Sectional Tensions EmergedParty Section of the

Country

John Quincy Adams Democrat-Republicans

Northeast

John C. Calhoun South (withdrew to

support Jackson)

Henry Clay West (KY)Andrew Jackson West (TN)

Poll Taxes: Used instead of land requirement in the past

Differences in Elections: Written Ballots Direct Election▪ Before, men voted for men who would vote for

President▪ 1824 -- 6 states chose electors and by 1832 only

SC

Jackson won more popular and electoral votes but didn’t gain the majority required by the Constitution

Election pushed into the House of Representatives where one man was to chose between Jackson, Adams, and Crawford

Why did Clay vote for Adams? wanted to forge an alliance between the West

and Northeast!

What was the “corrupt bargain”? Clay gave his support to Adams, Adams became

President and Adam’s appointed Clay as his Secretary of State

Wasn’t effective at all! Asked for federal aid for internal improvements

PROBLEM -- NY built the Erie Canal with own $ and if federal aid available to all states, more states would build canals that would compete with the Erie Canal!

Wanted to send delegates to a conference of the newly independent Latin American nation Why is this a problem? Southerners mad because it would imply US

recongition of Haiti (black republic created by slave revolutionaries)

Appointed his opponents to high office (instead of his own supporters)

Showed the need for a two-party system

Why? Need for competition

Election of 1828 Democratic Party vs. National

Republicans (Whigs) “Old Hickory” with John C. Calhoun vs.

John Quincy Adams and Richard Rush

Democrats Whigs(National Republicans)

ISSUES Favored:Local ruleLimited governmentFree tradeEqual economic opportunityOpposed:MonopoliesNational bankHigh tariffsHigh land prices

Favored:Clay’s American System!

Opposed:Vice and Crime

Democrats Whigs(National Republicans)

Where are the votes?

SouthernersWesternersSmall FarmersUrban Workers

New EnglandersMid-AtlanticMiddle-Western statesMiddle Class Professional

Leaders Andrew JacksonMartin Van Buren

Henry ClayJohn Quincy Adams

Democrats Whigs(National Republicans)

Party Origins

Republicans with former Federalists who retianed Jefferson’s fears of a strong federal government and believed in state’s rights

Republicans and a few former Federalists who believed the national government should encourage economic development

Election of 1828

President:Andrew JacksonVice-President:John C. Calhoun

President:John Quincy AdamsVice-President:Richard Rush

Andrew Jackson with John C. Calhoun JQA with Richard Rush Election was characterized by insults

towards the opponents by the political parties

Martin Van Buren was proponent for the renewal of the two-party competition

Jackson won and carried every state WEST of the Appalachians

1. What do you notice?

2. What do you question?

3. What is the historical significance of this image?

4. Where would you find this image and why?

Dominated politics for eight years but also became a symbol of the emerging working class and middle class

First president since Washington not to have a college education (self-made man)

Favored: Retirement of the national debt Regard for state’s rights A “just” policy towards Indians

Rotation in federal office (enemies called the “spoils system”)▪ Removal of officeholders of the rival party▪ Jackson did not invent this but sought to correct it

Correct it by making it more democratic – most officeholders duties were simple, almost anyone could do it

Peggy Eaton Affair Common woman who married Jackson’s

secretary of war Target of gossip among wives of Cabinet Van Buren offered to resign and

suggested that the rest of the cabinet do so also.

John C. Calhoun– Vice-PresidentNullification Crisis

Background: South Carolina legislature declared the tariff of 1828 (high protective tariff) to be unconstitutional

John C. Calhoun (Jackson’s VP first term) advocated the nullification theory – each state had the right to decide whether to obey a federal law or to declare it null and void

South Carolina Exposition and Protest 1828▪ Tariff of 1828 was unconstitutional and states had the right to nullify

Jackson then prepared to take military action and issues a proclamation that stated nullification and disunion were treason

Compromise of 1833Henry ClayProvided for a gradual but significant lowering of duties between 1833 and 1842

Panic of 1837 Cause: AJ policy of removing federal

deposits from the BUS and placing them in state banks (“pet banks”)

State banks after state banks closed Whigs blamed the Democrats for their

“laissez-faire economics” Democrats then became an anti-bank,

hard-money party

Bank Crisis Jackson believed the Bank of the US was

UNCONSTITUTIONAL Jackson killed the national bank not only

by vetoing its re-charter but also by withdrawing all federal funds▪ “Pet Banks”

▪ Jackson withdrew federal funds to various state banks

Jackson vetoed the recharter of the Bank of the US Viewed it as a dragon

Nicholas Biddle (Bank of the US President) called in the bank’s loan and contract credit Jackson stated: The bank “is trying to kill me,

but I will kill it.” Jackson removed deposit from the national

bank

Due to Jackson’s policy of removing deposits from the Bank of the USo Soft Money (paper)

Resented bank’s role in contracting credit and restricting lending activities of state banks

More popular before Panic of 1837o Hard Money (Specie)

Hated the bank due to it sanctioned an economy based on paper money

Cause: speculative boom of 1835 and 1836 due to Jackson’s policy of removing federal deposits and placing them into state bankso Number of banks doubled → value of bank notes in

circulation tripled→ commodity and land prices soared

o State made plans to build canals due to easy money and high commodity prices

May 1837, prices bank to fall and banks suspended specie payments

1839, economy crashed Bank of the US, operating with a PA

charter, failed Biddle charged with fraud and theft Banks in the US suspended specie payments

Specie Circular – only specie accepted in payments for public lands Passed to reverse the effects of Deposit Act of

1836 Helped the speculative boom by making banks

issue less paper money

National Republican Party – Whig Party Why a new party?

Jackson’s move away from Jeffersonianism to distrust of federal aid for internal improvements, protective tariffs, fight against Bank of US and nullification

Social reformers in the North▪ Temperance reformers▪ Public school reformers

Distrust of immigrants –especially Irish Anti-Masonry – protest movement against the

secrecy and exclusiveness of the Masonic lodges

Whig Party▪Members: commercial farmers, planters, merchants, bankers, reformers, evangelical clergymen, Anti-Masons, manufacturers, former nullificationists▪ Against: King Andrew I

Election of 1836:Martin Van Buren -- DemocratWilliam Henry Harrison -- WhigDaniel Webster – WhigW. P. Mangum, NC -- WhigElection went into the House of

Representatives where Van Buren won

“Martin Van Ruin” Independent Treasury

Deposit money into banks → then use federal funds as basis for speculative loans → government would hold its revenues and keep them from corporations

Not effective due to not addressing banking issue on state level → still loaned money to farmers and businessmen

Martin Van Buren, NY -- Democrat

William Henry Harrison, OH and John Tyler, VA – Whig (Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!)