Bellwork
• “Rotation in office” is a concept that says that
public figures (people in office) be replaced
every few years so that they do not become
complacent in their job. Do you think this is a
good idea? Why or why not?
American History
Section 9, Unit 3
Jacksonian Era
Objectives
• Describe the changing policies towards slavery, primarily in
regards to the Missouri Compromise
• The effect of the election of 1824 and 1828
• Identify the how Jacksonian democracy changed the
political system.
• Identify the effect of the Panic of 1819 on American politics
• Explain why the U.S. government forced Native Americans
to move westward
• Explain what caused the nullification crisis
• Analyze the factors that lead to the economic crises in the
late 1830’s
• Determine how the Whigs came to power
Economic Matters
Question: What was the Panic of 1819?
• It was a chain reaction of banks failures, falling
land prices, and foreclosures of businesses
and homes.
• It was caused primarily to a failure of people
being able to repay their loans and banks
being unable to repay people the gold and
silver their bank notes were worth.
Economic Matters
• The United States faced more than economic
problems by 1819.
• The nation was also plagued by political
conflict caused by westward expansion.
• In 1819, the Missouri Territory, which included
about 10,000 slaves, applied for statehood.
Issues with Missouri
• Because the nation was equally divided
between free and slave states, Missouri’s
admission as a slave state would have tipped
the congressional balance in favor of the
southern states.
– The North was concerned at this possibility.
Issues with Missouri
• To attempt to fix this problem, Congressman
James Tallmadge of New York attempted to
amend the Missouri statehood bill to include a
gradual elimination of slavery in Missouri.
• He argued that Congress had the right to ban
slavery in territories, primarily when it passed
the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.
– Recall: the Ordinance created the Northwest
Territory, which had no slavery.
South’s Reaction
• However, Tallmadge’s
proposal was viewed by
slaveholders as a threat
to their right to have
slaves.
• They argued that it
could extend to other
slave states.
Missouri Compromise
• To end the debate, Henry Clay led Congress to
work out the Missouri Compromise.
• The agreement admitted Missouri as a slave
state and Maine as a free state, thus
maintaining the balance.
• As well, slavery was banned in the rest of
Louisiana, north of latitude 36°30’.
Missouri Compromise
Missouri Compromise
• The Missouri Compromise calmed the fear
that the South would secede from the rest of
the States.
• However, many American’s still worried that
the issue regarding slavery would reemerge.
Election of 1824
• Westward expansion also affected the election
of 1824.
• By 1820, voting laws were becoming more
democratic, particularly in the frontier states,
where most white adult males could vote.
– This democratization of the voting process was
mostly due to the previous system of having
electors chosen (and president’s nominated) by
state legislatures and congressional caucus’.
Election of 1824
• Because of this new form of nominating a
president, state nominating conventions
played a major role in deciding a list of
candidates.
• The result was a crowded field of regional
favorites.
Election of 1824
• Five Republican candidates competed: William
Crawford of Georgia, John C. Calhoun of South
Carolina, John Quincy Adams of
Massachusetts, Andrew Jackson of Tennessee,
and Henry Clay of Kentucky.
Election of 1824
• Crawford was a early favorite, however a
serious illness marred his candidacy.
• Calhoun, while favored in the Deep South, was
never able to build a nation-wide following.
– He eventually withdrew and instead became the
vice-presidential partner of both Adams and
Jackson.
Election of 1824
• Adams, an economic nationalist with antislavery views, was popular in the Northeast.
• Jackson, due to his military experience, was
popular in the Southern frontier.
• Clay, who was the architect of the Missouri
Compromise and the American System, was
widely supported in the Middle West.
Election of 1824
• Andrew Jackson won
the most popular
votes.
• However, no
candidate won the
most electoral votes.
Election of 1824
Electoral Votes
Election of 1824
• In these circumstances, the Twelfth
Amendment directs the House of
Representatives to choose a president from
the top three candidates.
• Having finished fourth, Clay was out of the
running.
– However, he was in a position to recommend to
his supporters to support a particular candidate.
Election of 1824
• Clay, who considered Jackson to be unfit for
presidency, supported Adams.
• Adams became president and made Clay his
secretary of state.
– When Jackson discovered this, he accused the two
men of a “corrupt bargain”, a claim both Adams
and Clay denied.
President John Quincy Adams
• Adams supported a wide
range of government
projects.
• Adams was able to
complete a few projects,
including:
Because he was the son of 2nd
President John Adams, he is
referred to as John Quincy
Adams.
