Politics during the Age of
Jackson: 1824-1840
Chapter 11
From Era of Good Feelings to Jackson
“Corrupt Bargain” of 1824
4-way race for President, all Republicans
Results:
1-Jackson – most popular votes and electoral votes
2-John Quincy Adams (Sec. of State)
3-William Crawford
4-Henry Clay (Former War Hawk, Speaker of the House)
No majority in the electoral vote—top 3 candidates went
to the House of Representatives
Clay supported Adams, Adams won, Jackson lost
Adams made Clay his Secretary of State—bad feelings
among Jackson supporters
Adams Presidency—nationalist couldn’t get much done
Election of 1828
Republicans split into two rival factions (re-emergence
of the two party system)
National Republicans—Adams and Clay
Republican party of the Era of Good Feelings and
Madison and Monroe after the War of 1812
Democratic Republicans—Jackson
Republican party of Jefferson and Madison before the War
of 1812
First election with widespread appeal to popular vote,
electoral votes in many states tied to popular vote for
the first time
Jackson won the South and the West, Adams won New
England and part of the Northeast
Jackson won 178 to 83
“Jacksonian Democracy”
Around the time and during the time of Jackson’s
presidency the role of the common people in
government increased
Electoral vote tied to popular vote—not state
legislatures
Universal white male suffrage—all adult white males
could vote regardless of income
Candidates chosen by political convention not by party
leaders
End of established religions in New England
Effects of this increase in democracy?
George Caleb Bingham: County
Election 1852
All Creation Going to the White
House: 1829
Canvassing For a Vote 1852
Jackson Campaign Poster 1828
Anti-Jackson Cartoon ca. 1828
Anti-Jackson Newspaper Article
ca.1828
General Jackson’s mother was a Common Prostitute, brought
to this country by the British soldiers! She afterwards married
a MULATTO man with whom she had several children, of
which GENERAL JACKSON is one.
Major Issues of Jackson’s Presidency
Major Issues
Spoils System
Tariffs and nullification
Bank
Indian Removal
Spoils System
Unlike previous administrations Jackson fired
government workers appointed/hired by his
predecessors—”To the victor (of the election) go the
spoils (the government jobs).”
New appointees loyal to Jackson and his party
How could this also be viewed as democratic?
Drawbacks of this system?
Tariffs and Nullification
Protective Tariffs divided the nation—one of the major sources of
sectional conflict
Tariffs protected US industry from foreign competition BUT
increased the overall cost of goods in the US
Tariffs also made it more difficult to export goods (agricultural
products) to foreign countries
North liked tariffs, South and West disliked them (South especially)
1828 an especially high tariff was passed—tariff of abominations
South Carolina threatened to nullify the law
Refuse to enforce it (nullify it) inside its borders
What else besides tariffs were on their minds in the South?
SC threatened to secede (leave the Union) if the federal govt tried to
collect the tariff by force
Jackson threatened to send soldiers Civil War!!??
Compromise tariff of 1833, Henry Clay avoided showdown
National Bank
2nd Bank of the United States (B.U.S.) chartered in 1816 for 20 years—
charter set to expire in 1836
Jackson hated banks, hated the National Bank, why?
Jeffersonian Republicanism—unconstitutional
Unfairly benefitted the wealthy/east coast elites
People had little control over the bank (government only controlled
1/5th of the board of directors)
Jackson hated banks in general—involved in some failed bank schemes
out west
Foreigners (mostly British) held a lot of Bank stock
Pros of the BUS
Regulated the money supply—paper money backed up by gold, kept other
banks in line by making loans to them
Lent money to the Federal Govt.
Helped stimulate economic activity by making money available to loan,
but not too much money which would lead to boom and bust
Bank Re-Charter Debate
Clay forced a re-charter bill through in 1832, why?
Passed both houses of Congress but Jackson vetoed it
Significance: veto=undemocratic element, in the past veto was
only used by the President if he thought something was
unconstitutional, Jackson just disagreed with the bank, a lot
more power for the President
Bank became the central issue of the 1832 election
Clay (National Republican) vs Jackson (DemocratisRepublican)—Jackson won in a landslide
Bank and its director (Nicholas Biddle) began to tighten up
credit, caused an economic recession to show people how
much they needed the Bank
Jackson decided to withdrawal all US deposits from the
Bank immediately (this would effectively kill the Bank)
Treasury secretary refused—Jackson fired him replaced him
with someone who would remove the deposits (Roger B.
