Jacksonian Democracy and the Second Party System

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The US in 1824

The John Quincy Adams Administration

• Nationalist Agenda• Public Land Sales for Funding

• Roads and Canals

• National University

• Scientific Expeditions

• National Observatory

• But Adams is too autocratic, Congress rejects many of his plans.

Jacksonian Democracy

• All white men are created equal– All white men get to vote

– Women and Blacks exist to serve them

• Frontiersman Attitudes– Pro-Farmer; anti-Bank – Pro-killing Indians to get land too

Second Great Awakening (1800-1844)

• Spread of Revivalism

• Emphasis on Personal Choice of Salvation

• Locally Controlled Congregations– Baptists– Methodists– Presbyterians

• Women especially convert

The Jacksonian Party

• Southern Slave Owners

• Western Farmers

• Northern Machine Politics—Martin Van Buren and the Albany Regency

– Mass Mobilization enables victory!

• Jackson's Victory in 1828– 56% of the vote

Jackson in Command

• The Spoils System– Give your political allies jobs in the

government to reward service!

• Indian Removal Act of 1830– $500 million to bribe/force tribes to move

to Oklahoma– Some try to fight and fail– 1840: Cherokee sent on Trail of Tears;

25% die in trip to Oklahoma

Indian Removal, 1830s

John C. Calhoun and Nicholas Biddle

Nullification Crisis (1832)

• Can South Carolina Nullify the Tariff of 1832?

• Jackson Threatens to Kill Them All

• SC backs down but slave owners turn against Jackson

• John C. Calhoun

The Bank War (1832)

• Nicholas Biddle • Jackson vetoes recharter of National Bank

• Moves all funds to banks his allies run

• Jackson re-elected by 54% of vote

Martin Van Buren (1837-41)

The Failure of Van Buren

• Only Skilled at Being Elected

• Panic of 1837 (1837-43)– The Specie Circular crashes the finance system– 20% Unemployment– Van Buren has no tools or ideas to solve it

• The Rise of Abolitionism– Van Buren has no idea what to do.– South berserkly limits civil liberties

The Rise of the Whigs

• Southern Planters and Northern Merchants both hate Jackson for different reasons

• Initially, they are incompetent at running elections, fielding FOUR candidates in 1836.

The Whig Platform

• Limited Executive Power

• Federally sponsored– Roads, Canals, Rail– Tariffs to protect Trade

• Socially Conservative (Evangelicals)

• Anti-Immigrant

William Henry Harrison (1841)

• First Whig President

• Elected by pretending not to be rich

• Dies almost immediately of pneumonia

John Tyler (1841-5)

• First VP to become President

• Only Whig due to hating Jackson

• Vetoes Whig plans, so everyone hates him

• Nearly Impeached

• Has 15 kids!!!!

Webster-Ashburton Treaty

Webster and Foreign Policy

• The Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842)– Borders set– Cooperation in fight vs. slave trade

• Pro-Southern Foreign Policy– Annexation of Texas attempt (1844)