The Jacksonian Era

1
The Jacksonian Era

• AP History I

2
An Expanding Nation with a Significant Problem

• Most Americans were pleased by the nations
  growth and physical expansion in an era a great
  nationalism.
• There was, however, one big problem . . .

3
Missouri Controversy

• In 1819, Missouri requested admittance into the
  union.
• NY Congressman James Tallmage moved that slavery
  be limited and, eventually, outlawed in Missouri.
• A debate raged in Congress.

4
Missouri Compromise of 1820

• Missouri admitted as a slave state.
• Maine admitted as a free state.
• 36 30 Line
• No new slave states above
• New states could have slavery below

5
John Qunicy Adams and Improvement

• As president, the professorial Adams pursued a
  nationalist program to expand the federal
  governments contributions to economic
  development.
• Embraced American System
• Encouraged education, construction of
  lighthouses, and even an astronomical observatory

6
Election of 1824

• Legitimate 5-way race exposed divisions within
  Jeffersonian Republican Party.
• Jackson got most popular and electoral votes, but
  no one got a majority.
• John Qunicy Adams, with the critical support of
  Henry Clay, won the election in the House of
  Representatives.
• JQA made Clay Secretary of State.

7
A Corrupt Bargain?

• Jacksons supporters angrily accused Adams of
  stealing the election in a corrupt bargain with
  Clay.
• The Jacksonians formed the Democratic Party in
  opposition to JQA and the National Republicans.

8
1828 Election

• JQA had a difficult, unpopular presidency,
  opposed by Jacksonian Democrats in Congress at
  every turn
• The JQA-Jackson match-up was a study in contrasts
• Old v. new
• Intellectual v. emotional
• Aristocracy v. commoners

A man who quotes law, or a man who makes
law? -- Jackson campaign slogan
9
Andrew Jackson the Person

• Orphaned at a young age
• A rollicking, cock-fighting youth
• War of 1812 hero New Orleans
• Celebrated Indian fighter
• Adopted Creek boy whose parents had been
  massacred by his own forces
• Forced Spanish to give up Florida in 1819
• Dueler
• Rose from humble beginnings to become a
  successful Tennessee lawyer

Slave owner reportedly wagered them on horse
races
10
Andrew Jackson the Politician

• democratic philosophy authoritarian style
• Demanded strict loyalty from his advisors
• Took political battles personally
• Refused to pay customary courtesy call on
  outgoing President J. Q. Adams (JQA, in turn,
  declined to attend Jacksons inauguration)
• Tended to identify his own will with the will of
  the people truly saw himself as the defender of
  the common man

11
The Little Magician

• Instrumental in both Jacksons election and
  presidency
• Devised strategy to help Jackson appeal to
  Northerners and thereby temper sectionalism in
  1828 election
• Tariff of 1828
• Engineered resolution of Peggy Eaton Affair and
  became Jacksons heir-apparent

12
Jacksonian Democracy

• Popular campaigning
• Party politics
• Emotional appeal
• WHY?
• Changes in electorate (those who vote)
• Universal white male suffrage
• Jackson appealed to the average farmer and the
  working class

13
Jacksons Inauguration

• Jacksons adoring supporters streamed into
  Washington to celebrate his inauguration.
• A rowdy post-inauguration party at the White
  House gave further ammunition to Jacksons
  detractors who looked down upon the common
  Jacksonian rabble.

14
Mob Rule?
15
The Spoils System

• Name comes from the saying To the victor go
  the spoils.
• Jackson asserted the right to replace all current
  federal employees (bureaucrats) after taking
  office.
• What reasoning did he give?
• Could he have had an ulterior motive?

16
Peggy Eaton Affair
Rachel Jackson
Peggy Eaton
17
Jacksonian Principles

• Majority rule
• States rights
• Defense of common people against monied
  aristocracy

18
Vice President John C. Calhoun

• A proud South Carolinian
• Published Exposition and Protest, which supported
  the Doctrine of Nullification, in 1828

We are not a nation but a Union, a confederacy
of equal and sovereign states. -- John C.
Calhoun
19
Webster Hayne Debate (1830)

• The centerpiece of a growing national debate over
  the concept of nullification
• Sen. Daniel Webster (MA) took on Sen. Robert
  Hayne (SC) in an extended debate on the US Senate
  floor.
• Nothing was settled, but the national debate over
  states rights v. federal power intensified.

