Unit 4 Lesson 3: Jacksonian Democracy

Question 1

Beginning with the Federalists, those in power resisted a country where the will of the majority, rather than the desires of the wealthy elite, became law. But beginning in the early 1820s, a series of reforms swept the nation. These reforms opened the political process to more people than ever before. They included the following:

Answer 1

• Property requirements for voting were eliminated.
• Officials were directly elected as opposed to appointed.
• Political machines with loyal party members were developed.
• Electors were chosen by popular vote in presidential elections.
• The people, rather than elites, chose who ran for president with the end of the caucus system.

Question 2

How did the election of 1824 go

Answer 2

The election of 1824 saw five candidates run for president, all as Democratic-Republicans. The results were close, with Andrew Jackson defeating John Quincy Adams in the popular vote and 99–84 in the electoral college. However, Jackson did not receive a majority of the electoral votes, as the Constitution required. As a result, it fell to the House of Representatives to select the president.

Question 3

How was the Election of 1824 corrupt

Answer 3

However, Jackson did not receive a majority of the electoral votes, as the Constitution required. As a result, it fell to the House of Representatives to select the president. Speaker of the House Henry Clay, Jackson’s rival, finished third in the presidential election. He used his influence to convince the House to cast their votes for Adams—despite him losing the popular vote.

Question 4

How did people react to the Election of 1824

Answer 4

For Jackson’s supporters, the deal was an outrage and became especially infuriating when Clay was appointed Secretary of State. To them, the fix was in. The incident became known as the corrupt bargain and would provide fuel for Jacksonians, who vowed revenge.

Question 5

Why do you think the result of the election of 1824 made so many people angry?

Answer 5

The democratic reforms of the time promised to give more power to the will of the majority. However, the opposite happened in 1824. The majority selected Andrew Jackson, but John Quincy Adams became president.

Question 6

What was the American system?

Answer 6

John Quincy Adams supported Henry Clay’s American System. The policy was meant to modernize the country and included tariffs, a national bank, and a national university. It also included money for internal improvements such as canals and roads that would connect the country and help settle the West.

Question 7

Why did people oppose the American system

Answer 7

The idea faced opposition in Congress as many argued the Constitution did not give Congress the authority for such a bold program

Question 8

Why was the tariff in 1828 passed

Answer 8

He supported the passage of a tariff in 1828 to promote manufacturing, especially in New England.

Question 9

What did the tariff of 1828 do

Answer 9

It lowered the tax on cotton products but raised it on many of the products made in the mid-Atlantic states.

Question 10

Why was the tariff in 182 called the Tariff of **Abominations?

Answer 10

States’ rights advocates who claimed it favored the North called it the Tariff of Abominations. The tariff also raised southern fears that the government could take strong steps to harm southern interests—mainly slavery.

Question 11

How did Vice PResident John C Calhoun react to the tariff in 1828

Answer 11

Leading the charge against the tariff was Vice President John C. Calhoun. He was a defender of slavery and a believer in states’ rights.

Question 12

What right does Calhoun claim the states have?

Answer 12

He claims states have the right to decide if the federal government oversteps its powers.

Question 13

Why did Jackson supports called themseleves democrats?

Answer 13

They called themselves simply Democrats, differentiating themselves from Clay and Adams’s “corrupt” Democratic-Republicans.

Question 14

To his supporters how was Jackson viewed?

Answer 14

Jackson was billed as someone who would stand up for the “common man,” as opposed to the elitist and aristocratic Adams.

Question 15

What did Jackson fans to to support Jackson

Answer 15

They used newspapers and other publications to paint Jackson as a war hero, frontiersman, and westerner (he hailed from Tennessee).

Question 16

How did Democrats help Jackson win

Answer 16

The Democrats tried to bring in as many new voters as possible. They held rallies, parades, and other events to broadcast Jackson’s message. The strategy worked. Jackson won a resounding victory. A new political party had once again assumed power.

Question 17

What was one of the first things Jackson did as president

Answer 17

One of Jackson’s first actions as president was to remove nearly half of appointed government workers.

Question 18

One of Jackson’s first actions as president was to remove nearly half of appointed government workers. This allowed Jackson to do what

Answer 18

This allowed Jackson to handpick their replacements.

