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Jackson's Experience in the 1st Seminole War

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Jackson's Experience in the 1st Seminole War

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NOTE TO READERS
"Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations" has been retired and is no longer maintained. For more information, please see the full notice.

The colonies of East Florida and West Florida remained loyal to the British during the war for American independence, but by the Treaty of Paris in 1783 they returned to Spanish control. After 1783, Americans immigrants moved into West Florida.

In 1810, these American settlers in West Florida rebelled, declaring independence from Spain. President James Madison and Congress used the incident to claim the region, knowing full well that the Spanish government was seriously weakened by Napoleon's invasion of Spain. The United States asserted that the portion of West Florida from the Mississippi to the Perdido rivers was part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Negotiations over Florida began in earnest with the mission of Don Luis de Onís to Washington in 1815 to meet Secretary of State James Monroe. The issue was not resolved until Monroe was president and John Quincy Adams his Secretary of State. Although U.S. Spanish relations were strained over suspicions of American support for the independence struggles of Spanish-American colonies, the situation became critical when General Andrew Jackson seized the Spanish forts at Pensacola and St. Marks in his 1818 authorized raid against Seminoles and escaped slaves who were viewed as a threat to Georgia. Jackson executed two British citizens on charges of inciting the Indians and runaways. Monroe's government seriously considered denouncing Jackson's actions, but Adams defended the Jackson citing the necessity to restrain the Indians and escaped slaves since the Spanish failed to do so. Adams also sensed that Jackson's Seminole campaign was popular with Americans and it strengthened his diplomatic hand with Spain.

Adams used the Jackson's military action to present Spain with a demand to either control the inhabitants of East Florida or cede it to the United States. Minister Onís and Secretary Adams reached an agreement whereby Spain ceded East Florida to the United States and renounced all claim to West Florida. Spain received no compensation, but the United States agreed to assume liability for $5 million in damage done by American citizens who rebelled against Spain. Under the Onís-Adams Treaty of 1819 (also called the Transcontinental Treaty and ratified in 1821) the United States and Spain defined the western limits of the Louisiana Purchase and Spain surrendered its claims to the Pacific Northwest. In return, the United States recognized Spanish sovereignty over Texas.

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Milestones: 1801-1829 - Office of the Historian

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Jackson's Support on Congress Creating an Indian Removal Law

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Jackson's Support on Congress Creating an Indian Removal Law

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Henry Clay was thrice a candidate for the Presidency and the chief architect of the Compromise of 1850 which moved slavery to the forefront of Congressional debates.

The 1824 presidential election marked the final collapse of the Republican-Federalist political framework. For the first time no candidate ran as a Federalist, while five significant candidates competed as Democratic-Republicans. Clearly, no party system functioned in 1824. The official candidate of the Democratic-Republicans to replace Monroe was William H. Crawford, the secretary of the treasury. A caucus of Republicans in Congress had selected him, but this backing by party insiders turned out to be a liability as other candidates called for a more open process for selecting candidates.

The outcome of the very close election surprised political leaders. The winner in the all-important Electoral College was Andrew Jackson, the hero of the War of 1812, with ninety-nine votes. He was followed by John Quincy Adams, the son of the second president and Monroe's secretary of state, who secured eighty-four votes. Meanwhile Crawford trailed well behind with just forty-one votes. Although Jackson seemed to have won a narrow victory, receiving 43 percent of the popular vote versus just 30 percent for Adams, he would not be seated as the country's sixth president. Because nobody had received a majority of votes in the electoral college, the House of Representatives had to choose between the top two candidates.

After losing the Presidency to Andrew Jackson in 1828, John Quincy Adams was elected to the House of Representatives where he served until his death in 1848.

Henry Clay, the speaker of the House of Representatives, now held a decisive position. As a presidential candidate himself in 1824 (he finished fourth in the electoral college), Clay had led some of the strongest attacks against Jackson. Rather than see the nation's top office go to a man he detested, the Kentuckian Clay forged an Ohio Valley-New England coalition that secured the White House for John Quincy Adams. In return Adams named Clay as his secretary of state, a position that had been the stepping-stone to the presidency for the previous four executives.

This arrangement, however, hardly proved beneficial for either Adams or Clay. Denounced immediately as a "corrupt bargain" by supporters of Jackson, the antagonistic presidential race of 1828 began practically before Adams even took office. To Jacksonians the Adams-Clay alliance symbolized a corrupt system where elite insiders pursued their own interests without heeding the will of the people.

The Jacksonians, of course, overstated their case; after all, Jackson fell far short of a majority in the general vote in 1824. Nevertheless, when the Adams administration continued to favor a strong federal role in economic development, Jacksonians denounced their political enemies as using government favors to reward their friends and economic elites. By contrast, Jackson presented himself as a champion of the common man and by doing so furthered the democratization of American politics.

John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams was the last President to serve before Andrew Jackson turned the American political process upside-down with his popular sovereignty. It even took a "corrupt bargain" to get Adams in office. From The Presidents of the United States of America by Frank Freidel and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2006 by the White House Historical Association.

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the 1824 election and the "corrupt bargain"

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The 1824 Election and the "Corrupt Bargain" [ushistory.org]

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Henry Clay was thrice a candidate for the Presidency and the chief architect of the Compromise of 1850 which moved slavery to the forefront of Congressional debates. The 1824 presidential election marked the final collapse of the Republican-Federalist political framework. For the first time no candidate ran as a Federalist, while five significant candidates competed as Democratic-Republicans.

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Written by: Jonathan W. White, Christopher Newport University

By the end of this section, you will:

Explain the causes and effects of continuing policy debates about the role of the federal government from 1800 to 1848

After the demise of the First Party System, the United States seemed to enter what is called the Era of Good Feelings, a period of unity and patriotism following the War of 1812. In 1820, President James Monroe of Virginia ran for reelection virtually unopposed, winning nearly all the votes in the Electoral College. But this apparent political unity did not last. Four years later, in 1824, the nation experienced one of the most contentious and controversial elections in its history. Four candidates vied for the presidency; all were Jeffersonian Republicans representing different regional interests. Secretary of the Treasury William H. Crawford of Georgia was the favorite of the southern planter class; Speaker of the House of Representatives Henry Clay of Kentucky and U.S. senator and former U.S. Army general Andrew Jackson of Tennessee represented western interests; and Secretary of State John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts was the son of a former president.

This political cartoon, published a few weeks before the general election in 1824, depicts the four-way race for the "presidential chair" and its $25,000 annual salary. The candidates and their supporters each make remarks about their chances and their sectional interests.

On Election Day in November, Jackson carried more than 40 percent of the popular vote, garnering ninety-nine votes in the Electoral College. Adams came in second, with roughly 31 percent of the popular vote and eighty-four electoral votes. Bringing up the rear were Crawford with 11 percent of the popular vote and forty-one electoral votes, and Clay with 13 percent and thirty-seven electoral votes. (State legislatures chose the electors in six of the twenty-four states at this time.)

No candidate garnered the 131 electoral votes needed to secure a majority in the Electoral College and thus win the election. As a consequence, in accordance with the Twelfth Amendment, the election was constitutionally thrown to the House of Representatives, where each state delegation would cast one vote. If all four candidates had remained on the ballot, Clay would have had a tremendous advantage because he exercised a great deal of influence and authority in the House. But the Twelfth Amendment stipulated that only the top three vote-getters in the Electoral College were placed before the House. With the fewest Electoral votes but tremendous influence, Clay thus found himself in an unusual position - one that could make him a "kingmaker."

In the weeks after the general election, Clay carefully weighed whom to support in the upcoming House election. On a personal level, he disliked Adams, but the New Englander supported Clay's "American System" of federally funded internal improvements. On Sunday night, January 9, 1825, Clay and Adams had a meeting. Jacksonians soon accused them of making a bargain in which Clay would support Adams in exchange for his choice of a position in the cabinet. The accusation was based on the assumption that Clay would want to be secretary of state, because that office was the primary stepping-stone to the presidency in the early nineteenth century. There was no evidence for the charge and Adams and Clay vehemently denied it, but the Jacksonians suspected a conspiracy against them.

To win, a candidate needed the votes of thirteen of the twenty-four state delegations in the House. Clay went to work, lobbying members of Congress to support Adams. As the day of the election approached, Adams had the support of twelve state delegations, Jackson seven, and Crawford four. Only one state, New York, was unpledged. Its delegation, which consisted of thirty-four men, was evenly divided between Adams and Crawford. Crawford's main supporter in Congress, Senator Martin Van Buren of New York, hoped that a deadlock in the House might swing enough states over to Crawford. Clay, however, knew that if he could persuade just one Crawford man from New York to switch to Adams, the New Englander would carry the day. Indeed, when the balloting was complete, Adams had won the New York delegation and the election.

After his career as a New York senator, Martin Van Buren served as vice president under Andrew Jackson before being elected president. This portrait is from about 1830.

That night, President Monroe held a reception at the White House. Jackson politely approached Adams and reached out his hand. "How do you do, Mr. Adams?" he said. "I hope you are well, sir." Adams replied, "Very well, sir. I hope General Jackson is well." But this cordiality was short-lived. Shortly thereafter, Adams asked Clay to serve as his secretary of state, and Clay accepted.

Clay was a leading statesman who had been speaker of the house, served on the delegation that negotiated the Treaty of Ghent, and had broad experience on domestic and foreign policy issues. In short, he was one of the best men for the job. Still, upon hearing this news, a suspicious Jackson erupted. "So you see," he wrote to a private correspondent, "the Judas of the West has closed the contract and will receive the thirty pieces of silver." Jackson did not challenge the validity of the election, because it had taken place in accordance with the rules prescribed in the Constitution, but he suspected a corrupt bargain to keep him out of office and vowed to win the next time. Privately, he predicted that Clay's "end will be the same" as that of Judas, who hanged himself after betraying Jesus.

In this caricature from 1828, Henry Clay sews Andrew Jackson's mouth shut. The print is titled, "Symptoms of a locked jaw. Plain sewing done here." What was the political message in the cartoon?

Jackson had correctly predicted Clay's political future. Political observers almost immediately began castigating Adams and Clay for their apparent duplicity. "Expired at Washington, on the ninth of February," crowed one newspaper editor, "of poison administered by the assassin hands of John Quincy Adams, the usurper, and Henry Clay, the virtue, liberty and independence of the United States." Indeed, suspicion of having participated in this "corrupt bargain" became a significant stain on Clay's political reputation.

Jackson soon began organizing his forces for the next presidential election, forming an opposition party to Adams and Clay (later the Democratic Party). In 1828, Jackson won the presidency with the help of a strong national party machinery that held rallies, barbecues, and parades, and published anti-administration newspapers. His victory ushered in a new era for the presidency. Most of his predecessors (with the exception of the two Adamses) had been part of the Virginia gentry. Jackson, by contrast, was a self-made frontier man who had been born into poverty in the Carolina backcountry but had risen through the ranks of society to become a lawyer, judge, senator, army general, and, eventually, president. His successors would be of similarly humble beginnings, thus giving the nineteenth-century United States a more democratic feeling.

(a) This engraving, which was published during the election of 1828, alludes to Andrew Jackson's stunning victory at the Battle of New Orleans at the end of the War of 1812. (b) The print depicts the crowd of visitors to the White House to celebrate Andrew Jackson's first inauguration in 1829. The large number of ordinary citizens who attended - and who became quite raucous - was a new development in U.S. politics.

In 1832, Jackson won reelection over a sharply divided opposition. In 1834, however, the Whig Party arose in opposition to "King Andrew." The early Whigs struggled to define a positive party platform (in 1836, they even ran four regional candidates for president), but after the Panic of 1837, they articulated a program for economic recovery through a tariff, a national bank, and federally funded internal improvements. In many ways, the Second Party System arose more in response to particular presidential contests and personalities than to tangible political issues. Jackson's coalition formed around Old Hickory, as he was known, with the express purpose of removing the Adams administration from power, and the aptly named Whigs came together against what they perceived as a monarchical Jackson (their name harkened back to the seventeenth-century English Whig Party, which opposed the Stuart monarchy).

The Jacksonian Era was a period of intense democratization. Many states adopted new state constitutions that eliminated property qualifications to vote and thereby expanded suffrage to nearly all white men. At the same time, many of these constitutions disenfranchised free African American men, and none gave women the vote. Offices that had previously been appointed, like state judgeships, became elective. The Electoral College was also democratized. By 1832, every state but South Carolina was choosing its presidential electors by popular vote, and most states also adopted the unit rule, which gave the winning candidate in each state that state's entire electoral vote. These electoral reforms brought vast numbers of new voters into the political process while also reducing the possibility of a backroom deal to win the presidency. The Jacksonians helped usher in a new era of mass political participation.

Review Questions

1. How did Andrew Jackson respond to the outcome of the presidential election of 1824?

2. Use the information in 1824 United States Presidential Election to respond the following question.

Source: https://www.270towin.com/historical-presidential-elections/timeline/

Which statement is accurate based on the results?

