Nostalgia Chapter 12 Flashcards
Alleged deal between presidential candidates John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay to throw the election, to be decided by the House of Representatives, in Adams’s favor. Though never proven, the accusation became the rallying cry for supporters of Andrew Jackson, who had actually garnered a plurality of the popular vote in 1824.
corrupt bargain
Collective appellation of the Creek, Cherokee, Seminole, Choctaw, and Chickasaw peoples of the American Southeast. Their agricultural practices, receptivity to American missionaries, and relative political cohesion led white Americans to dub them “civilized.”
Five Civilized Tribes
Policy of rewarding political supporters with public office, first widely employed at the federal level by Andrew Jackson. The practice was widely abused by unscrupulous office seekers, but it also helped cement party loyalty in the emerging two-party system.
spoils system
Noteworthy for its unprecedentedly high duties on imports. Southerners vehemently opposed the tariff, arguing that it hurt southern farmers, who did not enjoy the protection of tariffs but were forced to pay higher prices for manufactures.
Tariff of Abominations
Showdown between President Andrew Jackson and the South Carolina legislature, which declared the 1832 tariff null and void in the state and threatened secession if the federal government tried to collect duties. It was resolved by a compromise negotiated by Henry Clay in 1833.
Nullification Crisis
Passed as a measure to resolve the Nullification Crisis, it provided that tariffs be lowered gradually, over a period of ten years, to 1816 levels.
compromise Tariff of 1833
Passed by Congress alongside the compromise Tariff of 1833, it authorized the president to use the military to collect federal tariff duties.
Force Bill
Ordered the removal of Indian tribes still residing east of the Mississippi to newly established Indian Territory west of Arkansas and Missouri. Tribes resisting eviction were forcibly removed by American forces, often after prolonged legal or military battles.
Indian Removal Act
Forced march of fifteen thousand Cherokee Indians from their Georgia and Alabama homes to Indian Territory. Some four thousand Cherokees died on the arduous journey.
Trail of Tears
Series of clashes in Illinois and Wisconsin between American forces and Indian chief Black Hawk of the Sauk and Fox tribes, who unsuccessfully tried to reclaim territory lost under the 1830 Indian Removal Act.
Black Hawk War
Battle between President Andrew Jackson and congressional supporters of the Bank of the United States over the bank’s renewal. Jackson vetoed the bank bill, arguing that the bank favored moneyed interests at the expense of western farmers.
Bank War
First founded in New York, it gained considerable influence in New England and the mid-Atlantic during the 1832 election, campaigning against the politically influential Masonic order, a secret society. Anti-Masons opposed Andrew Jackson, a Mason, and drew much of their support from evangelical Protestants.
Anti-Masonic party
Popular term for pro-Jackson state banks that received the bulk of federal deposits when Andrew Jackson moved to dismantle the Bank of the United States in 1833.
pet banks
U.S. Treasury decree requiring that all public lands be purchased with “hard,” or metallic, currency. Issued after small state banks flooded the market with unreliable paper currency, fueling land speculation in the West.
Specie Circular
Economic crisis triggered by bank failures, elevated grain prices, and Andrew Jackson’s efforts to curb overspeculation on western lands and transportation improvements. In response, President Martin Van Buren proposed the “Divorce Bill,” which pulled treasury funds out of the banking system altogether, contracting the credit supply.
panic of 1837
Fortress in Texas where two hundred American volunteers were slain by Santa Anna in 1836. “Remember the Alamo” became a battle cry in support of Texan independence.
Alamo
Texas outpost where American volunteers, having laid down their arms and surrendered, were massacred by Mexican forces in 1836. The incident, along with the slaughter at the Alamo, fueled American support for Texan independence.
Goliad
Resulted in the capture of Mexican dictator Santa Anna, who was forced to withdraw his troops from Texas and recognize the Rio Grande as Texas’s southwestern border.
San Jacinto
(1767-1848) Son of second president John Adams, he served as secretary of state under James Monroe before becoming the sixth president of the United States. A strong advocate of national finance and improvement, he faced opposition from states’ rights advocates in the South and West. His controversial election-the allegedly “corrupt bargain” of 1824-and his lack of political acumen further hampered his presidential agenda.
John Quincy Adams
(1767-1845) War hero, congressman, and seventh president of the United States. A Democrat, he ushered in a new era in American politics, advocating white manhood suffrage and cementing party loyalties through the spoils system. As president, he dismantled the Bank of the United States, asserted federal supremacy in the nullification crisis, and oversaw the harsh policy of Indian removal in the South.
Andrew Jackson
(ca. 1767-1822) Free black who orchestrated an aborted slave uprising in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1822. his plan was uncovered before he could put it in motion, and he and thirty-four accomplices were put to death.
Denmark Vesey
(1782-1850) Vice president under Andrew Jackson, he became a U.S. senator from South Carolina after a public break with the administration. A fierce supporter of states’ rights, he advocated South Carolina’s position during the nullification crisis. In the 1840s and 1850s, he staunchly defended slavery, accusing free-state northerners of conspiring to free the slaves.
John C. Calhoun
(1767-1838) Sauk war chief who led the Sauk and Fox resistance against eviction under the Indian Removal Act in Illinois and Wisconsin. Brutally crushed by American forces, he surrendered in 1832 and lived out his days on a reservation in Iowa.
Black Hawk
(1786-1844) Banker, financier, and president of the Second Bank of the United States from 1822 until the bank’s charter expired in 1836.
Nicholas Biddle
