The Age of
Jackson
1824-1840
Denmark Vesey
• In 1822 a free black tried to led a slave revolt in
South Carolina
• Convincing the southern states that their
“peculiar institution” was in danger from
possible slave uprising and northern criticism
• The revolt was quickly suppressed but the fear of
possible revolts left a legacy in the southern states
Corrupt Bargain
• The 1824 election:
1. Andrew Jackson of Tennessee
with Calhoun as vice president
2. Henry Clay of Kentucky
3. William H. Crawford of Georgia
4. John Q. Adams of Massachusetts
• All four were Republicans
• Jackson, who avoided all the issues, gained the
most popular votes and the most electoral votes,
but not the necessary majority
• Adams was second in both balloting
• Clay was fourth, the American System was dead
• The 12th Amendment said the top 3 vote getters
would be voted upon in the House
• Crawford suffered a stroke and was basically out
of the race
• Clay, the Speaker of the House, had been
eliminated so he supported Adams because he
hated Jackson
• Adams appointed Clay Secretary of State, the
usual position before the presidency – Jackson
claimed the election had been rigged
• No evidence was found, but the claim hurt the
reputation of both men, but the administration
was hampered before it started
Adams
• Adams was very intellectual but lacked the
ability to play the political game
• Adams proposed new roads and canals, a
national university, and a national observatory
• The big issues were western land and the tariff
• Southerners approved of the roads and canals
because they would help commerce, but realized
that the government would have to continue to
collect tariffs
• Opponents formed the National-Republicans
and supported Jackson
Tariff of Abominations (1828)
• By 1824 tariffs were often as high as 37%, but
manufacturers wanted more
• Calhoun proposed a new higher tariff (45%) on
imported raw materials like wool – hoping New
Englanders would think the tariff too high and
vote against it- thus hurting the president
• But New Englanders passed the law
• Southerners called it the “Tariff of
Abominations”
• Calhoun paid the political price for the move
The South Carolina Exposition
• Southerners sold their products without a tariff
but purchased products were expensive because
of the tariff
• In 1828 John C. Calhoun was compelled to
write anonymously “The South Carolina
Exposition” calling for a nullification of the
tariff by southern states or face the possibility
of secession – but South Carolina was alone in
the threat
Andrew Jackson
• In 1828 there were 24 states and almost 13
million people – the population was doubling
every 23 years In the election of 1828 Jackson
was able to turn the people against Adams
• Jackson won the popular vote and the Electoral
College (178-83) – with most support from the
West and South
• He portrayed himself as the “People’s President”
– not an aristocrat – he benefited from a national
sense of democracy
• He was nicknamed “Old Hickory”by his men and
although not old aristocracy he lived in a
mansion and owned slaves
• He was tough, from the west, a folk hero, but he
also had tuberculosis, malaria, and severe
headaches
• He let commoners enter the White House during
the inauguration – they broke pottery
• Jackson’s critics called it “the reign of King
Mob” other simply referred to the era as the “age
of the common man”
Spoils System
• This was the first election since 1800 that a new
party held office
• Jackson replaced older, experienced people with
younger more impetuous people – usually friends
or patrons
• Jackson used the spoils system to reward people
but often at the cost of experience and knowledge
• However the administration would center on the
animosity between Vice-President Calhoun and
Secretary of State Martin Van Buren
The Eaton “Affair”
• Peggy Eaton was the vivacious widow of a whose
husband had committed suicide after learning his
wife had had an affair with Tennessee senator
John Eaton
• She had married Jackson’s secretary of war,
Eaton, shortly before his appointment and
quickly became the talk of the capital
• Calhoun’s wife was particularly hurtful and
continually snubbed Eaton at social functions
• Some other wives were doing the same
• Jackson felt sympathy for Peggy Eaton
• Van Buren, a widower, did his best to make
Peggy feel better
• Jackson turned against Calhoun and closer
towards Van Buren
Maysville Road
• Calhoun supported congressional funds for
internal improvements
• Van Buren and Jackson had the same
constitutional issues as Madison and Monroe
• In 1830 the Maysville Road Bill passed Congress
• The bill proposed the spending of funds to
construct a road from Lexington (KY) to
Maysville (KY) and was supported by Clay
• The road was intended to link with the National
Road – but was vetoed as being a local project
Webster-Hayne Debate (1830)
• The main issue of the debate was states’ rights or
federal rights
• In 1829 Senator Foot of Connecticut proposed
(Foot Resolution) the government restrict the sale
of public land in the west
• Thomas Benton Hart of Missouri saw this as an
attempt to prevent potential workers migrating
westward and thus affecting eastern industry
• Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina saw the issue
as a chance to solidify the strength of the south
and west
• If the southern states supported the western
states they could create an alliance against the
powerful northern states
• Hayne said the policy which favored one section
of the country over another section endangered
the Union
• Daniel Webster of Massachusetts defended the
federal government by stating that Hayne had
misunderstood the policy and that it certainly did
not favor one section over another
• Hayne was now forced to defend the issue of
states’ rights
• Hayne used the Virginia and Kentucky
Resolutions (1798) and the Hartford Convention
as examples of states’ rights
• He argued that the Union was a compact and the
federal government should work for the states
• Webster responded with a nationalistic view of
the Constitution. If a single state could nullify a
law the Union would be a “rope of sand”
• The Constitution created the Supreme Court to
make decisions of constitutionality
• A state could not nullify a law nor could that
state leave the Union
• The Foot Resolution was defeated
• Jackson said nothing on the issue until the
Jefferson Day Dinner in Washington
• Jackson made the toast, “The Union –It must be
preserved!”
