Lesson 1
Jacksonian Democracy
ESSENTIAL QUESTION What are the characteristics of a leader?
What new ways of campaigning appeared during the elections of 1824 and 1828?
From 1816 to 1824, the United States had only one major political party. This was the Democratic Republican Party. The party was far from united. In 1824, four Democratic Republican candidates competed for the presidency. Party leaders chose William H. Crawford, a former senator from Georgia, to be their candidate. Three other candidates were favorite sons—that is, they received backing from their home states rather than the national party. Their views reflected the interests of their regions. Two favorite sons, Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay, were from the West. Clay, of Kentucky, was Speaker of the House of Representatives. Jackson, of Tennessee, was a hero of the War of 1812. Raised in poverty, he claimed to speak for Americans who had been left out of politics. The third favorite son, John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, was the son of former president John Adams. He was popular with merchants of the Northeast.
The House Chooses the President
In the election, Jackson received a plurality (pluh • RA • luh • tee) of the popular vote—the largest share. No candidate received a majority, or more than half, of the electoral votes. The Constitution requires that the House of
Representatives select the president when no candidate has won a majority of the electoral vote. As the House prepared to vote, Clay met with Adams. Clay agreed to use his influence as Speaker to defeat Jackson. With Clay's help, the House chose Adams for president. Adams quickly named Clay to be secretary of state. In the past this office had been the stepping-stone to the presidency. Jackson's followers accused the two men of making a "corrupt bargain" and stealing the election.
Adams as President
Adams and Clay denied any wrongdoing. No one ever uncovered any evidence of a bargain. Still, the charge cast a shadow over Adams's presidency. In his first message to Congress, Adams announced his plans. In addition to improving roads and waterways, he wanted to build a national university and support scientific research. Adams's proposals upset his opponents. They wanted a more limited role for the federal government. It would be wrong, they believed, for government to spend money on such projects. Congress finally approved funds for improving rivers, harbors, and roads, but this was far less than Adams wanted.
The Election of 1828
By 1828, the Democratic Republican Party had split. Jackson's supporters called themselves Democrats. The National Republicans supported Adams. Most Democrats favored states' rights and distrusted strong central government. The National Republicans wanted a strong central government. They supported measures such as building roads and a national bank to facilitate economic growth. During the campaign, both sides resorted to mudslinging, or attempts to ruin their opponent's reputation with insults. The candidates also used slogans, buttons, and rallies. Such practices became a regular part of American political life. In the election, Jackson received most of the votes cast in the frontier states. He also received many votes in the South, where his support for states’ rights was popular. John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, who had been Adams’s vice president, switched parties to run with Jackson. Calhoun also supported states’ rights. Jackson won the election easily. Shortly after the election, Jackson’s supporters officially formed the Democratic Party.
How did Andrew Jackson make the American political system more democratic?
Andrew Jackson had qualities most Americans admired. He was a patriot, a self-made man, and a war hero. Thousands of ordinary people came to Washington for his inauguration. Later, many attended a White House reception.
Expanded Voting Rights
President Andrew Jackson promised "equal protection and equal benefits" for all Americans—at least, all white American men. Jackson's promise reflected the spirit of the times. In the nation's early years, only men who owned property or paid taxes could vote. By the 1820s, many states had loosened these requirements. White male
sharecroppers, factory workers, and others could now participate in the political process. By 1828, nearly all states let voters, rather than state legislatures, choose presidential electors. Women still could not vote. African Americans and Native Americans had few rights of any kind.
Making Government More Democratic
Democrats wanted to further open government to the people. They argued that ordinary citizens could do most government jobs. They were disturbed that the federal government had become a bureaucracy (byuh • RAH • kruh • see), a system in which nonelected officials carry out laws. Soon after taking office in 1829, Jackson fired many federal workers and replaced them with his supporters. The fired employees protested. They charged that the president was acting like a tyrant. One Jackson supporter said: "To the victors belong the spoils." In other words, because Jackson had won the election, his supporters had the right to the spoils, or benefits, of victory. This practice of replacing current government employees with supporters of the winner is called the spoils system. Jackson's supporters also abandoned the unpopular caucus system, in which top party leaders chose the party's candidates for office. Instead, parties began using nominating conventions (NAHM • ih • nayt • ing kuhn • VEN • shuhnz), where delegates from the states chose the party's presidential candidate. This system allowed many more people to participate in the selection of candidates.