3. The constitutional provision that played a significant part in the election of 1824 was the

4. Which 1824 presidential candidate was not considered a representative of southern or western interests?

5. Henry Clay most likely gave his support to John Quincy Adams in the 1824 presidential election because

6. The "corrupt bargain" in the history of the early republic refers to the Jacksonians' accusation that

7. Which political party formed a decade after the political organizing of the Jacksonians?

8. Until the election of Andrew Jackson, the United States' chief executives all had come from

9. The Whig Party was characterized by all the following except

Free Response Questions

AP Practice Questions

"Our Country . . . Home Industry.

MANUFACTURERS AND MECHANICS,

If the Jackson Party prevail, a majority of the next Congress will be opposed to the tariff, to mechanics, manufacturers, and domestic industry. As proof of this, the Jackson papers, nearly one and all, have published articles recommending the repeal of all laws that have been passed to encourage our mechanics and manufacturers. The consequence will be, that the sound of the shuttle will no more be heard. Our stores will be filled with British and Scotch ginghams, . . . checks and bedecks; and not a place will be found for a yard of American cloth."

Broadside, 1824

Refer to the excerpt provided.

1. Which group would most directly support the arguments raised in the excerpt?

2. Which of the following was the most immediate result of the argument expressed in the excerpt?

3. The excerpt reflects which long debate in U.S. history?

Primary Sources

Andrew Jackson's first inaugural address: https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/first-inaugural-address-1829/

Suggested Resources

Meacham, Jon. American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House. New York: Random House, 2009.

Parsons, Lynn Hudson. The Birth of Modern Politics: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams and the Election of 1828. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Remini, Robert V. Andrew Jackson. New York: Twayne, 1966.

Watson, Harry L. Liberty and Power: The Politics of Jacksonian America. New York: Hill and Wang, 1990.

Wilentz, Sean. The Rise of American Democracy: From Jefferson to Lincoln. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005.

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The Corrupt Bargain - Bill of Rights Institute

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By the end of this section, you will: Explain the causes and effects of continuing policy debates about the role of the federal government from 1800 to 1848 After the demise of the First Party System, the United States seemed to enter what is called the Era of Good Feelings, a period of unity and patriotism following the War of 1812.

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(1767-1845). With a humble political background, Andrew Jackson introduced a new type of democracy in the country when he became the seventh president of the United States in 1829. Rather than winning an election through the traditional backing of a strong political party, Jackson triumphed by a direct appeal to the mass of voters. He was the first U.S. president from the area west of the Appalachians, and he brought a fresh approach to politics in Washington, D.C. His movement championing popular democracy and the common man has become known as Jacksonian Democracy.

With a strong will and bold determination, Jackson led the country with the same rigor with which he led his military conquests in the War of 1812 and the First Seminole War, which paved the way for the U.S. annexation of Florida. His fiery disposition commanded the respect of his subordinates, friends, and enemies alike. In the White House, Jackson overcame a crisis with South Carolina over the nullification (or declaring invalid) of federal laws. He drove Native American tribes farther west. To eliminate banking corruption, he vetoed the federal bank charter. Jackson also influenced the growth of the Democratic Party that stimulated the revival of two-party politics.

Jackson's parents were Andrew Jackson, for whom he was named, and Elizabeth Jackson. The couple lived on a farm in the north of Ireland (now Northern Ireland) near Belfast. Their first two sons, Hugh and Robert, were born in Ireland. The family immigrated to North America in 1765 where the elder Jackson built a home in the forested region of the western Carolinas. The hard pioneer life exhausted him, and he died a few weeks before Andrew's birth, leaving Elizabeth to raise their three sons on her own. Andrew Jackson was born on March 15, 1767, in Waxhaw, a settlement bordering North and South Carolina.

The exact location of Andrew's birthplace has been debated, however. Some historians believe he was born at the home of Elizabeth Jackson's sister, Mrs. George McKemy, in the southern part of North Carolina. Others say he was born a few miles farther south across the state border at the home of another of Elizabeth's sisters, Mrs. James Crawford, in South Carolina. In 1824 Andrew Jackson wrote: "I was born in South Carolina, as I have been told, at the plantation whereon James Crawford lived, about one mile from the Carolina Road and of the Waxhaw Creek." Elizabeth and her three sons made their home with the Crawfords, and she worked as housekeeper for her sister to support the boys.

Life in rural Waxhaw was difficult for the fatherless Andrew. He developed into a quick-tempered youth, sensitive to teasing and willing to pick a fight with any of his peers who pestered him. He always defended the smaller boys and taught them how to shoot rifles, fish, race, and wrestle. Elizabeth wanted her youngest son to become a Presbyterian minister and provided him with what little schooling existed around their rural frontier home. Starting at age eight, Andrew attended school and learned the basic fundamentals, but he showed little interest in his studies and had no desire to enter the clergy. The fighting in the American Revolution shifted to the South and interrupted his early education.

Andrew was only 13 years old when the war swept into the Waxhaw region. In May 1780 British raiders won a savage victory over the Waxhaw militia. Andrew and his brother Robert helped their mother tend the wounded in the nearby church. Their elder brother, Hugh, a volunteer in a colonial light-horse company, had died after fighting in a battle a few months earlier. Shortly after the Waxhaw slaughter, Andrew and Robert picked up their muskets and joined the colonial militia at the Battle of Hanging Rock, South Carolina, in August 1780.

The two brothers worked in the Waxhaw militia primarily as mounted orderlies and messengers. The next year Andrew and Robert fought in several backwoods skirmishes against the British. In the spring of 1781, British soldiers captured the boys but failed to break their spirit. When a British officer pointed to his muddied jackboots and commanded Andrew to clean them, the boy refused. The officer slashed his saber at his head, and Andrew flung up his arm, which partly blocked the blow. He carried scars from these cuts for the rest of his life. Robert also disobeyed the British officer's demand and was cut severely.

The British soldiers took the wounded Jackson brothers prisoner and marched them 40 miles (60 kilometers) over wilderness roads to a prison in Camden, South Carolina. Their wounds were not treated, and they were provided with no bedding, little clothing, and almost no food or water. Smallpox broke out in the filthy prison, striking both Andrew and Robert. In April 1781 their courageous mother managed to secure their release in exchange for British prisoners at Waxhaw, and she took the sick, half-starved boys home. Andrew, fighting delirium, stumbled behind the horses that carried his mother and dying brother.

Robert died a few days later, but Elizabeth's nursing saved Andrew. As soon as he began to recover she made her way 160 miles (260 kilometers) to Charleston, South Carolina, to help nurse colonial troops held in British prison ships. She soon died of ship fever, but Andrew never learned where she was buried. Throughout his life the memory of her courage and devotion led him to champion and idealize women.

The last of the family, Andrew Jackson was left to make his own way. He spent the next few months with relatives in Waxhaw where he tried to learn the saddler's trade. At age 16, the restless youth journeyed to Charleston -one of the most elegant U.S. cities of the time. After living a year in Charleston squandering his inheritance from his Irish grandfather, Jackson decided to become a lawyer.

Jackson moved to Salisbury, North Carolina, where he studied law for two years before gaining admittance to the North Carolina bar in 1787. Not keen on city life, Jackson wanted to practice law in a more rural setting. The following year he traveled west on the Wilderness Road to Nashville (then part of the western district of North Carolina). There was the true frontier of the United States in 1788-a strong land of mountains, white-water rivers, and tiny stockaded settlements nestled in the wilderness. Standing on the wooded bank of the Cumberland River, Nashville was a village of log cabins. Jackson took lodging at the home of Mrs. John Donelson, widow of Colonel John Donelson, one of the founders of Nashville.

Early in 1789 Jackson became a prosecuting attorney in Nashville. He quickly earned a reputation with the local landowners, creditors, and bankers as one of the most proficient lawyers in the territory. These prominent citizens became his strongest allies during his turbulent political career.

Living in the Donelson home, Jackson met their daughter, Rachel Donelson Robards. She was living at home, having separated from her husband, Lewis Robards of Kentucky. Andrew and Rachel grew attached to each other during the next few years.

Jackson's marriage to Robards in 1791 was nullified because the divorce from her first husband had not been finalized. Jackson and Robards remarried on January 17, 1794. However, Jackson's neglect in reviewing the legal issues of Robards's divorce, especially as a lawyer, was exploited by his political opponents in the presidential race of 1828.

Near the end of the 18th century Jackson was fortunate in buying land and in holding lands given to him as legal fees. He established a plantation in Nashville and called it Hunter's Hill, where he built a house. While he practiced law, Rachel managed the plantation and developed it into one of the most prosperous in Tennessee.

By 1804, however, Jackson had suffered heavy financial losses. To meet the demands of his own creditors, Jackson sold most of his property, including the Hunter's Hill plantation. The Jacksons moved to a much smaller property 12 miles (19 kilometers) from Nashville and called it the Hermitage. The couple had no children of their own, but in 1809 they adopted a nephew of Rachel's as an infant, naming him Andrew Jackson, Jr. Within a few years they developed the Hermitage into one of the most famous plantations in the country.

An innovative and resourceful farmer, Jackson was one of the first to use a cotton gin, which greatly increased his output of the valuable crop. He raised and sold the finest horses in the region. Under Rachel's direction, their wide fields yielded rich harvests of cotton, corn (maize), and wheat.

Jackson won respect for his blunt fairness as a prosecutor and his willingness to challenge anyone who disputed him to a duel. One such confrontation occurred in 1806 with fellow lawyer Charles Dickinson, and Jackson was shot in the chest before killing Dickinson. The bullet could not be removed because of its proximity to Jackson's heart, and it remained lodged in his body for the rest of his life.

In early 1796 Jackson was a delegate to the Tennessee constitutional convention that was preparing for statehood. When Tennessee was admitted as the 16th state in June 1796, it was entitled to only one representative in the House of Representatives; Jackson was elected that same year as the state's first representative.

U.S. Congressman
At the time of Jackson's election to the House of Representatives, the country's capital was in Philadelphia, an old city proud of its culture and refinement. The national government was in the hands of the Eastern aristocracy. Jackson arrived into this staid city in December 1796 as "the man from the West," and Philadelphia had rarely seen anything like his bold spirit.

Jackson at once showed Congress his fiery personality. Although he was not a skilled orator, his fervid speeches portrayed how earnestly he believed in his principles. U.S. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson said that Jackson's "violent passions choked his utterance." Jackson ardently believed in Jefferson's democratic ideals of individual freedoms and states' rights as opposed to the Federalist program, which favored a powerful federal government. When Congress proposed a resolution to approve the Federalist administration of President George Washington, Jackson firmly voted against it.

It was in Congress that Jackson first proved he could control his temper when it suited his interests. As a freshman congressman, he patiently worked his way through debates and committees to acquire legislation that was beneficial to the people of Tennessee.

In 1797 the Tennessee legislature elected Jackson to the U.S. Senate. Congress now recognized him as "spokesman for the West," representing the characteristic of life in the newer regions of the United States-the rugged lands west of the Alleghenies. Although he fared well in the political arena, the intricacies of politics irked Jackson. He was involved in business troubles on his plantation back home that initiated his dislike of Eastern banks, especially the Bank of the United States. He resented bank controls on loans. In the spring of 1798 he resigned from the Senate and was appointed judge of the supreme court, or superior court, of Tennessee. Although he lacked judicial experience, Jackson administered fair, unbiased justice.

Early Military Career and the War of 1812
In 1802 Jackson was made a major general in the Tennessee militia. Jackson resigned from Tennessee's supreme court in 1804 and gave up political life. He devoted himself to paying off his personal debts, developing the Hermitage, and training the militia.

Jackson found himself in a precarious situation when he provided soldiers and boats to Aaron Burr under the impression that Burr was preparing to defend the Southwest against a Spanish attack. Jackson trusted Burr's intentions until he learned of President Jefferson's proclamation ordering the arrest of Burr and his cohorts. Burr was charged with attempting to form a secessionist movement to divide the union and was tried for treason in May 1807, but he was later acquitted. When these seditious plans unfolded, Jackson detached himself from any association with Burr.

Soon came the turning point in Jackson's life-his spectacular service in the War of 1812. When the United States and Great Britain were on the brink of war, he enlisted nearly 50,000 volunteers into his militia. Congress declared war on Great Britain on June 18, 1812, and Jackson was ordered to suppress the Creek Indian uprisings in the South. Encouraged by the British attacks against the United States, the Creek raided frontier settlements in Georgia and Alabama. After several ferocious skirmishes, Jackson and his Tennessee militia crushed the Creek at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Alabama, on March 27, 1814.

The Creek campaign was typical of Jackson as a man and as a general. He was not a great military strategist, but he had a strong determination to win. Without taking time to set up an adequate supply line, he relentlessly led his men through the winter wilderness in multiple attacks. Sometimes he and his men had only roasted acorns for food. He was sick throughout most of the campaign and his shoulder ached from a bullet wound sustained in a recent duel, but he never faltered. He quelled two mutinies that arose from lack of supplies and prevented a third by having a rebellious soldier shot. His troops considered him "tough as hickory," thus they nicknamed him Old Hickory. The decimated Creek people were forced to give up most of their rich lands in Georgia and Alabama. The triumph won acclaim for Jackson as a soldier, and he was commissioned as a major general in the U.S. Army.

