Ch. 13

Denmark Vesey slave rebellion

1. Denmark Vesey was a literate, skilled carpenter and leader among African Americans in Charleston, South Carolina. He is notable as the accused and convicted ringleader of "the rising," a major potential slave revolt planned for the city in June 1822; he was executed. 2. Due to the vast number of slaves who knew about the planned uprising, Vesey feared that word of the plot would get out. Vesey reportedly advanced the date of the insurrection to June 16. Beginning in May, two slaves opposed to Vesey's scheme, George Wilson and Joe LaRoche, gave the first specific testimony about a coming uprising to Charleston officials, saying a "rising" was planned for July 14. George Wilson was a mixed-race slave who was deeply loyal to his master. The testimonies of these two men confirmed an earlier report coming from another slave named Peter Prioleau. Though officials didn't believe the less specific testimony of Prioleau, they did believe Wilson and LaRoche due to their unimpeachable reputations with their masters. With their testimony, the city launched a search for conspirators. 3. The Mayor James Hamilton was told, and he organized a citizens' militia, putting the city on alert. White militias and groups of armed men patrolled the streets daily for weeks until many suspects were arrested by the end of June, including 55-year-old Denmark Vesey. As suspects were arrested, they were held in the Charleston Workhouse until the newly appointed Court of Magistrates and Freeholders heard evidence against them. The Workhouse was also the place where punishment was applied to slaves for their masters, and likely where Plot suspects were abused or threatened with abuse or death before giving testimony to the Court. The suspects were allowed visits by ministers; Dr. Benjamin Palmer had visited Vesey when he was sentenced to death. Vesey told the minister that he would die for a "glorious cause"

1828 "Old Hickory" Jackson

1. Jackson denounced the "corrupt bargain" that put Adams in the White House and laid plans for a crusade to oust Adams from office. After resigning the Senate in October 1825, he continued his quest for the Presidency. The Tennessee legislature again nominated Jackson for President. He attracted Vice President John C. Calhoun, Martin Van Buren, and Thomas Ritchie into his camp. Van Buren, with help from his friends in Philadelphia and Richmond, revived many of the ideals of the old Republican Party, gave it a new name as the Democratic Party, and forged a national organization of durability. Jackson, with Calhoun as his running mate, handily defeated Adams in 1828. 2. The campaign was very much a personal one. As was the custom at the time, neither candidate personally campaigned, but their political followers organized many campaign events. Both candidates were rhetorically attacked in the press, which reached a low point when the press accused Jackson's wife Rachel of bigamy. Though the accusation was technically true, as were most personal attacks leveled against him during the campaign, it was based on events that occurred many years prior. Jackson said he would forgive those who insulted him, but he would never forgive the ones who attacked his wife. Rachel died suddenly on December 22, 1828, before his inauguration, and was buried on Christmas Eve. He blamed the Adams campaigners for her death. "May God Almighty forgive her murderers", he swore at her funeral. "I never can." Jackson also came under heavy attack as a slave trader who bought and sold slaves and moved them about in defiance of modern standards or morality.

John Quincy Adams

1. John Quincy Adams was an American statesman who served as the sixth President of the United States from 1825 to 1829. He also served as a diplomat, a Senator and member of the House of Representatives. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. 2. Adams were elected president in a close and controversial four-way contest in 1824. As president, he sought to modernize the American economy and promote education. Adams enacted a part of his agenda and paid off much of the national debt. However he was stymied time and again by a Congress controlled by his enemies, and his lack of patronage networks helped politicians eager to undercut him. He lost his 1828 bid for re-election to Andrew Jackson. 3.Adams is best known as a diplomat who shaped U.S. foreign policy in line with his ardently nationalist commitment to U.S. republican values. More recently, he has been portrayed as the exemplar and moral leader in an era of modernization. During Adams' lifetime, technological innovations and new means of communication spread messages of religious revival, social reform, and party politics. Goods, money, and people traveled more rapidly and efficiently than ever before

Nullies vs. Unionists

1. Nullies: the group that was under Jackson's presidency that tried to muster the necessary 2/3 vote for nullification in South Carolina legislature. they were blocked by "submission men" 2. The Unionist Party was a political label adopted at various times in the United States by opponents of secession. It was used primarily by Southerners who did not want to affiliate with the Republicans, or wished to win over anti-secession Democrats. The label first appeared 1850, during the dispute over the Compromise of 1850. Southerners who supported the Compromise (mainly Whigs) adopted the Unionist label to win over pro-Compromise Democrats and defeat anti-Compromise Democrats. The name change emphasized the Compromise issue, and implied that ordinary Whig political issues, such as the tariff, had been set aside.

Theory of nullification

1. Nullification, in United States constitutional history, is a legal theory that a state has the right to nullify or invalidate, any federal law which that state has deemed unconstitutional. The theory of nullification has never been legally upheld by federal courts. 2. The theory of nullification is based on a view that the States formed the Union by an agreement among the States and that as creators of the federal government, the States have the final authority to determine the limits of the power of that government. Under this, the compact theory, the States and not the federal courts are the ultimate interpreters of the extent of the federal government's power. Under this theory, the States, therefore, may reject, or nullify, federal laws that the States believe are beyond the federal government's constitutional powers.