The Tariff Debate
How did a fight over tariffs become a debate about states' rights versus federal rights?
Jackson believed in a strong Union. He asked Congress to pass the Force Bill. This act allowed him to use the military to enforce federal law. South Carolina accepted the new tariff but nullified the Force Bill.
Lesson 2
Conflicts Over Land
ESSENTIAL QUESTION What are the consequences when cultures interact? Removing Native Americans
Why were Native Americans forced to abandon their land and move west?
As the nation expanded west, many Native Americans still remained in the East. The Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw peoples lived in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. These groups had created successful farming communities that were much like many other American communities. As a result, Americans
considered them "civilized" and referred to them as the "Five Civilized Tribes." Though Americans recognized the success of the Five Civilized Tribes, they did not necessarily respect their rights. In fact, some white people wanted the Native Americans' lands for themselves. To make this possible, they wanted the federal government to force eastern Native Americans to relocate to lands west of the Mississippi River. Andrew Jackson supported the white settlers' demand for Native American land. He had once fought the Creek and Seminole in Georgia and Florida to give the settlers more land. When he became president in 1829, he stated that he wanted to move all Native Americans to the Great Plains. Many people believed this region to be a wasteland where American settlers would never want to live. Many people thought that if all Native Americans moved there, conflict with them would be ended.
The Cherokee Versus Georgia
In 1830 President Jackson pushed the Indian Removal Act through Congress. This law allowed the federal government to pay Native Americans to move west. Jackson then sent officials to make treaties with the Native Americans in the Southeast. In 1834 Congress established the Indian Territory. Most of the region was located in what is now the state of Oklahoma. This area was to be the new home for the Native Americans of the Southeast. Most eastern Native American peoples felt forced to sell their land and move west. The Cherokee refused to do so. In treaties of the 1790s, the federal government had recognized the Cherokee as a separate nation. However, the state of Georgia, in which many Cherokee lived, refused to accept the Cherokee's status. In 1830 Georgia made Cherokee land part of the state. It also began to enforce state laws in the Cherokee Nation. As pressure for relocation mounted, the Cherokee appealed to the American people:
"We are aware, that some persons suppose it will be for our advantage to remove beyond the Mississippi. . . . Our people universally think otherwise. . . . We wish to remain on the land of our fathers."
—Appeal of the Cherokee Nation, 1830
Still, Georgia pressured the Cherokee. In response, the Cherokee turned to the U.S. Supreme Court. In Worcester v. Georgia (1832), Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that Georgia had no right to interfere with the Cherokee. President Jackson, who supported Georgia's efforts to remove the Cherokee, declared that he would ignore the Supreme Court's ruling. "John Marshall has made his decision," Jackson is said to have declared, "now let him enforce it." No one was willing or able to challenge the president's failure to enforce the Court's ruling.
