The Age of Jackson

1 This portrait ofThomas Jefferson(above left)waspainted when hewas 78. Theportrait of JohnAdams was begunin 1798 when hewas American's StoryThe Age of JacksonThe era of the leaders who had founded the nationpassed with Adams s and Jefferson s deaths in an extended conversation with John Adamsin 1776, Thomas Jefferson had tried to convincehim to draft the Declaration of PERSONALVOICEJOHN ADAMS [Adams] said I will not.. What can be your reasons? Reason first You are a Virginian, and a Virginian ought to appear at the headof this business. Reason second I am obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular. You are very much otherwise. Reason third You can write ten times better than I can. Well, said Jefferson, if you are decided, I will do as well as I can. quoted inJohn Adams: A Biography in His Own WordsThus began a mutual regard that would last for 50 years.

2 On July 4, 1826,exactly 50 years after the delegates approved the Declaration of Independence,both men died. Now the presidency belonged to another Democracy Changes PoliticsWhen John Adams died, his son John Quincy Adams was in the second year ofhis single term as president. He had succeeded James Monroe as president but wasnot effective as the nation s chief executive. The principal reason was AndrewJackson,his chief political BETWEEN ADAMS AND JACKSONIn the election of 1824, AndrewJackson won the popular vote but lacked the majority of electoral votes. TheHouse of Representatives had to decide the outcome, since no candidate hadreceived a majority of the votes of the electoral college. Terms & NamesTerms & NamesMAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA andrew Jackson Democratic-Republican Party spoils system Indian Removal Act Trail of TearsAndrew Jackson s policiesspoke for the common peoplebut violated Native Americanrights.

3 The effects of land losses andpersecution faced by NativeAmericans in the 1800scontinue to be reflected in theirlegal struggles IT MATTERS NOWWHY IT MATTERS NOW p0224-229aspe-0207s3 10/16/02 4:00 PM Page 224 ABalancing Nationalism and Sectionalism225 Because of his power in the House, Henry Clay could swing the electioneither way. Clay disliked Jackson personally and mistrusted his lack of politicalexperience. I cannot believe, Clay commented, that killing twenty-five hun-dred Englishmen at New Orleans qualifies [him] for the various difficult and com-plicated duties of [the presidency]. Adams, on the other hand, agreed with Clay sAmerican System. In the end, Adams was elected president by a majority of thestates represented in the House. Jacksonians, or followers of Jackson , accused Adams of stealing the presiden-cy.

4 When Adams appointed Clay secretary of state, the Jacksonians claimed thatAdams had struck a corrupt bargain. The Jacksonians left the Republican Party toform the Democratic-Republican Party(forerunner of today s DemocraticParty) and did whatever they could to sabotage Adams s AND CITIZENSHIPD uring Adams s presidency, most stateseased the voting requirements, thereby enlarging the voting population. Fewerstates now had property qualifications for voting. In the presidential election of1824, approximately 350,000 white males voted. In 1828, over three times thatnumber voted, and their votes helped andrew Jackson . However, certain groupsstill lacked political power. Free African Americans and women did not enjoy thepolitical freedoms of white males. Jackson s New Presidential StyleThe expansion of voting rights meant that candidates had to be able to speak tothe concerns of ordinary people.

5 andrew Jackson had this common S APPEAL TO THE COMMON CITIZEND uring the 1828 campaign, Jackson characterized Adams as an intellectual elitist and, by contrast, portrayedhimself as a man of humble origins though he was actually a wealthy plantationowner. Jackson won the election by a landslide. He was so popular that recordnumbers of people came to Washington to see Old Hickory inaugurated. President-electAndrew Jacksonon his way toWashington, ,to be inauguratedin 1829 MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEAAP redictingEffectsHow mightreducing propertyrequirements forvoting affectpoliticalcampaigns?BackgroundThe Battle of NewOrleans in 1815made Jackson anational hero. TheBritish attackedJackson s forcesat New Orleans inJanuar y riflemenmowed downadvancing Britishforces. Americancasualties totaled71, compared toBritain s 2,000.

