RISE OF MASS DEMOCRACY

1
RISE OF MASS DEMOCRACY

• Chapter 13

2
Politics Of The People

• When the Federalists had dominated, democracy was
  suspect, but by the 1820s, it was widely
  appealing.
• Politicians now had to bend to appease and appeal
  to the masses.
• Aristocrats were scorned.
• Western Indian fighters and/or militia
  commanders, like Andrew Jackson, Davy Crocket,
  and William Henry Harrison, were quite popular.

3
Jacksonian Democracy

• Jacksonian Democracy said that whatever governing
  that was to be done should be done directly by
  the people.
• Called the New Democracy, it was based on
  universal manhood suffrage.
• In 1791, Vermont became the first state admitted
  to the union to allow all white males to vote in
  the elections.
• Bigwigs who used to have power sneered at the
  coonskin congressmen and the bipeds of the
  forest,

4
Voting Requirements in the Early 1800s
5
Election of 1824

• In the election of 1824, there were four towering
  candidates Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, Henry
  Clay of Kentucky, William H. Crawford of Georgia,
  and John Q. Adams of Mass.
• All four called themselves Republicans.
• In the results, Jackson got the most popular
  votes and the most electoral votes, but he failed
  to get the majority in the Electoral College.
• Adams came in second in both, while Crawford was
  fourth in the popular vote but third in the
  electoral votes. Clay was 4th in the electoral
  vote.
• By the 12th Amendment, the top three Electoral
  vote getters would be voted upon in the House of
  Reps. and the majority (over 50) would be
  elected president.

6
Corrupt Bargain?

• Clay was eliminated, but he was the Speaker of
  the House, and since Crawford has recently
  suffered a paralytic stroke and Clay hated
  Jackson,
• When Clay was appointed Secretary of the State,
  traditional stepping-stone to the presidency,
  Jacksonians cried foul play.
• John Randolph publicly assailed the alliance
  between Adams and Clay.
• Evidence against any possible deal has never been
  found

7
A Corrupt Bargain?
8
A Yankee Misfit in the White House

• Austere.
• Short, bald, stiff and frosty. Loner.
• Very successful Sec. of State, but was not well
  suited to the presidency.
• How he won made things worse
• He refused to play the spoils game made
  supporters grumpy
• History Channel V John Q. Adams

p259
9
Adams Unpopular Policies

• John Quincy Adams was a man of puritanical honor
• He rejects the spoils system.
• In his first annual message, Adams urged Congress
  on the construction of roads and canals, proposed
  for a national university, and advocated support
  for an astronomical observatory.
• Public reaction was mixed roads were good, but
  observatories werent important, and Southerners
  knew that if the government did anything, it
  would have to continue collecting tariffs.

10



In 1839, slaves held captive aboard the ship La Amistad revolted, took control of the vessel, and tried to sail it back to Africa. The ship was seized by an American frigate and taken to the U.S., setting off a controversy that pitted the courts against the President and raised the consciousness of the North about the evils of slavery. The La Amistad incident was a milestone in the development of the abolitionist movement. In 1839, slaves held captive aboard the ship La Amistad revolted, took control of the vessel, and tried to sail it back to Africa. The ship was seized by an American frigate and taken to the U.S., setting off a controversy that pitted the courts against the President and raised the consciousness of the North about the evils of slavery. The La Amistad incident was a milestone in the development of the abolitionist movement.
In 1839, slaves held captive aboard the ship La
Amistad revolted, took control of the vessel, and
tried to sail it back to Africa. The ship was
seized by an American frigate and taken to the
U.S., setting off a controversy that pitted the
courts against the President and raised the
consciousness of the North about the evils of
slavery. The La Amistad incident was a milestone
in the development of the abolitionist movement.

11
Going Whole Hog For Jackson In 1828

• Jacksonians argued, Should the people rule?
• They successfully turned public opinion against
  an honest and honorable Chief Executive.
• However, Adams supporters also hit below the
  belt, even though Adams himself wouldnt stoop to
  that level.
• Jacksons mother a prostitute, called he an
  adulterer
• John Q. Adams had a billiard table and a set of
  chessmen,
• The Jacksonians criticizing Adams incessant
  spending.

12
(No Transcript)
13
The Jacksonian Revolution of 1828

• Jackson got 647,286 popular votes to Adams
  508,064 and he also beat John in the Electoral
  College, 178 to 83.
• Jackson had support from the West and South,
  while New England liked Adams.
• The political center of gravity was shifting west
• Jackson sped up the process of transferring
  national power from the countinghouse to the
  farmhouse, and became the Peoples President,
  not the aristocrat.
• Adams still had a distinguished political career
  after presidency, getting elected to the House of
  Reps. of Massachusetts,
• When he died in 1848, his funeral was the
  greatest pageant Washington D.C. had ever seen,
  and his popularity was greater near then end of
  his political career than during its zenith.

