Jacksonian Democracy

1. Jacksonian Democracy • Chapter 10, Section 1 • California State Standards - 8.8, 8.8.1 • c

2. Looking Back, Looking Ahead • In the last chapter, you learned about the people and economy of the South. • In this section, you will learn about the Jackson presidency.

3. The Main Ideas • Adams and Jackson introduced new ways of campaigning in the elections of 1824 and 1828. • The United State’s political system changed under Andrew Jackson, becoming more democratic. • The fight over tariffs divided the nation and raised the question of states’ rights versus the rights of the federal government.

4. People to Know • Henry Clay • Andrew Jackson • John Quincy Adams • John C. Calhoun • Daniel Webster • Robert Hayne

5. Vocabulary to Know • favorite son Nullify • plurality Secede • mudslinging • landslide • suffrage • bureaucracy • spoils system • caucus • tariff

6. Did You Know? • In United States history, there are two women who have been both thewife of a president as well as the mother of one: Abigail Adams and Barbara Bush.

7. Who Ran in the Election of 1824? • In the election of 1824 Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, and JohnQuincy Adams ran for president. • They were known as favorite sons,meaning their home states supported them rather than the nationalparty.

8. What Controversy Rocked the Election of 1824? • Jackson won the most popular votes, but no one won the majority, ormore than half, of the electoral votes. Jackson won 99 electoral votes,giving him a plurality,or the largest single share. • In this situation,the House of Representatives selects the president. • Henry Clay used his influence as Speaker of the House to defeatJackson, so Adams was elected. In return, Adams named Claysecretary of state. • Jackson’s followers accused Clay and Adams ofmaking “a corrupt bargain.” This issue cast a shadow over Adams’spresidency, and Congress turned down many of his proposals.

9. What Happened in the 1828 Election? • By the 1828 election there were two political parties: the Democrats,who supported Jackson, and the National Republicans, whosupported Adams. • Democrats favored states’ rights; the NationalRepublicans wanted a strong central government. • During the election, both parties resorted to mudslinging,attemptsto ruin their opponents’ reputation with insults. • John C. Calhoun switched parties to run with Jackson in the election.Jackson won by a landslide—an overwhelming victory.

10. Discussion Question • How did Adams win the presidency in 1824? • (Because no candidatereceived a majority vote, the House of Representatives had to select thepresident. Henry Clay used his influence to help Adams get selected.)

11. How was Jackson as President? • Jackson was a popular president. Many Americans admired him, and he had gained fame with his defeat of the Creek Nation and the British during the War of 1812. • During Jackson’s first term, a spirit of equality spread throughAmerican politics.

12. What Was Suffrage? • Suffrage,or the right to vote, changed during the early 1800s. • In 1815many states relaxed the property requirements for voting. • In the1820s, people who had not been allowed to vote, such as white malesharecroppers, voted for the first time. • By 1828, 22 of the 24 stateschanged their constitutions to allow the people, rather than the statelegislatures, to choose presidential electors.

13. How Did the Democrats Change the Bureaucracy? • Democrats wanted to shake up the federal bureaucracy,a system in which non-elected officials carry out laws. The Democrats arguedthat ordinary citizens could handle any government job. • Jackson replaced many federal workers with his supporters. Thispractice became known as the spoils system.

14. What Electoral Changes Occurred? • Jackson’s supporters abandoned the caucus system, in which politicalcandidates were chosen by committees made up of members ofCongress.The caucuses were replaced by nominating conventions, inwhich delegates from the states selected the party’s presidentialcandidate. • Democrats held their first national party convention in 1832. • Thedelegates decided to nominate the candidate who received two-thirdsof the vote, and Jackson won the nomination.

15. Discussion Question • What was the spoils system and why did it anger people? • (The spoils system was the practice of replacing government employees with the winning candidate’s supporters. The practice angered fired employees, who thought Jackson was acting like a tyrant.)

16. How Were Tariffs Viewed? • In 1828, Americans disagreed about the tariff—a fee paid bymerchants who imported goods. • The Northeast wanted the tariff,because it made their manufactured goods less expensive thanimported goods. • Southerners did not like the tariff since there werefewer manufacturers in the South that would benefit.

17. What is Nullification? • Vice President John C. Calhoun argued that a group of states had theright to nullify,or cancel, a federal law it considered against stateinterests. • Some Southerners wanted the Southern states to secede,orbreak away, from the United States. • John C. Calhoun argued that the states had the power to decidewhether federal laws were constitutional. If states could not do this,then the Supreme Court or Congress would be left to interpret theConstitution.

18. What Was the Webster -Hayne Debate? • Daniel Webster,a senator from Massachusetts, argued againstnullification, challenging a speech defending nullification by RobertHayne,a senator from South Carolina.

19. How Did Jackson Take a Stand? • Jackson declared in 1830 that the federal union should be preserved,though Calhoun felt that liberty should take priority over the Union’sfate. • Calhoun resigned the vice presidency after winning a seat in theSenate in 1832.

20. What Was the Nullification Crisis? • Congress passed a lower tariff in 1832 to appease the South, but Southern leaders still protested. They passed the NullificationAct, refusing to pay what they thought were illegal tariffs. • Jackson then supported a compromise bill to lower the tariff. He hadCongress pass a Force Bill, allowing military action to enforce acts of Congress. South Carolina then nullified the Force Act.

21. Discussion Question • Why did Southerners oppose the tariff? • (Because there were fewermanufacturers in the South, they did not benefit from increased sales. They also argued that tariffs meant higher prices.)

22. Chapter 10, Section 1 - Review page 451 • 1. Why did the House of Representatives select the president in the 1824 presidential election? • 2. What election practices used in the 1828 presidential campaign are still used today? • 4. What was the main reason President Adams was not popular with the Democratic-Republicans?