The Battle of New Orleans
In November 1814 Jackson marched his army into Spanish-held Florida and captured Pensacola, preparing for the U.S. occupation of Florida. Prior to Jackson's arrival, the British army had evacuated the city and advanced by sea toward New Orleans, Louisiana. Consequently, Jackson was ordered to organize a defense of New Orleans from an imminent British attack. He reached the city the following month, built fortifications, and established martial law.

To bolster his small regular army, Jackson recruited frontier riflemen from Tennessee and Kentucky and organized a force of volunteers-free blacks, planters, and pirates headed by Jean Lafitte. Beyond the crude U.S. ramparts of cotton bales lay experienced British troops who had fought in Europe's Napoleonic Wars. Beginning late in December 1814, the British bombarded the U.S. defenses, setting the cotton bale ramparts afire. Between skirmishes and British bombardments, Jackson's men tenaciously reinforced the city's fortifications with earthworks.

On January 8, 1815, with only contempt for Jackson's amateur army, the British troops charged. The battle ensued as waves of British soldiers fell victim to the artillery of the U.S. defenders. Demoralized, the British withdrew after suffering more than 2,000 fatalities. Jackson sustained minimal casualties in what became known as the Battle of New Orleans.

The tragic mistake of the battle was that it was fought after the Treaty of Ghent was signed on December 24, 1814, officially ending the war. News of the peace treaty did not reach Jackson in time to prevent the conflict. His victory in no way affected the outcome of the War of 1812, but it raised the morale of the country after the war ended in a stalemate. His superb military leadership in New Orleans earned him status as a national hero.

First Seminole War
President James Monroe ordered Jackson to the Alabama-Georgia region in December 1817 to defend U.S. settlers against attacks by the Seminole from Florida and runaway slaves living among the tribes. In the spring of 1818, without awaiting further orders, Jackson marched into Spanish-held Florida and burned Seminole villages. He then captured Pensacola and St. Marks and hanged two British traders who were suspected of collaborating with the Seminole. These actions, in what became known as the First Seminole War, threatened to involve the United States in war against both Great Britain and Spain. Monroe and Secretary of War John C. Calhoun felt that Jackson had exceeded his authority and should be reprimanded. However, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams argued that Jackson's exploits provided the United States with an opportunity to annex Florida from Spain.

When Spain ceded Florida to the United States in 1821, President Monroe appointed Jackson the military governor of the territory. Tiring of politics, Jackson resigned this post in late 1821 and retired to private life. However, in 1823 the Tennessee legislature elected him once more to the U.S. Senate.

Road to the Presidency
The United States was entering a new age of development as the presidential election of 1824 drew near. Foreign affairs were now of less concern than the internal improvements of the country. With the expansion of the West and the increase of small businesses and industries in the East, the changes in the country called for a new voice to express the will of the "common people." The Western farmers and the Eastern laborers demanded a leader unbound by tradition. The diverse personalities of the candidates and sectional rivalries throughout the country were the focal points of the election.

The Tennessee legislature nominated the nontraditionalist Jackson for the presidency in 1824. He campaigned against Secretary of State John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, Speaker of the House Henry Clay of Kentucky, and Treasury Secretary William H. Crawford of Georgia. The electoral results were: Jackson (99), Adams (84), Crawford (41), and Clay (37). Since none of the candidates received a majority, the Constitution required that the House of Representatives decide the outcome of the election. Also, in accordance with the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution, the House could choose from only the top three vote-getters. ( See also United States Constitution.)

Therefore, Clay was dropped from consideration, and he immediately endorsed Adams, who was thus elected the sixth president of the United States. When Adams named Clay his secretary of state, Jackson and his followers claimed that Adams and Clay had made a "corrupt bargain"-alleging that Clay had supported Adams in exchange for a Cabinet appointment.

Enraged over his loss in the election, Jackson led a four-year chastisement of the Adams administration and referred to Clay as the "Judas of the West." Jackson resigned from the Senate in 1825, but his allies in Congress, the Jacksonians, set forth to undermine all of Adams's executive policies and decisions. The Jacksonians created the Democratic Party and used Adams's term as a platform to promote Jackson for president in the election of 1828.

Jackson, the Democratic Party candidate, swept the presidential election of 1828 by an electoral count of 178 to 83 cast for Adams as the National Republican. John C. Calhoun was reelected vice president. Jackson won a majority of his support from the South and West and, with the help of Senator Martin Van Buren of New York, carried the state of New York as well. Adams claimed the New England states, but Jackson prevailed by securing overwhelming support from an enormous number of voters across the country.

Slanderous campaigning dominated the election. The Jacksonians, particularly the congressmen and landowners from Nashville, continuously criticized Adams for the "corrupt bargain" that he was accused of having made in the election of 1824. In contrast, Jackson's political foes used the supposedly adulterous nature of his first marriage to Rachel in 1791 to defame his character and that of his wife. The details resurfaced about their first wedding before Rachel was legally divorced from her previous husband, and this news cast a negative shadow on Jackson's image. Rachel became overly distraught by the malignant propaganda circulating around the country, and on December 22, 1828, she died of a heart attack. Jackson, devastated by the sudden loss of his wife, blamed her death on the treachery of his political opponents.

On March 4, 1829, the grief-stricken Jackson was inaugurated as the seventh president of the United States. The celebration of his inauguration riotously heralded a new era in U.S. politics. Hordes of people swarmed through the White House to cheer their hero, Old Hickory. The mass was so great that friends had to help the president escape through a side door.

When Jackson took office, many people in the East feared him. Thomas Jefferson earlier wrote, "I feel very much alarmed at the prospect of seeing General Jackson president. He is one of the most unfit men I know of for the place . ... He is a dangerous man." Despite Jefferson's remarks, Jackson remained a strong advocate of the Jeffersonian principles of liberty and democracy.

Although inexperienced in public office compared to his predecessors, Jackson governed with the confidence of a strong-willed military commander. In policy-making, he relied on the notions of political allies such as Secretary of State Martin Van Buren and Secretary of War John H. Eaton. Instead of consulting other Cabinet members on administrative decisions, Jackson conferred with an informal group of advisers that included newspaper editors Amos Kendall and Francis P. Blair, as well as Andrew Jackson Donelson, the president's nephew and personal secretary. Critics called these close friends of Jackson his "kitchen cabinet."

Spoils System
Jackson's loyalty to his friends led him to expand what is now known as the spoils system. This is the practice of discharging members of the defeated political party from public office and replacing them with members of the winning party. The system had been practiced previously in the federal governments when Thomas Jefferson as president had removed Federalists for people in his own party. Jackson pledged to sweep the "corrupt" opposition out of office.

In answer to criticism of Jackson's policy on political appointments, Senator William L. Marcy of New York replied, "To the victor belong the spoils." Although Jackson was charged with abusing the spoils system, he in fact replaced fewer than 20 percent of the federal officeholders. The process of rewarding political service with public office helped to establish major political parties. In an effort to curb the excesses of the spoils system, Congress passed the Civil Service Act in 1883. ( See also civil service.)

Conflict over Nullification
The question of Jackson's successor became an issue soon after he assumed the presidency because of his poor health. Vice President Calhoun was a leading candidate as was Secretary of State Van Buren. When news leaked in 1830 that Calhoun, as secretary of war during the Cabinet debates of 1818, had condemned Jackson's military actions in the First Seminole War, the president alienated Calhoun.

An intense rivalry developed between Jackson and Calhoun over a protective tariff and nullification. In 1828 President Adams had approved the "Tariff of Abominations," a high tax on imported industrial goods to protect the New England factories from foreign competitors. Calhoun argued that the tariff oppressed the South and favored the Northern states. South Carolina, Calhoun's native state, was especially hostile toward the tariff and fought for the Southern states' right to nullify federal laws that were considered unconstitutional.

Although not an avid supporter of the tariff, Jackson reasoned that it was beneficial to trade relations with Europe and helped pay the national debt. At the same time, however, he despised nullification because he felt that it exceeded the limitations of states' rights, and tolerance of such a practice would destroy the union.

To ease the tension with South Carolina, Jackson issued a reform tariff in 1832 that was somewhat less burdensome than the original. Not satisfied, South Carolina passed the Ordinance of Nullification that same year declaring the tariff altogether null and void in the state. South Carolina also threatened to secede from the union if the federal government attempted to enforce the tariff within the state's boundaries. At the end of 1832, disgruntled with Jackson's policies, Calhoun resigned as vice president after South Carolina elected him to the U.S. Senate. Van Buren assumed the vice presidency in 1833.

The situation grew dire as Jackson readied U.S. armed forces in anticipation of an armed conflict with South Carolina. He threatened military intervention to collect the tariff duties if the state persisted in disregarding federal laws. The crisis was averted in 1833 when Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky proposed two compromise bills. The first bill reduced the tariff to an even more moderate level than the reform tariff of 1832. The second, named the Force Bill, authorized the president to use the military to enforce federal mandates in the states if necessary. South Carolina accepted the new tariff and repealed its nullification act. Clay's shrewd negotiating skills successfully preserved the Union from a serious domestic threat.

Conflict with Native Americans
During Jackson's administration, the United States continued its program of enlarging the country through westward expansion. However, the movement of white settlers ever farther to the west came at the expense of Native Americans. Battles against the Creek and Seminole during his military career had made Jackson unsympathetic toward Native Americans, and he sought to displace them from all areas east of the Mississippi River. This action would clear the way for white settlers to take over the Native Americans' land.

Beginning in 1829, Georgia extended its territory into Cherokee lands that had been granted to them in a treaty with the U.S. government. Georgia desired these lands, on which gold had been discovered. Critics claimed that Georgia was infringing upon the rights of the Cherokee, but Jackson refused to interfere with Georgia's efforts. Instead, he signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which required all Native American tribes east of the Mississippi River to abandon their homes and move to reservations provided by the U.S. government in the West.

The Cherokee appealed to the federal courts. In 1832 in Worcester v. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled that Georgia's actions were unconstitutional and declared that the state had no jurisdiction over Cherokee lands. Nevertheless, Georgia defied this decision and proceeded to encroach on Cherokee territory. Jackson refused to enforce the Supreme Court ruling. In the fall and winter of 1838-39, after Jackson had left office, the Cherokee were evicted and forced to march west. The frigid weather and lack of food supplies contributed to horrible suffering and thousands of deaths; the Cherokee named this journey the Trail of Tears.

The Indian Removal Act infuriated many Native Americans, causing them to revolt. In 1831 a group of Sauk and Fox tribes led by Chief Black Hawk were forced to vacate their villages and fields along the Rock River in Illinois and move west of the Mississippi River into Iowa. The following year Black Hawk guided his people across the Mississippi River back into Illinois, provoking Governor John Reynolds to send an Illinois militia to fight the insurgent Native Americans. During the Black Hawk War of 1832, the Sauk and Fox tribes were slaughtered and Black Hawk was captured.

Another Native American tribe that defied President Jackson's American Indian policy was the Seminole in Florida. Chief Osceola hid the tribal families in the Everglades and put up fierce resistance in the Second Seminole War, which lasted from 1835 to 1842. Osceola's warriors used guerrilla warfare tactics in the fighting. It was a costly war that claimed nearly 2,000 U.S. casualties before Osceola was captured, and when a truce was called, most of the remaining Seminole finally agreed to emigrate west. Jackson dealt harshly with the Native Americans, whom he considered an obstacle to the expansion and growth of the United States.

Economic Policies
Internal improvements to the United States were not a priority in Jackson's plan for economic stability. He believed that federally sponsored state projects were adverse to the welfare of the country because they led to regional disputes and promoted favoritism. When presented with the Maysville Road bill in 1830 that would have authorized federal funding for the 60-mile (100-kilometer) road in Kentucky stretching from Maysville to Lexington, Jackson quickly vetoed it. His concerns were for improvements advantageous to the entire country, thus he approved the extension of the National Road, or Cumberland Road ( see roads and streets, "History"). More than any previous president, Jackson exercised the veto-12 times over the course of his administration.

As the "spokesman for the West," Jackson distrusted the powerful banks of the East. He especially detested the monopoly held by the Second Bank of the United States. With the bank's charter set to expire in 1836, Jackson's political opponents pushed the bill through Congress ahead of the presidential election of 1832 to challenge his stance on the measure. He vetoed the new charter for the bank in July 1832, much to the delight of his admirers, who also opposed the bank. He declared that the bank's control of the country's money was a menace both to private businesses and to the ideals of a democratic government.

Campaigning in the election of 1832 centered on the issue of the bank charter. This election marked the first time that presidential candidates were chosen at national party conventions. The National Republicans met in December 1831 in Baltimore, Maryland. They nominated Senator Henry Clay as their candidate to run against the incumbent Jackson, who was nominated for reelection in May 1832 at the Democratic National Convention, also held in Baltimore. Martin Van Buren was Jackson's running mate for vice president. Clay's supporters attested that Jackson's veto of the bank charter impaired the financial security of the country.