• Calhoun made the next toast and promoted
states’ rights
• About the same time Jackson saw old reports
from Calhoun (when he was Secretary of State)
that wanted to punish Jackson for his actions in
Florida
• By 1831 Jackson had removed all the supporters
of Calhoun from his cabinet
The 1832 Election
• Jackson agreed to run again in 1832 with Van
Buren as his vice-president
• South Carolinians still wanted lower tariffs and
when the tariff of 1832 was passed they gained
some relief, but the tariffs on cottons, woolens,
and iron remained high
• The South Carolina legislature became a
battleground between the nullification supporters
and the Unionists
• The state adopted the Ordinance of Nullification
Ordinance of Nullification
• The Ordinance repudiated the Tariffs of 1828
and 1832 as unconstitutional
• The state selected Hayne as governor and
Calhoun to replace him as senator
• Calhoun resigned as vice-president to defend
nullification
• Jackson stood firm and issued the Nullification
Proclamation which declared that one state
would not be allowed to dissolve the Union
• Federal troops were sent to Charleston
Force Bill (1833)
• Nullifiers mobilized the militia
• In 1833 the president requested the Force Bill
authorizing the army to use force against the
state of South Carolina to enforce federal laws
• Henry Clay arranged for Congress to cut the
tariff on cotton in half by 1842
• In March the president signed the compromise
tariff and the Force Bill – South Carolina
rescinded the nullification of the tariffs and
nullified the Force Bill (token gesture of defiance)
Indian Removal Act (1830)
• Jackson believed the Indians were savages and
the country was better without them
• In 1828 Jackson stated the Indians would be
humanely moved to the west of the Mississippi
and resettled in the “Great American Desert”
• In 1830 Congress approved the move
• In 1832 Chief Black Hawk led the Sauk and Fox
tribes against the resettlement program
• The Illinois militia massacred women and
children as they fled – Jeff Davis and Abe
Lincoln were involved
Indian Policy
• In the south the Seminoles and Creek put up stiff
resistance
• In 1837 their leader Osceola was captured under
a flag of truce and died in a federal prison
• By 1842 most resistance had ended
The Trail of Tears
• In 1827 the Cherokee adopted a Constitution that
said they were not subject to another other state
or nation
• Georgia responded by passing a law saying that
by 1830 the Cherokee would be subject to state
law
• In 1831 in the Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia
Marshall ruled the court lacked jurisdiction
because the Cherokee were a domestic nation and
they had a right to their land
• Jackson did not care what Marshall decreed
• The Cherokees “gave up” their land for other
land in the Indian Territory, $5 million, and
travel expenses
• In 1838 12,000 Indians set out on the Trail of
Tears
• Only 8,000 survived the march to Oklahoma
The Bank
• The other big election issue in 1832 was the re-
chartering of the Bank of the United States
• Jackson opposed the Bank, but under Nicholas
Biddle the Bank had done well and prospered
• The Bank was due to be re-chartered in 1836, but
Biddle could not afford to wait
• In 1832 both Houses passed a new charter but
without enough votes to prevent a veto
• Jackson vetoed the legislation
Election 1832
• 1832 was the first time for a third-party
• The Anti-Masonic party was aimed at creating a
democracy
• The Anti-Masonic party was first to hold a
national nominating convention and the first to
announce a platform
• The party nominated William Wirt of Maryland
• The other parties soon copied the convention
• The National-Republicans nominated Henry
Clay
• The Democratic Party (dropped the Republican)
endorsed Jackson
• Without a platform the Jackson won easily (219-
49)
• Wirt only carried Vermont
• South Carolina gave her votes to the governor of
Virginia
• Jackson saw victory as a mandate against the
National Bank
• Jackson called the Bank the “hydra of
corruption” and claimed federal deposits were
not safe
• Jackson focused on removing federal deposits
from the Bank
• Jackson removed Secretary of the Treasury
McLane from the cabinet for disagreeing and
replaced him with Attorney-General Roger
Taney – who shared Jackson’s fear of the Bank
• Taney started putting federal money in state
banks or “pet banks” as they became known
• Biddle tried to stop the moves and show how
important the Bank was by stopping loans
• However Biddle started a spree of wild
speculation and the opening of wildcat banks
with little or no worth
• Jackson instructed the Treasury to issue the
Specie Circular – allowing only hard currency
for land – contributing to the Panic of 1837
Whigs
• Jackson’s opponents joined together to form the
Whigs – because it symbolized an anti-monarchy
movement. Many people now referred to
Jackson as “King Andrew I”
