APUSH Chapter 13
corrupt bargain
(1824) a political scandal that arose when the Speaker of the House, Henry Clay, allegedly met with John Quincy Adams before the House election was held that would break the deadlock between Adams and Jackson in the presidential election. Clay assured Adams of his support and thanks largely to Clay's behind the scenes influence, Adams was elected president against the popular vote. A few days later, the victorious Adams announced Clay as the Secretary of State. Masses of the common folk raised a roar of protest against this "corrupt bargain." The clamor continued for nearly four years though no positive evidence was unearthed to proved that Adams and Clay entered into a formal bargain.
King Mob
A nickname given to Jackson by conservatives because Jackson's inauguration in 1828 seemed to symbolize the ascendancy of the masses. "Hickory Sites" poured into Washington from far away, sleeping on hotel floors and in hallways. They were curious to see their hero take office and perhaps hoped to pick up a well-paying office for themselves. Nobodies mingled with notables as the White House, for the first time, was thrown open to the multitude. Jackson was hastily spirited through a side door, and the White House miraculously emptied itself when the word was passed that huge bowls of well-spiked punch had been placed on the lawns. Such was "the inaugural brawl." To conservatives, this gathering seemed like the end of the world and it reigned triumphant as Jacksonian vulgarity replaced Jeffersonian simplicity. Faint-hearted traditionalists shuddered, drew their blinds, and recalled with trepidation the opening scenes of the French Revolution.
Indian Removal Act of 1830
Congress passed this act which provided for the transplanting of all Indian tribes then resident east of the Mississippi. Ironically, the heaviest blows fell on the Five Civilized Tribes. Countless Indians died on forced marches to the newly established Indian Territory where they were to be "permanently" free of white encroachments. Though emigration was supposed to be voluntary because it would be cruel and unjust to make the natives abandon the graves of their fathers, significant pressure was put on the tribes to vacate, leading to the inevitable removal of the Indians west.
Black Hawk
Sauk leader who in 1832 led Fox and Sauk braves from Illinois and Wisconsin against the United States. Suspicious of whites intentions from the start, both of the tribes resisted eviction from their land. The Indians under Black Hawk were bloodily crushed by regular troops.
John Tyler
a Virginian who was selected as William Henry Harrison's vice-presidential running mate. Tyler is the first vice president to become president because Harrison died in office.
Force Bill
a bill passed which authorized the president to use the army and navy, if necessary, to collect federal tariff duties. The Bill was known among the Carolinians as the "Bloody Bill."
Specie Circular
a decree that required all public lands to be purchased with "hard", or metallic, money. This drastic step slammed the breaks on the speculative boom, a neck-snapping change of direction that contributed to a financial panic and crash in 1837. Jackson authorized the treasury to issue the Specie Circular because "wild cat" currency had become so unreliable, especially in the West.
Whig Party
a new political party that emerged in the 1830s. Jackson's opponents, fuming at his ironfisted exercise of presidential power, condemned him as "King Andrew I" and began to come together; name deliberately chosen to recollect eighteenth century British and Revolutionary American opposition to the monarchy. The Whig party contained so many diverse elements that it was mocked at first as "an organized incompatibility." Hatred of Jackson was the only apparent cement in the party's formative days. The group rapidly evolved into a potent national political force by attracting other groups alienated by Jackson: supporters of Clay's American System, southern states' righters offended by Jackson's stand on nullification, the larger northern industrialists and merchants, and eventually many of the evangelical Protestants associated with the Anti-Masonic party. Thought of themselves as conservatives, yet they were progressive in their support of active government programs and reforms.
South Carolina Exposition and Protest
a pamphlet published in 1828, secretly written by John C. Calhoun, that denounced the recent tariff as unjust and unconstitutional. Going a stride beyond the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798, it bluntly and explicitly proposed that the states should nullify the tariff-- that is, they should declare it null and void within their borders.
Tariff of 1832
a protectionist tariff that was passed as a reduced tariff to remedy the conflict of 1828. Though the tariff did away with the worst "abominations" of 1828, it was still frankly protective and fell far short of meeting southern demands. Worse yet, to many southerners it had a disquieting air of permanence. The tariff nerved South Carolina for drastic action.
Panic of 1837
a symptom of the financial sickness of the times. Its basic cause was rampant speculation prompted by mania of get-rich-quickism. Gamblers in western lands were doing a "land-office business" on borrowed capital, much of it in shaky currency of "wildcat banks." The speculative craze spread to roads, canals, railroads, and slaves. Speculation alone did not cause the crash. Jacksonian finance, including the Bank War and the the Specie Circular, gave an additional jolt to an already teetering structure. Financial troubles in Britain in 1836 that led to the failure of two prominent British banks created tremors, and these in turn caused British investors to call in foreign loans. The resulting in the United States, combined with other setbacks, and heralded the beginning of the panic. Hardship was widespread and American banks collapsed by the hundreds.
Tariff of Abominations
a tariff put forth by Jacksonians in 1828 in order to embarrass John Quincy Adams. The tariff was proposed because it was expected to fail which would give a black eye to President Adams, but to their surprise, the tariff passed in 1828, and Andrew Jackson inherited the political hot potato. Southerners, as heavy consumers of manufactured goods with little manufacturing industry of their own, were hostile to tariffs. Several southern states adopted formal protests against the tariff because they thought that tariffs, which protected American industry against competition from European manufactured goods, showed favor to the northern states that were experiencing a boom in manufacturing.
slavocracy
a term the North used to describe the slaveholding South and its "schemes" to gain more slave land. The idea had to do with Texas joining the Union. Antislavery crusaders in the North were opposing annexation with increasing vehemence that contended that the whole scheme was merely a conspiracy cooked up by the dominant slaveholders in the South to bring new slave pens into the Union.
