The Rise of a Mass Democracy,

1824 – 1840 Chapter 13

AP US History

Learning Goals:

Students will be able to:

◦ Explain how the democratization of American politics

contributed to the rise of Andrew Jackson.

◦ Evaluate how Jackson’s policies and the Panic of 1837 helped

launch and solidify the Whig Party?

◦ Identify the new assumptions about human nature that

influenced the religious movements of this era.

◦ Analyze how the reform movements of this era aimed at making

Americans more free and more orderly.

What happened to the “Era of Good Feelings”?

◦ This was never an entirely tranquil period!

◦ The Panic of 1819 and the Missouri Compromise shattered

any illusion of “Good Feelings”

The 1820s and 1830s would experience great

upheaval…

◦ Economic distress and the slavery issue increased the

“political stakes”

◦ New political parties emerged.

What else changed in America?

◦ Election practices and the health of the democracy.

◦ Political muscles would be “flexed”

The Election of 1824 What ended the “Era of Good Feelings”?

◦ Sectional tensions!

What happened in this election?

◦ FOUR Republicans candidates vied for the

presidency:

◦ Each represented a faction of the Republican

Party

John Quincy Adams – highly intelligent and

experienced.

William Crawford

Henry Clay

Andrew Jackson – hero of New Orleans in

the War of 1812

Who is Andrew Jackson?

◦ Popular frontier fighter

◦ Popular in the South

◦ Won support from the opponents of the American System (Pennsylvania and

the northern states)

◦ The only candidate NOT linked to the Monroe administration

What does Thomas Jefferson think of Jackson?

◦ “one of the most unfit men I know of for such a place.”

How does the Election play out?

◦ ¾ of the Congressional Republicans REFUSED to attend the

caucus

◦ William Crawford was selected as presidential

candidate…suffered a stroke

◦ Jackson received the most popular and electoral votes

◦ Jackson failed to gain the necessary votes according to the

Constitution

What happens next?

◦ The Constitution requires, that the election go to the House of

Representatives

◦ This group has to choose among the three top candidates

(Jackson, Adams, & Calhoun)

◦ Henry Clay throws his support to John Quincy Adams – Jackson

is BITTER!

How does Adams handle the presidency?

◦ Guiding principle: IMPROVEMENT (social & personal)

◦ Adams felt that the American republic was the CULMINATION of human

progress

◦ Adams wants to further the progress

What are his plans:

◦ Improve public education

◦ Expand communications and commerce

◦ Federal internal improvements (ambitious ones)

What was the ‘corrupt bargain’?

◦ President Adams appointed Henry Clay as his Secretary of State – AFTER

being elected!

◦ Jackson supporters charged that a ‘deal’ had been made between Adams

and Clay (basically that Adams BOUGHT Clay’s support)

◦ This was a cloud over the Adams administration

The Rise of Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson’s victory

over the British in the

Battle of New Orleans in

1815 made him a popular

hero.

It was a time of “vague but

widespread discontent”

with Washington.

◦ In part because of the

Panic of 1819

Jackson’s position as a political outsider endeared him to the public and supporters.

Began to build a strong political organization

◦ Called themselves the Democratic Party

◦ Also led by Martin Van Buren

In 1828

◦ the Democrats nominated Jackson for president

◦ Those who remained loyal to Adams called themselves National Republicans and re-nominated Adams

◦ Democrats portrayed Jackson as a man of the people (even though

he was a wealthy farmer)

◦ And they portrayed Adams as the aristocrat

◦ Jackson won the election with the common-man appeal

◦ His victory also showed a clear sectional split

South and Southwest for Jackson

New England mostly for Adams

Jackson in Office The Spoils system

◦ Jackson immediately fired ½ of the civil servants

on the federal payroll

Most in the Northeast

◦ Replaced them with supporters

◦ Jackson did not initiate the spoils system

He defended it and practiced it

Frequent rotation in office gave more people a

chance to serve

Jackson opposed federal support for internal improvements

◦ Maysville Road Veto: providing federal government monies to build and expand state roads.

◦ 1st of 8 vetoes by Jackson on public works projects

Indian Removal Act of 1830

Southerners liked the Maysville Road veto and the Indian Removal Act

Southerners resented Jackson’s lack of action against the

1828 “Tariff of Abominations”

What did this Tariff do?

◦ Protected northern manufacturers and western farmers from

foreign competition

◦ But raised the price that southerners had to pay for finished

products

Why did Southerners oppose the tariff?

◦ Southerners sold their raw products (cotton) on the world

market without protections.

◦ Manufactured goods had to be purchased through the American

market – heavily protected by tariffs.

◦ Essentially, the South felt “stuck” in this system.

Nullification That tariff issue prepared the way for a

break between President Jackson and

Vice President John C. Calhoun

◦ Calhoun was becoming the chief spokesman

for the southern planter class.