6 A. AnswerReducing prop-erty require-ments wouldgive politicalcampaigns alarger 10/16/02 4:00 PM Page 225 Mrs. Samuel Harrison Smith described the PERSONALVOICEMRS. SAMUEL HARRISON SMITH The President, after having been literallynearly pressed to death and almost suf-focated and torn to pieces by the people in their eagerness to shake hands withOld Hickory [ Jackson ], had retreated through the back way, or south front, andhad escaped to his lodgings at Gadsby s. Cut glass and china to the amount ofseveral thousand dollars had been broken in the struggle to get the .. Ladies fainted, men were seen with bloody noses, and such a scene of confu-sion took place as is impossible to describe; those who got in could not get outby the door again but had to scramble out of windows. from a letter dated March 1829 Jackson S SPOILS SYSTEMIf Jackson knew how toinspire loyalty and enthusiasm during a campaign, he alsoknew how to use the powers of the presidency upon gain-ing office.

7 He announced that his appointees to federal jobswould serve a maximum of four-year terms. Unless therewas a regular turnover of personnel, he declared, office-holders would become inefficient and s administration practiced the spoilssystem so called from the saying To the victor belongthe spoils of the enemy in which incoming officialsthrow out former appointees and replace them with theirown friends. He fired nearly 10 percent of the federalemployees, most of them holdovers from the Adamsadministration, and gave their jobs to loyal s friends also became his primary advisers, dubbedhis kitchen cabinet because they supposedly slipped intothe White House through the kitchen. Removal of Native AmericansSince the 1600s, white settlers had held one of two attitudestoward Native Americans.

8 Some whites favored the displace-ment and dispossession of all Native Americans. Otherswished to convert Native Americans to Christianity, turnthem into farmers, and absorb them into the white the end of the War of 1812, some Southeasterntribes the Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole, Creek, andChickasaw had begun to adopt the European culture oftheir white neighbors. These five civilized tribes, as theywere called by whites, occupied large areas in Georgia, Northand South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and white planters and miners wanted that REMOVAL ACT OF 1830 Jackson thought thatassimilation could not work. Another possibility allowingNative Americans to live in their original areas would haverequired too many troops to keep the areas free of white set-tlers.

9 Jackson believed that the only solution was to movethe Native Americans from their lands to areas farther west. Congress passed the Indian Removal Actin this law, the federal government provided funds tonegotiate treaties that would force the Native Americans toKEYPLAYERKEYPLAYERANDREW JACKSON1767 1845 andrew Jackson thought of him-self as a man of the people. Theson of Scots-Irish immigrants, hehad been born in poverty in theCarolinas. He was the first presi-dent since George Washingtonwithout a college the time of his election atthe age of 61, however, Jacksonhad built a highly successfulcareer. He had worked in law, pol-itics, land speculation, cottonplanting, and soldiering. Victor yat New Orleans in the War of1812 had made him a hero. HisTennessee home, the Hermitage,was a mansion. Anyone whoowned more than a hundredslaves, as Jackson did, Jackson s iron willwas a fier y temper.

10 He sur vivedseveral duels, one of which left abullet lodged near his heart andanother of which left his oppo-nent dead. His ire, however, wasmost often reser ved for special-interest groups and those whosepower came from IDEAMAIN IDEABS ummarizingWhat is thespoils system?BB. AnswerThe spoils sys-tem is a systemof governmentin which leadersof the incominggovernmentthrow out theappointees ofthe previousgovernment andreplace themwith their The areanamed as IndianTerritory, westof Arkansas They lost free-dom and parts oftheir cultures, aswell as the con-nection to theiroriginal 10/16/02 4:00 PM Page 226 CherokeeShawnee andSenecaPotawatomiSaukandFoxMiamiOttawa DelawareCreekSeminoleChoctawChickasawOhi oRiverMissouriRiverRedRiverCanadianRiver TennesseeRiverArkansasRiverMississippiRi verGulfof MexicoATLANTICOCEANLakeSuperiorLakeMichi ganLakeHuronLakeErie30 N40 N80 W90 WALABAMAGEORGIASOUTHCAROLINAILLINOISIOWA TERRITORYKENTUCKYMISSOURITENNESSEELOUISI ANAINDIANAOHIOFLORIDATERRITORYARKANSASIN DIANTERRITORYREPUBLICOF TEXAS(after 1836)DELAWARENEW YORKPENNSYLVANIAVIRGINIAWISCONSINTERRITO RYNORTH CAROLINANEW kilometers0100200 milesCherokeeChickasawChoctawCreekSemino leOther tribesSequoyah, or George Guess, devisedthe Cherokee alphabet in 1821 tohelp preserve the culture of theCherokee Nation against the growingthreat of American SKILLBUILDER1.