Ch. 10, Les. 1 - Guided Reading

CHAPTER 10, LESSON 1Jacksonian Democracy

Andrew Jackson almost won the 1824 presidential election. In a crowded field of four candidates, Jackson claimed more popular votes than any other candidate, but no one won the necessary majority of votes in the Electoral College. The Constitution instructs that in such a case, the House of Representatives selects the winner. Jackson also lost this vote. Five years later, after he had successfully won the 1828 election, Jackson wrote his opinions on the election system in his yearly letter to Congress:

“I consider it one of the most urgent of my duties to bring to your attention the propriety of amending that part of the Constitution which relates to the election of President and Vice-President. . . . To the people belongs the right of electing their Chief Magistrate; . . . So far, therefore, as the people can, under the present system, it is safer for them to express their own will. . . . [U]nder the present mode of election a minority may often elect a President, . . . But although no evil of this character should result from such a perversion of the first principle of our system—that the majority is to govern—it must be very certain that a President elected by a minority cannot enjoy the confidence necessary to the successful discharge of his duties.”

—First Annual Message to Congress, December 8, 1829

NEW PARTIES EMERGE

From 1816 to 1824, the United States had only one major political party. This was the Democratic Republican Party. The party was far from united. In 1824, four Democratic Republican candidates competed for the presidency. Party leaders chose William H. Crawford, a former senator from Georgia, to be their candidate. Three other candidates were favorite sons—that is, they received backing from their home states rather than the national party. Their views reflected the interests of those particular regions.

Two favorite sons, Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay, were from the West. Clay, of Kentucky, was Speaker of the House of Representatives. Jackson, of Tennessee, was a hero of the War of 1812. Raised in poverty, he claimed to speak for Americans who had been left out of politics. The third favorite son, John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, was the son of former president John Adams. He was popular with merchants and businesspeople in the Northeast.

Who were the presidential candidates in 1824?

THE HOUSE CHOOSES THE PRESIDENT

In the election, Jackson received a plurality (pluh-RAH-luh-tee) of the popular vote—the largest share. No candidate received a majority, or more than half, of the electoral votes.

The Constitution requires that the House of Representatives select the president when no candidate has won a majority of the electoral vote.

As the House prepared to vote, Clay met with Adams. Clay agreed to use his influence as Speaker to defeat Jackson. With Clay’s help, the House chose Adams for president. Adams quickly named Clay to be secretary of state. In the past this office had been the stepping-stone to the presidency. Jackson’s followers accused the two men of making a “corrupt bargain” and stealing the election.

Why did Andrew Jackson not win the election of 1824?

Which other candidate agreed to help Adams

become president?

ADAMS AS PRESIDENT

Adams and Clay denied any wrongdoing. No one ever uncovered any evidence of a bargain. Still, the charge cast a shadow over Adams’s presidency.

In his first message to Congress, Adams announced his plans. In addition to improving roads and waterways, he wanted to build a national university and support scientific research.

Adams’s proposals upset his opponents. They wanted a more limited role for the federal government. It would be wrong, they believed, for government to spend money on such projects. Congress finally approved funds for improving rivers, harbors, and roads, but this was far less than Adams wanted.

How did Adams's relationship with

Congress affect his presidency?

THE ELECTION OF 1828

By 1828, the Democratic Republican Party had split. Jackson’s supporters called themselves Democrats. The National Republicans supported Adams. Most Democrats favored states’ rights and distrusted strong central government. The National Republicans wanted a strong central government. They supported measures such as building roads and a national bank to facilitate economic growth.

During the campaign, both sides resorted to mudslinging, or attempts to ruin their opponent’s reputation with insults. The candidates also used slogans, buttons, and rallies. Such practices became a regular part of American political life.

In the election, Jackson received most of the votes cast in the frontier states. He also received many votes in the South, where his support for states’ rights was popular. John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, who had been Adams’s vice president, switched parties to run with Jackson. Calhoun also supported states’ rights. Jackson won the election easily. Shortly after the election, Jackson’s supporters officially formed the Democratic Party.

What was the main issue that divided the

National Republicans and the Democrats in 1828?

What kind of campaign tactics were used in

the election of 1828?

What do you think made Jackson so popular?

JACKSON AS PRESIDENT

Andrew Jackson had qualities most Americans admired. He was a patriot, a self-made man, and a war hero. Thousands of ordinary people came to Washington for his inauguration. Later, many attended a White House reception.

EXPANDED VOTING RIGHTS

President Andrew Jackson promised “equal protection and equal benefits” for all Americans—at least, all white American men. Jackson’s promise reflected the spirit of the times.

