Age of Jackson Flashcards
jackson took office
march 1892
jackson campaigned as
a reformer, promising to root out corruption in the government
daniel webster
- national republican senator
- feared jackson would worsen the split in the republican party
jackson’s inauguration
march 4
“man of the people”
- barely finished oath of office, massive crowd
- saw a tidal wave of support
- his rise to office was a new era of american democracy
jackson’s background
- first president west of the appalachians
- frontier life shaped his character
- strong opinions, tough decisions, defensive
jackson’s support came from…
thousands of first time voters
- from 1824-1828, 356k –> 1.1 mil
rise of first time voters?
- older states repealed laws requiring voters to be property holders
- new states (Indiana, Maine) allowed all white adult men to vote
- voters intend of state legislators began choosing presidential electors
patronage
newly elected officials giving government jobs to friends and supporters
jackson & patronage
he made patronage an official policy of his administration
spoils system
- dismissed a little less than 1/5 of all presidential appointees and federal officeholders
- replaced them with Jacksonian democrats
jackson defense for spoils system
- any intelligent person could be a competent public official
- “rotation in office” prevented a small group of wealth, well-connected people from controlling the govt.
- his spoils system contributed to his image as a champion of the common man
jackson & govt.
feared power of fed gov
- attacked politicians & laws he thought were corrupt and would limit liberty
VETO
- restricted federal activity as much as possible
- rejected more than all 6 prev presidents combined
maysville kentucky
- 60 mile road along the ohio river
- southward to the growing city of lexington
- he felt it was unconstitutional for congress to pay for a road entirely in one state
- 1830, jackson vetoed it because he felt the state of kentucky and not the national govt. should build the road
jackson’s federal power irony:
no president did more to increase the power of presidency than jackson
tariff of 1828 accomplsihed what
before jackson’s first term began
- heavy tax on imports to boost american manufacturing
- benefited industrial north but forced southerners to pay higher prices for manufactured goods
tariff of abominations
tariff of 1828
south carolina
- brought back the idea of nullifying or rejecting laws they deemed unconstitutional
- last we saw of this was with with jefferson and madison
state sovereignty
- sc’s nullification threat was based on a strict interpretation of states rights
- theory that states created fed gov so they have the right to nullify its acts or even to seceded from the union
robert hayne (jan, 1830)
- south carolina
- states rights
daniel webster (jan, 1830)
- massachusetts
- defended the union
- attacked hayne’s view
force bill
- 1832, South Carolina declared another passage of tariffs null and void
- threatened to cede…
- jackson believed the state was disregarding th will of the people
- passed the force bill making it difficult for sc to block federal collection of the tariff
- he threatened to send 50k fed troops
north americans status
- most east of the Mississippi River gave up territory and moved west
- the remaining lived mainly in the old northeest and south
- in 1829, gold was found in western Georgia and whites flooded into indigenous lands
five civilized tribes
cherokee, creek, choctaw, Chickasaw, seminole
indian removal act
- 1830
- president gives na lands in part of Louisiana purchase (wild prairie land) (present day Oklahoma) in exchange for their millions of acres