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Age of Jackson expansion of the vote was done by states
change in how presidential electors selected: until 1820s most states restricted franchise to white males who were propoerty owners or taxpayers or both, barring an enormous number of less affluent from voting rolls
changes: adopted const that guaranteed all adult white males the right to vote and gave all voters the right to hold public office
rise in % of white males who voted in pres elec: 1824:less than 27%, 1828: rose to 58%, 1840: 80%. -
Jackson on spoils system and political conventions
by embracing philosophy of spoils system: Jackson administration helped make the right of elected officials to appoint their own followers to public office an established feature of amiercan politics
offices belonged to the pople, not to the entrenched officeholders
political conventions: power would arise directly from the people, not from aristocratic political institutions such as the congressional caucus
both were to limit the power but neither really transferred power to the people -
Nullification doctrine (John Calhoun)
since fed gvt was a creation of the states, the states themselves not the courts or the congress were the final arbiters of the const of fed laws. if a state concluded that congress had passed an unconst law, it coulld hold a special concention and declare that law null and void within the state
law would remain void until 3/4 of states ratified it as an amendment to const
nullifying state would then have to choose between submitting to law and seceding from union
attacked target of abominations -
Age of Jackson B
power centered in eastern elite v south and west: Jackson's vision was to challenge power of eastern elites for sake of rising entrepreneurs of S and W.
goal in life was to ensure that others like themselves would have the opp to rise in social status like Jackson -
Age of Jackson A
equalitarianism: greatest danger facing the nation was privilege and society's goal should be to eliminate the favored status of powerful elites and make opportunity more widely available
social & eco inequaltiy: did nothing to challenge existence of slavery and supervised one of harshest assaults on american indians and accepted necessity of eco inequality and social gradation, but believed people should have opportunity to become part of the elites -
Jackson's nation's indian policy
1830 Removal Act: appropriated money to finance fed negotiations with the southern tribes aimed at relocating them to the west
legislatures in GA, AL, and MI began passing laws to regulate the tribes remaining in their states with the help from Congress (Act) -
Jackson's and nation's indian policy
Trail of Tears: the journey to the Indian Territory (OK): where the fed gvt eventually provided a small reservation for them in the Smoky Mts
harsh new reservations, hard journey -
Jackson's War on the SEcond Bank of the US
soft money vs hard money: soft money ppl wanted more currency in circulation and believed that issuing bank notes were unsupported by god and silver was the best way to circulat emore currency/hard money ppl believed that gold and sivler were th eonly basis for omney and condemned all banks that issued bank notes
Jackson supported hard money, did not favor renewing charter of bank of US -
Great Triumvirate of Henry Clay, John Calhoun, Daniel Webster
Clay: won support who favored American System - program for internal improvements and eco development
Daniel Webster: won support with his speeches in defense of const and union but his close connection with the bank of the US and protective tariff, his reliance on rich men for support prevented him from becoming pres
John Calhoun: supported national bank, and shared a strong animosity toward andrew jackon -
Democrats v Whigs (compare philosophies, constituencies, leaders)
democrats: steadily expanding eco and pol opp for white males, role of gvt should be limited but should include efforts to remove obstacles to opp and to avoid creating new ones
defending the union, attacking enters of corrupt privilege
Whigs: favored expanding power of fed gvt, encouraged industrial and commercial dev, but feared westward expansion - produce instability
dem: inclined to oppose legislation est banks, corporations and other modernizing industries, whigs favored such measures -
1832-33 Nullification Crisis
SC responsed angrily to a congressional tariff bill that offered no relief from 1826 tariff of abominations, so the state convention voted to nullify tariffs of 1828 and 1832 and forbid collection of duties
Jakcson said nullification was treason and approved the force bill, authorizing pres to use mil to enforce acts of congress
no state supported SC: Henry Clay devised a compromise: lowered tariff gradualy so that by 1842 it would reach the same level as in 1816 -
Panic of 1837
Jackson's specie circular produced a financial panic: hundreds of banks and businesses failed, unemployment grew, prices fell, railroa dand canal projects failed, several of the debt burdened state gvts ceased to pay interest on their bonds
England was facing panis of their own, so investors withdrew funds from america, putting an added strain on american banks -
Majority white attitude towards indians in 1839s, Marshall Court's view
before: noble savages but: viewed Native Americans simply as savages, not only uncivilized but uncivilizable
believed whites should not be expected to live in close proximity to the savages, that indian cultures and societies were unworthy of respect, and of their own desire for territory
Marhsall Court: acknowledge tribes as soveriegn nations and dependent ones, for whom the fed gvt must take responsibility
gvt interpreted resp as finding ways to move NA out of the way of expanding for land -
Log Cabin campaign of 1840 of Whigs, role of penny press
portrayal of william henry harrison as a simple man of the people who loved log cabins and hard cider
penny press carried new of the candidates to a large audience of workers and tradespeople.
also illustrated how fully the concept of party competition, the subordination of ideology to immediate political needs, had est in America