Unit 5: Age of Jackson, 1828 - 1848
Democracy and the “Common Man”
z Alexis
de Tocqueville (French writer and
visitor to the US) and others from Europe
were amazed by the informal manners,
democratic attitudes, and “equality” they
witnessed in America
z Godey’s
Lady’s
Book – “Vogue” of
it’s time for all
ladies to copy
latest styles
z More equality,
except…Who’s left
out?
z Self-made man –
was the hero of
the age
Expansion of Suffrage
z 1824
– 1840 – no longer just the wealthy
elite involved in politics – more lower and
middle class voters than ever before
z Universal male suffrage
z Party nominating conventions
z Popular election of the president –
electors chosen by voters rather than
legislature
z Rise
of ThirdParties
z More elected
offices
z Popular
campaigning
z Two-Party System
–national scale
Rotation of office
z Spoils
system – rewarding party
loyalty with government jobs
z Rotation in office – pros and
cons?
z Both of the above affirmed the
democratic ideal that one man
was as good as another
Revolution of 1828
z
z
Jackson elected after the “Corrupt Bargain” and
election of John Quincy Adams in 1824
Campaigns both included MUDSLINGING and
personal attacks on candidates and their wives
Due to the awkward circumstances surrounding their
marriage, unfortunately some elements of the story of
Rachel and Andrew's marriage were true according to the
law. Rachel and Andrew were living as husband and wife
for two years before they found out that her first
husband had actually never completed the divorce.
Meanwhile, Jackson supporters were by no means
innocent. Adams was accused of installing gambling
tables in the White House at the public expense, of
padding his expense account, and even of pimping
women for the Tsar of Russia
z THREE
TIMES
the number of
voters than last
election
Second Party System
z 1.
Democratic Party – favored local rule,
limited government, free trade, equal
opportunities (White males)
z -opposed monopolies, national bank,
high tariffs, and high land prices
z Supported by southerners,
westerners, small farmers, urban
workers
z Jackson’s Party
Whig Party (Anti-Jackson) – favored
Clay’s American System, national bank,
federal funding for internal improvements,
protective tariff
z Opposed immorality, crime, blamed
immigrants
z Supported by New Englanders,
mid-Atlantic, upper Middle-West,
Protestants, middle class urban
professionals
z 2.
Presidency of Andrew Jackson
z Common
man? – extraordinary ordinary
man – self-made man
z Kitchen Cabinet
z Peggy Eaton Affair
z More vetoes than all previous presidents
z Internal improvements and states’ rights:
The Maysville Road veto – Jackson vetoed
rival Clay’s plan because it was wholly
within one state (Kentucky)
Indian Removal Act (1830)
z
z
Jackson convinces
best solution for
land-hungry
citizens
Native Americans
would move west
of the Mississippi
with “help” of
Bureau of Indian
Affairs to
Oklahoma territory
z Worcester
v. Georgia (1832) – laws of
Georgia had no force within the
boundaries of Cherokee territories –
Jackson sided with the states – “John
Marshall has made his decision, now let
him enforce it.”
z 1838 – Trail of Tears – 15,000 Cherokees
forced to leave, 4,000 died on journey
z Other Native groups included: Chickasaw,
Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole
The Nullification Crisis – right of
states to declare a federal law null
and void
z Webster-Hayne
Debates (1830)
z 1. Tariff issue – Calhoun’s South Carolina
did not want to collect, Jackson and
Congress passed Force Bill – take military
action if necessary – compromise – lower
tariff and nullification postponed
z 2. The Union: Calhoun and Jackson –
Jackson favored federal authority
regarding nullification, but also supported
Southern slavery by stopping anti-slavery
literature distributions in US mail
The Bank War: Jackson and Biddle
z Biddle
– managed bank effectively, but
some felt he catered to the wealthy
z Jackson vetoed bank – believed it was
unconstitutional, “hydra of corruption”,
expense of common people
z Won re-election over Clay partly due to
issue, ¾ of electoral vote
Martin Van Buren
z VP
to Jackson
z Panic of 1837
partly due to
veto of BUS and
pet banks –
Democrats and
Van Buren
blamed
“Log Cabin and Hard Cider”
Campaign of 1840
z Tippecanoe
and Tyler Too – Whig’s
candidate William Henry Harrison, popular
war hero
z Campaigning – log cabins rolling down
streets, free drinks, buttons, name-calling
– “Martin Van Ruin”
z 78% of eligible voters turned out
z Fate of Harrison?
