chapter 14

jacksons indian policy

Jackson's Indian policy was simple: move the eastern Indians across the Mississippi to make room for whites. The Indian Removal Act caused great suffering for tens of thousands of American Indians.

the spoil system

Jackson's critics were even more upset by his decision to replace many Republican officeholders with loyal Democrats. Most of these civil servants viewed their posts as lifetime jobs, but Jackson disagreed. Rotating people in the office was more democratic than lifetime service, he said because it gave more people a chance to serve their government.

the nullification crisis

A controversy over higher tariffs led to the nullification crisis, in which South Carolinians threatened to secede from the United States. Although Jackson forced them to back down, the crisis was another sign of developing tensions between North and South.

Jackson Battles the bank of the U.S.

Andrew Jackson saw himself as the champion of the people, and never more so than in his war with the Bank of the United States.The bank was partly owned by the federal government, and it had a monopoly on federal deposits. Jackson thought that the bank benefited rich eastern depositors at the expense of farmers and workers, as well as smaller state banks. He felt that the bank stood in the way of opportunity for capitalists in the West and other regions. He also distrusted the bank's president, Nicholas Biddle, who was everything Jackson was not: wealthy, upper class, well educated, and widely traveled. The bank's charter, or contract, was due to come up for renewal in 1836. Jackson might have waited until after his reelection to "slay the monster." However, Henry Clay, who planned to run for president against Jackson in 1832, decided to force the issue by pushing a bill through Congress that renewed the bank's charter four years early.He thought that if Jackson signed the bill, the farmers who shared his dislike of banks would not reelect him. If Jackson vetoed the bill, he would lose votes from businesspeople who depended on the bank for loans. What Clay had forgotten was that there were many more poor farmers to cast votes than there were rich bankers and businesspeople. Jackson vetoed the recharter bill. Even though the Supreme Court had held that the bank was constitutional

from the frontier to the white house

Andrew Jackson was a self-made man who rose from poverty to become president of the United States. First-time voters, many of them farmers and frontier settlers, helped elect Jackson in 1828. His supporters celebrated his election as a victory for the "common man" over the rich and powerful.

the nullification process

Andrew Jackson's approach to governing met its test in an issue that threatened to break up the United States. In 1828, Congress passed a law raising tariffs, or taxes on imported goods such as cloth and glass. The idea was to encourage the growth of manufacturing in the United States. Higher tariffs meant higher prices for imported factory goods, which would allow American manufacturers to outsell their foreign competitors.

Indian policy

As a frontier settler, Andrew Jackson had little sympathy for American Indians. During his presidency, it became national policy to remove American Indians who remained in the East by force. White settlers had come into conflict with American Indians ever since colonial days. After independence, the new national government tried to settle these conflicts through treaties, which typically drew boundaries between areas claimed for settlers and areas that the government promised to let the American Indians have forever. In exchange for giving up their old lands, American Indians were promised food, supplies, and money.

jacksons aproach to government

As president, Jackson relied on his "kitchen cabinet" rather than the official cabinet. He replaced a number of Republican civil servants with Democrats in a practice that became known as the spoils system.

the indian removal act

In 1830, urged on by President Jackson, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. This law allowed the president to make treaties in which American Indians in the East traded their lands for new territory on the Great Plains. The law did not say that they should be removed by force, and in 1831 the Supreme Court held that American Indians had a right to keep their lands. An angry Jackson disagreed, however, and groups that refused to move west voluntarily were met with military force, usually with tragic results.

The Kitchen cabinet

Instead of relying only on his cabinet for advice, Jackson made most of his decisions with the help of trusted friends and political supporters. Because these advisers were said to meet with him in the White House kitchen, they were called the "kitchen cabinet."

the battle against the bank

Jackson thought the Bank of the United States benefited rich eastern depositors at the expense of farmers, workers, and smaller state banks. He also thought it stood in the way of opportunity for capitalists in the West and other regions. Jackson vetoed the bank's renewal charter.

The trail of tears

Many whites were ashamed over the treatment of American Indians and sent protests to Washington, D.C. Still, the work of removal continued, and in 1836, thousands of Creek Indians who refused to leave Alabama were rounded up and marched west in handcuffs. Two years later, under President Martin Van Buren, more than 17,000 Cherokees were forced from their homes in Georgia and herded west by federal troops.