Jackson's political adversaries considered him an enemy to states' rights because of his stance against nullification and because of his refusal to approve federal financing of internal improvements. His enemies referred to his administrative policies as executive tyranny and called him King Andrew I. The Whig Party emerged in 1834 under the direction of Clay and was based on this anti-Jacksonian sentiment. Nevertheless, Jackson still carried the South and West in the election and prevailed with 219 electoral votes to only 49 for Clay.

The veto of the bank charter bill created controversy over financial policy in the United States that persisted throughout Jackson's second term. Although the bank's old charter still had three years to run, Jackson removed the government funds from it and deposited them in state banks, also referred to as his "pet" banks.

The state banks were more lenient with the extension of credit, and they printed large quantities of paper money. An increase in western land speculation resulted, but with the federal bank dissolving, Jackson's challenge was to establish a sound U.S. currency. The inflationary circulation of bank notes contributed to credit abuses by creditors and speculators, and the value of the paper money became difficult to manage. Therefore, in July 1836 Jackson issued the Specie Circular, which required payment in gold or silver coins for the sale of all public lands. Banks failed because they were unable to keep up with the demand for gold and silver, and the country was faced with soaring inflation.

Last Years of Administration
Upholding stern principles made Jackson many enemies around the country. The first assassination attempt against a U.S. president occurred on January 30, 1835, outside the U.S. Capitol. Richard Lawrence, a house painter, approached the president outside the Capitol and aimed a derringer in Jackson's direction. When Lawrence pulled the trigger, however, the gun misfired. Lawrence then pulled a second derringer and tried to shoot Jackson again, but this weapon also misfired. Lawrence was tried for the failed assassination and sentenced to a mental institution. Jackson, who was accustomed to gunplay from engaging in numerous duels, was spared once again.

Revolution in Texas erupted in December 1835 as settlers there fought the Mexican government, which ruled the territory. Texas won its independence from Mexico at the Battle of San Jacinto in April 1836. Jackson considered Texas vital to the security of the Southwest. He wanted to annex the territory for the United States. However, he worried that sectional disputes could arise over the issue of slavery when Texas applied for statehood. Therefore, he recognized Texas's independence and rejected annexation to avoid any conflicts within his party that might jeopardize Vice President Van Buren 's candidacy for president.

Through his aggressive leadership and patronage, Jackson had welded together a new political party-the Democratic Party. He so controlled the party that he chose Van Buren as his successor. Van Buren won the election of 1836 and took office on March 4, 1837.

Jackson retired to the Hermitage after Van Buren's inauguration. A financial depression that had begun during Jackson's second term strained the market for his crops. He was forced to sell some of his land and borrow money to cover his farm expenses. Jackson continued to advise his party leaders and to receive visitors at the Hermitage. From his home he stayed abreast of national politics and promoted Van Buren's unsuccessful run for reelection in 1840. Jackson rejoiced at the Democratic presidential nomination of fellow Tennessean James K. Polk in 1844 and supported the U.S. annexation of Texas in 1845.

Jackson's health had begun failing slowly throughout his presidency, and it gradually worsened in his final years. He was stricken with tuberculosis and lost the eyesight in his right eye. Jackson died on June 8, 1845, in his home and was buried next to his wife in the Hermitage garden.

Jacksonian Democracy represented the average U.S. citizen. Jackson was a man of the people and left behind a national government that stood for the best interests of the people. The new Democratic Party that developed in the 1830s was based on the former Jeffersonian principle of popular government. Old Hickory increased the power of the presidency through his hardhanded leadership and, at the same time, strengthened the country by advocating policies that encompassed it as a whole.

Buchanan, John. Jackson's Way: Andrew Jackson and the People of the Western Waters (Wiley, 2001). Collier, Christopher, and Collier, James Lincoln. Andrew Jackson's America, 1824-1850 (Benchmark Books, 1999). Harmon, Daniel E. Andrew Jackson (Mason Crest Publishers, 2003). Marrin, Albert. Old Hickory: Andrew Jackson and the American People (Dutton Children's Books, 2004). Meacham, Jon. American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House (Random House, 2008).Reynolds, David S. Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson (Harper, 2008). Somervill, Barbara A. Andrew Jackson (Compass Point Books, 2003).Stefoff, Rebecca. The War of 1812 (Benchmark Books, 2001). Whitelaw, Nancy. Andrew Jackson: Frontier President (Morgan Reynolds, 2001). Wilentz, Sean. Andrew Jackson (Times Books, 2005).

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(1767-1845). With a humble political background, Andrew Jackson introduced a new type of democracy in the country when he became the seventh president of the United States in...

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Alexander Hamilton | Article

One of the most important of Alexander Hamilton's many contributions to the emerging American economy was his successful advocacy for the creation of a national bank. But the Bank of the United States, like many of Hamilton's other projects, would generate controversy.

Alexander hamilton's statue in front of the Treasury Building in Washington, D.C. 1980. Courtesy: Library of Congress

Financial Footing for a New Nation
Hamilton had long believed in the need for banks to provide credit and stimulate the economy. As early as 1780, he wrote a letter describing central banks in Europe and wondered, "And why cannot we have an American bank?" Hamilton helped found the Bank of New York in 1784. Soon after he became the nation's first Treasury Secretary, he was already proposing a national equivalent. On December 15, 1790, Hamilton submitted a report to Congress making the case. He proposed a Bank of the United States with a $10 million capital (then five times more than all other American banks combined) and the ability to issue paper money. It would be based in Philadelphia and chartered for 20 years. The federal government would have a minority stake in the Bank, but its board of directors would be private individuals, thus ensuring a mix of public oversight and private enterprise. The Bank would be able to lend the government money and safely hold its deposits, give Americans a uniform currency, and promote business and industry by extending credit. Together with Hamilton's other financial programs, it would help place the United States on an equal financial footing with the nations of Europe.

Southern Opposition
In contrast to Hamilton's plan for the federal government to assume state debts, Hamilton's bank plan had a relatively easy time in Congress. The Senate passed it handily on January 20, 1791, and the House followed in early February. But support for the Bank fell largely along sectional lines, with Northern endorsement and Southern opposition. Among those Southern opponents was James Madison, who worried that the Bank's placement in Philadelphia, the nation's temporary capital, might thwart the decision to put the permanent seat of government further south on the banks of the Potomac River. Madison also noted that the Constitution conferred no power to establish a national bank or any other corporation; and if a power was not in the text, by what authority could it be done? When the Bank bill reached George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, who termed the banking industry "an infinity of successive felonious larcenies," also weighed in against it on constitutional grounds, urging a veto. So did Attorney General Edmund Randolph. It seemed as if the Bank might yet go down to defeat.

Convincing Washington
Hamilton would not give up without a fight. Asked by his patron Washington to answer the opinions of Jefferson and Randolph, Hamilton swiftly penned an opinion of almost 15,000 words presenting his case. Hamilton's central point was that the Constitution must confer implied powers along with those actually enumerated; the vehicle for this was the clause enabling Congress "to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper" to put expressly granted powers into effect. In Hamilton's view, later echoed by Chief Justice John Marshall in the landmark McCulloch v. Maryland case upholding the Bank's constitutionality, "necessary" did not mean absolutely essential so much as useful and appropriate, and the Bank certainly met that looser standard -- it would be a great help in enabling the government to carry out a number of powers explicitly granted it by the Constitution, including collecting taxes, regulating trade and creating a military. Persuaded by Hamilton's arguments, on February 25 Washington signed the Bank bill into law.

Expired Charters
When stock in the Bank became publicly available in July 1791, the resulting frenzy and rocketing share price seemed to confirm its value. But criticism of Hamilton's policies and the man himself was growing, and the Bank was a key factor in the creation of America's first organized opposition party, the Republicans, that same year. Republican capture of the White House in 1800 and continued control did not bode well for the Bank, and when its first charter expired in 1811, the Senate rejected a bid to renew it. President Madison felt the consequences during the War of 1812, when there was no central bank to fund the military effort, and as a result he endorsed renewal in 1816. But the charter of this Second Bank of the United States expired under President Andrew Jackson, another Bank foe, and Jackson let it lapse. In a curious irony, Jackson's acting secretary of state, James Alexander Hamilton, opposed the very Bank his father had created. And this time there would be no quick renewal; although Congress allowed certain nationally charted banks during the Civil War, the modern Federal Reserve system did not come into being until 1914.

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Establishing a National Bank | American Experience | PBS

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One of Hamilton's most important contributions to the emerging American economy was his successful advocacy for the creation of a national bank.

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VIDEO: Ted E - History vs. Andrew Jackson

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VIDEO: Ted E - History vs. Andrew Jackson

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Andrew Jackson's life has always been a subject of controversy for historians. Jackson's first biographer James Parton said, "Andrew Jackson, I am given to understand, was a patriot and a traitor." Today, historians continue to discuss the reasons for this controversy by examining and re-examining his life story.
Click this link to learn more about his life.
Jackson wore many hats during his tumultuous lifetime - general, senator, businessman, and eventually chief executive. A product of his western birthplace, Jackson was right there as we asserted our place as an independent nation. He too moved west as we stretched the limits of our western borders. He also found himself at the head of the storm as we roiled with ourselves over the issue of slavery. In many astonishing ways, Jackson's life mirrored that of our young nation.
In his own time, Jackson and his supporters were under almost constant assault from the opposition for his new unorthodox approach to running the federal government. But today, many of the these same practices are commonly accepted as executive privilege
Click this link to read more about how Jackson changed and modernized the presidency.
This process of reanalyzing historical facts and reconsidering the motivations behind our opinions is called Historical Revisionism. It is an important an ever-changing part of our nation's story, and the reason why it will never be possible to etch an opinion of someone as complex as Andrew Jackson in stone. History, and therefore the story of our nation and its people, is constantly under review and revision. Maybe someone like you will write the next chapter!
Click this link to more information about the role revisionism plays in modern historical thought.

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History vs. Andrew Jackson - James Fester

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Andrew Jackson was both beloved and loathed during his presidency. In this imaginary courtroom, you get to be the jury, considering and weighing Jackson's part in the spoils system, economic depression, and the Indian Removal Act, as well as his patriotism and the pressures of the presidency.

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Background

Banking, currency and monetary policy was a source of great controversy in the early United States. In 1791, Congress established the original Bank of the United States, masterminded by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton.

Conflict over the Bank caused a split within George Washington's administration that would later widen into the formation of the nation's first two political parties: Hamilton's Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson.

With Jeffersonians in control, the charter for the original Bank expired in 1811. But the nation's financial struggles during the War of 1812 led Congress to charter the Second Bank of the United States for 20 years starting in 1816 and fund it with $35 million, a gigantic sum at the time.

After struggling in its early years, the Bank built a solid reputation by the end of the 1820s under the leadership of its third president, Nicholas Biddle.
WATCH VIDEO: The Bank War
Jackson and Distrust of the National Bank

Among those who distrusted the Second Bank of the United States was Andrew Jackson, the Tennessee war hero who was elected president in 1828. As the champion of the common man, Jackson opposed the concentration of power in the hands of the powerful few-like Biddle, who was from a prominent Philadelphia family-at the expense of ordinary farmers and workers.

As president, Jackson made no secret of the fact that he opposed the Bank's upcoming recharter in 1836. The Bank was popular with many Americans, however, and Jackson's opponents-including Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky -convinced Biddle to seek an early recharter before the election of 1832, betting that Jackson would not veto the recharter if Congress passed it.

Both houses of Congress did pass the bill, which extended the charter of the Bank for an additional 15 years. One week later, on July 10, 1832, Jackson returned the bill unsigned, along with a message to Congress in which he announced his veto, declaring that the Bank was "unauthorized by the Constitution, subversive to the rights of States, and dangerous to the liberties of the people."

Impact of Jackson's Veto

In his veto message, Jackson directly contradicted the 1819 Supreme Court ruling in McCulloch v. Maryland, which held that the Bank of the United States was constitutional. He claimed the right for himself as president to judge its constitutionality, independent of Congress or the courts.

The Bank's charter gave the institution too much power over the nation's financial markets, he argued-power that enabled it to generate huge profits for its stockholders, most of whom were "foreigners" and "our own opulent citizens."

"If we must have a bank with private stockholders, every consideration of sound policy and every impulse of American feeling admonishes that it should be purely American," Jackson wrote.

But the real evil of the Bank, Jackson claimed, was its creation of a privileged class of Americans with too much money and political power. "It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes," he wrote.

This was unjust and dangerous to "the humble members of society-the farmers, mechanics and laborers-who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves."

The recharter bill went back to Congress, where despite steadfast support from Clay and Daniel Webster, it did not have the two-thirds majority support necessary to override Jackson's veto. The battle over the Bank became a central issue in the presidential campaign that year, in which Jackson soundly defeated Clay to win a second term.

Aftermath of the Bank War

To weaken the Bank before its charter ran out, Jackson ordered that all U.S. government deposits be withdrawn and deposited in various state-chartered banks. In response, Biddle restricted the Bank's loans, tightening the nation's money supply in an effort to inspire public outrage toward Jackson's policies and force the recharter.

Instead, Biddle's plan backfired, and the ensuing financial distress inspired greater suspicion of the Bank's power.

