Creating America (Survey) Chapter 12: The Age of Jackson, 1824-1840 Section 1: Politics of the People Main Idea: Andrew Jackson s election to the presidency in 1828 brought a new era of popular democracy. In 1824, four men hoped to replace President Monroe. John Quincy Adams, Monroe s secretary of state, was New England s choice. William Crawford of Georgia was the Southern choice. Westerners supported Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson. Jackson won the most popular votes but did not receive the majority of electoral votes. According to the Constitution, the House of Representatives must choose the president if no one wins a majority of electoral votes. Clay, who had come in fourth, voted for Adams, who won. The split between Jackson and Adams created another two-party system. Jackson s supporters became the Democrats. Adams s supporters became the National Republicans. The election of 1828 again pitted Adams against Jackson. Jackson promised to look out for the common people and to promote majority rule, an idea that became known as Jacksonian democracy. In the early 1800s, laws were passed that allowed more common people to vote. The expansion of voting rights helped Jackson win, which was viewed as a victory for common people. Andrew Jackson was a war hero and the first president from the West. People from all kinds of backgrounds came to Jackson s inauguration. Eventually the crowd at the White House became so rowdy and destructive that the president was forced to leave. 1
Jackson had promised to reform the government. He started by giving many government jobs to his supporters. This practice became known as the spoils system. Section 2: Jackson s Policy Toward Native Americans Main Idea: During Jackson s presidency, Native Americans were forced to move west of the Mississippi River. Despite pressure from white settlers, many Native Americans still lived east of the Mississippi River in the 1820s. The major tribes included the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and the Seminole. Whites called them the Five Civilized Tribes. In 1828, gold was found on Cherokee land in Georgia. Soon settlers and miners wanted the land. They demanded that all Native Americans be removed from the Southeast. Southern states passed laws giving whites the right to take Native American lands. Jackson asked Congress to pass a law that would force Native Americans to move west or to submit to state laws. In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. It required Native Americans to relocate west of the Mississippi River. Many Native Americans saw no other choice but to move west to the Indian Territory, which covered what is now Oklahoma and parts of Kansas and Nebraska. Beginning in 1831, the Choctaws and other Southeastern tribes were relocated there. The Cherokees, however, asked the Supreme Court to protect their land. The Supreme Court responded by striking down the Indian Removal Act. It stated that only the federal government could make laws governing the Cherokees. Jackson refused to obey the court s ruling. In 1838, federal troops forced the Cherokees to move from Georgia to the Indian Territory. A quarter of the Cherokees died in this journey, known as the Trail of Tears. 2
In Florida, the Seminole refused to leave. This led to the Second Seminole War. When an important Seminole leader named Osceola arrived for peace talks in 1837, he was captured. He later died in prison. The war ended in 1842. Other tribes also fought relocation. In 1832, a Sauk chief named Black Hawk led a band of Sauk and Fox back to the lands in Illinois that they had been forced to leave. In the Black Hawk War, the U.S. army crushed the uprising. Section 3: Conflicts Over States Rights Main Idea: Jackson struggled to keep Southern states from breaking away from the Union over the issue of tariffs. When President Jackson took office in 1829, conflicts between the Northeast, the South, and the West were pulling the nation apart. The first conflict involved Western lands that the federal government was selling. Westerners wanted low prices to attract more settlers. Northeasterners feared that the cheap land would attract workers needed in the Northeastern factories. The second conflict was about transportation improvements. The Northeast and West wanted the government to spend money to improve the transportation of goods. Southerners were opposed, because the money would come from increased tariffs. The third conflict involved tariffs. Northerners supported high tariffs because they made imported goods more expensive than American-made goods. Southerners were opposed. They had to sell their cotton at low prices to be competitive. But tariffs forced Southerners to pay high prices for the foreign goods they bought in exchange. When Congress raised the tariff on raw materials and manufactured goods in 1828, Southerners called it the Tariff of Abominations. Some South Carolina leaders began talking about leaving the Union. Vice President John C. Calhoun believed that Congress had no right to impose a tariff that favored one section 3
of the country. He proposed the doctrine of nullification, which said that a state had the right to reject a federal law that it found unconstitutional. In January 1830, Webster and Hayne debated the issue of nullification in the Senate. Daniel Webster, a senator from Massachusetts, was opposed to nullification. Robert Hayne of South Carolina supported it. When President Jackson made it clear that he opposed nullification, he and Calhoun became political enemies. Although Congress lowered the tariff in 1832, Southerners still thought it was too high. South Carolina nullified the tariff acts and threatened secession, or withdrawal from the Union, if the government tried to collect tariffs. Jackson said he would use force to make sure that federal laws were obeyed and that the Union stayed together. Henry Clay worked out a compromise tariff in 1833 that kept South Carolina in the Union. Section 4: Prosperity and Panic Main Idea: Jackson s policies caused the economy to collapse after he left office and affected the next election. The Second Bank of the United States was the most powerful bank in the country. Its president, Nicholas Biddle, set policies that controlled the country s money supply. President Jackson thought the bank had too much power and vetoed Congress s renewal of the bank s charter. Jackson s opposition to the bank was a major issue in the 1832 election. After he won, Jackson took federal money out of the national bank and put it in state banks. This forced the national bank to close. Many of the banks that Jackson had put money into during the bank war issued too much paper money. This increase made each dollar worth less and resulted in inflation an increase in prices and a decrease in the value of money. 4
Soon after Martin Van Buren became president, the Panic of 1837 began. People took their paper dollars to the banks and wanted them exchanged for gold and silver. But the banks could not pay, and many banks failed. The nation s money system collapsed. An economic depression began. President Van Buren lost the 1840 election to William Henry Harrison, the Whig Party candidate. The Whig Party was formed by Jackson s opponents. It was opposed to a president having too much power. One month after being inaugurated, Harrison died of pneumonia. He was succeeded by his vice-president, John Tyler. 5