14
Jackson InaugurationFirst Kegger in the White
House?
15
The Center of Population in theCountry Moves WEST
16
Jacksons Philosophy

• Jacksons Firsts
• First president from the west
• First to be nominated at a formal convention
• First President without a college education
  (except Washington)
• First President who not part of the educated
  elite that was at the heart of the revolution and
  the Constitution.
• He was called Old Hickory by his troops because
  of his toughness.
• Suspicious of the federal government because it
  was remote from the people
• Believed in limited Fed. government (See
  Jefferson)
• Hostile to the active federal econ. role of
  American System National Bank
• Strong believer in the Union
• opposed nullification and those who did not
  believe that federal power was supreme. (See
  Hamilton)

Technology
17
Jackson Nationalizes the Spoils System

• The spoils system rewarding supporters with good
  positions in office.
• Jackson believed that experience counted, but
  that and erasing the old.
• Since the election of 1800, many positions had
  not changed.
• Increases with each new president

18
The Tricky Tariff of Abominations

• New England and East like Tariffs. Reduces
  competition.
• South and West hate tariffs.
• Economic concerns
• Political/Sectional concern
• Jacksons supporters try to put JQ Adams in
  political trap by pushing for a very high tariff.
• Plan backfires, and tariff is passed.
• South is outraged at Adams, and calls it Tariff
  of Abomination

19
Nullies In South Carolina

• In an attempt to meet the Souths demands,
  Congress passed the Tariff of 1832, a slightly
  lower tariff
• The state legislature of South Carolina called
  for the Columbia Convention.  The delegates of
  the convention called for the tariff to be void
  within South Carolina. 
• Henry Clay introduced the Tariff of 1833.  It
  called for the gradual reduction of the Tariff of
  1832 by about 10 over 8 years.  By 1842, the
  rates would be back at the level of 1816. 
• The compromise Tariff of 1833 ended the dispute
  over the Tariff of 1832 between the South and the
  White House.  The compromise was supported by
  South Carolina but not much by the other states
  of the South.

20
Transplanting the Tribes

• Jacksons Democrats were committed to western
  expansion, but such expansion meant confrontation
  with the Indians who inhabited the land east of
  the Mississippi.
• The Society for Propagating the Gospel Among
  Indians was founded in 1787 in order to
  Christianize Indians.
• The five civilized tribes were the Cherokees,
  Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles. 
  President Jackson wanted to move the Indians so
  the white men could expand. 

21
Indian Removal Act

• Indian Removal Act (1830).
• voluntary removal of Indians from southeast to
  reservations in Eastern Kansas and Oklahoma.
• Forced removal of over 100,000 Indians.
• Heaviest blow falls on the Five Civilized Tribes
• Theory behind the policy
• Trail of Tears
• Bureau of Indian Affairs -1836
• Black Hawk Rebellion

22
Indian Removal
23
The Bank War

• President Andrew Jackson despised the Bank of
  the.
• The Bank of the United States was a private
  institution, accountable not to the people
• The bank minted gold and silver coins.  Nicholas
  Biddle, the president of the Bank of the United
  States, held an immense power over the nations
  financial affairs.
• The Bank War erupted in 1832 when Daniel Webster
  and Henry Clay presented Congress with a bill to
  renew the Banks charter. 
• Clay pushed to renew the charter in 1832 to make
  it an issue for the election of that year.  He
  felt that if Jackson signed off on it, then
  Jackson would alienate the people of the West who
  hated the Bank.  If Jackson vetoed it, then he
  would alienate the wealthy class of the East who
  supported the Bank. 
• The veto showed that Jackson felt that the
  Executive Branch had more power than the Judicial
  Branch in determining the Constitutionality of
  the Bank of the United States.

24
The Election of 1832

• The United States presidential election of 1832
  saw incumbent President Andrew Jackson, candidate
  of the Democratic Party, easily win reelection
  against Henry Clay of Kentucky.
• Jackson won 219 of the 286 electoral votes cast,
  easily defeating Clay, the candidate of the
  National Republican party and Anti-Masonic Party
  candidate William Wirt. John Floyd, who was not a
  candidate, received the electoral vote of South
  Carolina.

25
Burying Biddles Bank

• The Bank of the United Statess charter expired
  in 1836.  Jackson wanted to make sure that the
  Bank would be exterminated. 
• In 1833, 3 years before the Banks charter ran
  out, Jackson decided to remove federal deposits
  from its vaults.  Jackson proposed depositing no
  more funds in the bank and he gradually shrunk
  existing deposits by using the funds to pay for
  day-to-day expenditures of the government.
• The death of the Bank of the United States left a
  financial vacuum in the American economy. 
  Surplus federal funds were placed in several
  dozen state banks that were political supportive
  of Jackson.
• In 1836, wildcat currency had become so
  unreliable that Jackson told the Treasury to
  issue a Specie Circular- a decree that required
  all public lands to be purchased with metallic
  money.  This drastic step contributed greatly to
  the financial panic of 1837.

