1. Jackson
Common Man President?
Old Hickory
Background
A Democratic Autocrat
An Urbane savage, An atrocious Saint
Self made man, slave holder, Indian
oppressor

2. Common Man
Extraordinary ordinary Man?
• He became a symbol of the emerging working
class and middle class
• Born in a log cabin
• Lived in a mansion
• Slave-owner
• Never lost his rough manner
• No college degree

3. • Was he an egalitarian?
• Equal rights for African Americans, Indians,
women?
• He was a frontier aristocrat and most who
served with him were wealthy—so what was
the difference?

4. •
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Talents and energies
What was their goal?
What/who did he hate?
Who did he champion?
A frugal Jeffersonian—interpreted the
constitution narrowly—vetoed more bills than
the total of the preceding presidents
• Maysville Road

5. • “Kitchen Cabinet”
• Peggy Eaton Affair

6. Jacksonian Democracy
• It is debatable whether Jackson was a major
molder the events of the era, or whether he
took advantage of the democratic fever of the
times, or just a symbol of the times, but his
name is linked to the time.

7. The Rise of Mass Politics
• What did his inauguration look like?
• “King Mob”
• The Expanding Electorate—What does
democracy expanding look like?

8. 1824-1840
• Politics moved from the wealthy homes to
the lower and middle classes.
• 1824-350,000 votes cast for President
• 1840-over 2.4 million
• Why?

9. Reasons for Voter Participation
• New state suffrage laws-• Changes in Political parties-- Caucus to Party
Conventions
• (Was power really transferred to the people?)
• Campaign methods
• Improved education
• Increase in newspaper circulation

10. • Dorr Rebellion in RI.
• Who was not voting regardless of all this
expanding?

11. The Legitimatization of Party
• With the growth of an electorate and a
growing interest in politics came the need of a
two party system—political parties were
becoming desirable and even some said
essential—Why?
• Democrats and Whigs (opposed absolute
monarchy)

12. Jackson’s theory of Democracy
• “equal protection and equal benefits” to all its
white male citizens and favor no region or class
over another
• An assault against who?
• The Spoils System :To the Victor belongs the
Spoils—established the right of elected officials
to appoint their own followers to public office—
an established feature of American politics today.
• Rotation of officeholders

13. 3 Major Events in Jackson’s Presidency
• Nullification Crisis
• The Removal of the Indians
• The National Bank War

14. •
Nullification Crisisor a States
Jackson--Was he a Unionist/Nationalists
Rights kind of Man??
Vice President John C. Calhoun
• Theory of Nullification-since
the federal government was the
creation of the states, the states
themselves had the final say in
a law and its constitutionality
(what does this sound like?)
Published anonymously entitled
“The South Carolina Exposition
and Protest”

15. • Tariff of Abomination 1828
• Promoted sectional differences
• Daniel Webster (Mass.) debated Robert Hayne
(S.C.) on states rights and the nature of the
federal Union under the constitution—was the
Constitution a compact between states or
between the people of the US. If it was a
compact made by the states, then each state
had the right to interpret it..

16. • “Our Federal Union-It must be preserved”—
Jackson
• “The Union-next to our liberty most dear”—
Calhoun

17. • South Carolina turned up the war of words by
declaring the state would nullify the tariff and
threatened to secede from the Union if the
government tried to collect duties.
• Jackson insisted this was treason
• Henry Clay resolves the issue with the
Compromise Tariff of 1833
• Force Bill “Bloody Bill”—President could use
military to collect federal tariffs

19. The Removal of the Indians
• Attitudes went from “noble savages” to simply
“savages-uncivilized and uncivilizable
• “Five Civilized Tribes”

20. • Indian Removal Act 1830-appropreated
money to finance federal negotiations with
the Indians aimed at relocating them to the
West.
• Many tribes were too weak to resist pressure
and ceded their land over.
• Not the Cherokees

21. • Cherokee Nation v. Georgia 1831-not a nation
therefore cannot sue in Court
• Worcester v. Georgia 1832-Georgia cannot
force the Native Americans to move west.
• “John Marshall has made his decision, now let
him enforce it”—Jackson

22. Trails of Tears

23. • Alternatives to the removal of the Indians--

24. Jackson and the Bank War
• Bank of the United States: Privately
owned, received federal deposits, controlled
loans made by state banks and determined
the interest rates
• President of the Bank-Nicholas Biddle—
represented everything Jackson hated.

25. • Jackson vetoed the new charter of the bank in
1832
• Bank “Unconstitutional?”
• Removed the funds and put them into “Pet
Banks”

26. Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge
1837
• The first court decision that found in favor of
the state in challenges that invoked the
Contract Clause of the Constitution. This was a
sign of the court's shift away from the
Marshall Court's nationalism towards state's
rights. It fought against the unfairness of
implied contracts that would impede
economic progress

27. • If Jackson was consistent on anything, it was
his consistency on expanding economic
opportunities.

28. The Changing Face of American Politics
• Whigs—United in opposition of Jackson’s
policies, committed to Clays’
American System, and believed
in active intervention by the
government to change society

30. Martin Van Buren-The Panic of 1837
• The Killing of the Bank
• Specie Circular
• Speculation of Western Land

31. The Log Cabin Campaign of 1840
• Whigs: William Henry Harrison and John Tyler
Presented themselves as the party of the
common people, slogans “Tippee Canoe and
Tyler too”- “Get the Ball Rolling”
Democrats: Martin Van “Ruin”

32. President John Tyler
• A man with no party