Anti-Masonic Party
a third party that entered the field during the campaign of 1832. The party opposed the influence and fearsome secrecy of the Masonic order. Energized by the mysterious disappearance and probable murder in 1826 of a New Yorker who was threatening to expose the secret rituals of the Masons. The Anti-Masonic party quickly became a potent political force in New York and spread its influence throughout the middle Atlantic and New England states. The Anti-Masons appealed to the long-standing American suspicions of secret societies, which they condemned as citadels of privilege and monopoly-- a note that harmonized with the democratic chorus of the Jacksonians. But since Jackson himself was a Mason and publicly glorified in his membership, the Anti-Masonic party was also an anti-Jackson party. The party also attracted support from many evangelical Protestant groups seeking to use political power to affect moral and religious reforms, such as prohibiting mail deliveries on Sunday and otherwise keeping the Sabbath holy. The party later joined the National Republicans as the Whig Party.
Lone Star Republic
created early in 1836, the Texans declared their independence, unfurled their Lone Star flag, and named Sam Houston commander in chief of the new Republic. The Republic was formed after Santa Anna agreed to remove Mexican troops and to recognize the Rio Grande as the extreme southwestern boundary of Texas, winning the independence of the territory from Mexico.
John Quincy Adams
highly intelligent, experienced, and aloof and from Massachusetts, he ran for president in the election of 1824. The puritanical Adams, a fervid nationalist and advocate of the American System won the presidential vote in the House of Representatives due largely to Clay's behind the scenes influence. John Adams was a chip off the old family block. Short, thickset, and billard-bald, he was even more formal than his presidential father. Essentially a closeted thinker rather than a politician, he was irritable, sarcastic, and tactless. Yet few individuals have ever come to the presidency with a more brilliant record in statecraft, especially in foreign affairs. He ranks as one of the most successful secretaries of state, yet one of the least successful presidents.
John C. Calhoun
leader of South Carolina's offensive to nullify the Tariff of 1832, saw nullification as a way of preserving the Union while preventing secession of the southern states. In his mind he was still a Unionist, even if also a southern sectionalist. He was one of the few topflight political theorists ever produced by America secretly published in 1828, though without formal endorsement, a pamphlet known as The South Carolina Exposition. As vice president, he was forced to conceal his authorship. The Exposition denounced the Tariff of 1832 as unjust and unconstitutional. Going a stride beyond the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, it bluntly and explicitly proposed that the states should nullify the tariff-- that is, they should declare it null and void within their borders.
Osceola
leader of the Seminole Indians during battle in Florida for seven years in the Everglades. The Seminoles waged a bitter guerrilla war that took the lives of some fifteen hundred soldiers. The spirit of the Seminoles was broken in 1837, when the American field commander treacherously seized Osceola their leader under a flag of truce. After Osceola was suspiciously killed after being tricked to surrender, the war dragged on for five more years, but the Seminoles were doomed.
Seminole Indians
one of the major Southeastern Indian tribes from Florida. They lived in Florida as runaways from other tribes. The Seminoles waged a war against the Americans in an attempt to remain in the east instead of being forcibly removed to the west.
Nicholas Biddle
president of the Bank of the United States, he was brilliant, but arrogant and held an immense-- and to many unconstitutional-- amount of power over the nation's financial affairs. Enemies of the bank dubbed him "Czar Nicolas I" and called the bank a "hydra of corruption". The Bank was a principal depository for the funds of the Washington government and controlled much of the nation's gold and silver. Its notes unlike those of many smaller banks, were stable in value. A source of credit and stability, the bank was an important and useful part of the nation's expanding economy.
pet banks
small state institutions that were created by Jackson to keep surplus federal funds out of the National Bank. The so-called "pet" banks flooded the country with paper money. During the Panic of 1837, the pet banks carried down with them several millions in government funds.
Spoils system
the practice of rewarding political supporters with public office. Under Jackson, the practice was introduced into the federal government on large scale. The basic idea was as old as politics. Its name came from a classic remark in 1832, "To the victor belong the spoils of the enemy." The spoils system was an important element of the emerging two party order, cementing as it did loyalty to party over competing claims based on economic class or geographic practice.
Trail of Tears
the route along which the United States forced major Southeastern Indian tribes to migrate to reservations west of the Mississippi River from 1838 to 1839. Countless Indians died on the forced march west where they were supposed to be "permanently" free of white encroachments on the newly established Indian territory.
Martin Van Buren
the smooth-tongued and keen-witted secretary of state under Jackson, Martin Van Buren of New York was Jackson's choice for appointment as his successor in 1836. Though Jackson was too old to try for a third term, he was not loath to try to serve a third term through Van Buren, something of a "yes man." Van Buren was supported by the Jacksonites without wild enthusiasm, even though he had promised "to tread generally" in the military-booted footsteps of his predecessor. Van Buren dubbed the "Little Magician" became the eighth president and the first to be born under the American flag. An accomplished strategist and spoilsman-- "the wizard of Albany"-- he was also a statesman of wide experience in both legislature and administrative life. His four years as president overflowed with toil and trouble.