Nicholas Biddle
p271
26
The Birth Of The Whigs

• Established in 1834, the Whig Party was a
  reaction to the authoritarian policies of Andrew
  Jackson. King Andrew,
• The term Whig was taken from English politics,
  the name of a faction that opposed royal tyranny
• Whig supporters of the American System. In some
  respects the Whigs were the descendants of the
  old Federalist Party, supporting the Hamiltonian
  preference for strong federal action in dealing
  with national problems.
• The Whigs supported government programs, reforms,
  and public schools.  They called for internal
  improvements like canals, railroads, and
  telegraph lines.
• Congress has ALL legislative power
• Henry Clay and Daniel Webster were the
  unquestioned luminaries of the Whig Party.
  Neither was able to overcome sectional jealousies
  and gain the coveted presidency.

27
The Election of 1836

• Martin Van Buren was Andrew Jacksons choice as
  his successor in the election of 1836.  General
  William Henry Harrison was one of the Whigs many
  presidential nominees.  The Whigs did not win
  because they did not united behind just one
  candidate.

28
Election of 1836

• Whig candidates
• William Henry Harrison, former U.S. senator from
  Ohio
• Daniel Webster, U.S. senator from Massachusetts
• Hugh L. White, U.S. senator from Tennessee
• Jackson hand-picks Van Buren as his successor and
  engineers his nomination.
• Van Buren won only a narrow majority of the
  popular vote, but won electoral vote, 170-124.

29
Woes for Van Buren

• Skilled politician and very bright.
• Inherited lots of political problems.
• Party peeved at Jackson rammed through his
  nomination
• Inherits all Jacksons enemies, but not Jacksons
  support from common man.
• Jacksons economic policies (specie circular)
  caused economic downturn.

30
Depression And Independent Treasury

• The basic cause of the panic of 1837 was the
  rampant speculation prompted by a get-rich
  scheme.  Gamblers in western lands were doing a
  land-office business on borrowed capital.  The
  speculative craze spread to canals, roads,
  railroads, and slaves. 
• The panic of 1837 caused many banks to collapse,
  commodity prices to drop, sales of public to
  fall, and the loss of jobs.
• Van Buren proposed the Divorce Bill.  Not passed
  by Congress, it called for the dividing of the
  government and banking altogether. 
• The Independent Treasury Bill was passed in
  1840.  An independent treasury would be
  established and government funds would be locked
  in vaults. 

31
Gone to Texas

• 1823 Mexico grants a huge tract of land to
  Stephan Austin.
• Mexicos conditions on settlers
• Why does Mexico open land to Americans?
• Americans come, but largely ignore the two
  conditions.

Moses Austin
32
American Settlement in Texas

• 1835, 30,000 Americans in Texas.
• Davy Crockett, Sam Bowie and Sam Houston.
• Tension between Mexico and Texans
• Slavery issue
• Mexicos policies to regain control
• Santa Anna

Sam Houston. First Governor of Texas Big Drunk
33
The Lone Star Rebellion

• Early 1836, Texas declares its independence with
  Sam Houston as commander in chief.
• Santa Anna attacks the Alamo
• Goliad
• Santa Anna defeated at San Jacinto
• Santa Anna captured and forced to sign treaty
  under duress. Rio Grande
• Santa Anna quickly repudiated the treaty, but
  doesnt have power to attack again.

34
Log Cabins and Hard Cider of 1840

• Van Buren nominated by the Dems in 1840 no
  strong alternative.
• Whigs passed over Clay and Webster and nom.
  William Henry Harrison.
• John Tyler of Va. is his VP
• Harrison platform vague.
• Texas wanted diplomatic recognition from US.
• Jackson was reluctant to recognize Texas as an
  independent republic.
• Why?
• On last day of office he does recognize Texas.
• Texans want to be part of the US and request
  annexation.
• Why was annexation by US politically complicated?

35
The Two Party System Emerges

• Two party system began to reemerge under Jackson
  and fully reemerged in the election of 1840 with
  the Whigs.
• Both parties were big-tent parties containing
  diverse elements
• Were also diverse geographically, and their
  presence helped retard the development of purely
  sectional parties

36
Whigs v. Democrats

• Democrats
• States rights
• federal restraint in social and economic affairs
• Champion of individual and working class.
• Distrusted privileged class attempts to usurp
  government
• Strong in South and West
• Opposed high tariffs as benefiting eastern
  business at expense of farmer.

• Whigs (Majority)
• willing to use government to realize their
  objectives
• argued against using class differences to appeal
  to self interest of one class over another.
• Believed in strong govt initiative such as the
  Bank US, tariffs, internal improvements, public
  schools and moral reform, such as slavery.

37
The Advent Of Old Hickory Jackson

• When he became president, Andrew Jackson had
  already battled dysentery, malaria, tuberculosis,
  and lead poisoning from two bullets lodged
  somewhere in his body.
• He personified the new West rough,
  jack-of-all-trades, a genuine folk hero.
• Jackson had been early orphaned, was interested
  in cockfighting as a kid, and wasnt really good
  with reading and writing, sometimes misspelling
  the same word twice in one letter.
• He went to Tennessee, where he became a judge and
  a Congressman
• A man with a violent temper, he got into many
  duels, fights, stabbings, etc
• He was a Western aristocrat, having owned many
  slaves, and lived in a fine mansion, the
  Hermitage, and he shared many of the prejudices
  of the masses.