US History

Fort Burrows

The Jacksonian Era

1820s - A growing spirit of equality spreads through the nation. As President, Andrew Jackson supports the interests of the common man

1825 - John Quincy Adams becomes the 6th President of the US (1 term)

1829 - Andrew Jackson becomes the 7th President of the US (2 terms)

1830 - Congress passes the Indian Removal Act forcing Native Americans to move west of the Mississippi

1832 - President Jackson vetoes the bill to renew the charter of the Bank of US

1836 - The second Seminole War begins

1837 - Martin Van Buren becomes the 8th President of the US (1 term)

Presidents:

1st 1789 – 1797 (2 terms) George Washington

#2. 1797 – 1801 (1 term) John Adams

#3. 1801 – 1809 (2 terms) Thomas Jefferson

#4. 1809 – 1817 (2 terms) James Madison

#5. 1817 – 1825 (1 term) James Monroe

6th 1825 – 1829 (1 term) John Quincy Adams

7th 1829 – 1837 (2 terms) Andrew Jackson

8th 1837 – 1841 (1 term) Martin Van Buren

Learning more about how politics worked in past elections may help students make wise voting decisions in the future. When election time draws near, politicians will flood the radio, TV, newspapers and other media with campaign sound bites. Like politicians of the 1840s, some candidates will either try to present issues in a way that is favorable to their campaign or try to avoid discussing them at all. Often messages from opposing candidates sound equally appealing. For this reason, it is important for voters to learn as much as they can about the issues and about each candidate’s proposals. Campaign issues such as education or budget priorities can affect students’ lives and communities, so it is essential that they prepare to be informed voters.

As President, Andrew Jackson became the symbol for the new democratic spirit that brought political and social changes to the nation.

suffrage - the right to vote

majority - more than half

Whigs - members of John Quincy Adams’s former National Republican party; included business people, southern planters, and former Federalists

Democrats - supporters of Andrew Jackson; included frontier farmers and factory workers

caucus - private meeting; often a political meeting

nominating convention - meeting at which a political party chooses a candidate

summon – to call; to ask to come to you

shrewd – clever, smart

hickory – type of tree with very hard wood

faction – smaller group within a larger group

retaliatory – having the quality of revenge or payback

population distribution -the pattern of where people live.

human modification – the process or result of humans changing something to their needs or desires

transatlantic – crossing over the ocean relating to concerns from both continents

intrusion – the act of putting oneself into a place or situation where one is uninvited or unwelcome

drafting – preliminary version of piece of text; writing the first copy

Harry Ward, a New England teacher, made a visit to Cincinnati, Ohio during the 1824 presidential election campaign. Writing to a friend, he described how Ohioans felt about Andrew Jackson, who was running for President. Jackson’s supporters, he observed were “Strange! Wild! Infatuated! All for Jackson!” On election day, more people voted for Andrew Jackson than for any other candidates. Oddly enough, Jackson did not become President that year.

Growing Spirit of Equality

Most American no longer felt that the ‘rich’ deserved special respect. Wealthy European visitors were surprised that American servants expected to be treated as equals.

☼Alexis de Tocqueville ( TOHK veel )

25 year oldaristocratic Frenchman

1831, sent to study the American prison system

Wrote a book, Democracy in America; in his book he noted…the “revolution taking place” in America while “still far from coming to an end” were “already incomparably greater than anything which has taken place in the world before.”

His observations regarding American girls… “An American girl thinks for herself, speaks with freedom, and acts on her own impulse… for she is full of reliance on her own strength”

☼More Voters / Prior to 1828 / 1828 / 1840
27 % voted / 58 % / 80 %

US is growing rapidly, more potential voters, territories become ‘New’ States

New Western States allowed all white men over 21 to vote even if they did not OWN land

The trend spread back to the Eastern states, this now gave craftsworkers and shopkeepers the right to vote. A Voice in Government !!!!

¿¿ Why were political parties more democratic by the mid-1800s ?