– Solving diplomatic issues
– Building new infrastructure,
such as roads and canals
– Keeping the peace with
Native groups in the west
President John Quincy Adams
• However, because he wanted to avoid “playing
politics”, and his unwillingness to compromise
with Congress, he was unable to accomplish
much during his term.
• Aside from these issues, Congress– many of
whom still continued to support Andrew
Jackson– stymied Adams policies.
Election of 1828
• Jackson, a sharp critic throughout Adams
presidency, resigned from the Senate in 1825
and campaigned for the 1828 election.
• Opponents of the Adams administration
rallied around Jackson.
Election of 1828
• Jackson sold himself on the fact that he was
the victor at the Battle of New Orleans during
the War of 1812 and a ruthless “Indianfighter”.
• He portrayed himself as a “man of the
people.”
Election of 1828
• Jackson’s image as a “common man” won the
support of farmers, laborers, and frontier
settlers.
• His supporters, having no official name at first,
became known as the Democratic Party.
– The origin of today’s party.
Election of 1828
• Like many modern political campaigns, the 1828
race focused much on personalities than on
issues.
• Each side uses personal attacks to win.
– For example, Jackson argued that Adams’ purchase of
a chess set and billiard table for the White House was
an example of Adams’ squandering money on
“gambling devices”.
– Supporters of Adams labeled Jackson as an adulterer
because of his marriage to an already married woman
(him and his wife both believed she was divorced, but
it actually took two years to finalize).
Jackson’s Victory
• In the end, Jackson
swept the popular and
electoral vote.
• In his own words of
victory:
– “The virtuous portion of
the people have well
sustained me, I am filled
with gratitude.”
Jackson’s Victory
Jackson’s Reforms
• Once in office, Jackson
showed his appreciation
by giving some of his
supporters government
jobs.
– This practice became
known as the spoils
system.
• Jackson also took steps
to reform the
government.
Jackson’s Reforms
• Jackson took a step to replace all public
servants he judged as “unfaithful or
incompetent.”
• He believed that people who stayed in office
too long often forgot that they were servants
to the people
Rotation System
• Jackson favored what he
called the “rotation in
office”– the periodic
replacement of
officeholders.
• However, his replacement
fell far short of complete
rotation.
• During his presidency, he
replaced only about 1/10
to 1/3 of the bureaucracy.
Economy and Jackson’s Election
• Jackson’s popularity reflected change in
American society caused by the market
revolution.
• The old social order– aristocracy– gave way to
the belief that one could be successful
through hard-work and economic success,
rather than birth.
• Jackson– as a “self-made” man-- embodied
this new sense of economic opportunity.
Jacksonian Democracy
• Because of Jackson’s image as a “common
man”, during his time as president, a political
movement emerged under him.
• This movement pushed forth the belief that
democracy for the common man should
prevail over the older systems of American
government.
– During the Jackson era, voting rights began to
change.
Jacksonian Democracy
• By 1828, instead of state legislatures, voters
began to choose presidential electors and
most public officials in almost every state.
– Suffrage rights also expanded in several states–
states began to stop requiring property
requirements for voting.
• These changes in voting rights would pave the
way for Jackson’s reelection in 1832.
Jacksonian Era
• Andrew Jackson put his stamp on the decade
and- as we will see- his policies shaped the
nation for years to come.
• While popular, issues would arise under
Jackson that would erode his party’s strength.
Land Issue
• One of the earliest issues to face Jackson was
the issue of land.
• Thomas Jefferson had hoped that Eastern
Indians would become farmers and blend into
the American way of life.
• However, white settlers hunger for land and
Native American support for the British during
the War of 1812 changed government
attitudes towards Natives.
Land Issues
• By 1824, many
government officials
were calling for the
removal of all Native
Americans.
• They wanted the Native
Americans to be
removed beyond the
United States’ borders.
Effects
• These changes in attitude has an immense
effect on many Native American groups,
primarily those in the Southeast.
• Believing that their best hope for survival lay
in adapting to white culture, many had given
up hunting in favor of farming.
Sequoya
• Arguably, the Cherokees
made some of the
greatest shifts towards a
new culture.
• With the leadership of
Sequoya, the Cherokees
went so far as to write
their own constitutions,
create a judicial and
educational system, and
form a militia.
Effects
• Indian efforts to adopt to a new culture made
little difference.
• Native Americans in the Southeast occupied
millions of acres of fertile land that the
Americans wanted.
– In this, farmers and land speculators pressured
the government to open the land.
Andrew Jackson’s views
• Andrew Jackson, being
a well known “Indian
fighter”, supported
American land claims.
• He viewed the Native
Americans as a barrier
to expansion.