Taney)
Aftermath of the Bank Debate
State banks and shady private banks “Wildcat Banks”
were flooded by money that used to be in the National
Bank
No more National Bank to keep smaller banks in line
Result: smaller banks loaned out lots of money, issued
lots of paper currency, economy expanded too quickly,
paper money lost its value
Financial Panic and Crash—wave of bank failures 1837
Indian Removal
Due to patterns of white settlement about 125,000 Indians were trapped
east of the Mississippi mostly in the South East
5 “Civilized” Tribes
Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, Cherokees
Had largely embraced European culture in an attempt to retain control of
their land
European clothing, housing, farming, slave-owning, alphabet, law codes,
constitution
Late 1820’s southeastern states began to intrude on Indian lands,
Cherokees sued in court, case went to the Supreme Court Worcester v.
Georgia 1834 court found for the Cherokees
Jackson’s response: “John Marshall has made his decision now let him
enforce it”
Indian Removal Act of 1830—provided land and money to relocate
Indians some 100,000 relocated including 17,000 Cherokees
4,000 Cherokees died on the journey west—Trail of Tears
Opposition to Jackson: Beginning of the
Whigs
Mid-1830s political landscape still very unsettled—no
one really knew what was going on
Democratic Republicans—Jackson
National Republicans—Clay, Webster, Calhoun
Anti-Masonic Party—popular in New York/New England
Resented the Masons (Jackson)
Lower/middle class—holier than thou attitude wanted to
use the government to solve social problems (including the
Masons)
New Parties mid-1830s: The 2nd Two Party System
Democratic Republicans=Democrats
National Republicans + Anti-Masons + Democrats who
hate Jackson = Whig party 1834 or so
The 2nd Two Party System: The Whigs
What’s in a name?
Opposed Jackson
Generally upper class, but extended across all social classes
and all sections of the country (mostly New England and
the South)
Tended to be native born, British descended, Protestant,
Americans
Favored a broader interpretation of the Constitution
A 3rd National Bank
Internal Improvements
High tariffs (American System)
Use the government to solve social problems
Drinking, (slavery), public education, mental asylums etc
Didn’t want to focus on westward expansion, wanted to
focus on improving and settling the land the US already had
The 2nd Two Party System: The Democrats
What’s in a name?
Party of the people
Appealed to the poor and the middle class
Also immigrants, Catholics
Popular in the South, but also out West, and to the
poor in big eastern cities
Favored a more limited role for the Federal
government
Just wanted the government to leave them alone
Government involvement cost money
Didn’t want the government dictating morality
In favor of expanding west, more land for the poor
Election of 1836: Democrats vs. Whigs
Democrat=Martin Van Buren
Jackson’s VP
Little Magician, Old Kinderhook, O.K.
Whigs—couldn’t get organized enough to nominate
one candidate, plan was to divide the electoral vote and
win in the House of Rep.
Webster—New England
White—South
Harrison—West
Van Buren won easily
Economic Depression (caused by Jackson’s banking
errors) lasted throughout Van Buren’s administration
Independent Treasury—government stopped putting
money in state banks, held on to its own money
Election of 1840
Van Buren hurt by the economy
Whigs nominate William Henry Harrison
Harrison=the Whig version of Jackson, a war hero,
Indian fighter, frontiersman, born in a log cabin
Log Cabin and Hard Cider campaign
Short on issues, long on slogans and hoopla
Tippecanoe, , , , , , , and Tyler too
Harrison elected in 1840
Sworn in—March of 1841, got sick
Died—April 1841
John Tyler (Tyler too!) became President
Looking Back: Effects of the Jacksonian Era
on Politics
2 new political parties: Democrats and Whigs—two party system
would last until present day
Political party conventions for nominating candidates
Increase in democracy and the role of the common man
Universal white male suffrage, electoral vote tied to popular vote
Idea that democracy was not a bad thing, being a man of the people
no longer a negative, parties had to appeal to the masses (for better or
worse)
More power for the office of President
Tariff controversy
Bank debate
Indian removal