History 1301-Ch. 10 - Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! Seagull Edition, ISBN 9780393614176 PDF

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History 1301- U. History 1Chapter TenI. Introduction: Andrew JacksonA. Jackson embodies the major developments of the era: 1. Market revolution 2. Westward movement 3. Expansion of slavery 4. Growth of democracy B. Background 1. As a boy, he served as a courier in the American Revolution. 2. As a yo...

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History 1301- U.S. History 1 Chapter Ten I. Introduction: Andrew Jackson A. Jackson embodies the major developments of the era: 1. Market revolution 2. Westward movement 3. Expansion of slavery 4. Growth of democracy B. Background 1. As a boy, he served as a courier in the American Revolution. 2. As a young man, he moved to Tennessee, where he studied law. 3. He owned a large plantation with slaves. C. America’s claim to being oldest democracy II. The Triumph of Democracy A. Property and Democracy 1. With regard to freedom, political democracy was intimately connected with the market revolution and territorial expansion. 2. By 1860, all but one state had eliminated property requirements for voting. B. The Dorr War 1. Rhode Island had property qualifications for voting in 1841. 2. Because propertyless wage earners (e.g., factory workers) could not vote, the state’s labor movement pushed for reform at the People’s Convention (October 1841). a. This extralegal convention adopted a new state constitution that enfranchised all white men. b. Reformers inaugurated Thomas Dorr as governor. c. President Tyler sent in federal troops, and the Dorr movement collapsed. d. The legislature soon removed the property qualifications for all native-born men, including blacks.

C. Tocqueville on Democracy 1. By 1840, more than 90 percent of adult white men were eligible to vote. 2. Democratic political institutions came to define the nation’s sense of its own identity. 3. Tocqueville identified democracy as an essential attribute of American freedom. D. The Information Revolution 1. Market revolution and political democracy produced an expansion in the public sphere and an explosion in printing. a. The penny press emphasized sensationalism, crime stories, and exposés. b. Newspapers had far reach due to low postal rates. c. Organized political parties led to more newspapers. d. A reduction in printing costs made possible "alternative" papers started by blacks, labor workers, and abolitionists. E. The Limits of Democracy 1. As with the market revolution, women and blacks were barred from full democracy. a. They were denied based on their alleged natural incapacity. b. Democracy absorbed poor white men and immigrants. c. Voices of Freedom (Primary Source document feature) includes The Memorial of the Non-Freeholders of the City of Richmond (1829), a statement from working-class white men desiring the right to vote. 2. Freedom in the public realm in no way implied freedom in private life. F. A Racial Democracy 1. Despite increased democracy in America, blacks were seen as a group apart with regard to equality. 2. Blacks were often portrayed as stereotypes. 3. Blacks were not allowed to vote in most states. 4. Voices of Freedom (Primary Source document feature) includes part of the Appeal of Forty Thousand Citizens Threatened with Disfranchisement (1838), an address by free blacks in Philadelphia protesting the loss of voting power. G. Race and Class 1. By 1860, blacks could vote in the same way as whites in only five New England states. 2. No state accorded free blacks full equality before the law. 3. In effect, race had replaced class as the boundary that separated those American men who were entitled to enjoy political freedom from those who were not.

III. Nationalism and Its Discontents A. The American System 1. Fighting to a draw in the War of 1812 led to a burst of national pride. 2. A new manufacturing sector emerged from the War of 1812, and many believed that it was a necessary complement to the agricultural sector for national growth. 3. In 1815, President James Madison put forward a blueprint for government-promoted economic development that came to be known as the American System: a. A new national bank b. Tariffs c. Federal financing for better roads and canals ("internal improvements") 4. President Madison came to believe that a constitutional amendment was necessary for the government to build roads and canals and vetoed the "internal improvements." B. Banks and Money 1. The Second Bank of the United States was a profit-making corporation that served the government. 2. Local banks promoted economic growth. 3. Local banks printed money. a. The value of paper currency fluctuated wildly. b. The Bank of the United States was supposed to prevent the overissuance of money. c. The BUS could demand payment in gold and silver from a local bank. C. The Panic of 1819 1. The Bank of the United States participated in a speculative fever that swept the country after the War of 1812 ended. 2. Early in 1819, as European demand for American farm products returned to normal levels, the economic bubble burst. a. Demand for land fell, and with it prices. b. BUS and state banks quickly called in loans. D. The Politics of the Panic 1. The Panic of 1819 disrupted the political harmony of the previous years. a. Americans continued to distrust banks. 2. The Supreme Court ruled in McCulloch v. Maryland that the Bank of the United States was constitutional.