Indian Removal Act
• Jackson cloaked his calls
for removal in
humanitarian terms.
• He claimed that Native
Americans would, for
their own protection
(from white colonists),
be moved westward.
Indian Removal Act
• In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal
Act, providing for the relocation– if necessary,
by force– of Indian nations living east of the
Mississippi to Indian Territory in present-day
Oklahoma.
• Indian Territory was part of the larger Indian
Country, which was government land set aside
for Native Americans.
Indian Removal Act
• By 1840, most Native Americans had been driven
from the Southeast.
– Few went willingly.
Question: Why might so few be willing to go? Consider past
Native land promises.
• They had little reason to believe that Jackson’s
promise of a permanent homeland was true–
considering that previous promises were not
followed through.
Osceola
• Osceola, a Seminole leader, responded to the
removal by saying:
My Brothers!... The white man says I shall go, and
he will send people to make me go; but I have a
rifle, and I have some powder and some lead. I
say, we must not leave our homes and lands. If
any of our people want to go west we won’t let
them; and I tell them they are our enemies, and
we will treat them so, for the great spirit will
protect us.
Question: What is he saying about being forced to move
west? What about Natives who choose to willingly go
west?
Second Seminole War
• In Florida, the resistance led to the Second
Seminole War (1835-1842), which cost more
money and lives than any other Native war in
U.S. history.
• Although the Seminoles– aided by runaway
slaves– fought bravely, most were either killed
or removed from their lands.
– Only a few escaped into the Florida Everglades,
where they still continue to live today.
Worcester v. Georgia
• The Cherokees saw the
question of their rights
raised in court.
• Their case, Worcester v.
Georgia, reached the
Supreme Court in 1832.
– The cased concerned
Samuel Worcester, who
was arrested by the state
of Georgia for going onto
Indian Lands, which was
against state law.
Samuel Worcester was a
missionary who wanted to
created a Native American
newspaper in the Cherokee
Nation.
Worcester v. Georgia
• In that case, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled
in favor of the Natives:
“The Cherokee Nation… is a distinct community,
occupying its own territory… which the citizens of
Georgia have no right to enter, but with the assent
of the Cherokees themselves.” --Marshall
Essentially, Marshall ruled that the state of Georgia, for one, cannot
tell its citizens that they cannot go onto Native lands because such a
law is in federal jurisdiction (Article 1, Section 8). Secondly, he ruled
that the Federal government is the only one who can deal with tribal
lands (i.e., Georgia cannot buy Native American lands).
Response
• The while Worcester would later provide the
foundation for tribal sovereignty, victory was shortlived.
• The court failed to use federal marshals to carry out
the decision (federal marshals are a law enforcement
group under the Department of Justice), possibly to
avoid conflict between the Executive and Judicial
branches.
• Because of this, Georgia, with Jackson’s blessing, kept
seizing Cherokee land.
Loss of Land
• Without Federal protection, the Cherokees
were unable to protect their lands.
• By 1835, they were forced to sign a treaty
granting all their lands to the United States in
return for money and land in Indian Territory.
– They were told to leave within three years.
Forced Removal
• By the 1838 deadline, only a few of the some
18,000 Cherokees had moved west.
• Federal troops began forcing the remaining
Cherokees to make the journey.
Trail of Tears
• In this journey to the Indian Territory, some
4,000 Cherokees died in what is known as the
Trail of Tears.
Forced Removals
• Other than the Cherokees, the Choctaws,
Chickasaws, and Creeks also faced removal in
the period from 1820 to 1840.
• During the Chickasaw removal, the death rate
was as high as the Cherokees.
• Those who survived were forced to rebuild
their lives in new, unfamiliar surroundings.
Forced Removals
• Alexis de Tocqueville, a French philosopher,
witnessed the Choctaw removals firsthand:
“In the whole scene there was an air of ruin and destruction,
something which betrayed a final and irrevocable adieu; one
couldn't watch without feeling one's heart wrung. The Indians
were tranquil, but sombre and taciturn. There was one who could
speak English and of whom I asked why the Chactas were leaving
their country. "To be free," he answered, could never get any other
reason out of him. We ... watch the expulsion ... of one of the most
celebrated and ancient American peoples.”
Continuing Issues
• The forced Indian removals remains one of the
most controversial legacies of the Jacksonian
Era.
• However, for many Americans of the time, the
issues of state rights seemed a larger concern.
– This issue was revived in the 1820s in debates
over tariffs.
Tariffs and States
• To protect U.S. manufacturers, Congress
passed in 1828 a new tariff that doubled the
rates set in 1816 for some items.