As the Bank War continued, Jackson's opponents organized the Whig Party, named after the British term for opponents of monarchical power. In 1834, the Whig-dominated Senate formally censured Jackson for removing the federal deposits, an action that Jackson's supporters-who now called themselves Democrats -voted to remove from the Senate record as soon as they gained control in 1837.

Panic of 1837

The charter of the Second Bank of the United States expired in 1836, and a defeated Biddle accepted an offer from Pennsylvania to turn it into a state-chartered bank. With the removal of the Bank as a regulating force, state banks began printing currency and lending money in exorbitant amounts.

The resulting high inflation, and Jackson policies favoring hard currency (gold or silver) led many investors to panic and many banks to close due to insufficient reserves, in a financial crisis known as the Panic of 1837.

Jackson's Democratic successor, Martin Van Buren, proposed the establishment of a new independent treasury system, which would fulfill Jackson's goal of separating the nation's finances from its government.

Repealed by Whigs in 1841 after Van Buren's loss to William Henry Harrison, the Independent Treasury Act was signed back into law by Democratic President James K. Polk in 1846. This independent treasury system would function until 1914, when it was replaced by today's Federal Reserve.
READ MORE: Why Andrew Jackson's Legacy is So Controversial
Sources

Daniel Feller. "King Andrew and the Bank." Humanities, January/February 2008.
Marsha Mullin. "Andrew Jackson and the Bank War." Andrew Jackson's Hermitage.
K.C. Tessendorf. "Nicholas Biddle & Andrew Jackson in the Case of the Strangled Bank." Financial History, Issue 65 (1999).

Fact Check

We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.

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Bank War: Andrew Jackson & 1832 - HISTORY

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The Bank War of 1832 was the political struggle that ensued over the fate of the Second Bank of the United States during the presidency of Andrew Jackson.

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Age of Jackson: Crash Course US History #14

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byname:

Old Hickory

(Show more)

Andrew Jackson, (born March 15, 1767, Waxhaws region, South Carolina [U.S.]-died June 8, 1845, the Hermitage, near Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.), military hero and seventh president of the United States (1829-37). He was the first U.S. president to come from the area west of the Appalachians and the first to gain office by a direct appeal to the mass of voters. His political movement has since been known as Jacksonian Democracy.

Early life

Jackson was born on the western frontier of the Carolinas, an area that was in dispute between North Carolina and South Carolina, and both states have claimed him as a native son. Jackson maintained that he was born in South Carolina, and the weight of evidence supports his assertion. The area offered little opportunity for formal education, and what schooling he received was interrupted by the British invasion of the western Carolinas in 1780-81. In the latter year he was captured by the British. Shortly after being imprisoned, he refused to shine the boots of a British officer and was struck across the face with a sabre. His mother and two brothers died during the closing years of the war, direct or indirect casualties of the invasion of the Carolinas. This sequence of tragic experiences fixed in Jackson's mind a lifelong hostility toward Great Britain. After the end of the American Revolution, he studied law in an office in Salisbury, North Carolina, and was admitted to the bar of that state in 1787. In 1788 he went to the Cumberland region as prosecuting attorney of the western district of North Carolina-the region west of the Appalachians, soon to become the state of Tennessee.

When Jackson arrived in Nashville, the community was still a frontier settlement. As prosecuting attorney, Jackson was principally occupied with suits for the collection of debts. He was so successful in these litigations that he soon had a thriving private practice and had gained the friendship of landowners and creditors. For almost 30 years Jackson was allied with this group in Tennessee politics. Jackson boarded in the home of Col. John Donelson, where he met and married the colonel's daughter, Rachel Robards ( Rachel Jackson).

Tennessee politics

Jackson's interest in public affairs and in politics had always been keen. He had gone to Nashville as a political appointee, and in 1796 he became a member of the convention that drafted a constitution for the new state of Tennessee. In the same year he was elected as the first representative from Tennessee to the U.S. House of Representatives. An undistinguished legislator, he refused to seek reelection and served only until March 4, 1797. Jackson returned to Tennessee, vowing never to enter public life again, but before the end of the year he was elected to the U.S. Senate. His willingness to accept the office reflects his emergence as an acknowledged leader of one of the two political factions contending for control of the state. Nevertheless, Jackson resigned from the Senate in 1798 after an uneventful year. Soon after his return to Nashville he was elected a judge of the superior court (in effect, the supreme court) of the state and served in that post until 1804. In 1802 Jackson had also been elected major general of the Tennessee militia, a position he still held when the War of 1812 opened the door to a command in the field and a hero's role.

Military feats

In March 1812, when it appeared that war with Great Britain was imminent, Jackson issued a call for 50,000 volunteers to be ready for an invasion of Canada. After the declaration of war, in June 1812, Jackson offered his services and those of his militia to the United States. The government was slow to accept this offer, and, when Jackson finally was given a command in the field, it was to fight against the Creek Indians, who were allied with the British and who were threatening the southern frontier. In a campaign of about five months, in 1813-14, Jackson crushed the Creeks, the final victory coming in the Battle of Tohopeka (or Horseshoe Bend) in Alabama. The victory was so decisive that the Creeks never again menaced the frontier, and Jackson was established as the hero of the West.

In August 1814, Jackson moved his army south to Mobile. Though he was without specific instructions, his real objective was the Spanish post at Pensacola. The motive was to prepare the way for U.S. occupation of Florida, then a Spanish possession. Jackson's justification for this bold move was that Spain and Great Britain were allies in the wars in Europe. At Mobile, Jackson learned that an army of British regulars had landed at Pensacola. In the first week in November, he led his army into Florida and, on November 7, occupied that city just as the British evacuated it to go by sea to Louisiana.

Jackson then marched his army overland to New Orleans, where he arrived early in December. A series of small skirmishes between detachments of the two armies culminated in the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815, in which Jackson's forces inflicted a decisive defeat upon the British army and forced it to withdraw. The news of this victory reached Washington at a time when morale was at a low point. A few days later, news of the signing of the Treaty of Ghent (Belgium) between the United States and Great Britain on December 24, 1814, reached the capital. The twin tidings brought joy and relief to the American people and made Jackson the hero not only of the West but of a substantial part of the country as well.

After the close of the war, Jackson was named commander of the southern district. He entrusted the command of the troops in the field to subordinates while he retired to his home at the Hermitage, near Nashville. He was ordered back to active service at the end of December 1817, when unrest along the border appeared to be reaching critical proportions. The instructions given Jackson were vague, and he ordered an invasion of Florida immediately after taking active command. He captured two Spanish posts and appointed one of his subordinates military governor of Florida. These bold actions brought an immediate and sharp protest from Spain and precipitated a cabinet crisis in Washington. The staunch defense of Jackson by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams saved Jackson from censure and hastened the U.S. acquisition of Florida.

Presidential prospects

Jackson's military triumphs led to suggestions that he become a candidate for president, but he disavowed any interest, and political leaders in Washington assumed that the flurry of support for him would prove transitory. The campaign to make him president, however, was kept alive by his continued popularity and was carefully nurtured by a small group of his friends in Nashville, who combined devotion to the general with a high degree of political astuteness. In 1822 these friends maneuvered the Tennessee legislature into a formal nomination of their hero as a candidate for president. In the following year this same group persuaded the legislature to elect him to the U.S. Senate-a gesture designed to demonstrate the extent of his popularity in his home state.

In the election of 1824 four candidates received electoral votes. Jackson received the highest number (99); the others receiving electoral votes were John Quincy Adams (84), William H. Crawford (41), and Henry Clay (37). Because no one had a majority, the House of Representatives was required to elect a president from the three with the highest number of votes. Crawford was critically ill, so the actual choice was between Jackson and Adams. Clay, as speaker of the House, was in a strategic and perhaps decisive position to determine the outcome, and he threw his support to Adams, who was elected on the first ballot. When Adams appointed Clay secretary of state, it seemed to admirers of Jackson to confirm rumours of a "corrupt bargain" between Adams and Clay. Jackson's friends persuaded him that the popular will had been thwarted by intrigues, and he thereupon determined to vindicate himself and his supporters by becoming a candidate again in 1828.

In the election of 1828 Jackson defeated Adams by an electoral vote of 178 to 83 after a campaign in which personalities and slander played a larger part than in any previous U.S. national election. Jackson and his wife, Rachel, despite their long marriage, had been vilified in campaign pamphlets as adulterers. The basis was that Rachel Jackson was not legally divorced from her first husband at the time she and Jackson were wed. When they discovered their mistake they remarried, but the damage had been done. Jackson's hour of triumph was soon overshadowed by personal tragedy-his wife died at the Hermitage on December 22, 1828. Retiring and religious, she had avoided the public eye, and the scabrous attacks had hurt her deeply. Jackson had these words inscribed on her tombstone: "A being so gentle and yet so virtuous, slander might wound, but could not dishonor." She had dreaded becoming the hostess of the President's House, saying that she would "rather be a doorkeeper in the House of God than live in that palace."

Rachel Jackson's niece, Emily Donelson, the wife of Andrew Jackson Donelson, served as the president's hostess until 1836. At times, Sarah Yorke Jackson, the wife of Andrew Jackson's adopted son, also served as his hostess.

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Andrew Jackson | Facts, Biography, & Accomplishments

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Andrew Jackson, American general and seventh president of the United States (1829-37). He was the first U.S. president to come from the area west of the Appalachians and the first to gain office by a direct appeal to the mass of voters. His political movement became known as Jacksonian Democracy.

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Learn why the Seminole Tribe of Florida call themselves the “Unconquered People!”

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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica • Edit History

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nullification crisis | Significance, Cause, President, & States Rights

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nullification crisis, in U.S. history, confrontation between the state of South Carolina and the federal government in 1832–33 over the former’s attempt to declare null and void within the state the federal Tariffs of 1828 and 1832. The resolution of the nullification crisis in favour of the federa…

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The South Carolina Nullification Controversy [ushistory.org]

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The South Carolina Nullification Controversy

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Political Cartoon: Jackson vs. The Bank!

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Political Cartoon: Jackson vs. The Bank!

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The Library of Congress does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not license or charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute the material.

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Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ds-14740 (digital file from original) LC-USZ62-1575 (b&w film copy neg.)

Call Number: PC/US - 1836.R661, no. 37 (B size) [P&P]

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General Jackson slaying the many headed monster

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1 print : lithograph on wove paper ; 30.2 x 36.5 cm. (image) | A satire on Andrew Jackson's campaign to destroy the Bank of the United States and its support among state banks. Jackson, Martin Van Buren, and Jack Downing struggle against a snake with heads representing the states.

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In the late 18th and early 19th century, politicians claimed to "stand" for office like gentlemen rather than to "run" for office like demagogues. Most, in fact, sort of sauntered toward the presidency behind the scenes. Jackson, by contrast, galloped into the White House on a war steed; military jargon has since dominated election rhetoric.

In his first bid for the presidency, in 1824, Jackson received over 41% of the popular vote, 10 points higher than John Quincy Adams and well ahead of the other two major contenders, William Crawford and Henry Clay. He received only 99 votes in the electoral college, however. This was well shy of the 131 then needed to win so the choice, per the Constitution, was given over to the House of Representatives. Unfortunately for Jackson and his supporters, the Speaker of the House was disappointed runner-up Henry Clay. Clay threw his support behind Adams and soon thereafter Adams made Clay his Secretary of State, a post then considered the stepping stone to the presidency.

A few months later, an outraged Jackson condemned the "corrupt bargain" made between Adams and Clay and began actively seeking support for the 1828 election. The long "campaign" grew so uncharacteristically acrimonious that Jackson attributed the death of his wife Rachel in late December 1828 to it. The Adams "camp" branded the couple adulterers because Jackson and Rachel had lived together as man and wife in the early 1790s when Rachel was still technically married to another man.

Adams also painted Jackson, in the infamous coffin handbills, as nothing more than a military man who brutally executed Indians, duelists and even his own men. The Jackson camp countered with a campaign song, "Hunters of Kentucky," and by accusing Adams of serving as the Czar's pimp while minister to Russia. Jackson handily won what some consider to be the first modern presidential election, 178 votes to 83. In 1832, he completely avenged the corrupt bargain by defeating Clay 219 to 49 in the electoral college.

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Coffin Handbill | Museum of American Finance

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In the late 18th and early 19th century, politicians claimed to "stand" for office like gentlemen rather than to "run" for office like demagogues. Most, in fact, sort of sauntered toward the presidency behind the scenes. Jackson, by contrast, galloped into the White House on a war steed; military jargon has since dominated election rhetoric.

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History of the Bank (Alexander Hamilton)

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History of the Bank (Alexander Hamilton)

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Alexander Hamilton is one of the few American figures featured on U.S. Currency who was never president. He was killed in 1804 in a duel with Aaron Burr.

Presidents Washington ($1), Lincoln ($5), Jackson ($20), and Grant ($50) all appear on currency. But what about this guy Alexander Hamilton on the ten-spot? How did he get there? A sawbuck says you'll know the answer after reading this piece.

A major problem facing the first federal government was how to deal with the financial chaos created by the American Revolution. States had huge war debts. There was runaway inflation. Almost all areas of the economy looked dismal throughout the 1780s. Economic hard times were a major factor creating the sense of crisis that produced the stronger central government under the new Constitution.