a. It was constitutional due to the "general welfare clause" b. Maryland could not tax the bank. E. The Missouri Controversy 1. James Monroe’s two terms as president were characterized by the absence of two-party competition ("The Era of Good Feelings"). 2. The absence of political party disputes was replaced by sectional disputes. 3. Missouri petitioned for statehood in 1819. a. Debate arose over slavery. 4. The Missouri Compromise was adopted by Congress in 1820. a. Missouri was admitted to the Union as a slave state and, to maintain sectional balance, Maine was admitted as a free state. b. Congress prohibited slavery north of the 36°30’ latitude in the remaining Louisiana Purchase territory. 5. Henry Clay engineered a second Missouri Compromise to deal with Missouri’s barring of free blacks (1821), which the state largely ignored. F. The Slavery Question 1. Northern Republicans did not want slavery to expand for political reasons. a. New York believed that the South, especially Virginia, had too much power. 2. The Missouri debate highlighted that the westward expansion of slavery was a passionate topic that eventually proved to be hazardous to national unity. IV. Nation, Section, and Party A. The United States and the Latin American Wars of Independence 1. Between 1810 and 1822, Spain’s Latin American colonies rose in rebellion and established a series of independent nations. a. Unlike the United States, seventeen different nations were created. b. The lack of printing presses made communication difficult. 2. In 1822, the Monroe administration became the first government to extend diplomatic recognition to the new Latin American republics. 3. In some ways, Latin American constitutions were more democratic than the U.S. Constitution. a. They allowed Indians and free blacks to vote. 4. These wars of independence lasted longer and were more destructive.

a. It was difficult to achieve economic development. B. The Monroe Doctrine 1. Fearing that Spain would try to regain its colonies, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams drafted the Monroe Doctrine. a. There would be no new European colonization of the New World. b. The United States would abstain from European wars. c. Europeans should not interfere with new Latin American republics. C. The Election of 1824 1. Andrew Jackson was the only candidate in the 1824 election to have national appeal. 2. None of the four candidates received a majority of the electoral votes. a. The election fell to the House of Representatives. b. Henry Clay, out of the running, supported John Quincy Adams. 3. Clay’s "corrupt bargain" gave Adams the White House. D. The Nationalism of John Quincy Adams 1. John Quincy Adams enjoyed one of the most distinguished pre-presidential careers of any American president. 2. Adams had a clear vision of national greatness. a. He supported the American System. b. He wished to enhance American influence in the Western Hemisphere. E. "Liberty Is Power" 1. Adams held a view of federal power far more expansive than that of most of his contemporaries. a. He stated that "liberty is power" 2. His plans alarmed many, and his vision would not be fulfilled until the twentieth century. F. Martin Van Buren and the Democratic Party 1. Adams’s political rivals emphasized: a. Individual liberty b. States’ rights c. Limited government

2. Martin Van Buren viewed political party competition as a necessary and positive influence to achieve national unity. 3. He hoped to reconstruct the Jeffersonian political alliance. G. The Election of 1828 1. By 1828, Van Buren had established the political apparatus of the Democratic Party. 2. Andrew Jackson ran against John Quincy Adams in 1828’s scurrilous campaign. 3. A far higher percentage of the eligible electorate voted in 1828 than before, and Jackson won a resounding victory. V. The Age of Jackson A. The Party System 1. Jackson was a man of many contradictions. 2. Politics had become a spectacle. 3. Party machines emerged. a. Spoils system 4. National conventions chose candidates. 5. Jackson’s Kitchen Cabinet was an informal group of advisers. a. Most were newspaper editors. B. Democrats and Whigs 1. Democrats and Whigs differed on issues that emerged from the market revolution and tension between national and sectional loyalties. 2. Democrats were alarmed by the widening gap between social classes. a. Democrats favored no government intervention in the economy. 3. Whigs supported government promotion of economic development through the American System. C. Public and Private Freedom 1. The party battles of the Jacksonian era reflected the clash between public and private definitions of American freedom and their relationship to governmental power. 2. Democrats supported a weak federal government, championing individual and states’ rights. a. Reduced expenditures b. Reduced tariffs