Question 19

Who did Jackson give postions to

Answer 19

The positions often went to party members as a reward for their support.

Question 20

How did supporters react to Jackson handpicking goverment workers

Answer 20

Supporters claimed this was a way to get new blood into office and to allow more people to have a role in government.

Question 21

What was the spoils system

Answer 21

Jackson’s opponents denounced the practice as a spoils system, where jobs went to not the most qualified, but the most loyal, potentially leading to incompetent and corrupt people in office.

Question 22

Which regions supported Adams? Which supported Jackson?

Answer 22

The South and West supported Jackson. New England supported Adams.

Question 23

As Jackson took office, opposition to the Tariff of 1828 reached a boiling point. Elborate

Answer 23

The South was experiencing an economic downturn, and many blamed the tariff. Resentment of the tariff was also closely tied to slavery. Some southerners argued the government would use the same power it displayed to force the tariff upon them to abolish slavery.

Question 24

How did South Carolina respond to the Tariff of 1828

Answer 24

South Carolina raised the theory of nullification, or the voiding of federal law. Nullification was linked with the prospect of secession, or separating from the Union. It seemed reasonable to believe that if states could disobey the government, they could also break from the country.

Question 25

What was Jacksons responce to the nulifers

Answer 25

Jackson disagreed with the nullifiers’ arguments, claiming the Constitution gave the government the clear right to “lay and collect taxes.” He took a strong stand and pledged to protect the Union against those who tried to tear it apart over the tariff.

Question 26

DEscribe South Carolina vs Jackson

Answer 26

In 1832, South Carolina officially declared the tariff “null and void,” bringing the crisis to a head. Jackson responded by declaring that a state did not have the right to nullify a federal law. Next, South Carolina called for 10,000 volunteers to defend the state. Congress followed by passing a law that allowed troops to be used to force states to obey federal laws. To many, civil war seemed a real possibility.

Question 27

How did the tariff conflict get revolved

Answer 27

the Compromise Tariff of 1833 was passed, which lowered the tariff rates.

Question 28

How did Jackson feel about the bank

Answer 28

Jackson loathed the bank. He called it a “monster” and viewed it as a tool of the wealthy. As a westerner, he had experienced how banks foreclosed on farmers, leading them to ruin. To Jackson, hard currency—gold and silver—was the only money that could be trusted.

Question 29

In 1832, Congress voted to renew the charter of the bank, which was due to expire in 1836. How did Jackson respond?

Answer 29

Jackson responded by using the bank as a campaign issue. He used the bank as another battle in his fight for the common man. According to Jackson, the bank was an enemy of ordinary Americans and a tool of the wealthy.

Question 30

What did Jackson do to goverment money in banks?

Answer 30

Jackson removed government money from the bank and placed funds in smaller state banks.

Question 31

What was the Specie Circular

Answer 31

He then issued the Specie Circular, which required that western land sales could be conducted only using hard money

Question 32

What was the panic of 1837

Answer 32

when hard currency became scarce, money began to dry up and the economy screeched to a halt. The resulting Panic of 1837 was a political blow to the Democrats.

Question 33

What led to the formation of the Whig party?

Answer 33

Jackson’s veto of the bank caused his opponents to form the Whig Party.

Question 34

Why did the Whig party call themselves the whig party?

Answer 34

The original Whigs were a British party that resisted the power of King George III. By taking the same name, Jackson’s critics were likening him to a monarch.

Question 35

What did Whigs want what were there goals?

Answer 35

Whigs wanted an active federal government that supported economic growth, money for internal improvements, and a national bank.

Question 36

What kind of people were whigs?

Answer 36

Whigs also tended to be wealthy, as they included prominent southern planters and wealthy urban northerners.

Question 37

Jackson belived that NAtive Americans stood in the way of what

Answer 37

In his first message to Congress, Jackson proclaimed that the Native American groups living in Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama stood in the way of westward settlement.

Question 38

What were the Five Civilized Tribes

Answer 38

The Five Civilized Tribes​, called such because they had adopted many American cultural practices, lived in these states.

Question 39

Jackson’s anti-Native American stance was popular with many white citizens. What was the Indian Remvoal Act in 1830

Answer 39

. As a result, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830. The law called for the removal of the Five Civilized Tribes from their homes in the Southeast to land in the West, or present-day Oklahoma.

