Mid19th CenturyPresidents and Expansion
Calhoun, Clay, Webster
• John C. Calhoun (Democrat; South)
• Henry Clay (Whig founder; “West”)– Great Compromiser
• Daniel Webster (Whig; North)
• “Great Triumvirate” 1812-50
• Represented regional interests and worked to keep the country out of Civil War
Andrew Jackson
• Elected 1828
• Democrat– Birth of the Democratic Party (“Jackass”)
• Strong expansionist; spoils system
• Indian Removal Act 1830
• Nullification Crisis
• “Bank War”
Martin Van Buren
• Elected 1836
• Democrat
• Panic of 1837
• “Trail of Tears”
• One term
W.H. Harrison – John Tyler
• Elected 1840; Whig Party– “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too!”
• Harrison dies after getting pneumonia from inaugural address
• Tyler – “His Accidency”– Thrown out of Whig Party
• Annexation of Texas– Just before leaving office
James K. Polk
• Elected 1844; Democrat
• Expansionist
• Mexican-American War– Wilmot Proviso
• Oregon Territory– “5450’ or Fight”
• Chose not to run for second term
Zachary Taylor - Millard Fillmore
• Elected 1848; Whig Party
• Taylor dies 1850; Fillmore takes over
• Compromise of 1850– California free– Fugitive Slave Act
• Commodore Perry opens trade with Japan
Franklin Pierce
• Elected 1852, Democrat
• Kansas-Nebraska Act– “Bleeding Kansas”
• Gadsden Purchase
• Not nominated for second term
James Buchanan
• 1856; Democrat
• Dred Scott Case
• Panic of 1857
• Utah War– Buchanan v. Brigham
Young
• Disintegration into Civil War
Expansion