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