Question 40

The issue of whether state and federal laws applied to Native American territories rose to the surface because of Jackson’s policies. Describe the important case of Worcester v. Georgia

Answer 40

In the important case of Worcester v. Georgia, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that Native Americans were “distinct political communities” and had the right to govern themselves. Thus, state laws did not apply to their territories.

Question 41

Why did the Worcester v. Gerogia have no influecne

Answer 41

the Supreme Court itself did not have the power to enforce its ruling; Jackson refused to enforce the court’s decision.

Question 42

What was the Trial of tears?

Answer 42

Some of the tribes left quickly, but many of the Cherokees stayed because of previous treaties. In order to ensure removal, Jackson relied on the U.S. military to make them move. In a series of forced marches known as the Trail of Tears, as many as 1,000 Cherokee people died on the way to Oklahoma.

Question 43

Why did the Cherokee people feel betrayed by the United States’ desire to remove them?

Answer 43

The Cherokee believed that because they had treaties with the U.S., agreed to change their culture, and adopted many American traits, they would be allowed to live in peace. However, they were still ordered to move.

Question 44

By the eleection of 1840 The Federalists and Democratic-Republicans had been replaced by

Answer 44

the Democrats and Whigs.

Question 45

During the election of 1840 what became the nomr

Answer 45

During the election, large-scale campaign rallies and emotional propaganda became the norm. Voter turnout also increased. In 1840, 80 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot. In comparison, the figure was 25 percent in 1828.

Question 46

Who was the Whigs candiate

Answer 46

The Whigs ran William Henry Harrison as their candidate. They promoted him as a war hero because of his success fighting Native Americans

Question 47

Who was the democrats candaite

Answer 47

The Democrats re-nominated President Martin Van Buren, who was first elected in 1836 on the coattails of Jackson’s popularity

Question 48

Desribe the use of propaganda use in the election of 1840

Answer 48

The Democrats attempted to discredit Harrison. The Whigs used this to their advantage by presenting Harrison as a man of the people. They contrasted this with Van Buren, whom they painted as an aristocrat living in a palace.

Question 49

Who won the elections of 1840

Answer 49

The technique was a success. Harrison easily won the election.

Question 50

Some Americans supported expansionism; Whar was expansionism

Answer 50

a policy of increasing a country’s size by expanding its territory.

Question 51

Describe some of the mild conflict that came with the Lousiana purchase

Answer 51

The Louisiana Purchase expanded America’s geography, but the exact borders of the purchase were not universally agreed upon. One of the most contested areas was Florida, where American expansionists argued the entire peninsula was rightly part of the United States.

Question 52

What was the Adams-Onis Treaty

Answer 52

With the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819, the U.S. acquired Florida and a boundary between the United States and Spain was decided.

Question 53

How did expansionts feels about the treay 1819

Answer 53

But for expansionists, the treaty did not go far enough. They argued Texas should have been included in the deal.

Question 54

Missouri was part of the Louisiana Purchase. By 1817, settlers of the territory were pushing for statehood. Many of Missouri’s settlers were slaveholders. How did this cause confluct

Answer 54

However, free and slave states were evenly divided, creating a balance in the Senate. If Missouri was admitted as a slave state, that balance would be upset.

Question 55

The situation was resolved when Congress came to an agreement known as the Missouri Compromise. What was the Misuori compromise

Answer 55

. To preserve the balance in the Senate, Maine (which had been part of Massachusetts) would enter the country as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. To prevent future conflicts, a line connected to Missouri’s southern border at 36°30′ latitude was drawn across the Louisiana Territory. Each time a new territory applied for statehood, slavery could exist south of the line, but was forbidden north of it.

Question 56

Why was Arkansas open to slavery?

Answer 56

It fell south of the 36°30′ line

Question 57

Under the Missouri Compromise, was the majority of the Louisiana Purchase open or closed to slavery?

Answer 57

The majority of the territory was closed to slavery.

Question 58

After the Adams Onís Treaty defined the U.S.-Mexico boundary what did the Spanish Mexican goverment do

Answer 58

After the Adams Onís Treaty defined the U.S.-Mexico boundary, the Spanish Mexican government began encouraging Americans to settle in the province of Texas, which was still under Spanish control.

