SEMINAR 6

THE JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY

A self-made man Born in 1767 North Carolina frontier in a

log cabin At 13 volunteered to fight in the

American Revolution Poltical career: represents Tenessee,

state senator, judge,Congressman Land speculator, cotton planter,

attorney,

Major general in War of 1812 Defeats British in Battle of New Orleans Runs for Presidency in 1824, loses to

John Quincy Adams, calls it a corrupt bargain

Nickname: Old Hickory Wins Presidency in 1828, oldest

President until Ronald Reagan

The most bitter campaign until that time Corrupt bargain v. slave trader,

gambler, frontier fighter Role of voter organizations, greater

voter participation Victory of farmers and mechanics over

aristocrats Victory of a Washington outsider Victory over incumbent

Democratic republicanism Reliance on common people’s virtue,

intelligence, and capacity for self-government

Eliminating obstacles for the success of working people against the non-producing classes

Free competition on an open market place

Distribution of wealth according to individual industry, enterprise, and prudence

To the victor belongs the spoils Rotating offices among his supporters Rotation would protect against

corruption Performance in public office, required no

special intelligence or training-political patronage v. merit

Assimilation and Removal Native Americans are seen as an

obstacle Indian removal Trail of Tears

State rights movement-state compact theory State can nullify laws passed by federal

government if it is against their own interest Protective Tariff of 1828 (Hamilton’s idea

originally, helping North over South) John C. Calhoun: South Carolina Exposition

and Protest defends theory of nullification 1833: Jackson orders federal troops to

blockade South Carolina, nation at the brink of civil war

Solution: compromise tariff

Seen as the tool of big money interests in the East

Personal opposition with Nicholas Biddle head of the Bank

Removes governmental deposits Bank collapses in 1841

Formation of the Democratic Party Expansion of the franchise More humane treatment of prisoners,

mental asylum inmates Coincides with Transcendentalism

The aristocracy of our country...continually contrive to change their party name. It was first Tory, then Federalist, then no party...then National Republican, now Whig....But by whatever name they reorganize themselves, the true democracy of the country, the producing classes, ought to be able to distinguish the enemy. Ye may know them by their fruit. Ye may know them by their deportment toward the people. Ye may know them by their disposition to club together, and constitute societies and incorporations for the enjoyment of exclusive privileges and for countenancing and protecting each other in their monopolies....They are those, with some honorable exceptions, who have contrived to live without labor...and must consequently live on the labor of others.

Ours is a country, where men start from an humble origin, and from small beginnings rise gradually in the world, as the reward of merit and industry, and where they attain to the most elevated positions, or acquire a large amount of wealth, according to the pursuits they elect for themselves. No exclusive privileges of birth, no entailment of estates, no civil or political disqualifications, stand in their path; but one has as good a chance as another, according to his talents, prudence, and personal exertions. This is a country of self-made men, than which nothing better could be said of any state of society.

John Smith, Pocahontas John Winthrop The self-governing colony The road to the American Revolution The Constitutional Convention The Jeffersonian Government Andrew Jackson’s presidency Reform movements in the first half of

the 19th century.