George Washington chose the talented Alexander Hamilton, who had served with him throughout the Revolutionary War, to take on the challenge of directing federal economic policy as the treasury secretary. Hamilton is a fascinating character whose ambition fueled tremendous success as a self-made man. Born in the West Indies to a single mother who was a shopkeeper, he learned his first economic principles from her and went on to apprentice for a large mercantile firm. From these modest origins, Hamilton would become the foremost advocate for a modern capitalist economy in the early national United States.

Hamilton's influential connections were not just with Washington, but included a network of leading New York merchants and financiers. His 1780 marriage to Elizabeth Schuyler, from a wealthy Hudson River valley land holding family, deepened his ties to rich and powerful leaders in New York. His innovative financial policies helped overcome the fiscal problems of the Confederacy, and also benefited an economic elite with which he had close ties.

Alexander Hamilton conceived of the First Bank of the United States as a way to standardize American currency and cope with national Revolutionary War debt. The Bank still stands today on Independence National Park in Philadelphia.

The first issue that Hamilton tackled as Washington's secretary of the treasury concerned the problem of public credit. Governments at all levels had taken on so much debt during the Revolution. The commitment to pay them back was not taken very seriously. By the late 1780s, the value of such public securities had plunged to a small fraction of their face value. In other words, state IOU's - the money borrowed to finance the Revolution - were viewed as nearly worthless.

Hamilton issued a bold proposal. The federal government should pay off all Confederation (state) debts at full value. Such action would dramatically enhance the legitimacy of the new central government. To raise money to pay off the debts, Hamilton would issue new securities bonds). Investors who had purchased these public securities could make enormous profits when the time came for the United States to pay off these new debts.

The spinning jenny was one of several major technological innovations that made British textiles such an economic force.

Hamilton's vision for reshaping the American economy included a federal charter for a national financial institution. He proposed a Bank of the United States. Modeled along the lines of the Bank of England, a central bank would help make the new nation's economy dynamic through a more stable paper currency.

The central bank faced significant opposition. Many feared it would fall under the influence of wealthy, urban northeasterners and speculators from overseas. In the end, with the support of George Washington, the bank was chartered with its first headquarters in Philadelphia.

The third major area of Hamilton's economic plan aimed to make American manufacturers self-sufficient. The American economy had traditionally rested upon large-scale agricultural exports to pay for the import of British manufactured goods. Hamilton rightly thought that this dependence on expensive foreign goods kept the American economy at a limited level, especially when compared to the rapid growth of early industrialization in Great Britain.

Rather than accept this condition, Hamilton wanted the United States to adopt a mercantilist economic policy. This would protect American manufacturers through direct government subsidies (handouts to business) and tariffs (taxes on imported goods). This protectionist policy would help fledgling American producers to compete with inexpensive European imports.

Hamilton possessed a remarkably acute economic vision. His aggressive support for manufacturing, banks, and strong public credit all became central aspects of the modern capitalist economy that would develop in the United States in the century after his death. Nevertheless, his policies were deeply controversial in their day.

Many Americans neither like Hamilton's elitist attitude nor his commitment to a British model of economic development. His pro-British foreign policy was potentially explosive in the wake of the Revolution. Hamilton favored an even stronger central government than the Constitution had created and often linked democratic impulses with potential anarchy. Finally, because the beneficiaries of his innovative economic policies were concentrated in the northeast, they threatened to stimulate divisive geographic differences in the new nation.

Regardless, Hamilton's economic philosophies became touchstones of the modern American capitalist economy.

Bet you $10 you now see why he's on the $10 bill.

Founding Fathers: Alexander Hamilton
A solid biography of Alexander Hamilton, from the folks at the National Archives and Records Administration. Brief and nicely written, this page spends as much time on Hamilton's life as a young man as it does on his professional life.

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The Duel
This page is part of a larger companion site to a PBS documentary based on the duel with Aaron Burr that ended Alexander Hamilton's life. It gives a good recap of Hamilton's biographical vitals, but its real strength is the detail with which it recounts the scandal that led to the duel.

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Political Cartoon: King Andrew the First

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Political Cartoon: King Andrew the First

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1 print : lithograph on wove paper ; 31.7 x 21.4 cm. (image) | A caricature of Andrew Jackson as a despotic monarch, probably issued during the Fall of 1833 in response to the President’s September order to remove federal deposits from the Bank of the United States. The print is dated a year earlier…

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Today, when the latest campaign trail gaffe, political scandal, or candidate counterattack goes viral, your kids may hear about it before you do. How will they know whether a claim or a charge is based in fact, an unsubstantiated smear, or typical campaign overstatement?

Today's kids get their news from a variety of sources, from TV to Twitter. In fact, social media is teens' primary news source. According to a study by the University of Chicago, nearly half of young people age 15 to 25 get news at least once a week from family and friends via Twitter or Facebook. And it can be difficult to tell fact from fiction. The presidential candidates now use Twitter to spin their messages and slam their opponents. One of the study's conclusions is: "Youth must learn how to judge the credibility of online information and how to find divergent views on varied issues."

The media plays a huge role in our country's political process. And with the 24/7 news cycle, those effects are magnified. On the plus side, there are plenty of age-appropriate resources at your fingertips, some of which we've listed below. Here's how you can help your kids become media-savvy participants in democracy.
Elementary School Kids
Decode ads.When a political ad comes on TV or is striped across or down the side of a computer screen, talk to your kid about the claims the ad is making and how music and visuals are used to persuade viewers. Talk about why there are so many negative ads -- and why they work.

Watch out for campaign-inspired bullying. Kids exposed to candidates' mudslinging and name-calling on TV, on radio, and in video clips online may parrot this talk and engage in bullying behavior at school or home. Explain that politicians do this to gain an advantage over their opponent or change the conversation. Explain that name-calling and bullying isn't appropriate at home, at school, or on the playground. Teach kids how to respectfully disagree.

Seek out kid-friendly news. Turn to news sources designed for kids, such as HTE Kids News, Time for Kids, and Scholastic Kids Press Corps. These news websites break down the events of the day in age-appropriate terms, while avoiding stuff you probably won't want them exposed to.

Read kid-friendly books about American politics. Check out Bad Kitty for President, which does a great job of explaining the U.S. political system. See how hard women fought for voting rights in Around America to Win the Vote: Two Suffragists, a Kitten, and 10,000 Miles. And find out what the founding fathers were really like in The Founding Fathers: Those Horse-Ridin', Fiddle-Playin', Book-Readin', Gun-Totin' Gentlemen Who Started America.

Keep the bombast at bay. Kids may not understand concepts such as groping, gun control, abortion, troops, and immigration, but they can certainly feel the emotion behind the rhetoric. Try to change the station and mute the TV when you can. Kids will pick up on your reactions -- and they sometimes feel at fault for causing them -- so if a candidate makes you mad, explain that the man or woman on TV made you feel that way and why.
Middle School Kids
Talk about political advertising. How is a political ad like a regular commercial for a product? Is it selling a candidate just like another sells cereal? Who paid for the ad you're watching? Can political ads actually influence the outcome of an election? Watch political movies to see how fictional political strategies mirror real-life ones.

Share political cartoons.Mocking the candidates is a long-cherished tradition Americans can enjoy in the name of free speech. Poking fun of politicians takes some bite out of their often harsh statements, shows kids that challenging bold claims is part of our political process, and offers a sense of relief when the campaign rhetoric heats up.

Tackle the tough topics. With campaign rhetoric getting nastier, you may have to explain to your kids certain terms and situations you never thought you'd have to when they're this age. Explain how candidates may bring up some things as a distraction or to get attention. Steer the conversation back to the important issues in the election. Ask your kids to identify two specific positions for each candidate to keep them focused on the real issues.

Ask how elections really work. Draw a link between your kids' experience of student body elections or mock presidential elections at school and those on the state and national levels. Are elections just a popularity contest, or does someone win because he or she has the best ideas?

De-fang hate speech and fear-mongering. When candidates unleash extreme, zealous statements, they can stir up scary emotions (worry, confusion, fear, anxiety) in tweens. Explain that candidates intentionally try to appeal to people's emotions to gain an advantage over their rivals and that some candidates will resort to insulting, bullying, and even lying. Tell your kids that much of what the candidates say simply isn't true. See if you can get your kids to pick out the kinds of statements that are attention-getting vs. meaningful comments about what policies the candidates would institute if elected.
High School Kids
Address campaign rhetoric head-on. Discuss campaign issues that become national news -- even if they're hard to stomach. Kids will be riveted to any election news that's outrageous. Ask your kids open-ended questions about what they've heard, what they think about what they've heard, and why the candidates' talking points and media coverage veer so far from the "real" issues voters care about.

Watch news and debates together. Compare the media coverage on different shows and networks. Do reporters, news anchors, and opinion shows spend too much time on distractions that heat up the 24-hour cable news cycle rather than on the real issues facing our country? Check the credibility of candidates' claims at the nonpartisan site FactCheck.org.

Talk about the influence of polls. A lot of what drives momentum in campaigns are the latest poll results, reported on news shows and websites. Your family may be getting calls at home from pollsters or one of the campaigns asking whom you'll vote for. How might polls influence people? Are polls accurate predictors of election-day results? Send teens to Reddit, where they can share, rank, and discuss the news.

Discuss the role of social media in elections. Do your teens follow any politicians on Twitter or other feeds? What kinds of posts earn your teen's respect, and what kinds erode it? Is it risky to talk politics with friends online if you disagree?

Remind them not to believe everything they read. Encourage them to get out from behind their computers with Rock the Vote, which uses music and pop culture to engage teens.

Talk about fear and hate-mongering among politicians -- and how mudslinging is nothing new. Sometimes its helpful to discuss the historical context of election politics. Teens are old enough to understand that extreme positions and outrageous comments attract attention -- and sometimes that's all politicians want. Talk about the grand old tradition of mudslinging in campaigns. Why do candidates make offensive statements, and what impact do zealous positions have on voters and the political process? Do you pay more attention when a candidate is making outrageous statements or discussing actual policy? How much of what a candidate says is designed to appeal to voters' emotions?

Reinforce your family values. Make sure you slip in some of your own families' values when you discuss the issues, because as we all know, the campaign season coverage can introduce lots of issues that tweens and teens will question.
Senior parenting editor Caroline Knorr contributed to this article.

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17 Tips to Steer Kids of All Ages Through the Political Season

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Help your kids tune out the noise and tune in to age-appropriate resources for political news. Advice from Common Sense Media editors.

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POLITICAL CARTOON: The Nullification Crisis

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POLITICAL CARTOON: The Nullification Crisis

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Title
Nullification....despotism
Names

Endicott & Swett (Lithographer)

Collection

American political caricatures [1798-1840]

Dates / Origin

Library locations

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection

Shelf locator: MEZYRS

Topics

Nullification (States' rights)

Genres

Notes

Citation/reference: W. 162

Physical Description

Lithographs

Extent: 1 print : lithograph.

Type of Resource

Still image

Identifiers

NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b1651333

Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 6e65e140-c605-012f-4d52-58d385a7bc34

Rights Statement

The New York Public Library believes that this item is in the public domain under the laws of the United States, but did not make a determination as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. This item may not be in the public domain under the laws of other countries. Though not required, if you want to credit us as the source, please use the following statement, "From The New York Public Library," and provide a link back to the item on our Digital Collections site. Doing so helps us track how our collection is used and helps justify freely releasing even more content in the future.

Item timeline of events

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TitleNullification....despotism Names Endicott & Swett (Lithographer) Collection American political caricatures [1798-1840] Dates / Origin Library locations The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection Shelf locator: MEZYRS Topics Nullification (States' rights) Genres Notes Citation/reference: W. 162 Physical Description Lithographs Extent: 1 print : lithograph.

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Major General Andrew Jackson made a name for himself at the Battle of New Orleans. He was the only U.S. President to be a veteran of both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

Jackson was committed to remaining a Man of the People, representing and protecting the Common Man. He possessed a commanding presence, a strong will, and a personality that reflected his strength and decisiveness. Jackson had a lot going for him in the view of the electorate. In the War of 1812, he defeated the British at New Orleans in 1815. He was renowned as an Indian fighter. Jackson's military service had produced a large and influential group of supporters and friends who urged him to seek the Presidency.

The campaign of 1828 was far from clean. Although Jackson and John Quincy Adams removed themselves from the mudslinging, their parties waged a dirty campaign. Jackson was aghast to find his opponents labeling his wife Rachel an adulteress. Shortly after the campaign, Rachel passed away. Jackson blamed his political enemies for her death. To deal with his rivals and the general public, Jackson relied on his "Kitchen Cabinet," an unofficial group of friends and advisers.

Jackson's Kitchen Cabinet

Martin Van Buren

Secretary of State, Later V.P.

John H. Eaton

Secretary of War

Amos Kendall

Auditor of the U.S. Treasury

Major William B. Lewis

Second Auditor of the Treasury

Isaac Hill

U.S. Senator and Editor, New Hampshire Patriot

Francis P. Blair, Sr.