Tariff of Abominations (1828)

1. The "Tariff of Abominations" was a protective tariff passed by the Congress of the United States on May 19, 1828, designed to protect industry in the northern United States. Enacted during the presidency of John Quincy Adams, it was labeled the Tariff of Abominations by its southern detractors because of the effects it had on the antebellum Southern economy. 2. The major goal of the tariff was to protect industries in the northern United States which were being driven out of business by low-priced imported goods by taxing them. The South, however, was harmed directly by having to pay higher prices on goods the region did not produce, and indirectly because reducing the exportation of British goods to the U.S. made it difficult for the British to pay for the cotton they imported from the South. The reaction in the South, particularly in South Carolina, would lead to the Nullification Crisis that began in late 1832. The tariff marked the high point of U.S. tariffs.

Battles of the Alamo & Goliad

1. The Battle of the Alamo was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar, Texas, United States, killing all of the Texian defenders. Santa Anna's cruelty during the battle inspired many Texians—both Texas settlers and adventurers from the United States—to join the Texian Army. Buoyed by a desire for revenge, the Texians defeated the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836, ending the revolution. 2. The Battle of Goliad was the second skirmish of the Texas Revolution. In the early-morning hours of October 9, 1835, Texas settlers attacked the Mexican Army soldiers garrisoned at Presidio La Bahía, a fort near the Mexican Texas settlement of Goliad. La Bahía lay halfway between the only other large garrison of Mexican soldiers (at Presidio San Antonio de Bexar) and the then-important Texas port of Copano.

Bureau of Indian Affairs

1. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the U.S. Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of 55,700,000 acres of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American Tribes and Alaska Natives. 2. The Bureau of Indian Affairs is one of two bureaus under the jurisdiction of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs: the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education, which provides education services to approximately 48,000 Native Americans. 3. The BIA's responsibilities once included providing health care to American Indians and Alaska Natives. In 1954 that function was legislatively transferred to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, now known as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where it has remained to this day as the Indian Health Service.

"The South Carolina Exposition"

1. The South Carolina Exposition and Protest, also known as Calhoun's Exposition, was written in December 1828 by John C. Calhoun, then Vice President of the United States under John Quincy Adams and later under Andrew Jackson. Calhoun did not formally state his authorship at the time, though it was known. 2. The document was a protest against the Tariff of 1828, also known as the Tariff of Abominations. The document stated that if the tariff was not repealed, South Carolina would secede. It stated also Calhoun's Doctrine of nullification, i.e., the idea that a state has the right to reject federal law, first introduced by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in their Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions.

Election 1832, Jackson v. Clay

1. The United States presidential election of 1832 was the 12th quadrennial presidential election, held from Friday, November 2, to Wednesday, December 5, 1832. It saw incumbent President Andrew Jackson, candidate of the Democratic Party, easily win re-election against Henry Clay of Kentucky, candidate of the National Republican Party, and Anti-Masonic Party candidate William Wirt. Jackson won 219 of the 286 electoral votes cast. 2. The election campaign revolved around the Second Bank of the United States. Jackson, who disliked banks and paper money in general, vetoed the renewal of the Bank's charter and withdrew federal deposits from the bank. Clay hoped to divide Jackson's supporters and curry favor in Pennsylvania, the bank's headquarters, by attacking Jackson. His supporters criticized Jackson's use of presidential veto power, portraying him as "King Andrew." However, the attacks on Jackson generally failed, in spite of heavy funding by the bank, as Jackson convinced the ordinary population that he was defending them against a privileged elite. Jackson campaign events were marked by enormous turnout, and he swept Pennsylvania and the vast majority of the country.

Corrupt Bargain Election of 1824

1. The term Corrupt Bargain refers to three historic incidents in American history in which political agreement was determined by congressional or presidential actions that many viewed to be corrupt from different standpoints. Two of these involved resolutions of indeterminate or disputed electoral votes from the United States presidential election process and the third involved the disputed use of a presidential pardon. In all three cases, the president so elevated served a single term or singular vacancy, and either did not run again or was not reelected when he ran. 2. In the 1824 election, without an absolute majority in the Electoral College, the 12th Amendment dictated that the Presidential election be sent to the House of Representatives, whose Speaker and candidate in his own right, Henry Clay, gave his support to John Quincy Adams, and was then selected to be his Secretary of State.

Worcester v. Georgia

1. Worcester v. Georgia, was a case in which the United States Supreme Court chose the conviction of Samuel Worcester and held that the Georgia criminal statute that prohibited non-Native Americans from being present on Native American lands without a license from the state was unconstitutional. 2. The opinion is most famous for its dicta, which laid out the relationship between tribes and the state and federal governments, stating that the federal government was the sole authority to deal with Indian nations. It is considered to have built the foundations of the doctrine of tribal sovereignty in the United States. 3. The court ruled that the individual states had no authority in American Indian affairs.

