M O N D A Y, O C T O B E R 3 1 , 2 0 1 6
JACKSONIAN
PRESIDENCY
J A C K S O N ’ S A G E N D A : R O TAT I O N A N D
D E C E N T R A L I Z AT I O N
• Kitchen Cabinet”
• Jackson relied primarily on his so-called Kitchen Cabinet, a
small group of advisors who helped him make policy
• Its most influential members were two Kentuckians, Francis
Preston Blair (editor of Washington Globe) and Amos Kendall
(speechwriter)
• Roger B. Taney of Maryland became attorney general,
treasury secretary, and then chief justice of the Supreme Court
• Martin Van Buren was named Jackson’s secretary of state
J A C K S O N ’ S A G E N D A : R O TAT I O N A N D
D E C E N T R A L I Z AT I O N
• Patronage
• Used to instill party loyalty and discipline; insisted that his
administration’s officers rotate positions
• Rewarded friends at home with government jobs, believing
this to be his right as “victor”
• Opposed government intervention in economic development
• Vetoed or rejected plans for national subsidies of
transportation initiatives and internal improvements, including
extension of the National Road
T H E TA R I F F A N D N U L L I F I C AT I O N
• The Tariff of 1828
• Opposition to tariffs continued in the South; South
Carolina was the only state with a black majority (56
percent population), feared rebellion by slaves
• Slaveholders in South Carolina criticized the tariff,
arguing for lower rates
• Wanted to keep public discussion away from British
decision to end slavery in the West Indies in 1833
T H E TA R I F F A N D N U L L I F I C AT I O N
• South Carolina and “nullification”
• Tariff was reenacted in 1832
• South Carolina adopted an Ordinance of Nullification in
November 1832
• Declared the 1828 and 1832 tariffs null and void in the state
• Threatened to secede if the government tried to force collection
• Argued that protective tariffs were illegitimate because each
state/geographic region had distinct interests
T H E TA R I F F A N D N U L L I F I C AT I O N
• South Carolina and “nullification”
• Vice President John C. Calhoun supported South Carolina (SC)
• Jackson wanted a middle ground but believed the Constitution
gave the federal government the power to establish tariffs
• Declared SC’s Ordinance of Nullification a violation of the
Constitution
• Jackson was granted power by Congress to use military means to
end the standoff with SC if needed
• SC gave up
• Why did the artist depict
Van Buren as Jackson’s
passenger? What was the
cartoon intended to
convey to the viewer?
THE BANK WAR
• Jackson’s Bank Veto
• Politicians who supported the Second Bank of the U.S. (est. 1816) wanted to maintain
the bank’s role in stabilizing the money supply
• Bank maintained a cautious monetary policy supported by creditors in Boston, New
York, and Philadelphia; opponents wanted to found state banks and not be
supervised by the Second Bank
• Bank’s president (Biddle) sought to have its charter renewed early
• Jackson vetoed the re-chartering, condemned the bank as “subversive” and
“dangerous to the liberties of the people”
• In 1832, Jackson was reelected
• Van Buren was elected as VP
• People believed Jackson correct in his criticism of the bank
THE BANK WAR
• The Bank Destroyed
• Early in 1833, Taney was appointed head of Treasury
Department
• Taney withdrew the federal government’s gold and silver
from the Second Bank and deposited it in various state
banks
• Tense political debate ensued
• In 1836, Jackson did not renew the Second Bank’s national
charter
I N D I A N R E M O VA L
• Cherokee Resistance
• White peoples’ demand for land continued to push native peoples westward
• Cherokees were one of many groups adopting white culture
• Many were mixed blood and some were slave owners
• Mixed-bloods wanted to fully integrate into American society to protect their
property
• Full-blood Cherokees wanted to maintain their culture and their ancestral
lands
• Jackson stopped using federal troops to protect Cherokee people/land in
the western part of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi
I N D I A N R E M O VA L
• The Removal Act and Its Aftermath
• Indian Removal Act of 1830 was challenged by evangelical Protestants but passed
the House narrowly
• Created the Indian Territory outside the western boundaries of the states; promised
money and land to those who would give up their lands east of the Mississippi River
• Violence erupted in some areas
• Cherokees challenged their removal to the Supreme Court; in Worcester v. Georgia
(1832), Court sided with Cherokees against the state
• In 1835, U.S. government signed Treaty of New Echota with a minority faction of
Cherokee and forced removal began in 1838
• “Trail of Tears”: approx. 3,000 Cherokee died of starvation and exposure on the
1,200-mile hike to Indian Territory
J A C K S O N I A N I M PA C T
• The Taney Court
• Taney served a long tenure as chief justice (1835–1864)
• Was an advocate of states’ rights and free enterprise
• Enhanced the regulatory role of state governments
• Mayor of New York v. Miln (1837) ruled the state could
use “police power” to inspect the health of arriving
immigrants
J A C K S O N I A N I M PA C T
• States Revise Their Constitutions
• Throughout the country, Democrats called for new
conventions (in 20 states) to write new state constitutions
• Mandated election of public officials, justices of the
peace, judges, and sheriffs
• New constitutions embodied the principles of classical
liberalism, or laissez-faire, by limiting the government’s
role in the economy
SHORT ANSWER
How did Andrew Jackson and the Democratic Party
fundamentally change public policy? Illustrate your
argument with specific examples.