Jacksonian Democracy
Chapter 11
The Election of 1824
James Monroe decided not to seek a third
term as president.
 There was only one political party.
 Four candidates all from the Republican
Party ran for president
 Three of these were “favorite son”
candidates meaning they received backing
from their home state rather than the
National party

Election of 1824…The candidates

William Crawford
…nominated by the
Republican Party
…Congressman from
Georgia…his poor health
weakened him as a
candidate

Henry Clay from
Kentucky…Speaker of
the House... The
American System
Andrew Jackson.. war
John Quincy Adams…
hero…not a
son of the 2nd
politician…the common
Pres…Monroe’s
man
Secretary of
State…support from
merchants in the
Northeast
Election results
Election Results
12th Amendment…when no candidate
receives a MAJORITY of electoral college
votes, the House of Representatives
selects the next president from the top
three candidates. Each state has one vote.
 Top 3…Jackson, Adams, Crawford

The “Corrupt Bargain”
While the House was preparing to vote on
the next president, Clay met with Adams.
 Clay agreed to use his influence as
Speaker of the House to get Adams
elected.
 In return, Clay wanted to be the next
Secretary of State. This office was the
traditional stepping stone to the
presidency.

PRESIDENT
VICE –PRESIDENT
SECRETARY OF STATE
George Washington
John Adams
Thomas Jefferson
John Adams
Thomas Jefferson
T. Pickering/J.
Thomas Jefferson
A. Burr/G. Clinton
James Madison
James Madison
G. Clinton/E. Gerry
James Monroe
James Monroe
Daniel Tompkins
John Quincy Adams
???????
The “Corrupt Bargain”
With Clays help,
Adams was elected
president
 Jackson’s supporters
were outraged by this
corrupt bargain
between Adams and
Clay.

House Vote
Jackson 7
Adams 13
Crawford 4
Clay
-
Adams’ Presidency
The corrupt bargain cast a shadow over
the Adam’s presidency.
 Adams wanted a stronger navy and
government funds for scientific
expeditions.
 Most people desired a smaller role for the
federal government and Congress turned
down most of Adams’ proposals

Jacksonian Democracy
Chapter 11, Section 1
Expansion of Democracy
EQ: Why was Jackson’s presidency more
representative of average citizens?
-
-
America was changing fast in the early
1800’s
In the North, small family-owned shops
were being replaced by large-scale
factories.
In the South, small scale farms gave way
to large cotton plantations owned by
wealthy white people and worked by
enslaved Africans
Expansion of Democracy
Wealth seemed to be concentrating into
fewer hands.
 Many “ordinary” Americans felt left behind
 These same ordinary Americans felt that
their government was working to help
build the power of the business owners.
 The result was a belief that the wealthy
were tightening their grip on power in the
US.

Jackson Runs for President
again!
Hoping for change, small farmers, frontier
settlers, urban workers, and slave-holders
rallied behind the reform-minded Jackson.
 They believed AJ would defend the rights
of the common man.

Expansion of Democracy

During AJ’s popularity, many democratic
reforms were made (Some states changed
voting qualifications to grant more white
males suffrage; nominating
conventions were used to chose party
candidates—as opposed to party leaders)
The Election of 1828
By the election of 1828, the Republicans
had divided into two separate parties.
 The Democratic-Republicans who
supported Andrew Jackson (favored states
rights, mistrusted stong federal
government; frontier, immigrants,
laborers)
 The National Republicans who supported
John Q. Adams (internal improvements,
national bank; merchants and farmers)

The campaign (1828)
Both parties tried to ruin the reputation of
the other candidates with insults
(mudslinging)
 The D-R’s accused Adams of being out of
touch with and betraying the people
 The N-R’s created a vicious campaign
song which played on some embarrassing
incidents in Jackson’s life (executing
soldiers, etc) and called AJ crude, hottempered and ill-equipped to be president.

New Ways of Campaigning
Mudslinging was not the only new element
in political campaigns.
 Slogans, rallies, buttons and events such
as barbecues were introduced to arouse
enthusiasm for candidates.

1828 election results…
Jackson and John C. Calhoun (Adams’ VP
who switched sides and became AJ’s VP)
won in a landslide (overwhelming margin)
 AJ received support from the frontier and
the South

Turnout
57.6%[1]
Andrew
Jackson
John Q.
Adams
Party
Democratic
National
Republican
Home state
Tennessee
Massachus
etts
Running
mate
John C.
Calhoun
Richard
Rush
Electoral
vote
178
83
States
carried
15
9
Popular
vote
642,553
500,897
55.9%
43.7%
Nominee
Percentage
Jackson as President
AJ was everything most Americans
admired– a patriot, a self-made man, and
a war hero.
 On March 4, 1829 thousands of ordinary
Americans jammed the nation’s capital to
hear the AJ inaugural address.
 Afterwards they jammed into the White
House…chaos ensued

“Old Hickory”
born in a log cabin
 His parents, poor farmers, died before he
turned 15
 As a teenager, AJ fought in the American
Revolution
 Elected to Congress before the age of 30
 defeated the Creek Indians (Horseshoe
Bend) and the British at New Orleans

AJ’s supporters
Small farmers
 Craft workers
 others left out of the expanding economy
 AJ’s popularity with the “common man”
changed politics in Washington, D.C.