1.______

2.______

☼Limits on Suffrage

Many Americans still can’t Vote; Women, Indians, Freedmen, or Slaves

More and More white men become eligible to vote, More and More black men lose their right to vote

Early on most Northern states allowed black men to vote; in the 1820s, most states took this right away

1830s, New York allowed black ‘land-owners’ to vote

The Disputed Election of 1824

☼The Candidates

John Quincy Adams, son of 2nd President, from Massachusetts; wealthy family; graduated from Harvard; served as Secretary of State; helped end the 1812 war

Intelligent and had High moral

Average people thought he was hard and seemed cold

Henry Clay , from Hanover, Virginia; middle-class farm family; graduated from William and Mary College; Senator from Kentucky; He was the 8th, 10th, & 13th Speaker of the US House of Representatives, SOH 3 times;

Inherited Land and Slaves from his Baptist preacher father

He was a leading war hawk and according to historianClement Eaton, was "more than any other individual" responsible for the War of 1812

Less popular than Jackson

Andrew Jackson, (Old Hickory) from Waxhaws, on the borders of North and South Carolina; poor family lived in a log cabin; 1st Territorial Governor of Florida; US Senator from Tennessee; “Hero of New Orleans” during 1812 War

Average working man; Blue-Collar Hero

Large Land and Slave owner

Most voters believed he was ‘the man of the people’

☼The “Corrupt Bargain”

No clear winner in the Election of 1824

Jackson won the popular vote

No one won a majority of electoral votes

HOR picked from the top three

As SOH, Clay urged the House to pick Adams, they did

For his support, Adams selected Clay as Secretary of State; this was called the ‘Corrupt Bargain’

This action split the voters and made it very hard for Adams to unify the nation

An Unpopular President

Adams tried to ‘bring the whole people together’ through internal improvements. This did not work and opposition to him grew.

☼Promoting Economic Growth

Adams called for the Federal Government to pay-fornew Roads and Canals; aimed at the many, many unhappyvoting Farmers

He also wanted to build Universities and Observatories, which astronomers could study the stars

Average Americans feared a powerful Federal Government

Congress approved the roads and some canals and turned down most of Adam’s other programs

☼A Bitter Campaign

Andrew ‘ Old Hickory’ Jackson John Quincy Adams

642,553 Popular Vote 500,897

178 Electoral Vote 83

1828, only 2 men ran for the Presidency – Adams and Jackson

The voters remembered the ‘Corrupt Bargain’ and Jackson easily won

This election made the politics of the ‘common people’ important; farmers in the West and South and the city workers in the East

☼Jacksonian Democracy

‘the spread of political power to the people’ - Jacksonian Democracy

1st time in Presidential history, thousands of ordinary people flooded the capital to watch their President take the oath of office

“Country men, farmers, gentlemen, mounted and dismounted, boys, women and children, black and white. Carriages, wagons, and carts pursing Jackson to the White House.” Margaret Bayard Smith, The First Forty Years of Washington Society

Prior to Jackson, the US Gov’t collected $21 million and spent $24 million annually, after Jackson, the US Gov’t collected $30 million and spent $25 million

¿¿ How did Jackson’s election in 1828 reflect the changing views about democracy ?

______

Fill In The Blank

John Quincy Adams / Andrew Jackson
1. Home
state
2. Family
background
3. Professional
background
4. Political
party

New Political Parties

Adam’s supporters called themselves National Republicans or WHIGS

Wanted a strong Federal Government to control the economy; included Eastern business people, some Southern Plantation owners, and many former Federalists

Jackson’s supporters called themselves Democrats

Wanted the ‘majority of voice’ (the people) to run the government; included frontier farmers, and workers in Eastern cities

Federalist party disappears / American society becomes more democratic / Whig party emerges to support Adams and his programs / Jackson believes gov’t should represent the interests of the common people / Democratic party emerges to support Jackson and his ideas

          

NEW POLITICAL PARTIES

☼New Ways to Choose Candidates

Old School – Caucus, or private meeting to decide the candidates for President; only a few powerful people were involved; ignoring the average citizen

New School – Nominating Convention, delegates from all states chose the party’s candidate for President; allowing the people to have some influence

State nominating conventions encouraged citizen participation in elections

¿¿ How did the modern Democratic party begin ?

1.______

2.______

1. Before the election of 1828, the percentage of eligible voters who cast ballots was…

A. more than twice as many as in 1828

B. about the same as in 1828

C. less than half as many as in 1828

D. less than 10 percent of that of 1828

2. How did the growing spirit of equality change voting rights in the 1820s ?

______.

3. Why was there a dispute over the election of 1824 ?

______.

4. Why was John Quincy Adams an unpopular President ?

A.______

B.______

C.______

5. What new political parties developed ?

______.

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