Jackson Essential:
• To what extent did Andrew Jackson go
from a war hero to a tyrannical president?
maybe he did, maybe he didn’t…
“perception?”
Andrew
Jackson
“General Jackson, who the Americans have for the
second time chosen to be at their head, is a man of
violent character and middling capacities; nothing in
the whole of his career indicated him to have the
qualities needed for governing a free people;
moreover, a majority of the enlightened classes in the
Union have always been against him.”
-de Tocqueville (1832)
Election of 1824
• The Election of 1824 clearly showed that the "era of good feelings"
had come to an end. All the candidates were DemocraticRepublicans, but personal and sectional interests divided the nation.
The major candidates included:
-John Quincy Adams, son of a Federalist president, represented
the interests of the Northeast (high protective tariff) and was the
leading contender
-Henry Clay of Kentucky shared political views with Adams, but they
held one another in contempt — the rigid New Englander (Adams)
versus the hard-drinking Westerner (Clay)
-Andrew Jackson, a Senator from Tennessee and military hero,
drew Western support from Clay despite the fact that his political
views were not well-known.
-William H. Crawford of Georgia was born in Virginia and hoped to
continue the "Virginia Dynasty;" he held to the old-line Republican
view of limiting the role of the central government.
The ‘Myth’ of Jackson?
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Andrew Jackson was orphaned at the age of 14.
He was the only president to serve in both the Revolutionary War and the
War of 1812.
Jackson was racist and sexist. He also believed that the earth was flat.
Jackson was the only President to have been held as a prisoner of war.
This was during the Revolutionary War. Jackson was only 13 years old.
In 1806 Jackson had a duel with Charles Dickinson over some things that
he said about Jackson's wife. Dickinson got the first shot, and hit Jackson
directly in the chest, about two inches from his heart. Jackson only
stumbled. Instead, he raised his gun and killed Dickinson! He then walked
away. The bullet had lodged too close to his heart to be removed, so he
carried it there for twenty years.
Anyone could come to Andrew Jackson's public parties at the White House,
and just about everyone did! At his last one, a wheel of cheese weighing
1,400 lbs. was eaten in two hours. The White House smelled of cheese for
weeks.
On January 30, 1835, a mentally disturbed man named Richard Lawrence
fired two different guns at Jackson from point-blank range. Both weapons
failed to fire. Jackson then chased after Lawrence and beat him with his
cane.
At his funeral in 1845, his pet parrot had to be removed because it was
swearing
Jackson, Mississippi is named after Andrew Jackson.
Election of 1824
Candidate
Party
Electoral Popular
Vote
Vote
Presidential
DemocraticRepublican
84
115,696
Henry Clay (KY)
"
37
47,136
Andrew Jackson (TN)
"
99
152,933
William H. Crawford
(GA)
"
41
46,979
John Quincy Adams
(MA)
Corrupt Bargain?
• The Twelfth Amendment provided that elections in which
no candidate received a majority should be decided by
the House of Representatives from among the top three
candidates.
• Jackson clearly expected to win, figuring that the House
would act to confirm his strong showing. However, Clay,
as Speaker of the House, used his influence to sway the
vote to Adams. Although they were not close, Clay knew
that he and Adams shared a common political
philosophy. Clay also was not interested in doing
anything to further the career of Jackson, his main rival
in the West.
• Adams prevailed on the first ballot in the House of
Representatives and became the nation's sixth
president. His subsequent appointment of Henry Clay as
Secretary of State led to angry charges of a "corrupt
bargain."
Significance
• End of Era of Good Feeling
• Sectional differences / interests
• Effect on Jackson?
Election of 1828
• The Election of 1824 had left supporters of
Andrew Jackson bitterly disappointed. He had
garnered the most electoral votes, but had been
denied the presidency by the House of
Representatives.
• The Election of 1828 was unique in that
nominations were no longer made by
Congressional caucuses, but by conventions
and the state legislatures. John Quincy Adams
was re-nominated by forces then calling
themselves the National Republicans.
• Jackson referred to as a Democratic Republican
(soon to be simply Democratic)
The election results were a clear victory for Jackson, but
were highly sectional in nature. The South, West, and the
states of Pennsylvania and New York went for Jackson;
New England voted for Adams. The final tally showed:
Election of 1828
Candidates
Party
Andrew Jackson
(TN)
John C. Calhoun
(SC)
Democrat
Republican
J.Q. Adams (MA)
Richard Rush (PA)
National
Republican
Electora Popular
l
Vote
Vote
178
647,286
83
508,064
Jackson’s Inauguration
• What does this account tell us about
Jackson’s popularity?
• Why is this account important?
• How does this account identify the
significance of the western territories?
I. What Made Jackson Different?
A. First Presidential candidate from west of
the Appalachians, first to come from a
poor family.
B. It seemed obvious that the American
Presidency now belonged to the masses.
Yet others said “King Mob” now ruled the
nation. Meaning?
C. People felt he was a “common man” like
them. He thought that gave him more
authority… a mandate from the people.
II. Personal Characteristics?
A. Jackson had a suspicious nature, he disliked
special interests groups and men whose power
came from privilege
B. He exhibited characteristics of the typical
westerner
C. Self made man: raised himself, educated
himself, acquired land, money, authority…
exhibited the opportunities for social,
economic, and political mobility
D. Tough, violent?
III. How did Jackson increase the
powers of the Presidency?
A.
B.
C.
