Age+of+Andrew+Jackson


 * Age of Andrew Jackson**

Adams vs. Jackson

There were four candidates running in the 1824 presidential election. Senator Andrew Jackson, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, Speaker of the House Henry Clay and Secretary of the Treasury William H. Crawford. The results of the election appear below: Jackson 152, 901 popular votes 99 Electoral College votes Adams 114, 023 popular votes 84 Electoral College votes Crawford 46, 979 popular votes 41 Electoral College votes Clay 47, 217 popular votes 37 Electoral College votes

Since no candidate had a majority in the Electoral College, the presidency was decided by the House of Representatives, which had to choose among the top three candidates: Jackson, Adams, and Crawford. The voting went by state, with each state casting one vote, regardless of population in the state.

In the general election, Jackson had carried eleven states, and hos supporters hoped the states that had voted for Crawford would vote for Jackson, since Crawford could not serve. They did not know, however, that Henry Clay had transferred his support to Adams by convincing the representatives from the three states he carried to vote for him. That made eleven votes for Adams.

New York then became the crucial state. It was evenly split down the middle with 17 votes each for Adams and Crawford. Should New York fail to reach a decision on the first ballot, a deadlock would occur. Clay tried to convince Representative Stephen Van Rensselear of New York to switch to Adams without apparent success. As the first ballot began, the still undecided Van Rensselear bowed his head as if in prayer. On the floor, he saw a piece of paper with Adams' name written on it. It was actually a discarded Adams ballot. Van Rensselear, taking it as a sign, dropped it in the box as his vote, and John Quincy Adams was elected president.

It was known, however, that Adams and Clay had held a private conference before the House began its work. So, when President John Quincy Adams appointed Henry Clay as secretary of state, Jackson and his supporters charged that the two had entered in to a "corrupt bargain."

1. Two unusual features of the election of 1824 were that there were four candidates running with no one receiving a majority of Electoral College votes and that the elction had to be decided in the House of Representatives.

2. According to the election results, Jackson's supporters felt he should have been elected president because he had the most popular votes and Electoral College votes.

3. Jackson felt that Clay and Adams had entered in to a "corrupt bargain" because Clay worked to get his supporters to back Adams and after the election, Clay was appointed secretary of state.

4. The vote by Representative Van Rensselaer, and how he came to his decision, would suggest there was no "corrupt bargain."

Growing Spirit of Equality Suffrage Expands: More white men can vote. Property qualifications for voters end. Voter turn out steadily increases. Political Parties Change: The caucus system ends. Nominating conventions are held to choose presidential candidates. The Common Man Rises: The spoils system lets ordinary citizens participate in government. Ideas about social class change.

The Bank War

Nicholas Biddle was the president of the Second Bank of the United States. Jackson felt the Bank symbolized eastern wealth and power. He felt it was a threat to democracy. Clay and Webster wanted to hurt Jackson by making the re-chartering of the Bank a campaign issue - they felt if Jackson vetoed the re-charter he would lose the election of 1832. Jackson won the election of 1832. Jackson orders all government deposits removed from the bank. Deposits are placed in certain state banks (pet banks). Because the Bank was being forced to close, Biddle recalled loans and stopped making new loans. Caused a financial panic in 1833-1834. Deposits in pet banks helped to cause the economic depression of 1837. The Bank War caused the formation of the Whig Party.

The Nullification Crisis 1. After the War of 1812 British manufacturers wanted to destroy their competitors from the U.S. by flooding the U.S. market with inexpensive goods 2. Protective Tariffs Congress passes a series of protective tariffs - each one a little higher - to protect the growing U.S. industries (1816, 1824, 1828) 3. "A Yankee Tariff of Abomination" South was an agricultural region dependent on cotton. Because of high tariffs, England could not sell its stuff to the US. England had less money and therefore, bought less cotton from the South. Because of the tariff, South could not buy cheap manufactured goods from England, they had to buy more expensive stuff made in the North. Seemed like the North was getting rich at the expense of the South. 4. Calhoun's Nullification Theory US Constitution was a compact between states Each state could decide if an act of Congress was constitutional, if it wasn't, the state could nullify the law. If the federal government didn't allow nullification, the state could secede from the Union. 5. Tariff of 1832 Actually lowered the tariff slightly. South Carolina held a state's rights convention and announced the new tariffwould be null and void there. If any attempts were made by the federal government to collect the tariff, South Carolina would secede from the Union. President Andrew Jackson called the action treason and threatened to send in the military (Force Bill). New tariff, written by Henry Clay, gradually lowered the tariff over 10 years. Both sides claimed victory. Regarding state's rights - nothing was decided.

U.S. Policy Toward Native Americans Throughout our history, the United States has chosen one of three general policies toward Native Americans: 1. Extermination 2. Assimilation 3. Removal - this was the policy favored by Andrew Jackson Indian Removal Act - Indian land legally obtained through treaties with the United States were taken from Indians in exchange for land in teh Indian Territory (Oklahoma) - this land was considered by most at the time to be worthless desert.

Cherokee Worked hard to assimilate into white culture in Georgia. They became farmers, shop owners, manufacturers, set up schools and published newspapers. On land they had legally obtained through treaties with the US government, they set up a state with a constitution. The state of Georgia ignored this and opened up the land to white settlement - prime cotton growing land.

Worcester vs. Georgia (1832) in the Supreme Court case, the Court ruled in favor of the Cherokee stating they could stay on their land and receive protection from the US government State of Georgia and President Andrew Jackson ignore the ruling - no federal troops were sent to aid the Cherokee as Georgia forced them off their land. Jackson said because of state's rights he could not interfere.

Trail of Tears 17,000 Indians were forced off their land and sent to Oklahoma under armed guard. They had their possessions stolen along the way by government officials. They had to walk much of the 800 mile journey. More than 25% died along the way.