c. Abolished the national bank D. Politics and Morality 1. Democrats opposed attempts to impose a unified moral vision on society. 2. Whigs believed that a strong federal government was necessary to promote liberty. 3. Whigs argued that government should promote morality to foster the welfare of the people. E. South Carolina and Nullification 1. Jackson’s first term was dominated by a battle to uphold the supremacy of federal over state law. a. Tariff of 1828 2. South Carolina led the charge for a weakened federal government in part from fear that a strong federal government might act against slavery. F. Calhoun’s Political Theory 1. John C. Calhoun emerged as the leading theorist of nullification. a. Exposition and Protest i. Influenced by the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions ii. Because states created the Constitution, each one could prevent the enforcement within its borders of federal laws that exceeded powers specifically spelled out in the Constitution. 2. Daniel Webster argued that the people, not the states, created the Constitution. a. Nullification was illegal, unconstitutional, and treasonous. G. The Nullification Crisis 1. Calhoun denied that nullification led to disunion. a. Concurrent majority 2. Jackson considered nullification an act of disunion. 3. When South Carolina nullified the tariff in 1832, Jackson responded with the Force Act. 4. A compromise tariff (1833) resolved the crisis. 5. Calhoun left the Democratic Party for the Whigs. H. Indian Removal 1. The expansion of cotton and slavery led to forced relocation of Indians. a. Indian Removal Act of 1830 b. Five Civilized Tribes

c. Cherokees took the lead with the development of written language, schools, and written laws. 2. The law marked a repudiation of the Jeffersonian idea that civilized Indians could be assimilated into the American population. 3. In 1832, the leadership of the Creek nation sent a memorial to Congress, defining the meaning of freedom and what they considered oppression by Alabama’s lawmakers. Freedom meant cultural independence. I. The Supreme Court and the Indians 1. The Cherokees went to court to protect their rights. a. Cherokee Nation v. Georgia i. Indians were wards of the federal government. b. Worcester v. Georgia i. Georgia’s actions violated Cherokee treaties with the federal government. 2. John Ross led the Cherokee resistance. a. Trail of Tears 3. The Seminoles in Florida fought a war against removal (1835–1842). a. Three thousand were forced to move, and a small amount remained. 4. William Apess appealed for harmony between white Americans and Indians. VI. The Bank War and After A. Biddle’s Bank 1. The Bank of the United States symbolized the hopes and fears inspired by the market revolution. a. Central political struggle of Age of Jackson 2. Jackson distrusted bankers as "nonproducers." 3. The bank, under its president, Nicholas Biddle, wielded great power. 4. Using language resonating with popular values, Jackson vetoed a bill to renew the bank’s charter. 5. Jackson enhanced the role of the presidency as he claimed to be representing the people. B. Pet Banks and the Economy 1. Both soft-money advocates (associated with state banks) and hard-money advocates supported Jackson’s veto. 2. Jackson authorized the removal of federal funds from the vaults of the national bank and their deposit to state or "pet" banks.

3. Partly because the Bank of the United States had lost the ability to regulate the currency effectively, prices rose dramatically while real wages declined. C. The Panic of 1837 1. By 1836, the American government required gold or silver for payments for land purchases and the Bank of England required the same for American creditors. 2. With cotton exports declining, the United States suffered a panic in 1837 and a depression until 1843. 3. States amended their constitutions, prohibiting legislatures from borrowing money, issuing corporate charters, and buying stock in private enterprises. a. For a time, Jacksonians had separated both federal and state governments from being involved in the economy. D. Van Buren in Office 1. Martin Van Buren approved the Independent Treasury to deal with the crisis. 2. The Independent Treasury split the Democratic Party. a. Calhoun went back to the Democrats. E. The Election of 1840 1. The Whigs nominated William Henry Harrison in 1840. 2. Harrison was promoted as the "log cabin" candidate. a. His running mate was John Tyler. 3. Selling candidates in campaigns was as important as the platform for which they stood. F. His Accidency 1. Harrison died a month after taking office. 2. Tyler vetoed measures to enact the American System....