its
own worst impulses
Movement spread to
South and West …
churches began to
replace revivals
Most active members of
reform groups were
women
Temperance societies
achieved nationwide
prohibition in 1919
Popularized the notion
that society is responsible
for the welfare of its least
fortunate
Penitentiaries sought to
rehabilitate criminals
Other
important
movements of
the period
The Shakers, a utopian group
that splintered from the
Quakers …
isolated themselves in
communes where they
shared work and its
rewards
Shakers practiced
celibacy …
their numbers, not
surprisingly,
diminished.
Other Utopian groups
included the Oneida
community in New York,
the New Harmony
community in Indiana, and
Brook Farm in
Massachusetts
Joseph Smith formed the
Mormon Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints in
1830
Strong opposition in the
East and Midwest
Mormons made the
long, difficult trek to
the Salt Lake Valley
… came to dominate
the Utah territory
Women's rights movement
was born in the midnineteenth century
Seneca Falls
Convention, held in
1848
Its leaders: Lucretia Mott
and Elizabeth Cady
Stanton
Stanton teamed up with Susan
B. Anthony and founded the
National Women's Suffrage
Association in 1869
Horace Mann was
instrumental in pushing
for public education
lengthened the school
year used the first
standardized books
THE ABOLITION
MOVEMENT
Before the 1830s, few
whites fought for the
liberation of the slaves
Most anti-slavery whites
sought gradual abolition,
coupled with a movement
to return blacks to Africa
Moderates wanted
emancipation to take place
slowly
Immediatists, as their
name implies, wanted
emancipation at once
Immediatist William
Lloyd Garrison began
publishing a popular
abolitionist newspaper
called the Liberator in
1831
In the 1840s,
Frederick Douglass
began publishing his
influential newspaper
The North Star
Other prominent black
abolitionists included
Harriet Tubman and
Sojourner Truth