Chapter 10: The Growth of Democracy 1824-1840
New Democratic Politics
• Westward expansion acted as a nationally unifying force • Extreme campaigning, such as tours, rallies, and parades, grew in popularity • By 1840, over 90% of adult white males could vote • Women were not allowed to vote; African Americans had limited voting rights in some states
Elections of 1824 and 1828
• Neither Jackson not Adams gained an electoral majority, so the final vote went to the House of Representatives. Henry Clay, another presidential candidate and Speaker of the House, supported Adams • Jackson accused Adams and Clay of making a “corrupt bargain” when Adams became president and appointed Clay to Secretary of State • Jackson ran again and won • The campaigning was filled with scandal and false accusations • Jackson was determined to revenge his wife, who died supposedly from the slanderous accusations made of her • Calhoun, Jackson’s running partner, was Adams’s vice-president at the time of the campaigns • Results considered a victory for the common man
The Jackson Presidency
• Presidential term called “the Age of the Common Man” because of his extreme popularity and dislike of elite affairs • Instituted the “spoils system,” appointed supporters to government positions • Believed that the President should not need to compromise • Preferred to confer with friends in his “Kitchen Cabinet,” not his appointed advisors • Faced controversy over the Peggy Eaton affair, which caused a rift between him and Calhoun, his vice-president • Vetoed many bills, including one on federal funding for the national road, the Maysville Road Bill
Internal Improvements:
The Transportation Revolution
• In 1800, travel was slow and difficult • The Federal government funded a project to create a National Road, which stretched from East to West • The Erie Canal connected the Hudson River to the Great Lakes, cutting travel time, commercializing towns along its length, and spurring steamboat production and developments • Railroads began to grow, but suffered until the 1850s • Spurred Supreme Court cases, like Gibbons v. Ogden
Effects of the Transportation Revolution
• Caused accelerated settlement in the Western territories • Developed commercial agriculture into specialized production • New technology arose, like the steel plow, seed drill, and the horse-drawn reaper • Encouraged foreign investors • Built national unity from the ease of movement • Strengthened the North’s ties to the West, but not as much with the South
Jackson’s Actions
• “Tariff of Abominations” passed in 1828 as a protective tariff • It only succeeded in protecting the commercial North, not the agricultural South • South Carolina and Calhoun protested, and suggested a doctrine of nullification, which would allow states to ignore a federal law if they felt it was unconstitutional • Indians living in settled land were forced to assimilate • The “Five Civilized Tribes” were forced out of their lands and into unsettled reservations by Jackson’s 1830 Indian Removal Act • Cherokees fought to the Supreme Court to stay, but their win was not enforced • Resisting Cherokees led on Trail of Tears, ¼ died
•An Anti-Jackson (Whig) Party attempted to sway the 1832 elections, but failed
The Bank War and The Panic of 1837
• Jackson refused to recharter the Bank of the United States • Bank was supported by Henry Clay’s American System • Jackson disliked Clay and Biddle, the Bank president, and the Bank in general • Jackson transferred all federal Bank money to select state banks • An 1833 recession and foreign investors puling out American loans helped to cause the Panic • Jackson set up Panic, but left it to his successor, Van Buren • 800 banks suspended business, causing the collapse • Unemployment, poverty, riots and food and fuel shortages were common
The Second American Party System
• Due to Van Buren’s failure, the Whigs seized their opportunity to gain the presidency • The Democrats and the Whigs became the two main parties • Democrats- Supported Jackson, the “common man,” and a lack of federal interference, like the Bank • Whigs- Opposed Jackson, supported a strong federal government, and social reform • The Whig president, Harrison, died a month after his inauguration • Tyler, his vice-president, became president and proved to be anti-Whig • The Democrats eventually divided and the Whig Party eventually ended
American Arts, Letters, and the Formation of Culture
Letters Artists • Thomas Cole, Karl Bodmer, • Newspaper magazine and book production exploded Albert Bierstadt, John • The telegraph is invented in James Audubon 1844 by Samuel F.B. Morse • Mostly romantic landscapes • American historical novels were painted gained popularity Culture •American culture was considered insignificant to European accomplishments • American Philosophical Society was created by Benjamin Franklin in 1743 • American culture institutions set up, like libraries