The Rise of a Mass Democracy 1824-1840
The "Corrupt Bargain" of 1824
There were 4 main "Republican" candidates in the election of 1824: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, William Crawford, and Henry Clay.
No candidate won the majority of the electoral votes, so, according to the Constitution, the House of Representatives had to choose the winner. Henry Clay, the Speaker of the House, was thus eliminated although he did have much say in who became president. Clay convinced the House to elect John Quincy Adams as president. Adams agreed to make Clay the Secretary of State for getting him into office. Much of the public felt that a "corrupt bargain" had taken place because Andrew Jackson had received the popular vote.
A Yankee Misfit in the White House
John Quincy Adams was a strong nationalist and he supported the building of national roads and canals. He also supported education.
Going "Whole Hog" for Jackson in 1828
Before the election of 1824, two parties had formed: National Republicans and Democratic-Republicans. Adams and Clay were the figures of the National Republicans and Jackson was with the Democratic-Republicans.
Andrew Jackson beat Adams to win the election of 1828. The majority of his support came from the South, while Adams's support came from the North.
"Old Hickory" as President
Jackson was the first president from the West and 2nd without a college education.
The Spoils System
When the Democrats rose to power in the White House, they replaced most of the people in offices with their own people (the common man). These people were illiterate and incompetent. This system of rewarding political supporters with jobs in the government was known as the "spoils system."
The Tricky "Tariff of Abominations"
In 1824, Congress increased the general tariff significantly.
The Tariff of 1828- called the "Black Tariff" or the "Tariff of Abominations"; also called the "Yankee Tariff". It was hated by Southerners because it was an extremely high tariff and they felt it discriminated against them. The South was having economic struggles and the tariff was a scapegoat.
In 1822, Denmark Vesey led a slave rebellion in Charleston, South Carolina.
The South Carolina Exposition, made by John C. Calhoun, was published in 1828. It was a pamphlet that denounced the Tariff of 1828 as unjust and unconstitutional.
John Adams showed his Federalist values throughout his presidency but also put the good of his people above his own personal gain and desire for a second term in order to preserve stability in the nation. Adams was a Federalist which meant he was upper class and wanted a strong central government and this showed when he led his country. He had to keep the nation stable amidst the French’s dislike for him that lead to the X, Y, Z Affair. The X, Y, Z Affair with France led to a three year long Quazi War
John Adams virtually eradicated his chances of easily winning the election of 1800 by defying the hardcore patriotic attitude of many Americans. Through his continued acts, regardless if they were what was best for the country at that particular time or is he believed morally that it was the correct decision, such as approving the Alien and Sedition Acts and helping the British soldiers that were involved in the Boston Massacre, he left no room for himself to take an easy path to the presidency much less any path to the presidency.
John Adams began his career as a lawyer, and he first rose to prominence as an opponent of the Stamp Act of 1765 which deprived the American colonists of two basic rights guaranteed to all Englishmen, and which all free men deserved: rights to be taxed on only by consent and to be tried only by a jury of one?s peers. Then, he successfully defended the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre (1770) with only two of the eight found guilty of manslaughter believing that it was important to ensure that innocents were protected. From 1770 ? 1774, Adams served in the Massachusetts legislature and was then elected a member of the Continental Congress. He nominated Washington to be Commander-in-Chief and was part of the committee that worked to draft the Declaration of Independence.
First of all, when John Adams entered presidency the U.S. had political parties in an election. Representing the Federalist party, and being Washington’s handpicked successor. As one of the first presidents not to be sworn into office on a Bible it sparked opposition amongst the people. The
South Carolina’s decision to invalidate the federal law and deem the tariff unconstitutional was the first blatant disregard for the centralized government. The United States, under Jackson’s presidency, did not unite and support one another in the face of the economic tariff and hardships. Instead, the states nullified (South Carolina in particular) and the individualistic ideals and motivations of the states were exposed. State opinions, such as that of South Carolina were focused solely on their own personal benefit and how they would survive the hardships of the tariff. During the Age of Jackson, there was no unification between the states. The ideals of Jacksonian America were flawed by the growing sectionalism and individualistic ideals. The total equality and unification that Jacksonian America attempted to create was no longer an option. Jacksonian America failed, and in result, did not promote the unified democracy in the United
In the Revolutionary period, John Adams was a leader who was one of the founding fathers and advocate for the independence of America. He was a member of the Continental Congress. During the Revolutionary war, Adams served in France and Holland as a diplomatic role. After George Washington was elected as the President, he was put under Washington as the first Vice President. After Washington’s presidency, Adams, who was apart of the Federalists, got elected as President on March 4th, 1797 with Thomas Jefferson, his friend and rival as Vice President. John Adams was well known for his aloofness, and demonstrated passionate patriotism for America, he was also an independent man who did not care for the opinion of the public; except his wife
The southerners (south carolina) nullified the act and threatened to secede from the union. The Tariff of Abominations was the tax on raw goods which was meant to help the north. This angers the south and south carolina threatens to leave the USA. VP Calcoun says to nullify the tariff and Jackson says NO!!! We will use military force.
