Chapter 10: A Democratic Revolution 1820 – 1844

The Rise of Popular Politics, 1820–1829The Decline of the Notables and the Rise of Parties

Building an “Interest”

“Social Egalitarianism” in the Midwest and Southeast

Constitutional changes in Indiana(1816), Illinois(1818) and Alabama(1819)

Middling

Traditional American Society was characterized by people from the low and middle rank of society deferring to the wealthy notable men-northern landlords, seaport merchants, Slave owning partners.

The notables managed local elections by lending money to small farmers, giving business to store keepers and artisans and treating their workers and tenants’ rum during election time. This was classic quid pro quo to get votes.

As smallholding farmers and laborers settled the trans-Appalachian region they broke free of control of the notables. They refused to be treated like servants or lesser in status. This came to be known as Social Egalitarianism

Broad Male franchise which meant all males had the right to vote.

Democratic Revolution beginning in the late 1810s, finally led the notables to grudgingly revise their constitutions in their states to give the franchise to nearly every white farmer and wage earner.

In the Midwest and the Southwest, where there was a broad male franchise, “middling” men were elected to office and listened to the demands of the ordinary citizens. These were ordinary men as opposed to notables.

Between 1818 and 1821, some eastern states reapportioned legislatures on the basis of

Political Party

Political Machines

Patronage

Martin Van Buren

Caucus

population and instituted more democratic forms of local government. Americans began to turn to government in order to advance business, religious, and cultural causes.

With the decrease in power of notables a new system of government emerged with the concept of Political party to represent ordinary citizens

Like a well-designed textile loom of the industrial revolution, parties were political machines that gathered the diverse agenda of social and economic groups into a coherent legislative program. Men with little or no personal distinction or ability could achieve office by following party policy.

granting favors or giving contracts or making appointments to office in return for political support

Created the first statewide political machine, and later organized the first nationwide political party, the “Jacksonian Democrats”. Van Buren encouraged Patronage that helped him solidify his control over his party. Van Buren argued that political parties kept the government from abusing its power and insisted that state legislators follow the majority decisions of a party meeting, or caucus.a closed meeting of the members of one party in a legislative chamber, etc., to coordinate policy, choose candidates, etc.

The Election of 1824 The election of 1824 had five candidates whoall called themselves Republicans: John QuincyAdams, John C. Calhoun,William H. Crawford,Henry Clay, and Andrew Jackson. John Calhoun withdrew and put his support for Andrew Jackson.

In the election Jackson received nationwide support, and got the maximum number of

Adams elected with Clay’s help

Corrupt Bargain

American System

electoral votes (99) in the group. This was not an absolute majority though, so members of the House of Representatives had to choose the president.Clay assembled a coalition of congressmen that voted for Adams, and Adams repaid Clay by appointing him secretary of state.

The term used by supporters of Andrew Jackson to describe the nexus between Clay and Adams which resulted in Clay being appointed as secretary of state

Henry Clay’s well-conceived economic program where the national government would use the second bank of the United States to regulate state banks and would spend the tariff revenues to subsidize internal improvements such as roads and canals. This stood to benefit the West more than the South which upset the Southerners.

The Last Notable President: John Quincy Adams

Defeat of Adams proposals

Tariff of 1816

“Tariff of Abominations.”

Adams embraced the American System proposed by Clay and his policies favored the business elite of the Northeast and the entrepreneurs and commercial farmers in the Midwest but won little support among southern planters.Martin Van Buren who had control of the Congress defeated most of Adams’s proposals, approving only a few navigation improvements and a short extension of the National Road.Effectively excluded imports of cheap English cotton cloth, giving control of that market to New England textile producers. The new tariff of 35 percent on imported goods alienated the South, which now had to buy either higher-cost northeastern goods or highly taxed British goods.

The name given by Southerners to the tariff of 1816 which they understood as legalized pillage by the Federal Government

“The Democracy” and the Election of 1828

Democrats

Andrew Jackson becomes President

Adams’s bid for a second term was not supported by Southerners who were offended that he supported the land rights of Indians and blamed him for the new tariff.Van Buren and politicians handlingOld Hickory’s (Andrew Jackson) campaign had no reservations about “running” for office.

Short form for “Democratic Republicans” the name conveyed the message that through them the middling majority—the democracy—would rule.

Jackson’s message and image appealed to a variety of social groups, and in 1828, he became the first president from a western state. His popularity frightened men of wealth and influence.

The Jacksonian Presidency, 1829–1837Jackson’s Agenda: Patronage and Policy

Spoils System

Relied on his “Kitchen Cabinet”—an informal group of advisors.