20
Liberty and Union Now and Forever, One and
Inseparable!
21
Nullification Crisis (1832)

• Following the doctrine of nullification supported
  by Calhoun, South Carolina nullified the hated
  Tariff of 1828 (Tariff of Abominations)
• Jacksons Dilemma
• Majority rule v. states rights
• SC threatened secession
• Jackson secured passage of a Force Bill providing
  for federal enforcement of the tariff.
• A compromise was engineered and SC backed down.

22
Second National Bank

• Jackson saw the bank as serving the interests of
  the monied aristocracy.
• He also saw it as unconstitutional.

23
Bank War National Bank Recharter Battle

• Congressional Whigs, led by Clay and Webster,
  passed a bill to recharter the national bank in
  1832.
• Whigs hoped to make Jacksons opposition to the
  bank a political issue in the 1832 election.
• Jackson vetoed the National Bank recharter bill.
• Jackson vetoed a total of 12 bills during his
  presidency. All previous presidents combined had
  vetoed just 9.

Nicholas Biddle
24
Jacksons National Bank Veto Message
It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful
too often bend the acts of government to their
selfish purposes. Distinctions in society will
always exist under every just government.
Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth
can not be produced by human institutions. In the
full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the
fruits of superior industry, economy, and virtue,
every man is equally entitled to protection by
law but when the laws undertake to add to these
natural and just advantages artificial
distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and
exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and
the potent more powerful, the humble members of
society-the farmers, mechanics, and laborers-who
have neither the time nor the means of securing
like favors to themselves, have a right to
complain of the injustice of their Government.
There are no necessary evils in government. Its
evils exist only in its abuses. If it would
confine itself to equal protection, and as Heaven
does its rains, shower its favors alike on the
high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would
be an unqualified blessing.

25
The Bank War Continues

• Jacksons veto of the bank recharter bill didnt
  put the issue to rest
• The old charter didnt run out until 1836.
• What did Jackson do?
• Declaring the bank is trying to kill me, but I
  will kill it,Jackson withdrew the federal govts
  money from the bank.
• What effects did Jacksons action have?

26
Congress Censure of President Jackson

• The Whig-led Congress probably wanted to impeach
  Jackson, but he was too popular.
• Instead, Henry Clay introduced a censure
  resolution, which passed the Senate by a vote of
  26-20.
• It said Jackson had assumed upon himself power
  not conferred by the Constitution and laws.

27
Oh, if I live to get these robes of office off
me, I will bring the rascal to a dear
account! -- Andrew Jackson
28
Jacksonian Indian Policy

• Jackson, of course, had a history with Indians.
• When the State of Georgia tried to evict the
  Indians of the Cherokee nation, therefore,
  Jacksons reaction was predictable.
• The Cherokee fought back, however . . .

29
Indian Removal Act (1830)
The act provided for the removal of Indians from
land that could be used to expand white
settlements. In a speech defending the act,
Jackson said It will separate the Indian
from immediate contact with settlements of
whites, enable them to pursue happiness in their
own way and under their own rude institutions,
will retard the progress of decay, which is
lessening their numbers, and perhaps cause them
gradually, under the protection of the government
and through the influence of good counsel, to
cast off their savage habits and become an
interesting, civilized, and Christian community.
30
Worcester v. Georgia (1834)

• Case involved the arrest of missionary Samuel
  Worcester for violating a GA law against whites
  living among Indians.
• The US Supreme Court ruled that the State of GA
  had no jurisdiction over the independent Cherokee
  Nation.

31
The Ongoing Cherokee Controversy

• The USSCs ruling in Worcester v. Georgia
  appeared to mean that the Cherokee could not
  legally be removed since they were an independent
  nation.
• How did Jackson respond?

32
Trail of Tears (1838)
33
Jacksons Specie Circular (1836)

• After Jackson killed the National Bank, smaller
  banks (no longer being regulated by the National
  Bank) printed excessive amounts of paper money.
• Serious inflation problem resulted
• Jacksons Specie Circular required payment for
  public lands to be in hard currency only.
• What effect did the Specie Circular have?

34
Panic of 1837

• The Specie Circular resulted in Americans turning
  in their paper money for hard currency.
• Banks failed when the demand became too great.
• The worst economic collapse in the countrys
  short history ensued.
• Unemployment rose to near 50 in some areas.