The Jacksonian Democrats and Whigs were predominantly opposing forces in the 1830-1840’s; however, one can see instances where they worked together in certain Political and Economic issues. Economically, the Jacksonian Democrats were against the National Bank and Protective Tariff, while the Whigs supported it, and politically, the Jacksonian Democrats were more liberal, calling for the rapid expansion and growth of the country and slavery while the Whigs were more conservative on the issues of Manifest Destiny and slavery. Jacksonian Democrats were essentially greatly Anti-Federalist, supporting law and actions that reduce the amount of power of the federal government, while the Whigs were mainly federalists who supported the federal government and sought to make it stronger through their various economic and political policies.
The Jeffersonian-Republicans (also known as the Democratic-Republicans) were opposed to the Federalists from before 1801-1817. Leaders Thomas Jefferson and James Madison created the party in order to oppose the economic and foreign policies of Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist Party. The Democratic-Republicans supported the French, whereas the Federalists supported the British. Each party had its set of views. The Federalists supported a loose interpretation of the Constitution, a strong central government, high tariffs, a navy, military spending, a national debt, and a national bank (all ideas of the Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton). The Democratic-Republicans opposed all of the said ideas and fought for states' rights and the citizens to govern the nation. Originally, each of these parties stuck to their own views and ideas, but eventually would accept eachother's views and use them as their own.
The Whigs chose Henry Clay as their representative. The Democrats chose James K. Polk, the Speaker of the House for four years. Pouk beat Clay and won the election. He said that he would protect Texas, and avoided the issue of slavery. Polk called for the reoccupation of Oregon and the reannexation of Texas.
After James Monroe’s second term as the fifth president of the United States ended, preparations were already underway for the next election to determine who would become the president. There were four prominent candidates running. They were Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams, William H. Crawford, and Andrew Jackson. John C. Calhoun, who was Secretary of War under Monroe, was originally thinking of running as president but dropped out in the hope of becoming Vice President. Clay was the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Adams was the Secretary of State under President Monroe, Crawford was most notably Secretary of the Treasury under Monroe, and Jackson was a war hero during the War of 1812. For the first time, none of the men who were running for office identified as Federalists. A Federalist is someone who believes in a strong central government. All four men said that they were Democratic-Republicans. The Democratic-Republicans, who were also known as the Republican party, generally opposed the viewpoints that the Federalists held. They believed in states’ rights; that is that the states should be more powerful than the National government....
John Adams was the last Federalist president which led to the next 16 years of Thomas Jefferson as president for two terms and James Madison as president for two terms. Jefferson and Madison were members of the Republican Party, which had principles and philosophies that were very different than the views of the Federalists. Jefferson and Madison each abandoned the Republican philosophies for Federalism. Jefferson and Madison took on Federalist views while being President of the United States.
Quincy Adams, and Secretary of War John C. Calhoun emerged as Clay’s strongest competitors for the presidency. Later in 1822, General Andrew Jackson was elected by the Tennessee legislature to the senate. Although Clay did not take him seriously at first, Jackson began to threaten Clay’s presidential chances because the both had strong support in the western states. In 1823, Crawford had suffered a major stroke, and John C. Calhoun withdrew from the running when Jackson won support from the Pennsylvania legislature. This brought the 1824 election down to four major candidates. The four major candidates, Adams, Crawford, Jackson and Clay were all Democratic-Republicans. Clay assumed that with all four of them in the running, no candidate would win the majority of the electoral votes. This would then require the House of Representatives to decide the election. The top three electoral vote receives would go to a runoff in the House where each state receives one vote. Clay felt that if it came down to this, he would be able to win because of his power as Speaker of the House. Clay was correct in his assumption that no
Democracy in the United States became prominent in the early to mid 19th century. Andrew Jackson, the 7th president of the United States, was inaugurated in 1829 and was best known as the person who mainstreamed democracy in America. Because he came from a humble background, he was the “genuine common man.” (Foner, pg. 303) He claimed he recognized the needs of the people and spoke on behalf of the majority [farmers, laborers]. However, critics of Jackson and democracy called him “King Andrew I” because of his apparent abuse of presidential power [vetoing]. These critics believed he favored the majority so much that it violated the U.S. constitution, and they stated he was straying too far away from the plan originally set for the United States. Because of the extreme shift of power to the majority, the limiting of rights of the few [merchants, industrialists] and the abuse of power under Jackson’s democracy, the foundational documents set in the constitution was violated, and the work of the preceding presidents were all but lost.
South Carolina debated whether or not they should accept the tariff because they fought to bring the Tariff of Abominations to an end as well as to get the government to stop abusing their powers. This split the South into different factions because half of them wanted complete nullification, whereas some of them was fine with accepting the revised tariff. It was “...an act to alter and amend the several acts imposing duties on imports… one tenth of such excess shall be deducted… from the day of December, one thousand eight hundred and thirty seventh...deducted” (Excerpt from the Library of Congress). Taxes were reduced over time, but still had to be paid regardless because taxes were necessary for society to progress. “...the duties imposed by this act shall remain and continue to be collected” (Excerpts from the Library of Congress). Both sides reconciled and manages to settle on a position they are equally comfortable with. The lowered rates of the tariff reduced living costs in the South, but otherwise tax rates were approachable and less difficult to pay off. While in the middle of their negotiations, the South also nullified the Force Act because they claimed that the use of force in such a manner is unconstitutional and tyrannical. Though it was a petty act that reflects the South’s inflexibility, it was important in