HIST 1301 Part Three
10: The Era of Jacksonian
Democracy
The Era of Jacksonian Democracy
In the 1820s, ’30s, and ’40s, more white men, not just propertyowners, became eligible to vote and hold public office.
In 1800, only 3 states (KY, NH, VT) had
universal adult white male suffrage. By
1830 there were 10. By 1860, only 2 states
required voters to own property.
This era of the “Common Man”
led to people like frontiersman
David Crockett of Tennessee
being twice elected to Congress
(in 1826 and 1832).
The Disputed Election of 1824
In 1824, former General Andrew Jackson ran for President.
Jackson’s opponents:
William Crawford
Henry Clay
John Quincy Adams
Election of 1824, Electoral Vote Count
Jackson 99
Adams 84
131 (out of 261) needed to win
Clay 37
Crawford 41
The election was thrown into the
House and Adams won. Afterwards
Adams made Clay Secretary of State.
3 min. 52 sec.
Jackson and his supporters charged that Adams
and Clay had struck a “corrupt bargain.”
The Presidency of Andrew Jackson
1829-1837
2 min. 38 sec.
Indian Removal
1830-1838
In an attempt to keep their land, the
“Five Civilized Tribes” tried living
like whites.
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Cherokees
Choctaws
Chickasaws
Creeks
Seminoles
But in 1830, Congress passed
Jackson’s “Indian Removal Act.”
5 min. 56 sec.
Congressman David Crockett, originally a
Jackson supporter, denounced the Indian
Removal Act:
“[President Jackson’s] famous, or rather
should I say in-famous, Indian bill was
brought forward, and I opposed it from
the purest motives in the world. Several of
my colleagues got around me, and told me
how well they loved me, and that I was
ruining myself. They said this was a
favourite measure of the president, and I
ought to go for it. I told them I thought it
was a wicked, unjust measure, and that I
should go against it, let the cost to myself
be what it might…that I would sooner be
honestly and politically d---nd, that be
hypocritically immortalized.”
--From A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett
of the State of Tennessee (1834).
6 min. 45 sec.
The 1832 Nullification Crisis
Like a lot of Southern Conservatives, Vice-President John C.
Calhoun believed in the concept of “nullification.”
The 1828 “Tariff of Abominations” set
some import duties as high as 50%.
Southern Conservatives hated it.
In November 1832, although import duties had
been lowered that same year, South Carolina
“nullified” the federal tariff law.
“Seduced as you have been, my fellow
countrymen by the delusion theories and
misrepresentation of ambitious, deluded &
designing men, I call upon you in the
language of truth, and with the feelings of a
Father to retrace your steps…Resistance to
the laws which have been denounced as
void…is Treason, and subjects you to all the
pains and penalties that are provided for the
highest offence against your country. Can
[you]...consent to become Traitors? Forbid
it Heaven!”
In February 1833, Jackson got
Congress to pass the “Force Bill,”
authorizing the use of federal troops to
enforce the tariff in South Carolina,
but he never had to use it.
After the “Great Compromiser,” Henry Clay of
Kentucky prompted Congress to pass a new,
lower tariff bill in 1833, South Carolina repealed
its nullification ordinance.
4 min. 32 sec.
The Bank War
The Second Bank of the United States, located in Philadelphia,
was chartered by Congress in 1816 to operate for 20 years.
The Bank’s president was Nicholas Biddle.
Andrew Jackson saw the Bank as a
“monster” that needed destroying.
In 1832, when Congress re-chartered the
bank early, Jackson vetoed the new charter.
In 1833, Jackson removed the government’s money
and divided it between state or “pet” banks. This
led to a national economic crisis in 1837.
Henry Clay and the Whigs
Senator Henry Clay and others saw Jackson as a tyrant.
In 1832 Jackson defeated Henry Clay
and two other opponents to win a
second term as President.
Following the 1832 election, Clay and other
Jackson opponents formed the Whig Party. It
lasted until 1856.
Jackson’s Successors
Jackson was succeeded by his vicepresident, Martin Van Buren, who
served as President 1837-1841.
Van Buren’s presidency was relatively uneventful.
“Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!”
In 1840, former General William Henry Harrison (“Old
Tippecanoe”) and his running mate John Tyler were the Whig
candidates for President and Vice-President.
In 1840 Harrison defeated Van
Buren in a landslide.
But Harrison only
lived a month after
taking office in 1841.
Tyler served out the
rest of his term.