System to reward backers with government posts, Jackson created a loyal and disciplined national party, and he also insisted on rotation in office to free up still more jobs for his followers.

Jackson’s main priority was to destroy Clay’sAmerican System which included protective tariffs and the national bank

Tariffs and Nullification

Crisis of 1832

Ordinance of Nullification(Nov 1932)

High tariff congressman ignored southern warnings and passed legislation retaining duties imposed by the tariff of abominations

Adopted by South Carolina state convention it declared the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 null and void and threatened secession. This act rested on a tract proposed by John C. Calhoun who maintained that the U.S. Constitution had been ratified by state conventions; therefore,

Jackson quote: “Our Federal Union – it must be preserved”“Disunion by armed force is treason”

Force Bill

Compromise Tariff Act

a state convention could declare a congressional law null and void.

Jackson repudiated his vice president’s ideas and asserted that nullification was unauthorized and destructive.

Upon Jackson’s request Congress passed this bill authorizing the use of the US army and navy to force South Carolina’s obedience.

At the same time, legislation was passed to reduce tariffs. South Carolina rescinded its nullification of the tariff, and Jackson had established the principle that no state could nullify a law of the United States.

The Bank war"Specie”

Second bank regulatory role

Jackson Vetoes the Rechartering Bill

Jackson wins election of 1832

Hard money in the form of Gold or Silver coins that would be used to redeem paper money

By collecting notes and regularly demandingspecie, the Second Bank of the United Stateskept state banks from issuing too many notes—preventing monetary inflation and higher prices.

Expansion minded friends of Jackson in the west wanted to escape the supervision of the second bank. Jackson’s opponents persuaded the Second Bank’s president to request an early recharter; they had hoped Jackson’s veto would split the Democrats before the election of 1832.

Jackson vetoed the bank bill and became a public hero; he declared that the Second Bank promoted the advancement of the few at the expense of the many.

Jackson won the election of 1832, jettisonedCalhoun as vice president, and chose MartinVan Buren instead.

Destruction of the Second Bank Jackson had Secretary of the Treasury Roger B. Taney withdraw the government’s gold from the Second Bank and deposit it in state “pet” banks.

Jackson opponents in the Senate passed aresolution censuring the president foracting independently of Congress, althoughJackson continued to dismantle the bankand turned it into a state-chartered bank inPennsylvania.Jackson had destroyed both national banking and the American System of protective tariffs and internal improvements. The result was a profound change in the policies and powers of national government.

Indian removal

Cherokees introduce new charter

Federal troops withdraw Indian Enclave protection

Indian Removal Act of 1830

Supreme Court decision:Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831)Worchester v. Georgia (1832)

In the late 1820s, whites in both the West andEast called for the resettlement of the Indians west of the Mississippi River.

Indian peoples still controlled vast tracts of land, and in 1827 the Cherokees introduced a new charter of government modeled directly on the U.S. Constitution.

The Georgia legislature declared that theCherokees were merely tenants on state-owned land, not an independent nation, and Jackson agreed; he withdrew the federal troops that had protected Indian enclaves.

This act of Jackson provided territory in modern-day Oklahoma and Kansas to Indians who would give up their ancestral holdings.Jackson sent troops and applied both militaryforce and diplomatic pressure to force seventyIndian peoples to sign treaties and move west of the Mississippi.

Supreme Court denied Indian independence;

Supreme Court voided Georgia’s extension of state law over the Indians.

Trail of Tears

Far from respecting Cherokee territory, Jackson moved relentlessly to take it from them.The march of Cherokees 1,200 miles to the new Indian Territory that was undertaken by General Winfield Scott’s army upon President Martin Van Buren’s orders, marched theCherokees 1,200 miles to the new Indian TerritoryThe national government asserted its control over most eastern Indian peoples and forced their removal to the West.

The Jacksonian Impact

Charles River Bridge Co. v.Warren Bridge Co. (1837)

Mayor of New York v.Miln)

(Briscoe v. Bank of Kentucky)

Embracing small government

Jackson permanently expanded the authorityof the nation’s chief executive, using the rhetoric of popular sovereignty to declare that the president is the direct representative of the American people.Appointed chief justice of the Supreme Courtby Jackson, Roger B. Taney persuaded theCourt to give constitutional legitimacy to Jackson’s policies of antimonopoly and states’ rights.Taney’s ruling undermined the legal positions of chartered corporations and encouraged competitive enterprise.