• Outraged southern planters charged Congress
for promoting the interests of industrialists in
the North.
• The tariff would make British goods, which the
South relied on, more expensive.
Tariffs
• As well, Southerners
feared that Great
Britain might fight back
by buying less cotton.
• These tariffs began to
cause a rift between the
North and the South.
Doctrine of Nullification
• In 1828, Vice President John C. Calhoun
abandoned his earlier nationalist views– he no
longer believed that the national government
represented the best interests of the South.
• In this, he wrote an anonymous essay– the
Doctrine of Nullification-- outlining the South’s
position:
The states, as creators of the federal union,
had the right to nullify or refuse to obey an
act of Congress they considered to be
unconstitutional.
Nullification Crisis
• This issue, known as the Nullification Crisis–
which dealt with state rights to “nullify” acts of
Congress- raged for two more years.
• Many Southern states argued that they had the
right to resist Congress’ acts.
• Northern state representatives– such as Senator
Daniel Webster of Massachusetts– argued that
only the Supreme Court had the right to declare
acts of Congress unconstitutional.
Nullification Crisis
• Daniel Webster argued
that if each state could
decide what is, or isn’t,
constitutional, that there
would be violence and
needless bloodshed.
• He argued that the Union
must be united.
• All in all, both sides
awaited the Presidents’
response.
Daniel Webster
Question: How do you think Andrew Jackson will react?
Andrew Jackson’s Response
• At a formal Washington dinner, Jackson rose
from his chair, looked to his Vice President and
said to the group, “Our Union: It must be
preserved!”
• Defiantly, Calhoun declared that State rights
must be preserved.
Jackson’s Response
• In 1832, Henry Clay
attempted a
compromise by pushing
a slight tariff reduction
through the Congress.
• The reduction was too
small to appease South
Carolina, who
threatened to secede if
the federal government
tried to collect tariffs in
the state.
Jackson’s Response
• Furious, Jackson privately warned that “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.”
• To calm tensions, Clay convinced Congress to
lower tariffs over a 10 year period.
• With this, the crisis ended, but the sectional tensions
continued.
Opposition to the Bank
• For all the issues around states rights, the
Second Bank of the United States may have
caused even more excitement.
• Making the banking issue a personal crusade,
Jackson attacked the Second Bank of the
United States as a dangerous monopoly that
benefited rich investors– many of whom were
British.
At this time, the bank– while a government institution– was
basically privately run.
Opposition to the Bank
• Jackson argued that the
Bank hurts those who
were industrious, honest,
and poor.
• He believed that such a
privileged group should
not be allowed to control
the nations’ money.
• Americans who disliked
the Bank’s strict lending
policies agreed with
Jackson.
Opposition to the Bank
• The Bank became a campaign issue when
Jackson sought reelection against Henry Clay.
• Clay, who supported the Bank, decided to
make it an issue.
• Though the Bank’s charter was not due to
expire until 1836, Clay pushed a bill through
Congress to recharter the Bank in 1832.
Opposition to the Bank
• Jackson vetoed the measure, sparking great
controversy– just as Clay wanted.
• Clay vigorously attacked the veto during his
campaign.
• Jackson, to prove he did not support the Bank,
began to deposit federal funds in a few state
banks that supported his party.
Opposition to the Bank
• The Bank, however, retained much of it’s
existing federal funds and still had financial
influence.
• To make one final effort to save the Banking
institution, Nicholas Biddle– Banking
president– forced the Bank to force a financial
crisis by tightening credit
– He wanted to convince Jackson and the American
public of the folly of attacking such a stabilizing
institution.
Question: Why might this have been a bad decision?
Opposition to the Banks
• However, Biddle’s actions
had the opposite effect. It
only proved to many
Americans that the Bank
had too much power and
could use it against the
public good.
• With this support against
the banks, Jackson was
able to win the Election of
1832.
Nicholas Biddle
Problems Begin
• Jackson won his bank war, but he did not
foresee what would come of it.
• By weakening the Federal control over the
system, Jackson opened the door to financial
crisis.
• State banks (many of which were Jackson’s
“pet banks”)issued their own individual bank
notes, often in amounts exceeding the
amount of gold or silver backing it up.
Problems Begin
• Between 1830 and 1837, these banks helped
double the amount of money in circulation by
creating more paper currency.
– However, there was more currency than there was
gold or silver.
Inflation
• Much of the money was used to buy and sell
land– millions of acres of public land in the
Middle West.
• As land speculators bought land for cheap,
they sold it at higher prices. And buyers began
to sell the land they bought for even higher
prices.
