The American JourneyA History of the United States, 7th Edition

By: Goldfield • Abbott • Anderson • Argersinger • Argersinger • Barney • Weir

Chapter

•The Jacksonian Era

•1824-1845

10

The Jacksonian Era

1824-1845

The Egalitarian Impulse

Jackson’s Presidency

Van Buren and Hard Times

The Rise of the Whig Party

The Whigs in Power

Conclusion

Learning Objectives

What factors contributed to the democratization of American

politics and religion in the early nineteenth century?

How did the Jacksonian Democrats capitalize on the new

mass politics?

What challenges did Van Buren face during his presidency?

What was the basis of Whig popularity?

Learning Objectives (cont'd)

What did they claim to stand for?

Why was William Henry Harrison’s death such a blow to the

Whig agenda?

The Egalitarian Impulse

The Extension of White Male Democracy

Individual states decided who could vote and many newly

admitted states eliminated property qualifications as did

older eastern states. Only Rhode Island, Virginia, and

Louisiana did not have universal white male suffrage by

the end of the 1820s.

The Extension of White Male Democracy (cont'd)

Suffrage reform was part of a general democratization of

state government structures and procedures.

The growing demand that all white men be treated equally

helped stimulate the democratic reforms.

Expansion of white male political opportunities was

paralleled by the curbing of rights for free black and

women.

MAP 10–1 Methods of Electing Presidential

Electors, 1800 and 1824

The Popular Religious Revolt

Between 1800 and 1840, the Second Great Awakening

transformed the religious landscape of America.

Baptists and Methodists led the religious revival that

promoted evangelical religion that supported democracy

by encouraging organizational forms that provided a voice

to popular culture.

The Popular Religious Revolt (cont’d)

Evangelical Christianity appealed strongly to women and

African Americans but race and gender limited access to

positions of power.

Second Great Awakening

Series of religious revivals in the first half of the nineteenth century

characterized by great emotionalism in large public meetings.

The Rise of the Jacksonians

The new Democratic Party formed between 1824 and 1828

had the perfect candidate in Andrew Jackson. Jackson’s

rise to prominence from poor origins made him a good

symbol of the democratic ideas of the 1820s.

Jackson was the antielitist people’s champion while John

Quincy Adams seemed largely out of step with the times.

The Rise of the Jacksonians (cont'd)

Martin Van Buren was a new breed of politician who

developed strong political organizations based on

discipline and strict adherence to party policies.

Jackson won a landslide victory in the 1828 presidential

election.

The Rise of the Jacksonians (cont'd)

Democratic Party

Political party formed in the 1820s under the leadership of Andrew

Jackson; favored states’ rights and a limited role for the federal

government, especially in economic affairs.

Albany Regency

Popular name after 1820 for the state political machine in New York

headed by Martin Van Buren.

MAP 10–2 The Election of 1828

Jackson’s Presidency

Jackson’s Appeal

Ordinary Americans identified with Jackson and he

convinced them that he was using his office to enforce

their will.

Jackson attacked special privilege by reforming the federal

bureaucracy. These reforms had more style than

substance and opened the way for the “spoils” system.

Jackson’s Appeal (cont'd)

Jackson opposed Henry Clay’s American system, vetoing

the Maysville Road Bill.

Spoils system

The awarding of government jobs to party loyalists.

Indian Removal

Native Americans held land east of the Mississippi River

that white men wanted, especially in the South where the

Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaws, and Seminoles

controlled large areas.

In 1828, the Georgia state legislature placed the Cherokee

under state jurisdiction, denying the Native American legal

rights.

Indian Removal (cont'd)

Congress passed the Indian Removal Act on Jackson’s

recommendation that opened a legal battle that

culminated in Jackson ignoring a Supreme Court decision

and the removal of Native Americans east of the

Mississippi River.

Indian Removal (cont'd)

Indian Removal Act

Legislation passed by Congress in 1830 that provided funds for removing

and resettling eastern Indians in the West. It granted the president the

authority to use force if necessary.

Trail of Tears

The forced march in 1838 of the Cherokee Indians from their homelands

in Georgia to the Indian Territory in the West; thousands of Cherokees

died along the way.

Indian Removal (cont'd)

Black Hawk’s War

Short 1832 war in which federal troops and Illinois militia units defeated

the Sauk and Fox Indians led by Black Hawk.

MAP 10–3 Indian Removals

The Nullification Crisis

The tariff issue precipitated the nullification crisis, the most

serious sectional dispute since the Missouri Compromise.

Southerners denounced the protective measures in the

Tariffs of 1828 and 1832. The most strident protests came

from South Carolina lowcountry planters who called

themselves nullifiers. John Calhoun was their leader.

The Nullification Crisis (cont'd)

An 1832 South Carolina convention nullified the tariffs of

1828 and 1832 leading Jackson to push the Force Bill

through Congress that authorized military force against

nullifiers.

The Nullification Crisis (cont'd)

The compromise Tariff of 1833 eased tensions.

Nullification crisis

Sectional crisis in the early 1830s in which a states’ rights party in

South Carolina attempted to nullify federal law.

The Bank War

The Bank War broke out in 1832 when Jackson vetoed an

early rechartering of the Bank of the United States. Like

most westerners, Jackson mistrusted banks because of

their unreliability.

The business community and eastern elites attacked the

bank veto. The Bank became an issue in the 1832

election which Jackson won handily over Clay.