• The first signs of political power came when
Clay, Calhoun, and Webster all joined forces in
1834 to challenge Jackson’s banking policies
• They were conservatives who wanted internal
improvements and a market economy
Election of 1836
• Jackson selected Martin Van Buren as his
successor
• Many believed this was simply Jackson’s
attempts to serve a third term
• The Whigs were unable to nominate a single
candidate and instead nominated several based
on region hoping to send the election to the
House, where they might have a chance
• Van Buren, the “Little Magician” barely won in
the popular vote, but comfortably in the
Electoral vote (170-124)
Martin Van Buren
• Van Buren was of Dutch ancestry and the first
president born in the United States
• He was so skilled at politics that he earned the
nickname “Little Magician”
• Much of his success was owed to his association
with Jackson and when he took office it appeared
as if Jackson had remove the two biggest
problems – the bank and nullification
• But Jackson’s economic policies also caused the
Panic of 1837
Panic of 1837
• The British economy in the 1830s witnessed a
severe downturn – the price of cotton dropped
• British bankers cut back on investing in America
• A failure of the wheat crop in 1836 caused many
farmers to liquidate
• Pet banks simply went out of business
• Nearly one-third of the workforce was
unemployed
• The Whigs proposed higher tariffs and an
expansion of credit, but Jackson’s policy was to
leave the economy alone
• Van Buren did not believe he was responsible for
fixing the problem, but he did create the
“Divorce Bill”
• He tried to divorce the government from banking
by creating an independent treasury
• The plan was to keep government money safe
and at the same time reducing the available
credit
• Even supporters did not fully endorse the idea
• The plan passed in 1840, was repealed in 1841 by
the Whigs after the election, reenacted in 1846
and eventually became part of the Federal
Reserve System in the early twentieth century
Texas
• As Americans looked for land they were drawn
to Texas which belonged to Spain
• The land had been given to Spain by the United
States as part of the 1819 agreement to acquire
Florida
• In 1823 the Mexican government allowed
Stephen Austin to take 300 families to settle the
area but there were certain rules the settlers had
to follow
• The Americans basically ignored these
requirements
• Adventurers like Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie
went to Texas along with Sam Houston
• The settlers soon conflicted with the Mexican
authorities over slavery, religion, and states’
rights (Mexico had ended slavery in 1830)
• In 1833 Austin went to Mexico City to meet with
the dictator General Santa Anna, who threw
Austin in jail for eight months
• In 1835 Santa Anna marched his army into Texas
to suppress the troublemakers
• In 1836 Texas declared independence and names
Houston commander-in-chief
• The Mexicans trapped over 100 Texans led by
William Travis, at the Alamo in San Antonio
• All the Texans including Bowie and Crockett
were killed in the battle
• Houston took what was left of the Texas army
and retreated
• Months later at San Jacinto the Texans surprised
the Mexican army and in a matter of minutes
completely defeated the Mexicans
• Santa Anna was captured and he signed two
treaties:
a) the Mexican army would withdrew from Texas
b) the Rio Grande was the southwestern border
of Texas
• When he was released he repudiated the treaties
• Public opinion in America favored the Texans
but the government could not open support the
rebellion
• In 1837 the Texas government petitioned for
annexation into the Union, but the request was
rejected because of the slavery question
• To admit Texas was to increase slavery
Election of 1840
• Van Buren was the Democratic candidate. The
Whigs united and nominated William Henry
Harrison from Ohio – John Tyler of Virginia was
his running mate
• The Whigs published no platform
• A Democratic editor published a story saying
Harrison was too old and he should retire to a log
cabin and a barrel of old cider
• Portraying Harrison as a poor western farmer
alienated western farmers who turned to the
Whigs
• The Whigs adopted the idea of a hard working
honest farmer as symbols for their campaign
• The slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler too” quickly
gained momentum
• Harrison barely won the popular vote but easily
won the electoral vote (234-60)
• 31 days after the inauguration Harrison died of
pneumonia- the shortest presidential term
• Clearly the people had chosen democracy over
aristocracy and from 1840 onward politicians
would have to solicit the support of the masses
• Also by 1840 there were two very distinct
political parties
• Democrats supported:
states’ rights
federal restraint
• Whigs supported:
National bank
Protective tariffs
Internal improvements
(later – the abolition of slavery)