Editor, Washington Globe

Duff Green

Owner, United States Telegraph

Jackson thought Rachel Donelson was divorced when he married her, but found out two years later that the divorce was never finalized. Although she divorced her former husband and remarried Jackson, the scandal haunted her more than thirty years later during Jackson's presidential campaign.

The Founders of the nation feared a tyrannical President - they believed that only a strong Congress could best represent the people. Jackson felt that the Congress was not representing the people - that they were acting like an aristocracy. Jackson took the view that only the President could be trusted to stand for the will of the people against the aristocratic Congress. Jackson's weapon was the veto. "Andy Veto" used this power more often than all six previous Presidents combined.

At the same time, Jackson espoused the "spoils system" in awarding government offices. In his view, far too many career politicians walked the streets of Washington. These people had lost touch with the public. Jackson believed in rotation in office. America was best served with clearing out the old officeholders and replacing them with appointees of the winning candidates. This "spoils system" would eventually lead to considerable corruption. To Jackson, rotating the officeholders was simply more democratic.

While he made his share of enemies, Jackson transformed the Office of the President into one of dynamic leadership and initiative. His direct appeal to the people for support was new and has served as a model for strong Presidents to this day.

Andrew Jackson as Image
What was Andrew Jackson: a farmer, fighter, politician, or all three? Jackson was a man of many images and this page looks at the man in all his roles. This University of Virginia website is fascinating reading, but a little hard to follow.

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Great Characters of New Orleans Jean Lafitte
In a daring move, Andrew Jackson offered American citizenship and grants of immunity from criminal prosecution to the infamous pirate Jean Lafitte and his band of 1,000 privateers if they would join the fight against British forces in the War of 1812. None knew the swamps of Louisiana better, and an American victory was assured. Find out more about this legendary pirate here.

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Major General Andrew Jackson made a name for himself at the Battle of New Orleans. He was the only U.S. President to be a veteran of both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Jackson was committed to remaining a Man of the People, representing and protecting the Common Man.

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Andrew Jackson - Administration | Miller Center

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Andrew Jackson, the Kitchen Cabinet, and the Petticoat Affair

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spoils system, practice in which the political party winning an election rewards its campaign workers and other active supporters by appointment to government posts and with other favours. The spoils system involves political activity by public employees in support of their party and the employees' removal from office if their party loses the election. A change in party control of government necessarily brings new officials to high positions carrying political responsibility, but the spoils system extends personnel turnover down to routine or subordinate governmental positions.

The term was in use in American politics as early as 1812, but it was made famous in a speech made in 1832 by Senator William Marcy of New York. In defending one of President Andrew Jackson's appointments, Marcy said, "To the victor belong the spoils of the enemy." In Marcy's time, the term spoils referred to the political appointments, such as cabinet offices or ambassadorships, controlled by an elected official.

Arguments in favour of the spoils system defend it as a means of maintaining an active party organization by offering loyal workers occupational rewards. It also guarantees the ruling party loyal and cooperative employees. Supporters of the practice claim this results in more effective government because the appointed officeholders have a stake in helping the elected official to carry out his policies and fulfill his campaign promises.

On the other hand, the spoils system too often resulted in appointments that were based strictly on the needs of the party, without regard for the appointee's qualifications or ability to do the job. Extensive changes in positions that did not affect government policy, such as President Benjamin Harrison 's changing 31,000 postmasters in one year, also led to inefficiency.

The spoils system flourished unchallenged in the United States from the 1820s until after the Civil War, at which time the system's abuses prompted civil-service reforms designed to cut down the number of government posts filled by appointment and to award jobs on the basis of merit. The Pendleton Federal Civil Service Act of 1883 provided the initial basis for the adoption of the merit system in the recruitment of federal officials, and by the late 20th century merit systems had almost completely replaced the spoils system at the federal, state, and city levels of government.

In addition to designating the awarding of public offices to party supporters, the term has come to refer to other abuses of political power designed to benefit and enrich the ruling party. These practices may involve, for example, siphoning public funds to the party by contracting with party contributors to handle public projects at inflated rates or by granting public franchises to party contributors at very low prices. The term also includes favouring supporters in areas like the prosecution of law cases, the placement of insurance policies, or the levying of taxes.

Although spoils system is an American political term, the practice of distributing public offices to reward supporters and strengthen a government is and has been common in many other countries as well.

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Spoils system | Definition, Examples, Significance, & Facts

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Spoils system, practice in which the political party winning an election rewards its campaign workers and other active supporters by appointment to government posts and with other favors. Learn more about the history and significance of the spoils system in this article.

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Jackson's First Inaugural Address: A Transcript
Andrew Jackson
(1767-1845)
Draft of Inaugural Address
(first term)
[undated, ca. March 4, 1829]
Fellow citizens,

About to enter upon the duties to which as President of the United States, I have been called by voluntary suffrages of my country, I avail myself of this occasion to express the deep and heartfelt gratitude with which a testimonial of such distinguished favor has been received. To be elected under the circumstances which have marked the recent contest of opinion to administer the affairs of a government deriving all its powers from the will of the people, a government whose vital principle is the right of the people to control its measures, and whose only object and glory are the equal happiness and freedom of all the members of the confederacy, cannot but penetrate me with the most powerful and mingled emotions of thanks, on the one hand, for the honor conferred on me, and on the other, of solemn apprehensions for the safety of the great and important interests committed to my charge.

Under the weight of these emotions, unaided by any confidence inspired by past experience, or by any strength derived from the conscious possession of powers equal to the station, I confess, fellow citizens, that I approach it with trembling reluctance. But my Country has willed it, and I obey, gathering hope from the reflection that the other branches of the Govt. with whom the constitutional will associates me, will yield those resources of Patriotism and intelligence, by which the administration may be rendered useful, and the honor and independence of our widely extended Republic guarded from encroachment; but above all, trusting to the smiles of that overruling Providence, "in the hollow of whose hand," is the destiny of nations, for that animation of common council and harmonizing effort, which shall enable us to steer, the Bark of liberty, through every difficulty.

In the present Stage of our history, it will not be expected of me on this occasion to enter into any detail of the first principles of our government. The achievements of our fathers, our subsequent intercourse with each other, the various relations we have sustained with other powers of the world, and our present attitude at home, exhibits the practical operations of these principles, all of which are comprised in the sovereignty of the people. This is the basis of our system, and to its security from violation and innovation must our practice and experience as a government be dedicated. To the administration of my illustrious predecessors I will be permitted to refer as mirrors not so much for the measures which may be demanded by the present state of the country, but as applications of the same principles to the various exigencies which have occurred in our history, and as shedding light upon those which may hereafter arise. It is thus the great moral race we are running, connects us with the past, and is tributary to the events which are to come: thus, that every period of our Government is useful to that which follows, not as the source of principles, but as guides on that sacred fountain to which we must often go for the refreshment of our laws, and the invigoration of the public morals. It is from this source that we derive the means of congratulation ourselves upon the present free condition of our country, and build our hopes for its future safety. In fine, Fellow Citizens, this is the bulwark of our liberties.

Among the various and important duties that are confided to the President, there are none of more interest than that which requires the selection of his officers. The application of the laws, and the management of our relations with foreign powers, form the chief object of an Executive, and are as essential to the welfare of the union as the laws themselves. In the discharge of this trust it shall be my care to fill the various offices at the disposal of the Executive with individuals uniting as far as possible the qualifications of the head and heart, always recollecting that in a free government the demand for moral qualities should be made superior to that of talents. In other forms of government where the people are not regarded as composing the sovereign power, it is easy to perceive that the safeguard of the empire consists chiefly in the skill by which the monarch can wield the bigoted acquiescence of his Subjects. But it is different with us. Here the will of the people, prescribed in a constitution of their own choice, controls the service of the public functionaries, and is interested more deeply in the preservation of those qualities which ensures fidelity and honest devotion to their interests.

Provisions for the national defense form another class of duties for the Representatives of the people, and as they stand in delicate connection with the powers of the general and state Governments, when understood to embrace the protection of our own labor, merit the most serious consideration. Legislation for this object encouraging the production of those articles which are essential in the emergencies of war, and to the independence of the nation, seems to me to be sanctioned by the constitution, as lawful and just. The general safety was the great motive for the confederation of the states, and never could have been effected without conferring on the Federal Government the power to provide those internal supplies which constitute the means of war, and which if left to the ordinary operations of commerce, might be withheld at a time when we most needed them. Judicious Tariff imposing duties high enough to insure us against this calamity will always meet with my hearty cooperation. But beyond this point, legislation effecting the natural relations of the labor of the states are irreconcilable to the objects of the Union, and threatening to its peace and tranquility.

Recollecting that all the states are equal in sovereignty, and in claims to the benefits accruing from the confederation, upon the federal principle of providing by taxation for the wants of the Government, it seems Just that the expenditures should be distributed regard being first paid to the national debt, and the appropriations for the support of the Government, and safety of the Union. The necessity of conforming more closely to this principle is illustrated by the dissatisfaction which the expenditures for the purposes of improvement has already created in several of the states. The operation of the principle, as fixed on this equitable basis, will give to the states the fiscal prosperity of the nation, and secure harmony by removing the grounds of Jealousy.

Between the powers granted to the general government, and those reserved to the states and the people, it is to be regretted that no line can be so obviously drawn as that all shall understand alike its boundaries. There will be a territory between them which must be governed by the good sense of a nation always ready to resist oppression, and too high minded to forget the rights of the minority. It is the inheritance of that sentiment of conciliation, and spirit of compromise which gave us the constitution, and which is to enable us in the progress of time to amend such defects in the system as experience may detect. Fully sensible of the necessity which I shall have for the exercise of this spirit on the part of my fellow Citizens, I shall notice with pleasure an unreserved examination of the measures of my administration, and shall be the last to cry out treason against those who interpret differently from myself the policy, or powers of the government.

Some of the Topics which shall engage my earliest attention as intimately connected with the prosperity of our beloved country, are, the liquidation of the national debt. The introduction and observance of the strictest economy in the disbursements of the Government, a Judicious tariff, combined with a fostering care of commerce and agriculture, and regulated by the principles before adverted to, a Just respect for state rights and the maintenance of state sovereignty as the best check of the tendencies to consolidation; and the distribution of the surplus revenue amongst the states according to the apportionment of representation, for the purposes of education and internal improvement, except where the subjects are entirely national. With the accomplishment of these objects I trust the memorials of our national blessings may be multiplied, and the scenes of domestic labor be made more animating and happy.

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American Treasures of the Library of Congress Jackson's First Inauguration

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Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) Draft of Inaugural Address (first term) [undated, ca. March 4, 1829] Fellow citizens, About to enter upon the duties to which as President of the United States, I have been called by voluntary suffrages of my country, I avail myself of this occasion to express the deep and heartfelt gratitude with which a testimonial of such distinguished favor has been received.

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Second Inaugural Address of Andrew Jackson

MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1833

Fellow-Citizens:

The will of the American people, expressed through their unsolicited suffrages, calls me before you to pass through the solemnities preparatory to taking upon myself the duties of President of the United States for another term. For their approbation of my public conduct through a period which has not been without its difficulties, and for this renewed expression of their confidence in my good intentions, I am at a loss for terms adequate to the expression of my gratitude. It shall be displayed to the extent of my humble abilities in continued efforts so to administer the Government as to preserve their liberty and promote their happiness.

So many events have occurred within the last four years which have necessarily called forth--sometimes under circumstances the most delicate and painful--my views of the principles and policy which ought to be pursued by the General Government that I need on this occasion but allude to a few leading considerations connected with some of them.

The foreign policy adopted by our Government soon after the formation of our present Constitution, and very generally pursued by successive Administrations, has been crowned with almost complete success, and has elevated our character among the nations of the earth. To do justice to all and to submit to wrong from none has been during my Administration its governing maxim, and so happy have been its results that we are not only at peace with all the world, but have few causes of controversy, and those of minor importance, remaining unadjusted.

In the domestic policy of this Government there are two objects which especially deserve the attention of the people and their representatives, and which have been and will continue to be the subjects of my increasing solicitude. They are the preservation of the rights of the several States and the integrity of the Union.

These great objects are necessarily connected, and can only be attained by an enlightened exercise of the powers of each within its appropriate sphere in conformity with the public will constitutionally expressed. To this end it becomes the duty of all to yield a ready and patriotic submission to the laws constitutionally enacted and thereby promote and strengthen a proper confidence in those institutions of the several States and of the United States which the people themselves have ordained for their own government.