Calhoun wrote and circulated the South

Carolina Exposition and Protest

◦ In opposition to the Tariff of 1828

◦ Argued protective tariffs were

unconstitutional

◦ States had the right to nullify federal laws

that violated the U.S. Constitution

Nov. 1832, South Carolina nullified the Tariff of 1828 and the Tariff of 1832

◦ SC forbade the collection of customs duties at its ports

◦ Acted on Calhoun’s doctrine

Jackson denounced the state’s defiance

◦ threatened to use the army and navy to enforce federal laws

Compromise of 1833

◦ Prevented a military fight between the federal

government and South Carolina

◦ Proposed by Henry Clay

◦ South Carolina rescinded nullification

◦ Congress passed a new tariff law that

gradually lowered duties over the next 9

years

Where did the majority of the American populace lived in 1790?

◦ east of the Appalachian Mountains

◦ Within several hundred miles of the Atlantic Ocean

By 1840, the populace begins to move WEST!

◦ Why? We are a growing nation

◦ About 17 million people were living between the Appalachians and the

Mississippi

◦ This area is called the Old Northwest and Old Southwest by present-day

historians.

Were Americans moving westward to seek adventure? YES

Why move west?

◦ Most people who migrated were expecting a better version of the life they

had in the east

What would encourage this idea?

◦ Growing power in the federal government

◦ Ruthless Indian Removal efforts

◦ A boom in agricultural prices

The Sweep West Movement west happened in spurts or bursts

◦ The American populace ‘jumped over’ the Appalachians

◦ The first burst (1791-1803) brought four new states into the Union.

Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio

◦ The second burst (1816-1821) added six states

Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Maine, and Missouri

Settlers also began moving into Michigan during this era

How did societies choose to move during this time?

◦ As families

How did they choose to settle?

◦ Usually in clusters near navigable rivers

◦ Both the Ohio and the Mississippi river systems were inviting places

for settlements.

Western

Society and

Customs

The Far West

What would cause westerners to

move even further west?

◦ EXPLORATION!

◦ Zebulon Pike explored portions of the

Spanish Southwest in 1806

◦ As he did this, he found a Colorado peak

that would later be named after

him…Pike’s Peak!

Pike was not the only person who

explored these regions.

Following the Lewis and Clark

expedition, many “mountain men”

explored the Louisiana Territory

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bi

erstadt_Albert_Pikes_Peak.jpg

The Federal Government and the West

While there were several causes of expansion during this

era, is there one cause that spans the entire era?

◦ YES! The growing power of the federal government

◦ From before the signing of the Constitution, states were ceding

lands to the federal government.

What ordinances or changes will govern these lands?

◦ The Land Ordinance of 1785 – provided for the survey and sale

of the lands.

◦ The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 – brought the Mississippi River

under American control.

◦ The Transcontinental Treaty of 1819 – removed all traces of

Spanish power east of the Mississippi.

What does this mean?

◦ The government was directly stimulating westward settlement.

HOW?

The Removal of the Indians

Who stood in the way of expansion and westward settlement?

THE NATIVE AMERICANS

The South had a particularly sizable number of Natives

◦ The Five Civilized Tribes: the Cherokee, the Choctaw, the Creeks,

the Chickasaw, and the Seminole.

◦ Because of their lifestyle and commercial dealings, these tribes had

intermarried with whites.

◦ In the South, explorers found a significant minority of mixed-

heritage peoples who embraced Christianity, agriculture, gristmills,

and even owned slaves.

Sequoyah – devised a written language for the Cherokee

Other Cherokee published a bilingual newspaper: the

Cherokee Phoenix

Native life was very impressive, especially to the New

England missionaries.

Southern whites; however, viewed the Civilized Tribes with

contempt and envied the lands they held.

Presidents James Monroe and John Quincy Adams

concluded treaties with the Indians; however, these insisted

on the voluntary abandonment of lands.

Especially those of mixed-heritage refused to leave – they

depended on the trade and lifestyle they knew for survival.

◦ PLEASE NOTE: burial grounds are sacred to the Native culture!

NO building on these grounds!!!

Treaty of Indian Springs (1825)…

What happened with the

Treaty of Indian Springs? Tribes of the Creek were divided in four ways:

◦ Upper Creek & Lower Creek – lands encompass much of present day

Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, & Georgia

◦ Red Stick – Warring

◦ White Stick – Peaceful

The US desired these lands for settlement

In January 1825, the US government instigated treaties to take

these lands.

William McIntosh – tribal leader of the Upper Creek – was allowed

to speak for the Lower Creek chieftains.

What is the issue? Before a treaty could be signed, all chieftains

must be consulted.

McIntosh signed the treaty without consult…NO MORE

MCINTOSH!

William

McIntosh

The Indian Removal Act (1830)

◦ Jackson secured passage of the act.

◦ Authorized him to exchange public

lands in the West for Indian territories

in the EAST

◦ What is the REAL cost of removal?

5 minutes to write

Share answers with class

The Trail of

Tears