Question 59

Who were empressarios

Answer 59

Spain recruited empresarios, people who brought settlers to the region in exchange for land.

Question 60

Who was Moses Austin

Answer 60

One of the first empresarios was Moses Austin, who settled 300 Americans in Texas.

Question 61

How did the conflict iwth the mexican goverment and AMerica begin

Answer 61

In 1829, Mexico abolished slavery. American slaveholders in Texas ignored the policy and began pushing for Texas to become a state. The Mexican government grew concerned. In 1830, it forbade additional American immigration to Texas and increased its military presence.

Question 62

In 1836, Texas declared its independence from Mexico. What did this led to

Answer 62

But Mexico had no intention of losing its northern province. Mexican President General Antonio López de Santa Anna marched his army into San Antonio in February 1836. At an old mission known as the Alamo, 200 Texas defenders withstood Mexican forces for 10 days. After the standoff, all but a few of the Texans had died.

Question 63

Battle of San Jacinto

Answer 63

Texans under Sam Houston responded in April 1836 at the Battle of San Jacinto, during which Mexican forces were defeated and Santa Anna was taken prisoner. Santa Anna was forced to sign a peace treaty where he agreed to recognize Texas as an independent nation with a southern border at the Rio Grande River. The agreement did not last long. Santa Anna soon lost power and the new Mexican government insisted Texas was still part of Mexico.

Question 64

why was Texas not aprt of US

Answer 64

In September 1836, Houston was elected president of Texas. Texans voted in favor of annexation by the United States. However, American politicians feared annexation would both bring war with Mexico and once again bring the issue of slavery and the sectional balance to the forefront.

Question 65

The Texas issue unleashed a wave of expansionist fervor across the country. What was the Mainfest of Destiny

Answer 65

In a concept known as Manifest Destiny, many Americans believed that it was their God-given right to conquer the continent and bring Protestant and Democratic values with them. Manifest Destiny resulted in the brutal treatment of Native Americans and Hispanic communities already living in the areas where expansion took place. Their lands could be taken and the people who lived there were removed, made to assimilate, or worse.

Question 66

How did the Manfiest of Desinty influece the election of 1844

Answer 66

ames K. Polk, a slaveholder from Tennessee, won the presidency. He ran on a platform that supported expansion, the annexation of Texas, and the acquisition of the Oregon Territory. Many Texans already wanted to join the United States, and Polk was happy to oblige.

Question 67

What was the situation with Oregan

Answer 67

The issue of Oregon had been in dispute for some time. The area comprised an enormous wilderness that had once been claimed by Spain, Russia, Britain, and the United States. By 1844, only British and U.S. claims remained unresolved.

Question 69

How did theBritan and US negiote for the territo

Answer 69

But when Polk became president, Britain would not agree to his extreme campaign promise. Instead, a deal was negotiated where Oregon’s boundary would be set at the 49th parallel, a compromise that some northerners viewed as a betrayal.

Question 70

When did TExas become an offical statte

Answer 70

In December 1845, Polk officially agreed to annex Texas.

Question 71

Texas’s southern border had remained in dispute since its independence. How did this lead to a war with mexico

Answer 71

The U.S. had argued that the Rio Grande River was the rightful boundary. Mexico disagreed, claiming the border was farther north at the Nueces River.

In 1846, Polk ordered troops across the Nueces, into disputed territory. From Mexico’s perspective, it was an invasion. U.S. forces began to build a fort on the “American” side of the Rio Grande. Shots soon rang out and 16 U.S. soldiers were killed. Polk asked for a declaration of war, claiming in the declaration that Mexico “has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon American soil.” On May 12, war with Mexico was officially declared.

Question 72

U.S. military strategy for the war had the following three main goals:

Answer 72

Take control of northern Mexico.
Seize California.
Capture Mexico City.
The first goal was quickly accomplished by future-president General Zachary Taylor. California was soon captured as well. On September 14, 1847, General Winfield Scott captured Mexico City, located far south of the Texas border.

Question 73

How did the MExicna american war end

Answer 73

In 1848, the war officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty was a triumph for expansionists as Mexico ceded nearly half its land to the United States. The** Mexican Cession **included California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado. The treaty also set Texas’s southern border at the Rio Grande.