Who was blamed?
35
Martin van Buren

• New Yorker and Jacksons hand-picked successor
• popularly referred to as Martin van Ruin as
  Panic of 1837 intensified

36
Second Two-party System

• DEMOCRATS limited government
• Jacksonians
• dominated much of South and West
• pro-slavery
• suspicious of wealthy elite
• anti-moralist
• states rights advocates

37
Second Two-party System

• WHIGS activist government
• most popular in Northeast
• more supportive of federal govt. measures
  designed to encourage economic growth like the
  national bank and internal improvements (Henry
  Clays American System)
• moralism (Conscience Whigs supported moral
  reforms like temperance and anti-slavery
  measures.)

38
Election of 1840

• Van Buren v. William Henry Harrison
• Indian-war-hero Harrison (Old Tippecanoe), with
  his Log Cabin and Hard Cider campaign, was able
  to beat the Jacksonian Democrats at their own
  game.

39
Harrison Campaign Poster
How is Harrison being presented? What does the
symbolism mean?
40
Harrison Campaign Poster
What message does this poster convey?
41
Transcendentalism

• An American philosophical movement
• led by Ralph Waldo Emerson
• To find truth, look inward and to nature.
• Emphasis on the significance and the personal
  growth of the individual (but not in a selfish or
  materialistic sense)
• Can be seen as a reaction against the man-made
  shallowness of the new industrial world.

What does individualism mean to you?
42
Random Emerson Quote
43
Henry David Thoreau

• Follower/student/houseguest of Emerson
• Sought to put Emersons philosophy into action
• Walden, published in 1854

44
Henry David Thoreau
I went to the woods because I wished to live
deliberately, to front only the essential facts
of life, and see if I could not learn what it had
to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover
that I had not lived. -- from Walden, 1854
45
Hudson River School
Thomas Cole

• A school of American artists who painted the
  American landscape
• Influenced by Transcendentalism

46
Hudson River School
Frederic Church, Twilight in the Wilderness
Frederic Church, Niagara Falls
Asher Durand, Kindred Spirits
47
Emersons American Scholar

• How does Emerson view Europe?
• How does he view America?
• What, to Emerson, is freedom?
• What act of scholarly bravery or manliness does
  Emerson urge American intellectuals to perform?

48
Second Great Awakening

• C. 1840
• Charles G. Finney, Rochester Revival
• Collective Salvation
• save all of society in order to save self
• Milennialism
• societys ills must be cured to pave the way for
  second coming of Christ

What effects might the philosophy of collective
salvation have?
49
Charles Grandison Finney and the Second Great
Awakening Philosophy

• What, according to Finney, is the primary trait
  of a sinner? What is the primary trait of a
  faithful person?
• Why does Finney use the language of democracy to
  make his religious points?
• How would you expect a follower of Finney to
  affect American politics and government?

50
Utopian Communities
How unusual were utopian communities? Why did so
many develop in the Antebellum era? Why did they
develop in America?

• The reformist impulse of the Second Great
  Awakening era spawned a variety of Utopian
  communities.
• These communities sought, each in their own way,
  to establish an ideal society.

51
Brook Farm

• Modern-day West Roxbury/Jamaica Plain, MA
• transcendentalist community founded by George
  Ripley
• agriculture, literature, gender equality
• shunned capitalist profit

52
New Harmony, IN

• founded by Scottish immigrant industrialist
  Robert Owen
• gender equality
• Owen denounced marriage
• education for all
• Utopian socialism - everyone paid equally

I am come to this country to introduce an entire
new system of society to change it from an
ignorant, selfish system to an enlightened social
system which shall gradually unite all interests
into one and remove all causes for contest
between individuals.
53
Fruitlands

• Harvard, MA
• transcendentalist commune founded by Bronson
  Alcott
• rejection of modern industrial society
• no use of products derived from animals or slave
  labor
• lasted seven months

54
Hopedale, MA

• Industrial commune
• early Christian socialist community
• under the direction of Adin Ballou

55
Oneida Community

• Putney, VT then Oneida, NY
• Perfectionism
• John Humphrey Noyes (Father Noyes)
• communal living and child-rearing
• Planned reproduction and birth control
• complex marriage
• silverware

56
Shakers

• Originally founded in England
• Mother Ann Lee believed to be female Christ
• numerous isolated communities, mostly in NE
• celibacy, separation of men and women
• gender equality

57
Catholic Monastic CommunitiesParallels to
Protestant and Secular Utopian Communities

• Celibacy
• Self-discipline
• Rejection of material wealth

• Sisters of Charity (1812)
• founded in Maryland
• Mother Elizabeth Seton first US saint
• Paulist Fathers
• Founded by former Brook Farm resident Isaac
  Hecker
• First American order of priests