In 1837, Taney’s decisions enhanced the regulatory role of state governments

restored some of the states’ economic powers

Most states mounted a constitutional revolution— extending the vote to all white men, reapportioning legislatures on the basis of population, and mandating the election of officials.The new state constitutions changed the “republican” governments to “liberal” regimes that limited the power of the state and protected taxpayers from state debt.

Jacksonian “populists” embraced a small government and a laissez-faire outlook; inpublic, at least, they attacked government

granted special privileges and celebrated the power of the ordinary people.

Class Culture and the Second Party System

The Whig Worldview

Whig party

Whig ideology split along regional lines

Anti-Masons

Van Buren wins presidential election of 1836

Jackson’s tumultuous presidency sparked the creation in the mid-1830s of a second national party— the Whigs whose goal was a political world dominated by men of ability and wealth, sought votes among evangelical Protestants and upwardly mobile middle- and working-class citizens in the North.

Northern Whigs called for a return to Clay andAdams’s American System; Southern Whigs advocated economic development but did not support high tariffs and social mobility.

Many Whig voters previously were Anti- Masons, members of a powerful but short lived political movement of the late 1820s.

Van Buren ran against the Whigs emphasizing his opposition to the American System and his support for individual rights. The Whigs ran four regional candidates in the election in hopes of throwing the contest to the House, which they controlled, but the plan failed, and Van Buren won.

Labor Politics and the Depression of 1837–1843

artisan Republicanism

Working Men’s parties embraced the ideology of artisan Republicanism; their vision led them to join the Jacksonians in demanding equal rights and attacking chartered corporations and monopolistic banks.

A society where all men will be independent proprietors working in their own farms or own shops owning their own capital

Taking advantage of the economic boom ofthe early 1830s, workers formed unions to

Closed Shop agreements

Panic of 1837

Depression of 1839

Commonwealth v. Hunt

bargain for higher wages.Employers attacked the union movement and brought lawsuits to overturn closed shop agreements that required them to hire only union members.Employers argued that such agreements violated both the common law and legislative statutes that prohibited “conspiracies” in restraint of trade; judges usually agreed.

Threw the American economy into disarray; the panic began when the Bank of England sharply curtailed the flow of money and credit to the United States. To pay their foreign loans and commercial debts, Americans had to withdraw specie from domestic banks. Lacking adequate specie and without a national bank to turn to, domestic banks suspended all payments in specie.By 1839 the American economy fell into deep depression: canal construction fell by 90 percent, prices dropped nearly 50 percent, and unemployment rose to 20 percent in some areas. The depression devastated the labor movement by depleting the membership of unions and destroying their bargaining power; by 1843, most unions had disappeared.During the depression, Commonwealth v. Hunt upheld the rights of workers to form unions and enforce a closed shop, and Van Buren established a ten-hour day for federal employees.

“Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!”

Independent Treasury Act of 1840

Whigs nominate William Henry Harrison for president

The Whigs blamed Jackson’s policies for thePanic of 1837, and, as Van Buren had just entered office, the public turned its anger on him because he did nothing to stop the downturn.Van Buren’s act delayed recovery because it took specie out of state banks and put it in government vaults.In 1840 the Whigs nominated William HenryHarrison, victor of the Battle of Tippecanoe, for president and John Tyler for vice president.

“log cabin” campaign

Harrison wins White House and dies in a month

Preemption Act of 1841

Effects of the Democratic Revolution

Harrison was not a strong leader, but theWhigs wanted someone who would rubber stamp their programs for protective tariffs and a national bank.the first time two well-organized parties competed for the loyalties of a mass electorate, using organized public events to draw in voters. The Whigs used the log cabin as an icon of their candidate’s (largely fictional) egalitarian tastes and common background.The Whigs boosted their political hopes and their populist image by welcoming women to their festivities.Harrison was voted into the White House, andthe Whigs had a majority in Congress, but amonth later Harrison died of pneumonia, soTyler became president.Tyler—who was more like a Democrat whenit came to economic issues—was hostile toward the Second Bank and the AmericanSystem.

Tyler favored the common man and the rapid settlement of the West, so he approved the Preemption Act of 1841, which enabled settlers short on cash to stake claims to federal land.The split between Tyler and the Whigs allowed the Democrats to regroup and recruit more supporters; the Democrats remained the majority party in most parts of the nation.

Introduced the spoils system and a coarser, less substantive, standard of public debate.Still, unlike most of the contemporary world, the United States now had universal white male suffrage and a highly organized system of representative government that was responsive to ordinary citizens.