The Jackson Era 1824-1845
Election of 1824- In 1824, four candidates ran for the Presidency: Andrew Jackson John Quincy Adams Henry Clay William Crawford The Results: Harpers Weekly Candidate Popular Votes Electoral Votes Jackson 152,901 99 Adams 114,023 84 Crawford 47,217 41 Clay 46,979 37 So, who won?
Jackson Adams Crawford Clay 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 99 84 41 37 Electoral Votes Needed to win 131 electoral votes!- again, electoral votes are what decide presidential elections! (total electoral votes in 1824 = 261) Although Jackson received more popular and electoral votes, he did not get a majority of electoral votes! He only received a plurality! The Constitution required that this election be decided in the House of Representatives.
Jackson and his supporters were angry and said that the two men had cut a deal to steal the election- they called it a corrupt bargain! The Corrupt Bargain Henry Clay, who was the Speaker of the House, realized that he could not be elected, but his influence helped Adams win the Presidency yet some suggested that there was a price. After the House of Representatives voted to make Adams president, Adams appointed Clay to be his Secretary of State.
Adams knew that a lot of people were upset about the outcome of the 1824 election. John Quincy Adams Adams hoped to remedy this with lots of new government programs (Adams was strongly influenced by Federalist principles). Public domain image
In 1828, Jackson and Adams had a rematch. Three times more people voted in 1828 than in 1824 because suffrage had increased. More people were able to vote and Jackson won handily! The count was 178 to 83 electoral votes, or 647,276 to 508,064 popular votes. 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 178 83 Electoral Votes Jackson Adams
The election was very costly to Jackson. He claimed that personal attacks on his wife and himself led to her death (heart failure) in December of 1828. He never forgave his opponents and was always very bitter about their treatment of his wife. After her death, Jackson said, "May God Almighty forgive her murderers as I know she forgave them. I never can." Public domain image Rachel Jackson
By the election of 1828, many citizens had gained suffrage (the right to vote). Many states had dropped land ownership requirements, but unfortunately, some had placed greater restrictions on the voting rights of African Americans.
Parties also began to form: The Whigs (originally the National Republicans) formed. Jackson and his supporters formed The Democratic Party (same one as today).
At the time of the inauguration of Jackson, American society was changing rapidly. Equality was extremely important to many and Jackson was viewed as the common man s president! Public domain image Andrew Jackson's Inauguration, 1829. Painting by Allyn Cox.
Upon his inauguration, thousands of people showed up to celebrate his presidency. They attended a White House party afterward which turned into a mob scene and almost led to injury for Jackson. ibrary of Congress
Short Biography- Born in a log cabin in the Carolina frontier in 1767 Parents were Irish immigrants Both parents died by the time he was 13 or 14 At the age of 13, he fought in the Revolution and served as a courier. He was captured and treated poorly. He became a lawyer and practiced law in the frontier He became wealthy in a short time While still in his twenties, he was elected to Congress He served in the War of 1812 and won major battles at Horseshoe Bend and New Orleans Was given the name Old Hickory by his troops The name stuck for the entirety of his life
To the victor belong the spoils! Jackson was criticized by some for creating the spoils system (the practice of giving jobs to loyal supporters)! From Harper's Weekly, April 28, 1877 He fired many government workers and replaced them with people who had helped him win his election. Often these people were uneducated and from poor families. Jackson argued that they could do the job just as well!
Jackson often appointed under qualified people to serve in cabinet positions. He rarely received advice from his cabinet, but instead relied on a informal group of advisors (leaders in the Democratic Party and newspaper editors) called the Kitchen Cabinet. The Kitchen Cabinet was considered a rough bunch, but many citizens thought this was evidence that Jackson was truly the common man s president!
Jackson also took on the very popular Bank of the United States The Bank controlled loans made by state banks The Bank of the US would cut back on the loans states could make if they felt that they were making too many high risk loans! This hurt farmers and merchants!
Jackson harbored a real hatred for the Bank of the US President, Nicholas Biddle. Biddle and his Congressional allies (Clay and Webster), came up with a plan to save the Bank and hopefully hurt Jackson politically The charter for the Bank was not up until 1836, but they wanted to make a campaign issue out of it so they moved the vote up by four years Public domain image Nicholas Biddle
After the Congress approved it, Jackson promptly vetoed it and sent a very fiery message along with it! He gave two reasons for his veto: 1. He felt it was unconstitutional (the Constitution did not give specific powers to the federal government to create a banksame argument as Jefferson) 2. It gave advantages to the very wealthy alone (those who needed loans the most could never get them because they were considered too high risk )
The Whigs were certain that this would hurt Jackson in the 1832 election, but instead he won a huge victory! Jackson ordered all deposits be sent to state banks rather than the now defunct Bank of the S. These were referred to as pet banks because many were run by Jackson s Secretary of the Treasury, Roger Taney, and his friends. 250 200 150 100 50 0 219 49 Electoral Votes 11 7 Jackson Clay Floyd Wirt
ackson s defeat of the Bank of the US was a huge ictory and Americans began to think even more ighly of him! Only George Washington matched is popularity. ackson made the executive branch much more owerful than it had ever been!
