Age of Jackson Part 1

•Population shift and West becomes politically powerful •Jackson appealed to the Common Man because he was one.

1790 Qualifications to vote in most states 21 yrs. Old White Male. educated and property owner…….

voting

Most qualifications are dropped. Majority of White men can now vote

Jacksonian Democracy. • European visitors to the U.S. like Alex de Tocqueville in the 1830s were amazed by the informal manners and democratic attitudes of Americans • The hero of the age was the “self-made man” • The idea of spreading political power to all men and having majority rule became known as Jacksonian Democracy.

New Democracy

JEFFERSONIAN DEMOCRACY People should be governed as little possible

JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY Whatever governing needed to be done, it should be done by the common man. “Government by the majority of people (Majority Rule) instead of a government run by the upper class was introduced during Jackson’s Presidency. “All men are created equal” –Declaration of Independence

•Born March 15, 1767, on North Carolina/South Carolina border

•Orphaned at 13, self-educated and no formal education. Killed a man in a duel. •Lawyer, Judge, senator, military general and finally President •Defeated the Creeks at Horseshoe Bend, the British at New Orleans, took Florida and claimed it for the US in 1819. Loved by his soldiers called him “Old Hickory” •Many considered him dangerous. They viewed him as a potential “American Napoleon

Jackson’s First Presidential Run Opponents in 1824

Henry Clay John Quincy Adams John C. Calhoun [MA] [KY] [SC]

Jackson would go on to hate all of these men

The Election of 1824

•261 electoral votes and 131 needed to win.

•Jackson won the popular vote, but did not win the 131 electoral votes to win the electoral vote and the election.

•The election would be decided in the House of Representatives.

corrupt

The Corrupt Bargain •Henry Clay gives his support to John Q. Adams and the House of Representatives chooses Adams as the President. •Two weeks later, Adams appoints Henry Clay as his Secretary of State…. •Jackson cries out corruption and calls this the “Corrupt Bargain.”

•Jackson promises he would run again for the Presidency in 1828 and would smash Adams.

The Corrupt Bargain

corrupt1

Suspicions of a “corrupt bargain” have been strengthened by entries in the diary of John Q. Adams. On January 1, 1825, after a public dinner, he wrote, “He (Clay) told me (in a whisper) that he should be glad to have with me soon some confidential conversation upon public affairs. I said I should be happy to have it whenever it might suit his convenience.” In the diary entry for January 9, reads in part, “Mr. Clay came at six and spent the evening with me in a long conversation explanatory of the past and prospective of the future.” Exactly a month later, with Clay’s backing, Adams was elected. This happened because Clay was Speaker of the House…..They both disliked Andrew Jackson…...

John Quincy Adams • John Quincy Adams was born into wealth and privilege as the son of President John Adams. • During the Revolution and early Republic he served his country as a young man if various European countries as an American Ambassador • College educated, he was extremely intelligent and served as a professor at Harvard University. • Served as Sec. of State and negotiated many treaties including the Adams-Onis Treaty. •

Read constantly and in many languages. Kept a diary for almost 70 years that comprise 50 volumes.

John Quincy Adams POSTIVES • One of the ablest men, hardest workers, and finest intellectuals ever in the White House. – Tried to promote not only manufacturing and agriculture, but also the arts, literature, and science. – Paid down the national debt and continued the “American System” of internal improvements.

NEGATIVES • He was not a “Common Man” and like his father distrusted what he called “Mob Rule” – Most found him cold and tactless. – Could not build any popular support for his programs.

JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY After the election of 1824 the DemocraticRepublican party split in to two new parties. 1. 2. 3.

4.

NATIONAL REPUBLICANS Adams and Clay Strong national govt. Favored business, tariffs, internal improvements, industry, public schools and moral reforms such as prohibition of liquor and abolition of slavery. Best/privileged run the govt.

1. 2.

3.

4.

DEMOCRATS Jackson Believed in state’s rights and federal restraint in economic and social affairs. Favored the liberty of the individual and was against the power of the privileged (rich) in the government. Protected the “common man.”

The election of 1828 REMATCH! ADAMS VS JACKSON

The issues •End corruption in Washington. •Reform and eliminate the National debt •The “People” vs. the “Elite” •Rachel Jackson vs “His Fraudulency”

Election of 1828

Jackson and J. Q. Adams ran against each other for the presidency One anti-Jackson newspaper declared, “General Jackson’s mother was a common prostitute, brought to this country by the British soldiers! She, afterwards married a mulatto man with whom she had several children, of which one was Andrew Jackson.”

•Anti-Adams people accused him of hiring a servant girl for a visiting Russian ambassador…and the “Corrupt Bargain” making him a fraud.

•One of the worst elections in US History for its “mudslinging.” •As a result of this, Jackson’s wife Rachel, died of a heart attack just before he became President…He blamed Adams and Clay and never forgave them…..

The Election of 1828 •Why such a difference between the election of 1824 and 1828?

261 total electoral votes and 131 electoral votes to win……

•Population shifts to Western States and South which gives the Common Man more political power •More men voting in 1828----why? •Property restrictions and education dropped.

•Jackson appealed to common man because he was one.

The Election of 1824

•Election of 1824, 355,817 voted.

The Election of 1828

•Election 1828, 1,155,350 voted.

•Jackson’s Inaugural was a victory for the Common Man. Thousands of commoners came to Washington, D.C. to see Jackson inaugurated and there was a riot at the White House! Inaugural

A Lafayette “Souvenir”

Lafayette in 1825 He was 68

Lafayette when he was young during the Revolution “Lafayette, we are here!”

From July 1824 to September 1825, the last surviving French General of the Revolutionary War, the Marquis de Lafayette, made a famous tour of the 24 states in the United States. At stops on this tour he was received by the thousands of people with a hero's welcome, and many honors and monuments were presented to commemorate and memorialize the Marquis de Lafayette's visit. Inaugural

Common man cluster

Land easy to obtain in the West Education not as important

•Jackson brought democracy to the Common man

Rise of the Common Man and The New Democracy

Other “Common Men” of the time: expand participation of the common man Davy Crockett in democracy. Sam Houston

Examples Blacksmith Farmers Carpenters The Working Class Jackson represented the common man

Which one is John Quincy Adams and which one is Andrew Jackson? Why?

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