Chapter 13 Notes

Jacksonian Democracy
● From 1816 to 1824 US only had one major political party, which was the Democratic Republican
Party, far from united
● 1824, 4 candidates competed for presidency, party leaders chose William H. Crawford to be their
candidates. Other 3 candidates were favorite sons
● Jackson was a hero of the War of 1812, and because he was raised in poverty he claimed to
speak for americans who had been left out of politics
● In election jackson received a plurality of the popular vote
● No one received majority, and constitution requires that HOR selects president
● Clay met with adams, and clay agreed to use his influence as Speaker to defeat jackson
● HOR chose Adams for president and adams named clay to be secretary of state
● Jackson’s followers accused the 2 men of making a corrupt bargain
● Adams and clay denied any wrongdoing
● In first message to congress, he announced that he wanted to build a national university and
support scientific research
● Adam’s proposals made opponents upset because they wanted a more limited role for federal
government
● Congress finally approved funds for improving harbors, rivers, and roads
● Jackson’s supporters called themselves democrats
● National Republicans supported Adams
● National government wanted a strong central government, and they supported measures such as
building roads and a national bank to facilitate economic growth
● During campaign both sides resorted to mudslinging
● Jackson received most of votes cast in the frontier states
● Also received many votes in south because of his support for states’ rights
● John C. Calhoun of South Carolina had been adam’s Vice President, but switched parties to run
with Jackson
● Jackson won election (1828) and his supported officially formed the Democratic Party
● Nation entered the age of Jackson
● Jackson was a patriot, a self made man, and a war hero
● In nation’s early years only men who owned property or paid taxes could vote
● By 1820’s many states loosened requirements
● By 1828 nearly all states let voters, rather than state legislatures, choose presidential electors
● Womans still couldn’t vote
● African americans and NA still had few rights of any kind
● Jackson disliked groups of people who try to influence government in a way that helps their own
interests
● Jackson and other Democrats wanted to further open up government
 ● They were disturbed that federal government had become a bureaucracy
● After taking office in 1829 jackson fired many federal workers and replaced them with his
supporters
● Fired employees protested but one jackson supporter said: “to the victors belong the spoils”
● Jackson’s supporters abandoned the caucus system, which top party leaders chose the party’s
candidates for office, and instead parties began using nominating conventions where delegates
from the states chose the party’s presidential candidate
● In 1828 congress passed a high protective tariff on manufactured goods from europe
● Northeast welcomed tariffs, southerners hated new tariff because south traded cotton to europe
for manufactured goods and new tariff would make these items more expensive
● Vice president calhoun, who believed in states’ rights, claimed that a state could nullify a federal
law if it wasn’t in that state’s best interests
● If an act of the national government went beyond the powers granted by the constitution, a state
had the right to refuse to obey
● Jackson disagreed. If a state could nullify any federal law it considered unconstitutional, the
power of the federal government would cease. Feared nullification could destroy union
● In 1830 at a washington dinner marking thomas jefferson’s birthday, jackson had a chance to
make his feelings on nullification known so he offered a toast looking directly at vice president
and said “for union! It must be preserved!”
● Vice president rose with toast and said “the union, next to our liberty, most dear” then added “it
can only be preserved by respecting the rights of the states”
● In 1832 congress passed a lower tariff
● South carolina passed the Nullification Act declaring it wouldn’t pay the “illegal” tariffs of 1828 and
1832. State threatened to secede from union if federal government interfered
● Jackson backed a bill that would gradually lower the tariff
● Jackson also vowed to uphold the law and asked congress for the power to use the power of the
federal government if it was needed
● 1833 congress passed the lower tariff bill and also the force bill, which allowed jackson to use
military to enforce law
● South carolina accepted new tariff but nullified force bill, both sides claimed victory