New Voters





AJ promised “equal protection and equal
benefits for all Americans (white Americans)
did away with the requirement of owning
property to be able to vote
1824 (26.9%)…1828 57.6%...1840 (80+%)
sharecroppers, factory workers, and others
women, African-Americans, and Native
Americans still denied suffrage (the right to
vote)
The Spoils System
Democrats wanted to open up the
government to people from all walks of
life
 They distrusted bureaucracies (nonelected officials carry out laws)
 Jackson fired many federal workers and
replaced them with his supporters.
 “to the victor goes the spoils”

Jackson’s “Kitchen” Cabinet
Secretary of State Martin Van Buren was
one of Jackson’s strongest allies in his
official cabinet.
 President Jackson also relied heavily on
his KITCHEN CABINET, an informal group
of trusted advisors who sometimes met in
the White House kitchen.

Jackson’s Administration
Chapter 10, Section 2
SECTIONAL DIFFERENCES
INCREASE- The North
Economy based on trade and
manufacturing
 Supported tariffs because tariffs help them
compete with British factories
 Opposed sale of public land at cheap
prices…encouraged laborers to move West
and out of factory towns

Sectional DifferencesThe South
Economy based on agriculture. Mostly
cash crops (tobacco and cotton). A large
portion was sold to foreign nations.
 Against tariffs (bought imported
manufactured goods; foreign countries
imposed their own tariffs on American
products)
 Relied on enslaved Africans for labor

Sectional DifferencesThe West
The economy was still emerging
 Favored policies that boosted farming and
encouraged settlement,
 Mostly farmers, they grew a variety of
crops.
 Highest priority: cheap land and internal
improvements

The Tariff Debate
1828 (before AJ’s election)---very high
tariff (tax on imported goods) passed
 Like it…Merchants, northeast
 Hated it… mostly Southerners…called it
the Tariff of Abominations (an
abomination is a hateful thing)

The Nullification Crisis
Southern politicians and plantation owners
took action.
 SC just beginning to recover from an
economic depression and previous tariffs
 talk of secession

The Nullification Crisis
VP Calhoun drafted the South Carolina
Exposition and Protest, an important
states rights argument
 State power> federal power. Federal
government should not favor one state or
region over another.
 VP John C. Calhoun argued that a state
had a right to nullify (cancel or reject) a
federal law it considered to be against the
state interests or unconstitutional

The Nullification Crisis
Calhoun’s theory was controversial. Many
of its challengers were from the North
who had benefited from tariffs. They
believed that the American people made
up the Union, not individual states.
 Although he did not put his name on his
Exposition and Protest, Calhoun resigned
the V-P. He was elected to the Senate
where he continued his nullification
argument

The Hayne-Webster Debate
Calhoun’s position put the power of the
Supreme Court in question.
 Intense debate on the Senate floor over
states rights
 Robert Y. Hayne (SC) argued that
nullification gave states a legal way to
protest federal legislation.
 Daniel Webster (NH) argued that the
welfare of the nation should not be
overridden by individual states.

SC Nullification Act
Even though lower tariffs were passed by
Congress in 1832, Southerners remained
angry
 SC took it one step further and passed the
Nullification Act declaring that it would not
pay the “illegal” tariffs of 1828 and 1832.
 SC legislature threatened to secede if the
federal government tried to interfere and
voted to form its own army.

AJ’s Force Bill
To make sure the South would accept
federal law, AJ had Congress pass the
Force Bill
 The Force Bill allowed the President to use
the military to enforce acts of Congress
 Jackson sent US Navy ships into
Charleston harbor and even talked of
hanging Calhoun
 No other Southern states supported SC

“Mr. Compromise” to the rescue
Henry Clay sponsored a compromise bill in
Congress that would gradually lower the
tariff over several years.
 Jackson supported this compromise but…

South Carolina Response
SC accepted the new compromise bill
 To show they had not been defeated the
SC legislature voted to nullify the Force
Act.
 SC claimed victory
 LESSON LEARNED- the federal
government would not allow a state to go
its own way without a fight