My experience in public concerns and the observation of a life somewhat advanced confirm the opinions long since imbibed by me, that the destruction of our State governments or the annihilation of their control over the local concerns of the people would lead directly to revolution and anarchy, and finally to despotism and military domination. In proportion, therefore, as the General Government encroaches upon the rights of the States, in the same proportion does it impair its own power and detract from its ability to fulfill the purposes of its creation. Solemnly impressed with these considerations, my countrymen will ever find me ready to exercise my constitutional powers in arresting measures which may directly or indirectly encroach upon the rights of the States or tend to consolidate all political power in the General Government. But of equal and, indeed of incalculable, importance is the union of these States, and the sacred duty of all to contribute to its preservation by a liberal support of the General Government in the exercise of its just powers. You have been wisely admonished to "accustom yourselves to think and speak of the Union as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity, watching for its preservation with Jealous anxiety, discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned, and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of any attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts." Without union our independence and liberty would never have been achieved; without union they never can be maintained. Divided into twenty-four, or even a smaller number, of separate communities, we shall see our internal trade burdened with numberless restraints and exactions; communication between distant points and sections obstructed or cut off; our sons made soldiers to deluge with blood the fields they now till in peace; the mass of our people borne down and impoverished by taxes to support armies and navies, and military leaders at the head of their victorious legions becoming our lawgivers and judges. The loss of liberty, of all good government, of peace, plenty, and happiness, must inevitably follow a dissolution of the Union. In supporting it, therefore, we support all that is dear to the freeman and the philanthropist.

The time at which I stand before you is full of interest. The eyes of all nations are fixed on our Republic. The event of the existing crisis will be decisive in the opinion of mankind of the practicability of our federal system of government. Great is the stake placed in our hands; great is the responsibility which must rest upon the people of the United States. Let us realize the importance of the attitude in which we stand before the world. Let us exercise forbearance and firmness. Let us extricate our country from the dangers which surround it and learn wisdom from the lessons they inculcate.

Deeply impressed with the truth of these observations, and under the obligation of that solemn oath which I am about to take, I shall continue to exert all my faculties to maintain the just powers of the Constitution and to transmit unimpaired to posterity the blessings of our Federal Union. At the same time, it will be my aim to inculcate by my official acts the necessity of exercising by the General Government those powers only that are clearly delegated; to encourage simplicity and economy in the expenditures of the Government; to raise no more money from the people than may be requisite for these objects, and in a manner that will best promote the interests of all classes of the community and of all portions of the Union. Constantly bearing in mind that in entering into society "individuals must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest," it will be my desire so to discharge my duties as to foster with our brethren in all parts of the country a spirit of liberal concession and compromise, and, by reconciling our fellow-citizens to those partial sacrifices which they must unavoidably make for the preservation of a greater good, to recommend our invaluable Government and Union to the confidence and affections of the American people.

Finally, it is my most fervent prayer to that Almighty Being before whom I now stand, and who has kept us in His hands from the infancy of our Republic to the present day, that He will so overrule all my intentions and actions and inspire the hearts of my fellow-citizens that we may be preserved from dangers of all kinds and continue forever a united and happy people.

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The Avalon Project : Second Inaugural Address of Aandrew Jackson

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Second Inaugural Address of Andrew Jackson MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1833 Fellow-Citizens: The will of the American people, expressed through their unsolicited suffrages, calls me before you to pass through the solemnities preparatory to taking upon myself the duties of President of the United States for another term.

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History Brief: Andrew Jackson's War on the Bank

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Andrew Jackson - Presidency, Facts & Children

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Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of the United States. He is known for founding the Democratic Party and for his support of individual liberty.

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The Spoils System Explained: US History Review

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Printable Version The Election of 1828

"J. Q. Adams who can write" squared off against "Andy Jackson who can fight" in the election of 1828, one of the most bitter campaigns in American history. Jackson's followers repeated the charge that Adams was an "aristocrat" who had obtained office as a result of a "corrupt bargain." The Jackson forces also alleged that the president had used public funds to buy personal luxuries and had installed gaming tables in the White House. They even charged that Mrs. Adams had been born out of wedlock.

Adams's supporters countered by digging up an old story that Jackson had begun living with his wife before she was legally divorced from her first husband (which was technically true, although neither Jackson nor his wife Rachel knew her first husband was still living). They called the general a slave trader, a gambler, and a backwoods buffoon who could not spell more than one word out of four correctly. One Philadelphia editor published a handbill picturing the coffins of 12 men allegedly murdered by Jackson in numerous duels.

The Jackson campaign in 1828 was the first to appeal directly for voter support through a professional political organization. Skilled political organizers, like Martin Van Buren of New York, Amos Kendall of Kentucky, and Thomas Ritchie of Virginia, created an extensive network of campaign committees and subcommittees to organize mass rallies, parades, and barbecues, and to erect hickory poles, Jackson's symbol.

For the first time in American history, a presidential election was the focus of public attention, and voter participation increased dramatically. Twice as many voters cast ballots in the election of 1828 as in 1824, four times as many as in 1820. As in most previous elections, the vote divided along sectional lines. Jackson swept every state in the South and West and Adams won the electoral votes of every state in the North except Pennsylvania and part of New York.

Contemporaries interpreted Jackson's resounding victory as a triumph for political democracy. Jackson's supporters called the vote a victory for the "farmers and mechanics of the country" over the "rich and well born." Even Jackson's opponents agreed that the election marked a watershed in the nation's political history, signaling the beginning of a new democratic age. One Adams supporter said bluntly, "a great revolution has taken place."

Who Was Andrew Jackson?

In certain respects, Jackson was truly a self-made man. Born in 1767 in a frontier region along the North and South Carolina border, he was the first president to be born in a log cabin. His father, a poor farmer from Northern Ireland, died two weeks before his birth, while his mother and two brothers died during the American Revolution. At the age of 13, Jackson volunteered to fight in the American Revolution. He was taken prisoner and a British officer severely slashed Jackson's hand and head when the boy refused to shine the officer's shoes.

Jackson soon rose from poverty to a career in law and politics, becoming Tennessee's first congressman, a senator, and judge on the state supreme court. Although he would later gain a reputation as the champion of the common people, in Tennessee he was allied by marriage, business, and political ties to the state's elite. As a land speculator, cotton planter, and attorney, he accumulated a large personal fortune and acquired more than 100 slaves. His candidacy for the presidency was initially promoted by speculators, creditors, and elite leaders in Tennessee who hoped to exploit Jackson's popularity in order to combat anti-banking sentiment and fend off challenges to their dominance of state politics.

Expanding the Powers of the Presidency

In office, Jackson greatly enhanced the power and prestige of the presidency. While each member of Congress represented a specific regional constituency, only the president, Jackson declared, represented all the people of the United States.

Jackson convinced many Americans that their votes mattered. He espoused a political ideology of "democratic republicanism" that stressed the common peoples' virtue, intelligence, and capacity for self-government. He also expressed a deep disdain for the "better classes," which claimed a "more enlightened wisdom" than common men and women.

Endorsing the view that a fundamental conflict existed between working people and the "nonproducing" classes of society, Jackson and his supporters promised to remove any impediments to the ordinary citizen's opportunities for economic improvement. According to the Jacksonians, inequalities of wealth and power were the direct result of monopoly, favoritism, and special privileges, which made "the rich richer and the powerful more potent." Only free competition in an open marketplace would ensure that wealth would be distributed in accordance with each person's "industry, economy, enterprise, and prudence." The goal of the Jacksonians was to remove all obstacles that prevented farmers, artisans, and small shopkeepers from earning a greater share of the nation's wealth.

Nowhere was the Jacksonian ideal of openness made more concrete than in Jackson's theory of rotation in office, known as the spoils system. In his first annual message to Congress, Jackson defended the principle that public offices should be rotated among party supporters in order to help the nation achieve its republican ideals.

Performance in public office, Jackson maintained, required no special intelligence or training, and rotation in office would ensure that the federal government did not develop a class of corrupt civil servants set apart from the people. His supporters advocated the spoils system on practical political grounds, viewing it as a way to reward party loyalists and build a stronger party organization. As Jacksonian Senator William Marcy of New York proclaimed, "To the victor belongs the spoils."

The spoils system opened government positions to many of Jackson's supporters, but the practice was neither as new nor as democratic as it appeared. During his first 18 months in office, Jackson replaced fewer than 1,000 of the nation's 10,000 civil servants on political grounds, and fewer than 20 percent of federal officeholders were removed during his administration. Moreover, many of the men Jackson appointed to office had backgrounds of wealth and social eminence. Jackson did not originate the spoils system. By the time he took office, a number of states, including New York and Pennsylvania, practiced political patronage.

Copyright 2021 Digital History

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Printable Version The Election of 1828 "J. Q. Adams who can write" squared off against "Andy Jackson who can fight" in the election of 1828, one of the most bitter campaigns in American history. Jackson's followers repeated the charge that Adams was an "aristocrat" who had obtained office as a result of a "corrupt bargain."

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The United States presidential election of 1828 featured a rematch between John Quincy Adams, now incumbent President, and Andrew Jackson. As incumbent Vice President John C. Calhoun had sided with the Jacksonians, the National Republicans led by Adams, chose Richard Rush as Adams' running mate.

Unlike the 1824 election, no other major candidates appeared in the race, allowing Jackson to consolidate a power base and easily win an electoral victory over Adams. The Democratic Party drew support from the existing supporters of Jackson and their coalition with the supporters of Crawford (the "Old Republicans") and Vice President Calhoun.

Maryland electors split their vote: 6 for Adams, 5 for Jackson; Jackson had won popular vote

New York electors split their vote: 20 for Jackson, 16 for Adams; Jackson had won popular vote

Adams won Maine; however one elector cast a vote for Jackson

Issues of the Day: Tariffs

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Presidential Election of 1828 - 270toWin

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Results of the presidential election of 1828, won by Andrew Jackson with 178 electoral votes

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Worcester V. Georgia Summary & John Marshall's Decision

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Worcester V. Georgia Summary & John Marshall's Decision

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Worcester v. Georgia, legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court on March 3, 1832, held (5-1) that the states did not have the right to impose regulations on Native American land. Although Pres. Andrew Jackson refused to enforce the ruling, the decision helped form the basis for most subsequent law in the United States regarding Native Americans.

Worcester v. Georgia involved a group of white Christian missionaries, including Samuel A. Worcester, who were living in Cherokee territory in Georgia. In addition to their missionary work, the men were advising the Cherokee about resisting Georgia's attempts to impose state laws on the Cherokee Nation, a self-governing nation whose independence and right to its land had been guaranteed in treaties with the United States government. In an effort to stop the missionaries, the state in 1830 passed an act that forbade "white persons" from living on Cherokee lands unless they obtained a license from the governor of Georgia and swore an oath of loyalty to the state. Worcester and the other missionaries had been invited by the Cherokee and were serving as missionaries under the authority of the U.S. federal government. They did not, however, have a license from Georgia, nor did they swear a loyalty oath to that state. Georgia state authorities arrested Worcester and several other missionaries. After they were convicted at trial in 1831 and sentenced to four years of hard labour in prison, Worcester appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Worcester argued that Georgia had no right to extend its laws to Cherokee territory. He contended that the act under which he had been convicted violated the U.S. Constitution, which gives to the U.S. Congress the authority to regulate commerce with Native Americans. The Constitution also bars the states from passing laws that alter the obligations of contracts-in this case, treaties. Several treaties between the Cherokee and the U.S. government recognized the independence and sovereignty of the Cherokee Nation. Furthermore, Worcester argued that the Georgia laws violated an 1802 act of Congress that regulated trade and relations between the United States and the Indian tribes.

The Supreme Court agreed with Worcester, ruling 5 to 1 on March 3, 1832, that all the Georgia laws regarding the Cherokee Nation were unconstitutional and thus void. Writing for the court, Chief Justice John Marshall held that "the Indian nations had always been considered as distinct, independent political communities, retaining their original natural rights as the undisputed possessors of the soil." Even though Native Americans were now under the protection of the United States, he wrote that "protection does not imply the destruction of the protected." Marshall concluded:

The Cherokee Nation, then, is a distinct community occupying its own territory...in which the laws of Georgia can have no force, and which the citizens of Georgia have no right to enter but with the assent of the Cherokees themselves, or in conformity with treaties and with the acts of Congress. The whole intercourse between the United States and this Nation, is, by our Constitution and laws, vested in the Government of the United States.

Georgia, however, ignored the decision, keeping Worcester and the other missionaries in prison. Eventually, they were granted a pardon and were released in 1833. Pres. Andrew Jackson declined to enforce the Supreme Court's decision, thus allowing states to enact further legislation damaging to the tribes. The U.S. government began forcing the Cherokee off their land in 1838. In what became known as the Trail of Tears, some 15,000 Cherokee were driven from their land and were marched westward on a grueling journey that caused the deaths of some 4,000 of their people.

Worcester v. Georgia was a landmark case of the Supreme Court. Although it did not prevent the Cherokee from being removed from their land, the decision was often used to craft subsequent Indian law in the United States. The Worcester decision created an important precedent through which American Indians could, like states, reserve some areas of political autonomy.

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Worcester v. Georgia | History, Summary, & Significance

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Worcester v. Georgia, legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court in March 1832 held that the states did not have the right to impose regulations on Native American land. President Andrew Jackson refused to enforce the ruling, but the decision helped form the basis for most subsequent Indian law in the U.S.

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When The Supreme Court Tried to Prevent Indian Removal | Worcester v. Georgia

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American Elections and Campaigns – 1828: “A Sign of Things to Come.”

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The United States in the 19th century saw major changes take hold on the political, social, industrial, and electoral level. In 1804, the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution made a series of revi…