CHAPTER 12 – 2
JACKSON IN THE WHITE HOUSE
1. What qualities helped Andrew Jackson
succeed?
2. What was the spoils system?
3. Why did President Jackson fight the Bank of
the United States?
ANDREW JACKSON
• Studied law and set up a successful
law practice
• Became wealthy buying and selling
land
• While still in his twenties, was
elected to Congress
• Won national fame for his
achievements in the War of 1812
• Ability to inspire and lead others
• A champion of the common people
•
•
•
•
•
Strong-willed
Tough
Complex
Quick temper
A man of his
word
THE SPOILS SYSTEM
• When he took office, Jackson fired many government
employees and replaced them with his supporters.
• Critics accused Jackson of rewarding Democrats for
helping to elect him instead of choosing men who
were qualified.
• Jackson said he was serving democracy by letting
more citizens take part in government. He felt that
ordinary Americans were capable of doing
government jobs.
THE SPOILS SYSTEM (CONTINUED)
• A Jackson supporter explained, “To the victor belong
the spoils.”
• The practice of rewarding supporters with government
jobs became known as the spoils system.
• Jackson rewarded a number of supporters with Cabinet
jobs. Few of them were qualified, however. So Jackson
relied on unofficial advisers. He met with them in the
White House kitchen. The group became known as the
“kitchen cabinet.”
PRESIDENT JACKSON VS. THE
BANK OF THE UNITED STATES
• The Bank of the United States had great power because
it controlled the loans made by state banks. President
Jackson thought the Bank was undemocratic. He felt
that Bank president Nicholas Biddle used the Bank to
benefit the rich.
• Whigs persuaded Biddle to try to renew the Bank’s
charter before the 1832 election. They thought that if
Jackson vetoed the bill to renew the charter, he would
anger voters and lose the election.
PRESIDENT JACKSON VS. THE BANK
OF THE UNITED STATES (CONTINUED)
• When the bill to renew the Bank’s charter reached the
President, he vetoed it. First, he said the Bank was
unconstitutional. Second, he felt that the Bank helped
aristocrats at the expense of the common people.
• The Whigs brought up the Bank issue in the election
of 1832, but Jackson won a stunning election victory
anyway.
• Jackson ordered the Secretary of the Treasury to stop
putting federal money in the Bank of the United
States. The bank closed.