Conflicts Over Land

● The Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw peoples lived in georgia, alabama,
mississippi, and florida
● These groups created successful farming communities that were much like other american
communities and americans considered them “civilized” and called them the “five civilized tribes”
● Though americans recognized success of Five civilized tribes, they didn’t respect their rights
● Some wanted NA lands for themselves and wanted federal government to force eastern NA to
relocate to lands west of mississippi river
● Jackson supported white settlers’ demand for NA land
● He had once fought the creek and seminole in georgia and florida to give settlers more land
● When became president in 1829 he stated that he wanted to move all NA to the great plains
● Many people believed this region to be a wasteland where american settlers would never want to
live
● People thought that if all NA moved there, conflict with them would end
● In 1830 jackson pushed indian removal act through congress, this allowed federal government to
pay NA to move west
● In 1834 congress established indian territory
● Most NA felt forced to sell their land and move west
● Cherokee refused to do so
● In treaties of 1790s federal government had recognized cherokee as a separate nation
● Georgia, where most cherokee lived, refused to accept cherokee’s status
● In 1830 georgia made cherokee land part of state and enforce state laws in cherokee nation
● Cherokee said that they want to stay but georgia kept on pressuring cherokee, in response
cherokee turned to US supreme court
● Worcester v Georgia (1832) chief justice john marshall ruled that georgia had no right to interfere
with cherokee
● Jackson supported georgia’s efforts to remove cherokee. Opposed supreme court’s ruling and
said “john marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.” no one willing to or able to
challenge failure of president and congress to enforce court’s ruling
● Some cherokee, about 500, agreed to sign treaty of New Echota agreeing to give up all cherokee
land by 1838
● Cherokee chief john ross sent protest to US senate and explained that the few cherokee who
signed treaty didn’t speak for all 17,000 cherokee in region. Many white senators like daniel
webster and henry clay also opposed the treaty. Pleas didn’t change mind of jackson
● When treaty’s 1838 deadline arrived only about 2k cherokee had moved west
● Next president Martin Van Buren ordered ordered army to move rest of them
● General winfield scott arrived in cherokee nation with 7k troops to remove remaining cherokee by
force
● Between june and december 1838 soldiers rounded up cherokee and they began their march to
indian territory
● Many of the 15k cherokee being moved weren’t prepared for journey
● As many as 2,000 cherokees died in crowded camps awaiting their march
● Another 2,000 cherokee died on journey
● Cherokee came to call theri forced journey west the Trail Where They Cried
● Only the seminole in florida was the only group to successfully resist removal
● In 1835 US army arrived in florida to force remove seminole
● December 1835 a croup of seminole attacked troops led by Francis dade
● Few soldiers survived. Dade massacre prompted call for additional troops to fight seminole
● Between 1835 and 1842 about 3k seminole and african americans known as black seminole
fought some 30,000 soldiers
● Black seminole were escaped slaves
● Together they attacked white settlements along florida coast
● War cost US government 20 million dollars and 1.5k soldiers
● In 1842 most surviving seminole now in indian territory, fighting stopped
● War broke out again in 1858 over little land in florida that seminole still had, few remaining
seminole escaped into everglades where their descendants still live today
● By 1842 most NA lived in west and have given up more than 100 million acres
● They received about $68 million and 32 million acres of largely treeless grasslands
● The five civilized tribes relocated to eastern half of indian territory on lands already claimed by
others
● US army built forts in area and promised to protect the five civilized tribes and maintain peace in
area
● Five civilized tribes developed own constitutions and governments
● In 1887 congress passed dawes act, divided reservation lands into small farms
 ● By turning NA into individual farms government was was trying to destroy tribal system