Jackson Attacks the Bank
WHAT WAS THE BANK OF THE UNITED STATES?
- The 2nd Bank of the U.S. was chartered in 1816 for 20
years
- Acted as the Federal governments financial agent
- Held fed. Deposits, transferred fed. Funds between
states
- Any payments or receipts involving the fed. Gov’t
- Issued bank notes or paper currency
- Bank was 80% privately owned
- Operators of the Bank were supervised by Congress and
the President
Opposition to the Bank
Many states, particularly in the South,
opposed the Bank
 Believed that it only benefited wealthy
 Jackson questioned the legality of the
Bank (unconstitutional extension of
Congress’ power)
 Jackson thought the states should control
the banking system

McCulloch vs. Maryland
Maryland tried to pass a tax that would
limit the Banks operations.
 James McCulloch, cashier of the Bank’s
branch in Maryland refused to pay the tax
 Maryland took him to court…all the way to
the Supreme Court.
 The Supreme Court ruled that the national
bank WAS CONSTITUTIONAL.

The Bank and the election of
1832
After the Supreme Court victory, Nicholas
Biddle (President of the Bank), Henry
Clay, and Daniel Webster saw an
opportunity to use Jackson’s position on
the Bank against him in his re-election bid
 Biddle decided to push the re-chartering
of the Bank 4 years ahead of schedule.
 Biddle knew that Jackson’s hatred of the
Bank would cause him to veto the bill.

The Bank of the US and the
election of 1832
Jackson promptly vetoed the re-charter as
expected.
 Henry Clay received the National
Republican nomination and the Bank
became the central issue in the
presidential campaign.
 Clay (and Biddle/Webster) hoped that the
Bank was so popular that Jackson’s hatred
of it would cause AJ to lose the election.

The Election of 1832
All 286 electoral votes of the Electoral College
144 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout
Nominee
55.4%
[1]
Andrew Jackson
Henry Clay
William Wirt
Party
Democratic
National
Republican
Anti-Masonic
Home state
Tennessee
Kentucky
Maryland
Running mate
Martin Van
Buren
John Sargeant
Amos Elmaker
Electoral vote
219
49
7
States carried
16
6
1
Popular vote
701,780
484,205
100,715
54.7%
36.9%
Percentage
7.8%
Presidential election results map. Blue denotes states won by Jackson and Van
Buren or Wilkins, light yellow denotes those won by
Clay/Sergeant, green denotes those won by Floyd/Lee, and orange denotes those
won by Wirt/Ellmaker. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to
each state.
Clay/Biddle/Webster were
WRONG!
 They miscalculated the
popularity of the bank and
Clay lost the election (#2)

JACKSON KILLS THE BANK
Congress could not over-ride AJ’s veto of
the charter.
 Jackson acted swiftly. He removing most
of the US $$$ into smaller state banks.
 These banks used the funds to offer easy
credit terms to land purchasers.
 Helped expansion in the West but led to
inflation

ELECTION OF 1836
Although he was still very popular, AJ
decided not to seek a 3rd term.
 Democrats nominated VP, Martin Van
Buren (NY, and AJ’s hand-picked
successor) for president
 The WHIGS (an anti-Jackson party formed
in 1834) ran 4 candidates against MVB







RESULTS:
MVB
170/51%/15
WHH
73/37%/7
White
26/10%/2
DW 14/3%/1
Magnum
11/-%/1
PANIC of 1837
A severe economic depression
 Text says that AJ’s banking policies and
his attempt to curb inflation contributed to
the Panic.
 Profits, prices, wages
 Unemployment
(25%)
 Out of 850 banks in the US: 343 closed
entirely, 62 failed partially
 Lasted about 6 yrs.

Election of 1840
In the middle of a severe economic
depression MVB ran for re-election
 This time the Whigs ran one candidate,
William Henry Harrison and John Tyler for
VP (Tippecanoe and Tyler, too!)
 Henry Clay and Gen. Winfield Scott also
sought the Whig candidacy but failed to
get the nomination.

The Campaign
In the wake of the Panic of 1837, MVB was not
very popular
 The Whigs ran Harrison as a war hero and a
man of the people. He became known as “The
Log Cabin Candidate”. They depicted MVB as a
wealthy snob living in luxury as the publics
expense and out of touch with the common
man.
 Actually, WHH was from a family of wealthy
planters and MVB father was a tavern keeper.

The Campaign
The Democrats and MVB depicted WHH as
too old and senile to be president (He was
68). Often referring to him as “Granny”
 The Whigs strategy was to not talk about
issues but to focus on MVB’s failed
economic policies.
 First presidential campaign in which a
candidate (WHH) actively hit the campaign
trail.

All 294 electoral votes of the Electoral College
148 electoral votes needed to win
[1]
Turnout
Nominee
80.2%
William H.
Harrison
Martin Van
Buren
Party
Whig
Democratic
Home state
Ohio
New York
Running mate
John Tyler
none
Electoral vote
234
60
States carried
19
7
1,275,390
1,128,854
52.9%
46.8%
Popular vote
Percentage