– Gradually, this caused prices to increase– inflation
of land prices.
Inflation
• To prevent inflation,
Jackson issued the Specie
Circular in 1836.
• This executive order
instructed the Treasury to
accept only gold and
silver (specie) as a form of
payment for public land.
– However, few people had
access to specie… this
caused land sales to
plummet.
A satire of Jackson “killing the bank”, in which the
bank is represented as a hydra. As he cuts one
head, another grows, representing how he has
made the banks a larger problem.
Panic of 1837
• Many people began to demand gold and silver
for their notes. However, many banks did not
have enough gold or silver to exchange the
notes.
• Like with the Panic of 1819, banks that could
not pay failed. In 1837, hundreds of banks had
gone under.
Panic of 1837
• Contributing to the panic was the economic
turmoil in Britain.
• With economic problems at home, Britain
bought less cotton and pulled their money out
of banks, further decreasing the amount of
specie available.
Panic of 1837
• By 1843, factories had closed and thousands
of workers lost their jobs (approx. 50,000 in
New York City alone).
• The panic deepened into a depression that
lasted until 1843.
A cartoon blaming
Andrew Jackson for
the Panic of 1837
Martin Van Buren
• Jackson left office
before the inflationary
bubble burst.
• Martin Van Buren, was
elected president in
1836 and had to deal
with the economic
problems.
Martin Van Buren,
Jackson’s former VicePresident
Martin Van Buren
• Van Buren was unable
to help the economy.
• In this, he fell prey to a
new party that grew in
1840: the Whig Party.
Whig Party
• Jackson’s opponents had
organized the Whig Party
in 1834, taking their
name from the old party
of England that opposed
the power of the King.
• The Whigs initially united
people through their
dislike of “King Andrew”
Jackson’s policies and
abuse of federal power–
such as his attack on the
banking system and
backing Georgia against
the Supreme Court.
Whig Party
• The Whig party found support in people who
believed Jackson was abusing his power.
• While the Whigs were initially unable to
defeat Van Buren in the 1836 elections, their
support grew over the next four years as
economic problems worsened.
Whigs Nomination
• During the 1840 elections, rather than run
Henry Clay, the Whigs ran General William
Henry Harrison who was a war hero.
• The Whigs did not want Clay, who they
believed might not be able to find support in
the North after attacking extreme
prohibitionists.
Whigs Nomination
• The Whigs wanted someone who could win,
and Harrison had few enemies.
• Aside from having few enemies, the economic
crisis under the Democratic party essentially
secured victory for almost any Whig candidate
who would run.
Victory
• The Whigs were
successful in their push
for Harrison, who won
234 electoral votes to
his competitor’s– Van
Buren- 60 votes.
• Harrison, however, did
not enjoy this victory
long.
Death
• William Henry Harrison, who was 68 at the
time of his election, died of pneumonia four
weeks after his inauguration, making his the
shortest presidential term in U.S. history.
• Upon his death, John Tyler became President.
John Tyler
• John Tyler’s ascension
to the Presidency in
1841 was not without
it’s own issues.
• Questions raised about
whether or not he was
actually the President
or simply “Vice
President acting as
President.”
John Tyler
• However, due to bold actions on his part of
taking over all presidential duties, he set a
precedent for the transfer of presidential
power in the case of a President’s death.
– This transfer of power would not be a set
standard until the passage of the 20th
Amendment in 1933, which finally detailed
the transference of power.
John Tyler
• Now becoming the new President, John Tyler
inherited the ongoing economic and sectional
crises that plagued his predecessors terms.
• However, changes would soon occur in the
U.S. that would affect not just the economy,
but the very culture of Americans.
Review Objectives
• Describe the changing policies towards slavery, primarily in
regards to the Missouri Compromise
• The effect of the election of 1824 and 1828
• Identify the how Jacksonian democracy changed the
political system.
• Identify the effect of the Panic of 1819 on American politics
• Explain why the U.S. government forced Native Americans
to move westward
• Explain what caused the nullification crisis
• Analyze the factors that lead to the economic crises in the
late 1830’s
• Determine how the Whigs came to power
Questions
• If you have any questions, please ask now.
Next lesson
• In the next lesson, we will be discussing issues
regarding the North and Middle West and
their respective economies.
Reading Review
• Please read the article, “Andrew Jackson was
America’s worst ‘great’ President” and answer
the following question with no less than a full
page response:
– What do you think of Andrew Jackson in terms of
his Presidency? Explain using facts from the
reading and/or notes.
• Please be prepared to possibly discuss this.