Chapter 9: Jacksonian America

Question 0

Hard Money vs. Soft money

Answer 0

Brinkley, page 250

Hard money: Money supported directly by gold or silver. Advocates of Hard money believed that gold and silver were the only basis for money, and condemned bank notes. During Jackson’s presidency these advocates opposed the national bank and all others that issued soft money. They were suspicious of expansion and speculation.

Soft Money; Bank notes unsupported by gold or silver. Advocates of soft money wanted more currency in circulation, and believed in rapid economic growth. They disliked the national bank because it restrained the state banks from issuing currency more freely.

Question 1

John C. Calhoun

Answer 1

1. ) Was Vice President while Jackson was President, also a Whig
2. ) Outspoken protectionist that had strongly supported the tariff of 1816
3. ) Many people blamed “tariff of abominations” for the stagnation of the economy so Calhoun came up with a theory of Nullification
4. ) Argued that the states were the final arbiters of the constitutionality of federal laws; the federal gov’t had nothing to do with stagnation

Question 2

John Tyler (election of 1840)

Answer 2

Brinkley pages 256-257

William Henry Harrison was the Whig candidate for president in the election of 1840, John Tyler ran as his vice president. The Whigs who were more determined to win the election than stick with their policies, portrayed Tyler as a common man who loved log cabins and hard cider, and accused their Democrat opponent, Martin Van Buren of being an aloof aristocrat. The Whigs won the election overwhelmingly, however Harrison died only 1 month after assuming his position, and Tyler succeeded him.

Question 3

Alexis de Tocqueville

Answer 3

Page 237

1. Alexis de Tocqueville was a French aristocrat who visited the United States in 1831.
2. The “general equality of condition among the people” struck him as “fundamental.”
3. Wrote in his classic study, “Democracy in America” (1835-1840), that “the government of democracy brings the notion of political rights to the level of the humblest citizens, just as the dissemination of wealth brings the notion of property withing the reach of all the members of the community.”
4. Also wondered hoe long the fluidity of American society could survive in the face of the growth of manufacturing and the rise of the factory system.
5. He feared industrialism would create a large class of dependent workers and a small group of new aristocrats.

Question 4

The Black Hawk War

Answer 4

Brinkley, 246-247

1) 1831-1832, Illinois
2) War between the Sauk and Fox Indians under the Leadership of Black Hawk and the Illinois state militia and Federal troops.
3) Black Hawk refused to recognize a treaty that ceded tribal lands to Illinois (treaty was signed by a rival tribal faction).
4) Black Hawk and his followers violated the treaty by reoccupying the lands ceded in the treaty.
5) The State Militia and FEderal troops responded viciously, slaughtering the Sauks and Foxes and forcing them to retreat into Iowa.
6) Black Hawk and his son, Whirling Thunder, were captured and put on tour as trophies of war.

Question 5

Seminole War

Answer 5

Page 248-249

1) 1835-1842
2) War fought between the Seminole Indians of Florida with the help of some runaway black slaves, and Andrew Jackson’s administration. The Jackson administration sent troops to Florida, but the natives knew the land and fought a costly war of attrition with the Americans. The cost of the war to the Americans was extreme - they lost over 1500 soldiers and $20 million dollars.
3) In 1842 the government ended the war. Most Seminoles had by then peacefully left their lands, or been killed. However, hold out pockets still remained within Florida.

Question 6

Aroostock War

Answer 6

Page 258

1) 1838
2) American and Canadian people (some being lumberjacks) moved into the Aroostock River Valley region, an area claimed by both Maine and Canada from the Treaty of 1783. These two groups soon started a brief, but violent, war over this land.

Question 7

Second Party System

Answer 7

Brinkley, pg. 240-241

1) The belief that permanent, institutionalized parties were a desirable part of the political process and that they were indeed essential to democracy emerged in the 1820s and 1830s.
2) An early example of this belief is Van Buren’s New York political faction–the Bucktails (aka the Albany Regency–which challenged the established political leadership–led by governor De Witt Clinton–that dominated the state levels.
3) The Bucktails, among others, refuted the traditional view of a political party as undemocratic, and instead, argued that an institutionalized economy could ensure genuine democracy.
4) These new parties believed that ideological commitments would be less important to the party itself and that the principal goal of leadership should be the preservation of the party as an institution
5) Made it clear that in order for parties to survive, it must have a permanent opposition b/c competing parties would give each political faction a sense of purpose.
6) Competing parties would force politicians to remain loyal and compliant to the people and would provide yet another check and balance in the federal government.
7) In the 1830, this second party system was emerging on the national level (with each party committed to its own existence and willing to accept the legitimacy of its opposition) in the form of the Whigs–the anti-Jacksonian forces–and the Democrats–Jackson’s followers.

Question 8

Charles River Birdge v. Warrne Bridge of 1837

Answer 8

Brinkley, pg. 252

1) The case involved a dispute between two Massachusetts companies over the right to build a bridge across the Charles River between Boston and Cambridge.
2) One company had a longstanding charter from the state to operate a toll bridge and claimed that this charter guaranteed it a monopoly of the bridge traffic. Another company had applied to the legislature for authorization to construct a second, competing bridge that would-since it would be toll free-greatly reduce the value of the first company’s charter.
3) The first company was contending that in granting the second charter the legislature was engaging in a breach in a breach of contract and noted that the Marshall Court, in the Dartmouth College case and other decisions, had ruled that states had no right to abrogate contracts.
4) Roger B. Taney supported the right of Massachusetts to award the second charter because his goal was to promote general happiness, an object that took precedence over the rights of contract and property.
5) The decision reflected one of the cornerstones of the Jackson ideal: that the key to democracy was an expansion of economic opportunity, which would not occur if older corporations could maintain monopolies and choke off competition from newer companies.

Question 9

Specie Circular

Answer 9

Brinkley, pg. 255

1) In 1836, Andrew Jackson issued a presidential oder, the “specie circular”. It provided that in payment for public lands the government would accept only gold and silver coins or currency securely backed by gold or silver.
2) Jackson was right to fear the speculative fever but wrong in thinking the specie circular would cure it. On the contrary, it produced a financial panic that began in the first months of Van Buren’s presidency.