pt 2 Flashcards
What was Henry Clay’s “American System,” and why did
Jacksonian Democratic-Republicans think it would be a dangerous policy?
Jackson called it “building lighthouses in the sky.” Clay wanted federally sponsored internal improvements, prohibited tariffs and national bank. Dangerous in Jacksons view to a strict constitutional interpretation.
How did the market revolution make Americans more interdependent (i.e., dependent on one another)?
Opposite of Jefferson’s vision. Rise of manufacturing raised dependence on one another, growing need for national bank and government involvement in business. Exchange of goods and services. Like the medieval town model. Not everyone is doing everything for themselves, farmers are less self-sufficient.
How did the Erie Canal and other new modes of transportation
(including the railroad and telegraph) help promote the market revolution and economic “interdependence” in the 1820-1850 period?
trade grew as well as interstate commerce. The country grew sectional as well, based off what they did best, they would only grow or produce that product in each area. Tensions rose, little empathy between sections.
Summarize the main Whig party socio-economic ideals.
They favored Clay and the American system
The controversy over the Bank of the U.S. (BUS). Why did Jackson think the bank was so dangerous to society? Focus on his “philosophical” reasons, not on his own bad experiences with banks or distrust of paper money in general. (See also Lecture 17.)
Worried the government was being controlled by wealthy investors, first president for the common man.
Explain the theory of nullification and how it was meant to address the issue of tariffs. In what sense was the tariff controversy not the real issue?
In theory, States can invalidate federal laws or judicial decisions they deem unconstitutional. The real issue was not the disagreement about the tariff but rather the road of destruction the power of nullification could lead to.
p. 43: Give the basic facts here about the Removal Act of 1830 and the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831).
Jackson wanted access to the southern native lands, Cherokee nation was a peaceful tribe, and Tecumseh rose up from the Shawnee, seeking to create an autonomous native ruled state. After the loss to U.S. in the battle of horseshoe bend, Jackson made them surrender 23 million acres in the south to the us. All tribes had to move west of the Mississippi. Cherokee nation v. Georgia ruled that they were to be domestic dependents.
p. 58: Carefully explain the argument made in Democratic Party newspapers concerning the attitude of northern white workingmen toward abolitionism. What was the reasoning here?
he antislavery party was dying. This was because they thought that if it was overthrown, former slaves would move north, and take white jobs, at much reduced pay, hurting the northern whites in the long run.
pp. 61-63: Explain the reasoning of John C. Calhoun and Robert Y. Hayne, both of South Carolina, in their theory of nullification. What was Daniel Webster’s reasoning in response?
Calhoun believed nullification would prevent secession. This is because rather than breaking off the union for something they disagree with, they could simply not follow it. Hayne said that the union was a compact of sovereign states, where the sovereignty was absolute and the states could do whatever they wanted. Webster saw that the constitution was more than merely a union of sovereign states, and that liberty and union are intertwined.
Jackson’s 1832 Proclamation in reply to nullification.
Carefully explain (in a full paragraph) the arguments used in this document.
Explain: Why does the author say that “Jackson’s statement was far greater [i.e., more important] than Senator Webster’s more celebrated ‘second reply’”? (The “second reply” to nullification was Webster’s speech,
p. 63, after Robert Hayne gave the 1st, pro-nullification, reply.) Who later used the arguments from Jackson’s 1832 Proclamation to argue against the right of states to secede from the union?
In his proclamation issued on December 10, 1832, Jackson outlined why it would be wrong for South Carolina to abandon the union over a dilemma concerning federal tariffs. Jackson used no extra scare tactics or threat to argue that even though it was his home state, he could never tolerate a defiance of Federal law. Primarily, he stated that disunity with the inclusion of Armed forces is indeed treason. Additionally, he argued that the constitution outlines a government made up of sovereign people, not states. The states have nothing outside the unity provided in the Federal Government. Abraham Lincoln a couple decades later would use this argument against nullification to defend the Northern cause in the Civil War. Additionally, in 1869, The supreme court found no additional arguments against nullification than those already outlined by Jackson. Webster’s argument was inferior because he used sentiment and rhetoric, while Jackson wrote with a dynamic new understanding of how the Constitution truly provides for the relationship between the people, states, and federal government.
Summarize the arguments of each writer: John B. Russwurm and then Peter Williams Jr.
Russwurm argues colonization to be advantageous because he sees it as a way for them to easily not become second-class citizens, and it may encourage abolition more in the reluctant white populations. Williams saw this as repackaged racism, and realized Blacks had been in America just as long as whites, who is to say they are the ones who have to leave?
What were the social effects (outcomes) of the Great Awakening on American religion, and how did they together promote the growth of “denominationalism,” “voluntarism,” and competition in American church life?
There was an increase in a free-will relationship with God. Nearly all American Christians previously were Calvinist. Now, people are taking their faith into their own hands a bit more, and are not relying on church government to organize the church, but rather their own personal relationship with God. Voluntarism and competition in church life grew as people found themselves playing more of a role in their own salvation. Made churches a bit more casual, less about hierarchies.
Who were the Grimké sisters? I.e., know the basic facts.
The Grimke sisters were two southern wealthy women, saw the horrors of slavery, and became Northern Quakers. Sarah moved north first, then her sister Angelina. Did a lot of writing, and advocated for abolitionism and women’s rights. Saw how slavery breaks up families and exploits women.