Jackson and the bank

● Jackson disliked second bank of US long before he became president
● Congress set up bank in 1816 to hold federal government's money and to control the nation’s
money supply
● Private bankers ran bank
● The president, nicholas biddle, represented everything jackson hated
● Biddle came from wealthy philadelphia family and had a good education
● Bank’s assigned duties made it a powerful institution
● Bank’s strict policies made such loans difficult to obtain
● Jackson viewed bank as a monopoly that favored wealthy easterners and limited western growth
● Jackson's opponents planned to use bank to defeat him in 1832 election
● Henry clay and daniel webster were friends of biddle and persuaded him to apply early for a new
charter even though bank’s charter didn’t expire until 1836
● Clay and webster thought bank had support of american people
● They thought if jackson tried to veto charter he would lose support
● Jackson told secretary of State martin van buren “the bank is trying to kill me. But I will kill it”
● He argued bank was unconstitutional despite supreme court’s decision in mcculloch v maryland
whether state of maryland had right to tax national bank
● Clay’s plan backfired and most people supported jackson’s veto
● Jackson decided to kill bank before its current charter ended
● Ordered all government deposits withdrawn from bank and placed in smaller state banks
● 1836 he refused to sign a new charter and bank closed
● Democrats chose van buren, jackson’s vice president during second term
● Whigs, a party that included former republicans and anti-jackson forces were opposition
● Whigs nominated 3 candidates
● Each had support in different parts of nation. Whigs hoped this would keep van buren from getting
majority vote
● Then election would be decided by HOR which whigs controlled
● Whigs’ plan failed. Jackson’s popularity and support helped Van Buren win
● Financial panic hit nation when bank ceased all operations in 1836 and the smaller state banks
started issuing huge amounts of banknotes
● Concerned notes had little value, government stopped accepting them as payment for purchasing
public land
● Many people began to question value of their banknotes, leading to economic crisis
● The panic of 1837 lead to depression
● Land values dropped, banks failed, thousands of businesses closed, lossed jobs and land, and
across cities many people couldn’t afford food or rent
● Van buren did little to ease crisis because he believed in laissez-faire
● van buren persuaded congress to create an independent federal treasury in 1840
● Government no longer had to deposit its money in private banks. This new system prevented
state and private banks from using government money to pay their banknotes
● Members of van buren’s own democratic party joined whigs in criticizing the act
● Split gave whigs a chance to win presidency in 1840
● Democrats held whitehouse for 12 years
● Whigs united under william henry, who was a hero of war of 1812
● John tyler, a planter from virginia, was harrison’s running mate
● Harrison first gained fame with his victory over tecumseh’s followers in the battle of tippecanoe
1811
● Harrison needed support of workers and farms that had voted for jackson to win election
● Whigs portrayed harrison, who in reality was a wealthy ohian, a simple frontiers man like jackson
● Democrats attacked this image and said harrison was good for sitting in from of a log cabin and
collecting his military pension
● Attacks played in hands of whigs who adopted log cabin as the symbol for their campaign
● Whigs portrayed van buren as a wealthy snob with perfume-scented whiskers
● Blamed him for depression
● Whigs tactics and effects of depression seemed to work
● Harrison won by large margin making him first whig president
● Inauguration day 1841 was bitterly cold and harrison insisted on delivering his long speech
without a hat or coat
● Died of pneumonia 32 days later
● John tyler became first vice president to gain presidency because of death of president
● At age of 50 tyler was nation’s youngest president at that time
● John tyler won vice president as a whig but had once been a democrat so he opposed some whig
policies
● Whig leaders put him on election mainly to get south voters
● Whig party leaders daniel webster and henry clay had believed they could control harrison and
run the country behind the scenes. Harrison’s death ruined that plan
● President tyler vetoed several bills sponsored by whigs in congress when he vetoed a bill to
renew charter of bank twice, all but daniel webster as secretary of state resigned
● Whig leaders expelled tyler from whig party
● His biggest success was in 1842 when US and great britain signed webster-ashburton treaty
settling a long dispute over border between maine and canada and set a firm US canadian
boundary from maine to minnesota
● Except for opposing tyler, whigs couldn’t agree on party goals
● Voted by region, not party
● Henry clay lost election of 1844 to democratic candidate james polk
● Whigs had just one more president, zachary taylor, in 1848 who died in office
● Whig party became divided over slavery that party nearly disappeared in 1850s
● Many northern whigs left party and helped form new party which was the republicans