By 1835, the Cherokee were divided about what to do. That year the federal government convinced a small number of Cherokee— about 500 of them—to sign the Treaty of New Echota. In this treaty, the group agreed to give up all Cherokee land by 1838. Cherokee Chief John Ross sent a protest to the U.S. Senate. Ross explained that the few Cherokee who signed the treaty did not speak for all the 17,000 Cherokee in the region. Many white Americans, including senators Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, also opposed the treaty as unfair. However, their pleas did not change the minds of President Jackson or the white settlers. In 1836 the Senate approved the treaty by a single vote. When the treaty's 1838 deadline arrived, only about 2,000 Cherokee had moved west. Jackson's successor, President Martin Van Buren, ordered the army to move the rest of them. In May 1838, General Winfield Scott arrived in the Cherokee Nation with 7,000 troops to remove the remaining Cherokee by force. He told them that resistance and escape were hopeless. The Cherokee knew that fighting would lead to their destruction. Filled with sadness and anger, Cherokee leaders gave in. Between June and December 1838, soldiers rounded up Cherokee in North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. Under guard, the Cherokee began their march to Indian Territory in the West. The forced relocation of some 15,000 Cherokee was a terrible ordeal. Most people were not prepared for the journey. Trouble started even before they set out. As the Cherokee crowded in camps and awaited the command to begin their march, illness broke out. As many as 2,000 Cherokee died. Once on the trail, the Cherokee suffered from hunger and from exposure to the weather. These conditions led to the deaths of another 2,000 people. When the relocation was over, about one quarter of the Cherokee population was dead. The Cherokee came to call their forced journey west the Trail Where They Cried. Historians call it the Trail of Tears
Resistance and Removal
Why did some Native Americans resist resettlement?
Many Native American peoples did not want to give up their lands. However, the Seminole in Florida were the only group to successfully resist removal. They faced pressure in the early 1830s to sign treaties giving up their land, but the Seminole leader Osceola (ah • see • OH • luh) and his followers refused to leave. They decided to fight instead. Osceola was born a Creek but lived among the Seminole of Florida. "I will make the white man red with blood, and then blacken him in the sun and rain," Osceola vowed.
The Seminole Wars
In 1835 the U.S. Army arrived in Florida to force the removal of the Seminole. Instead, in December 1835, a group of Seminole attacked troops led by Major Francis Dade as they marched across central Florida. Only a few soldiers survived. The Dade Massacre prompted a call for additional troops to fight the Seminole. Between 1835 and 1842, about 3,000 Seminole and African Americans known as Black Seminoles fought some 30,000 U.S. soldiers. The Black Seminoles were escaped slaves from Georgia and South Carolina. Some lived among the Seminole people. Others had built their own settlements. Like the Seminole, they did not want to move. One reason is that they feared the American soldiers would force them back into slavery. Together, the Seminole and Black Seminoles attacked white settlements along the Florida coast. They made surprise attacks and then retreated back into the forests and swamps. The war cost the U.S. government over $20 million and the lives of more than 1,500 soldiers. Many Seminole also died. Others were captured and forced to move west. In 1842, with most of the surviving Seminole now in Indian Territory, the fighting stopped. War broke out again in 1855 over what little land in Florida the Seminole had left. By 1858, the few remaining Seminole had escaped into the Everglades, where their descendants still live today.
Life in the West
settlement would extend into these areas as well. The Five Civilized Tribes relocated in the eastern half of Indian Territory on lands already claimed by several Plains peoples, including the Osage, Comanche, and Kiowa. The U.S. Army built forts in the area and promised to protect the Five Civilized Tribes and maintain peace in the area. The Choctaw police force, known as the Lighthorsemen, also helped maintain order and public safety. Settled in their new homes, the Five Civilized Tribes developed their own constitutions and governments. They built farms and schools. However, the disputes over removal that arose within each tribal group during the 1830s continued to divide the groups for years to come.
Oklahoma's Heritage
The state of Oklahoma gets its name from the Choctaw word okla—"people"—and humma—"red." Although Oklahoma today has a larger Native American population than any other state, only about 8 percent of presentday Oklahomans are Native American. Most Native American Oklahomans are descended from the 67 tribes who lived in what was once part of Indian Territory.
Lesson 3
Jackson and the Bank
ESSENTIAL QUESTION How do governments change? Jackson's War Against the Bank
What events occurred when President Jackson forced the National Bank to close?