arly in Jackson s presidency, rouble brewed with the Tariff of 828 (called the Tariff of bominations by Southerners) the tariff helped the North by raising the price of European goods so that their products would cost less Southern plantation owners sold their cotton in Europe and bought European goods in return. The high prices on European goods made this difficult
Vice President John C. Calhoun wanted Southern states to nullify the tariffs as Thomas Jefferson had done years before Public domain image Calhoun was an advocate of state s rights and argued that states had greater authority than the federal government. John C. Calhoun
Daniel Webster led the fight against nullification. He argued that if states could nullify, the federal government would have no real power. He ended his speech by saying, Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable. Daniel Webster Public domain image
Calhoun pressed Jackson to speak out on the issue. At a dinner party, many many Southern congressmen rose to praise states rights. When Jackson rose he said, Our federal Union- It must be preserved! Jackson s clear opposition to nullification outraged Calhoun who resigned as Vice President, but was elected Senator of South Carolina soon after. Andrew Jackson Public domain image
he Congress passed another tariff in 1832, but it as much lower than the Tariff of Abominations. he Assembly of SC passed the Nullification Act aking the 1828 and 1832 tariffs illegal. It hreatened to secede from the Union if their uthority was challenged.
Jackson supported Henry Clay s plan to lower tariffs, but he also wanted the power to enforce existing tariffs with the use of the Army. By Henry Alexander Ogden (1856-1936), published by the U.S. Army Quartermaster General in 1890.
The bill was agreed to by Calhoun and the South Carolina Nullification Law was repealed. This was the end of the Nullification Crisis, but South Carolina would eventually live up to its threat to secede!
Shortly after Jackson took office, Georgia claimed the right to seize Cherokee land. The Indians went to court and argued that their land was protected by a treaty. In 1832, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokee on the same issue in Worcester v. Georgia. In this case Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the Cherokee Nation was sovereign, making the removal laws invalid. The Cherokee would have to agree to removal in a treaty. The treaty then would have to be ratified by the Senate. Jackson supported states rights in this case and said that the Court was wrong. Congress also supported their removal and in 1830 passed the Indian Removal Act.
As a result, thousands of Indians were pushed west by the US Army. This was known as the Trail of Tears (1835-1838). Many died along the route--- mostly children and the elderly. The Seminole Indians fought back in Florida, marking the beginning of the Seminole War. The Americans lost many lives fighting the fierce Seminoles, but the Seminoles were finally defeated in 1844.
After Jackson finished his second term, Vice President Martin Van Buren became President. Unfortunately for him, the Panic of 1837 (an economic crisis) began shortly after he entered office. The 2 major reasons for the Panic of 1837 Martin Van Buren
1. Speculators began to buy land by borrowing huge amounts of money. 2. The Bank of the US was eliminated and state banks began to print more money that was not backed up by gold & silver. This depreciated the value of American currency. President Jackson tried to remedy this by ordering land sales only be paid with gold & silver.
Harper s Weekly 1837 The depression went on for three years. People were starving and often out of work. 90% of the factories in the North closed. Though Van Buren was known as a great politician, he was blamed for the problems of the nation.
The Whigs saw an opportunity for victory, but realized that their candidate had to be a common man. They chose William Henry Harrison (of Tippecanoe fame) to lead their party and John Tyler as V.P. Van Buren was renominated by the Democrats in 1840 despite his lack of popularity. Martin Van Buren William Henry Harrison
Tippecanoe & Tyler Too! Harrison led a very down to earth campaign. He toured the country giving speeches and meeting people. Supporters rolled balls down the street crying Keep the ball rolling. They gave away campaign items with Tippecanoe & Tyler Too on it.
The Democrats fought hard to defeat Harrison, referring to him as Granny Harrison the Petticoat General. 250 The Democrats strategy failed and 200 150 100 234 Harrison Van Buren Harrison won easily. 50 0 60 Electoral Votes
Unfortunately, Harrison died 1 month after giving the longest inaugural speech on record (1 hour 45 minutes), on a bitterly cold day. He died of pneumonia exactly 1 month after his inauguration leaving Vice President John Tyler to take over. Harrison was the first president to die while in office.
The Whigs had not carefully selected Harrison s vice presidential candidate To their dismay, John Tyler, a former Democrat, did not agree with many Whig policies. When Congress passed a bill creating a new bank of the US, Tyler vetoed it to the horror of the Whigs!
Tyler s stay in office was awful. All of his cabinet members resigned and he was officially expelled from the Whig Party in 1841. He became known as the man without a party. Official White House Portrait Public domain image The Democrats were pleased to see the Whigs argue and accomplish little. John Tyler