Creating and American Culture
z A.
Cultural Nationalism – new enthusiasm
for reform
z B. Education reform/ professionalism
z 1.
Horace Mann – led tax-supported public
school movement, compulsory attendance,
longer school year, teacher training
z 2. Moral education – McGuffey readers, hard
work, punctual, sober
z Higher education – result of 2nd Great
Awakening, Mt. Holyoke and Oberlin admitted
women
Religion; revivalism
z
z
z
1. Second Great
Awakening 1820s 40s
2. Burned Over
District and Western
New York/ Charles G.
Finney
3. Baptists and
Methodists in South –
Peter Cartwright led
outdoor revivals,
camp meetings
Utopian experiments
z 1.
Mormons – founded by Joseph Smith
z Book of Mormon – connection between
lost tribes of Israel and Native Americans
z Smith gained followers and moved west,
murdered in Illinois
z Brigham Young led Mormons to Salt Lake
City, Utah – establish prosperous,
cooperative religious community
z Polygamy
Oneida Community – founded by
John Humphrey Noyes in 1848
z
z
z
z
cooperative living
Committed to perfect
social and economic
equality, free-love
Shared property and
marriage partners
Planned reproduction,
communal child
rearing, economic
success
Shakers
z
z
z
z
Founded by Mother
Ann Lee – believed to
be female
embodiment of Christ
Communal living
Separation of the
Sexes
Opportunities for
women
Transcendentalists
z Challenged
materialism of American
society
z Individualism, emotion, and nature
z Ralph Waldo Emerson –self reliance,
independent thinking
z Henry David Thoreau – Essay on Civil
Disobedience and Walden
z Brook Farm – communal, combine manual
labor and intellectuals
National literature, art, and
architecture
z Painting
- Hudson River School –
expressed romantic age’s fascination with
the natural world
z Architecture – Greek styles, democratic
spirit
z Literature – American writers and
American themes –Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales and Last of the Mohicans,
Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, and Melville’s
Moby Dick
Reform Crusades - 1. Feminism; roles
of women in the 19th century
Cult of Domesticity
z Stemmed from women’s
involvement in anti-slavery
movement
z Grimke Sisters
z Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady
Stanton
z Seneca Falls Convention (1848) –
Declaration of Sentiments –
modeled after?
z Did not yet speak of equal pay
for equal work
z
Abolitionism
z
z
z
z
American Colonization
Society (1817) – Back to
Africa – Liberia
American Anti-Slavery
Society (1831) – William
Lloyd Garrison –
immediate emancipation,
burned Constitution
Black Abolitionists –
Frederick Douglass and
his North Star, Sojourner
Truth
Violent Abolitionists –
David Walker, Nat Turner
Temperance
z
z
z
z
z
z
Used moral arguments to
protest excessive drinking
and alcohol
One of first reform
movements women got
involved in
American Temperance
Society – by 1840s million
members
Women’s Christian
Temperance Union
Supported by factory
owners
Opposed by German and
Irish immigrants
Criminals and insane
z Mental
Hospitals and Dorothea Dix
z Schools
z Prisons
for Blind and Deaf
–solitary confinement for reflection
of sins, structure and discipline for moral
reform, work programs
Essay Questions
z 1.
Analyze the extent to which TWO of the
following influenced the development of
democracy between 1820 and 1840
z Jacksonian
economic policy
z Changes in electoral politics
z Second Great Awakening
z Westward Movement
Essay Question
z The
Jacksonian Period (1824 – 1848) has
been celebrated as the era of the
“common man”. To what extent did the
period live up to its characterization?
Consider TWO of the following in your
response.
z Economic Development
z Politics
z Reform Movements