Andrew Jackson disliked the Second Bank of the United States long before he became president. Congress had set up the bank in 1816 to hold the federal government's money and to control the nation's money supply. Private bankers rather than elected officials ran the bank. Its president, Nicholas Biddle, represented everything Jackson disliked. Jackson prided himself on being a self-made western pioneer who had started with nothing. Biddle came from a wealthy
Philadelphia family and had a good education and experience in financial matters. In addition, the Bank's assigned duties made it a powerful institution. Many western settlers depended on being able to borrow money to run their farms. The Bank's strict policies made such loans difficult to obtain. Like many other westerners, Jackson viewed the Bank as a monopoly that favored wealthy Easterners and limited western growth.
The Bank and the Election of 1832
The Panic of 1837
Jackson decided not to run for a third term in 1836. The Democrats chose Van Buren, Jackson's vice president during his second term. The Whigs, a new party that included former National Republicans and other anti-Jackson forces, were the opposition. The Whigs nominated three candidates. Each had support in a different part of the nation. The Whigs hoped this tactic would keep Van Buren from getting a majority of the electoral votes. Then the election would be decided by the House of Representatives, which the Whigs controlled. The Whigs' plan failed. Jackson's popularity and support helped Van Buren win both the popular and the electoral vote. Van Buren had barely taken office when a financial panic hit the nation. The panic was in part an effect of Jackson's victory over the Bank of the United States. When the Bank ceased operations in 1836, control over state banks vanished. Some of these banks began issuing huge amounts of banknotes. Concerned that these notes had little value, the government stopped accepting them as payment for purchasing public land. People began to question the value of their banknotes, leading to economic panic. The Panic of 1837 led to a depression, a severe economic downturn. Land values dropped and banks failed. Thousands of businesses closed. Many workers lost their jobs, and farmers lost their land. In cities across the nation, many people could not afford food or rent. President Van Buren did little to ease the crisis. He believed in the principle of laissez-faire—that government should interfere as little as possible in the nation's economy. However, Van Buren did persuade Congress to create an independent federal treasury in 1840. This meant that the government no longer had to deposit its money in private banks as it had been doing. It would keep its money in the federal treasury instead. This new system prevented state and private banks from using government money to back their banknotes. It helped prevent further bank crises. Calling it a "second declaration of independence," Van Buren and his supporters hailed the passing of the federal treasury law. Still, members of Van Buren's own Democratic Party joined the Whigs in criticizing the act. The split in the Democratic Party gave the Whigs a chance to win the presidency in 1840.
The Whigs in Power
What events occurred during the 1840s that led to the weakening of the Whig party?
When Van Buren ran for reelection in 1840, Democrats had held the White House for 12 years. Now, with the country still in the depths of depression, the Whigs thought they had a chance to win the presidency.
The Log Cabin Campaign
To run against Van Buren, the Whigs united behind one of their 1836 candidates, William Henry Harrison. Like Andrew Jackson, Harrison was a hero of the War of 1812. John Tyler, a planter from Virginia, was Harrison's running mate. Harrison had first gained fame with his victory over Tecumseh's followers in the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. The Whigs made reference to this event in the campaign slogan: "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too." Harrison needed the support of the workers and farmers who had voted for Jackson in order to win the election. The Whigs portrayed Harrison, who in reality was a wealthy Ohioan, as a simple frontiersman like Jackson. The Democrats attacked this image. They said that all Harrison was good for was sitting in front of a log cabin and collecting his military pension. These attacks played right into the hands of the Whigs, who adopted the log cabin as the symbol of their campaign. While presenting Harrison as a "man of the people," the Whigs portrayed Van Buren as a wealthy snob with perfume- scented whiskers. They blamed him for the depression and accused him of spending the people's money on expensive furniture for the White House. The Whigs' tactics and the effects of the depression seemed to work. A record number of voters turned out to elect Harrison by a wide margin, making him the first Whig president. Inauguration day, 1841, was bitterly cold. Harrison insisted on delivering his long speech without a hat or coat. He died of pneumonia 32 days later. He served the shortest term of any president, and John Tyler became the first vice president to gain the presidency because of the death of a president. At age 50, Tyler was also the nation's youngest president up to that time.