The Bank War (cont'd)

Jackson moved to destroy the bank by removing federal

deposits.

During Jackson’s second term, land speculation reached a

frenzy and when the bubble burst, Democrats were

criticized for their economic policies.

Bank War

The political struggle between President Andrew Jackson and the

supporters of the Second Bank of the United States.

Van Buren and Hard Times

Van Buren and Hard Times

Facing a sharp economic downturn, Van Buren appeared

indecisive and unwilling to advance a bold program. He

also awkwardly straddled the divisive issue of slavery and

failed to offer a compelling vision of his presidency.

Abolitionist movement

A radical antislavery crusade committed to the immediate end of slavery

that emerged in the three decades before the Civil War.

The Panic of 1837

Martin Van Buren’s presidency opened with a financial

panic that helped send the economy into a dive that

eventually became a severe depression.

Numerous bankruptcies, the drying up of investment capital,

stagnating business, and unemployment rocked the

nation.

FIGURE 10–1 Cotton Prices and the Value of

Federal Land Sales in Five Southern States, 1825–

1845

The Independent Treasury

The Whig party was emerging in the late 1830s. They

criticized Jackson’s policies, including the Specie Circular

of 1836.

To curb government intrusion in banking, the Independent

Treasury System was established in 1840 but was largely

a political move.

The Independent Treasury (cont’d)

Whig Party

Political party, formed in the mid-1830s in opposition to the Jacksonian

Democrats, that favored a strong role for the national government in

promoting economic growth.

Specie Circular

Proclamation issued by President Andrew Jackson in 1836 stipulating

that only gold or silver could be used as payment for public land.

The Independent Treasury (cont’d)

Independent Treasury System

Fiscal arrangement first instituted by President Martin Van Buren in

which the federal government kept its money in regional vaults (“pet

banks”) and transacted its business entirely in hard money.

Uproar over Slavery

Led by William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionists stepped up their

attacks on slavery.

Beginning in 1835, hundreds of antislavery petitions flooded

Congress, most calling for the abolition of slavery in

Washington, D.C.

Uproar over Slavery (cont’d)

Southerners pushed through the gag rule to eliminate

debate on slavery.

Gag rule

Procedural rule passed in the House of Representatives that prevented

discussion of antislavery petitions from 1836 to 1844.

The Rise of the Whig Party

The Rise of the Whig Party

By 1834, the anti-Jacksonians started calling themselves

Whigs, a name associated with 18th century American

and British opposition to tyranny.

By 1840, the Whigs had mastered techniques of political

organization and mobilization and swept to electoral

victory.

The Party Taking Shape

Congressional reaction to Jackson’s actions against the

Bank led to the founding of the Whig Party.

Local and state coalition of the Whigs elected a majority to

the House of Representatives in 1835.

The Party Taking Shape (cont’d)

Lacking an effective national organization, the Whigs fielded

three regional presidential candidates in 1836 but Van

Buren won the election.

Anti-Masons

Third party formed in 1827 in opposition to the presumed power and

influence of the Masonic order.

Whig Persuasion

Whigs viewed government as a force to promote economic

development.

The Whigs were the party of bankers, manufacturers, small-

town entrepreneurs, commercial farmers, and skilled

workers.

Whigs tended to be native-born Protestants who supported

evangelical religion.

Whig Persuasion (cont'd)

The Whigs supported reform efforts, especially ones

directed at non-English and Catholic immigrants.

The Second Party System

The Election of 1840

Beating the Democrats at their own game, the Whigs ran

William Henry Harrison for president in 1840, stressing

his military background and supposed log cabin origins.

The Election of 1840 (cont'd)

The Whig campaign featured a lively mix of slogans,

parades, and pageants that imparted a carnival

atmosphere to politics.

Harrison won the presidency and the Whigs gained control

of Congress.

MAP 10–4 The Election of 1840

FIGURE 10–2 Voter Turnout in Presidential

Elections, 1824–1840

The Whigs in Power

Harrison and Tyler

Harrison’s death brought former Democrat John Tyler to the

presidency. Tyler espoused a states’ rights, agrarian

philosophy that clashed with Whig policies.

The Texas Issue

Tyler’s secretary of state, Daniel Webster, negotiated the

Webster-Ashburton Treaty establishing the Canadian

border.

Tyler wanted to annex Texas but the Senate rejected

annexation. Antislavery advocates saw the Texas

annexation as a slaveholders’ conspiracy.

The Texas Issue (cont’d)

Webster–Ashburton Treaty

Treaty signed by the United States and Britain in 1842 that settled a

boundary dispute between Maine and Canada and provided for closer

cooperation in suppressing the African slave trade.

The Election of 1844

In the election of 1844, both Clay, the Whig candidate, and

Van Buren, the strong Democratic candidate, opposed the

annexation of Texas.

Van Buren’s anti-Texas stance cost him the Democratic

nomination, which went to a dark horse, James K. Polk of

Tennessee.

The Election of 1844 (cont’d)

The Democrat platform supported American expansionism,

seeking to annex Oregon and Texas.

Polk won the election and Texas was annexed in 1845.

Conclusion

Conclusion

The Jacksonian era stimulated a revolution in American

politics, leading to the rise of disciplined parties that

appealed to a mass electorate. Voter participation

skyrocketed.

The national issues argued by the Democrats and Whigs

until 1844 were largely economic.