The Age of Jackson
Chapter 12
Election of 1824
• Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Jackson were the candidates
• Election was sectionalized
• people from NE supported Adams, people from south supported Jackson, and people
from west supported Clay
• Jackson won the popular vote but no one won enough electoral college votes
to win so the House Representatives decided the winner
• John Quincy Adams (son of John Adams) won election as president
• Made a deal with Clay for his supporters to vote for him and in return he was named
Secretary of State
Election of 1828
• Quincy Adams vs Jackson
• Jackson won
• Expansion of number of people who could vote helped Jackson win
Jacksonian Democracy
• Extended political power to more people and supporting the idea of majority
rule
Spoils system
• Giving government jobs to your supporters
• Used by Jackson and many politicians since
Nullification
• Policy where a state had right to nullify or reject any federal law that it
considers unconstitutional
• Was created over the increased tariffs which negatively effected the southern
states
• Allowing nullification avoided South Carolina and other states from leaving
the USA (seceding)
• Supported by VP John Calhoun (south Carolina)
South Carolina threatens to leave USA
• Even after a reduced tariff passed in 1832, South Carolina still refused to
follow it
• A compromise was made in 1833, created by Henry Clay that kept South
Carolina in the USA
Jackson’s View on Native Americans
• Felt they were a conquered people who USA had right to move if we wanted
to
• He gave them 2 choices: become American or be moved west
Indian Removal Act (1830)
• Required Native Americans to relocate west of the Mississippi River
Trail of Tears
• Forced march of Native Americans to the Indian Territory (today’s
Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska)
• 4000 of 16,000 Native Americans died on the march
Corruption at the National Bank
• Bank made loans to members of Congress which meant the bank and its
president, Nicholas Biddle, could influence these politicians
• President Jackson “declared war on the bank” trying to destroy it b/c it was
corrupt at times
• Jackson won the war and the national bank closed but it caused an economic
crisis in the country
Martin Van Buren as president
• Won election after Jackson left office
• Economy was struggling but he didn’t think that the gov’t should step in and
help out
Panic of 1837
• Fear throughout the country about how bad the economy was and would
become
• Caused an economic depression
• Inflation increased (prices went up and value of money went down)
• Increase in poverty and homelessness due to high unemployment
Whig Party
• Opposed too much power with the president
• Created to fight against Andrew Jackson and his policies
• Founded by Henry Clay and Daniel Webster
• Wanted more power to rest in Congress
• Ran William Henry Harrison (president) and John Tyler (VP) as their
candidates in the election of 1840
Election of 1840
• William Henry Harrison won against President Van Buren
• Harrison died shortly after he was sworn in from pneumonia and John Tyler
his VP became president