58
The Catholic Church in America

• Could a Church run dictatorially succeed in
  democratic America?
• Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore, the first Roman
  Catholic bishop in the US, was a descendant of a
  signer of the Declaration of Independence.
• He was elected by the Baltimore clergy and
  embraced republican principles and freedom of
  religion

59
Catholicism in Antebellum America

• Only major non-millennialist Christian sect in US
• Church became increasingly European with
  increased Catholic immigration
• Considered foreign and a threat to American
  democracy/exceptionalism by many Protestant
  Americans

The Sisters of Ursula convent and girls school
in Somerville, MA was burned down by a mob of
2000 Protestant Bostonians in 1834. Of the 13
men charged with the crime, 12 were acquitted and
the 13th was pardoned by the governor.
60
Millerites

• Ardent premillennialists
• William Miller calculated date for Second Coming
• . . . then recalculated
• Widespread following
• Modern-day Seventh-Day Adventists trace their
  origins to Millerites

61
Mormons

• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
• founded by Joseph Smith in upstate NY
• Smith discovered Book of Mormon (a new Christian
  gospel) written on golden tablets buried on his
  farm.

62
Mormons

• Mormons initially believed in polygamy
• They were widely persecuted.
• Smith was murdered by a mob in the Mormon
  community of Nauvoo, IL.
• Brigham Young led the Mormons to the frontier
  territory of Utah to escape persecution.

63
What was the significance of millennial and
Utopian Movements in Antebellum America?

• Underscored belief in American uniqueness/exceptio
  nalism
• Highlighted experimental nature of America and
  belief in infinite possibilities

64
Temperance Movement

• Anti-alcohol movement
• American Temperance Society (1826)
• Alcoholism as a moral failing
• Washington Temperance Society (1840)
• Alcolholism as a disease
• Moral suasion initially the most common tactic,
  but political action later became popular
• Local Option Laws (1850s)
• State laws forbidding sale/manufacture of alcohol

65
Temperance Movement
Who would be inclined to support the temperance
movement?
66
Mental Health Reform

• In 1843, Dorothea Dix began a successful crusade
  for the humane treatment of the mentally ill.
• The mentally ill were commonly imprisoned.
• Dixs led to the creation of special asylums for
  the care of the mentally ill.
• Disciple of perfectionist Unitarian minister
  William Ellery Channing

I tell what I have seen!
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Mental Health Reform
68
Prison Reform

• The idea that prisoners could be reformed if
  dealt with properly became popular.
• Solitary reflection on the Bible was encouraged.
• The prison reform movement shared Dorothea Dix
  belief that good institutions could improve
  people.

69
Workers/Labor Movement

• Workingmens Parties were political parties
  built around the concerns of working class people
  formed in many states in the 1820s and 1830s.
• With the growth of industry, labor unions and
  strikes grew more widespread.
• National Trades Union, 1834, was the first
  attempt at a nationwide labor union

70
Anti-Slavery Movement

• Radical Abolitionists
• -- immediate, uncompensated emancipation
• Moderate Abolitionists
• -- gradual, possibly compensated emancipation
• Colonizationists
• -- gradual emancipation accompanied by
  colonization of freed slaves in Africa
• -- American Colonization Society (1816)
• -- Liberia

71
William Lloyd Garrison

• Radical abolitionist from MA
• Founded anti-slavery journal The Liberator
• Moral suasion was principal tactic

I am in earnest. I will not equivocate AND I
WILL BE HEARD!
72
Frederick Douglass

• Former slave
• Taught to read and write illegally by his
  Maryland master
• Foremost black leader, abolitionist of his time
• Broke from Garrisons movement when not afforded
  equal status
• Understood, unlike many white abolitionists, that
  abolition did not necessarily equal freedom

• Advocated political action and possibly rebellion
  in addition to moral suasion

73
Other Anti-Slavery Reformers

• David Walker advocated slave rebellion in
  speeches and essays during 1840s
• Martin Delany advocated black nationalism,
  return to Africa
• David Ruggles protested segregation of
  transportation in Massachusetts in 1841

74
Womens Movement

• Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott traveled
  to the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention.
• What happened?

75
Abby Kelley

• After creating controversy by being elected to a
  previously all-male committee at the American
  Anti-Slavery Societys 1840 convention, Kelley
  became a leading advocate for womens rights and
  presided over the National Womens Rights
  Convention held in Worcester in 1850.

American women have good cause to be grateful to
the slave, for in striving to strike his iron
off, we found most surely that we were manacled
ourselves.
76
Seneca Falls Convention (1848)

• Americas first womens rights convention
• Organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady
  Stanton