Kitchen Cabinet: group of advisors, undistinguished
men, no one who could overshadow the president,
dominated by Jackson
The Spoils System
-In one of Jackson’s first moves he fired nearly 10% of
federal gov’t employees, and gave their jobs to loyal
supporters
-incoming political parties threw out former appointees
and replaced them with their own friends
Vetoes
-vetoed more legislation than all previous presidents
combined Often to limit Clay’s American System
-exercised his own agenda
King Andrew the First
• His bold initiatives and domineering style
caused opponents to call him King
Andrew, and to take the name of Whigs to
signify their opposition to executive
tyranny.
IV. The Nullification Crisis
A.
Background / Context:
1) What was it?
-The Nullification Crisis was a sectional crisis during
the presidency of Andrew Jackson around the question
of whether a state can refuse to recognize or to
enforce a federal law passed by the United States
Congress. It was precipitated by protective tariffs,
specifically the Tariff of 1828 (also called the "Tariff of
Abominations").
2.) Significance-The issue incited a debate over
states' rights that ultimately threatened violent
hostilities between South Carolina and the federal
government, and the dissolution of the Union.
B. Jackson’s response:
-"If one drop of blood be shed in South
Carolina in defiance of the laws of the U.S., I
will hang the first of the nullifiers I can get my
hands on."
-sends a part of the US navy to the coast of
S.C.
-appealed to the people of the state to reassert
their allegiance to the union
-supported the passage of the Force Bill,
authorizing the President to take whatever
actions he deemed fit to enforce the law. It is
the first piece of legislation to publicly deny the
right of secession to individual states.
Its approval meant that the principle of
secession was no longer in keeping with the
idea of a national union.
V. Jackson declares war on the
National Bank
A.
Why he opposed the bank
1) As president, Jackson worked to take away the federal
charter of the Second Bank of the United States
2) In Jackson's veto message, the bank needed to be
abolished because:
-It concentrated an excessive amount of the nation's
financial strength into a single institution
-It exposed the government to control by "foreign interests"
-It served mainly to make the rich richer
-It exercised too much control over members of the
Congress
-It favored Northeastern states over Southern and Western
states
-Jackson followed Jefferson as a supporter of the ideal of an
"agricultural republic" and felt the bank improved the fortunes
of an "elite circle" of commercial and industrial entrepreneurs
at the expense of farmers and laborers.
B. How did he fight the bank?
-After a public struggle, Jackson
succeeded in destroying the bank by
vetoing its 1832 re-charter by Congress
and by withdrawing U.S. funds in 1833.
Significance?
-No national bank until the creation of the
Federal Reserve system in 1913
-Limits Federal power: national banks
and tariffs that funded the American
System and internal improvements
Democratic cartoon shows Jackson fighting the monster Bank. "The Bank,"
Jackson told Martin Van Buren, "is trying to kill me, but I will kill it!"
1833 cartoon--lithograph by Edward W. Clay. Praises Andrew Jackson for his
destroying the Second Bank of the United States with his "Removal Notice"
(removal of federal deposits). The Devil, along with several speculators and
hirelings, flee as the bank collapses, and Jackson's supporters cheer.
VI. Jackson’s Indian Removal
Policy
A.
Jackson’s Perspective
-Perhaps the most controversial aspect of Andrew
Jackson's presidency was his policy regarding
American Indians.
-Jackson was a leading advocate of a policy known as
"Indian Removal," signing the Indian Removal Act
into law in 1830. The Act authorized the President to
negotiate treaties to purchase tribal lands in the east in
exchange for lands further west, outside of existing
U.S. state borders.
-Jackson never publicly advocated removing American
Indians by force, but he devoted considerable energies
to the negotiation of removal treaties. Nearly seventy
Indian treaties—many of them land sales—were
ratified during his presidency, the most of any
administration.
-While frequently frowned upon in the North, the Removal
Act was popular in the South, where population growth and
the discovery of gold on Cherokee land had increased
pressure on tribal lands. The state of Georgia became
involved in a contentious jurisdictional dispute with the
Cherokees, culminating in the 1832 U.S. Supreme Court
decision which ruled that Georgia could not impose its laws
upon Cherokee tribal lands.
-Jackson is often quoted (regarding the decision) as having
said, "John Marshall has made his decision, now let him
enforce it!"
B. Trail of Tears:
In 1838, 1,600 Cherokee still remained on their lands.
-Jackson had offered the Cherokee the opportunity to
remain on their land and assimilate into the US, or, to
maintain their culture, remove themselves westward to
territory in Oklahoma
- The terms of the treaty were then enforced by Jackson's
successor, Martin Van Buren, who ordered 7,000 armed
troops to remove them. This resulted in the deaths of over
4,000 Cherokee on the "Trail of Tears."
Jackson’s Significance
• Expanded the power of the President by using
the concept of “popular sovereignty,” where the
people rule and the President if a “direct
representative” of the people.
• To admirers he stands as a shining symbol of
American accomplishment, the ultimate
individualist and democrat. To detractors he
appears as an emerging tyrant, the closest we
have yet come to an American Caesar.
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“From Hero to King”
Task:
Andrew Jackson, the hero of New Orleans, becomes President of the
United States in 1829. Often seen as the maker of the modern President,
many saw Jackson’s policies as almost dictatorial, or perhaps those made
by a King. Using the pictures below (with a partner), you are to prove (using
primary sources, textbook, and any notes), what led to the famous picture of
Jackson as King Andrew.
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FROM THIS…
...TO THIS
Requirements:
• For HW-Find at least three SPECIFIC instances in the Jackson
Administration where Jackson may have over-stepped his power.
• Create detailed paper that clearly explains your points and
evidence. ONE PAGE
• Include at least two primary sources that explains Jackson’s rational
for doing what he did. (Include sources in paper)
• Go to http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/jackson as
an excellent starting point / reference. 20 points