In the nation’s early years, only men who owned property or paid taxes could vote or hold political office. By the 1820s, many states had loosened these requirements. White male sharecroppers, factory workers, and others could now participate in the political process. By 1828, nearly all states let voters, rather than state legislatures, choose presidential electors. Women still could not vote or hold political office. African Americans and Native Americans had few rights of any kind.

Why did most Americans admire Andrew Jackson?

Did Jackson believe in democracy and equality for ALL Americans? Explain.

What change had many states made by 1828 in the way presidential electors were chosen?

MAKING GOVERNMENT MORE DEMOCRATIC

Democrats wanted to further open government to the people. They argued that ordinary citizens could do most government jobs. They were disturbed that the federal government had become a bureaucracy (byuh-RAH-kruh-see), a system in which nonelected officials carry out laws.

Soon after taking office in 1829, Jackson fired many federal workers and replaced them with his supporters. The fired employees protested. They charged that the president was acting like a tyrant.

One Jackson supporter said: “To the victors belong the spoils.” In other words, because Jackson had won the election, his supporters had the right to the spoils, or benefits, of victory. This practice of replacing current government employees with supporters of the winner is called the spoils system.

Jackson’s supporters also abandoned the unpopular caucus system, in which top party leaders chose the party’s candidates for office. Instead, parties began using nominating conventions (NAHM-ih-nayt-ing-kuhn-VEN-shuhnz), where delegates from the states chose the party’s presidential candidate. This system allowed many more people to participate in the selection of candidates.

What did the use of party nominating conventions allow?

What is the spoils system?

THE TARIFF DEBATE

A tariff is a tax on imported goods. The high tariff on European manufactured goods was pleasing to Northeastern factory owners. Tariffs made European goods more expensive. This encouraged Americans to buy American-made goods. Southerners disliked the tariff. They had a profitable trade selling their cotton to Europe. They feared that taxing European goods might hurt this trade. In addition, tariffs meant higher prices for the goods they bought from their European trading partners.

In 1828 Congress had passed a very high tariff law. Vice President Calhoun claimed that a state had the right to nullify, or refuse to accept, a federal law if it was not in that state’s best interests. President Jackson disagreed with this reasoning. He feared that nullification would destroy the Union.

In 1830, at a Washington dinner marking Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, Jackson chose to make his feelings on nullification known. He offered a toast. Looking directly at Calhoun, the president declared, “Our Union! It must be preserved!” Answering Jackson’s challenge, the vice president rose with a toast of his own: “The Union, next to our liberty, most dear.” To make his meaning clear, Calhoun added, “It can only be preserved by respecting the rights of the states.”

Not long after Jackson and Calhoun faced off at the dinner, Congress passed the Maysville Road bill. The bill provided federal funds for the building of a road in Kentucky. Jackson vetoed the bill. Jackson argued that because the road would be entirely within Kentucky, it should be a state project. In other words, the federal government should support only projects that benefited the entire nation.

In 1832 Congress passed a lower tariff. It was not enough to cool the protest in the South. South Carolina passed the Nullification Act, declaring it would not pay “illegal” tariffs.

The state threatened to secede, or break away, from the Union if the federal government interfered.

Jackson believed in a strong Union. He asked Congress to pass the Force Bill. The granting of military powers to enforce the laws was specifically outlined in Section 5 of the act:

“And be it further enacted, That whenever the President of the United States shall be officially informed, by the authorities of any state . . . any law or laws of the United States, or the execution thereof . . . is obstructed by the employment of military force, or by any other unlawful means, too great to be overcome by the ordinary course of judicial proceeding . . . it shall be lawful for him, the President of the United States, forthwith to issue his proclamation, declaring such fact or information, and requiring all such military and other force forthwith to disperse; and if at any time after issuing such proclamation, any such opposition or obstruction shall be made . . . the President shall be . . . authorized, promptly to employ such means to suppress the same, and to cause the said laws or process to be duly executed, as are authorized and provided in the cases . . . entitled “An act to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, repel invasions, and to repeal the act now in force for that purpose;” and also, by the act . . . entitled “An act authorizing the employment of the land and naval forces of the United States in cases of insurrection.”

South Carolina accepted the new tariff but nullified the Force Bill.

What are tariffs, who supported them, and who opposed them?

What is nullification, who supported it, and who opposed it?

What was the Maysville Road bill, who supported it, and who opposed it?

In what ways did Jackson's presidency reflect the times? What were some of the positive influences of his presidency, and in what ways were his decisions limited by the thinking of the time?

How do you think new election campaign methods affected American democracy?

How did the election of 1828 demonstrate the growth of democracy?

How was the fight over tariffs related to the issue of states' rights?