The Lone Star Rebellion of 1836

1836, Texas declares its independence from Mexico with Sam Houston as commander-in-chief. Texans were violating Mexican laws of anti-slavery and no new settlements- Santa Anna wipes out local rights and raises as an army to suppress Texans. Texans win independence in 1836- couldn't have won without US help, which angers Mexicans who thought the US was neutral. Texas annexation into the US is debated because the north doesn't want the south to enlarge slave land for voting purposes.

National nominating conventions

A United States presidential nominating convention is a political convention held every four years in the United States by most of the political parties who will be fielding nominees in the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

Spoils system (patronage)

In the politics of the United States, a spoils system (also known as a patronage system) is a practice in which a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its supporters, friends and relatives as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party—as opposed to a merit system, where offices are awarded on the basis of some measure of merit, independent of political activity.

Pet banks

Pet banks is a pejorative term for state banks selected by the U.S. Department of Treasury to receive surplus government funds in 1833. Pet banks are sometimes mistaken with wildcat banks; however, the two are distinct types of institutions that arose during the same period of time, although some pet banks were known to engage in the practices of wildcat banking. They were chosen among the big U.S. bank when President Andrew Jackson vetoed the recharter for the Second Bank of the United States, proposed by Nicholas Biddle and Henry Clay four years before the recharter was due. Clay intended to use the rechartering of the bank as a topic in the upcoming election of 1832. The charter for the Second Bank of the United States, which was headed by Nicholas Biddle, was for a period of twenty-five years beginning January 1816, but Jackson's distrust of the national banking system (which he claimed to be unconstitutional) led to Biddle's proposal to recharter early, and the beginning of the Bank War. Jackson cited four reasons for vetoing the recharter, each degrading the Second Bank of the United States in claims of it holding an exorbitant amount of power

Sam Houston

Samuel "Sam" Houston was an American politician and soldier, best known for his role in bringing Texas into the United States as a constituent state. His victory at the Battle of San Jacinto secured the independence of Texas from Mexico in one of the shortest decisive battles in modern history. The only American to be elected governor of two states , Houston was also the only governor within a future Confederate state to oppose secession and to refuse an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, a decision that led to his removal from office by the Texas secession convention.

Stephen Austin and Texas settlers

Stephen Fuller Austin was an American empresario born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri. Known as the "Father of Texas", and the founder of Texas, he led the second, and ultimately successful, colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States to the region in 1825. In addition, he worked with the Mexican government to support emigration from the United States. He was also granted Mexican nationality when settling Texas.

Anti-Masonic Party

The Anti-Masonic Party was the first "third party" in the United States. It strongly opposed Freemasonry as a single-issue party, and later aspired to become a major party by expanding its platform to take positions on other issues. After the negative views of Freemasonry among a large segment of the public began to wane in the mid-1830s, most members of the Anti-Masonic Party joined the Whigs, the party most in line with its views on other issues. Although lasting only a decade, the Anti-Masonic Party introduced important innovations to U.S. politics, such as nominating conventions and the adoption of party platforms.

"Monster" Bank of the United States

The Bank War refers to the political struggle that developed over the issue of rechartering the Second Bank of the United States (BUS) during the Andrew Jackson administration (1829-1837). Anti-Bank Jacksonian Democrats were mobilized in opposition to the national bank's re-authorization on the grounds that the institution conferred economic privileges on financial elites, violating U.S. constitutional principles of social equality. The Jacksonians considered the Second Bank of the United States to be an illegitimate corporation whose charter violated state sovereignty, posing an implicit threat to the agriculture-based economy dependent upon the Southern states' widely practiced institution of slavery.When Congress voted to reauthorize the Bank, Jackson, as incumbent and candidate in the race, promptly vetoed the bill. His veto message justifying his action was a polemical declaration of the social philosophy of the Jacksonian movement pitting "farmers, mechanics and laborers" against the "monied interest" and arguing against the Bank's constitutionality. Pro-Bank National Republicans warned the public that Jackson would abolish the Bank altogether if granted a second term

Indian Removal Act

The Indian Removal Act was passed by Congress on May 28, 1830, during the presidency of Andrew Jackson, who signed it into law two days later. The law authorized the president to negotiate with southern Indian tribes for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their ancestral homelands. The act enjoyed strong support from the non-Indian peoples of the South, who were eager to gain access to lands inhabited by the southeastern tribes. Christian missionaries protested against the law's passage.

Panic of 1837

The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major recession that lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages went down while unemployment went up. Pessimism abounded during the time. The panic had both domestic and foreign origins. Speculative lending practices in western states, a sharp decline in cotton prices, a collapsing land bubble, international specie flows, and restrictive lending policies in Great Britain were all to blame. On May 10, 1837, banks in New York City suspended specie payments, meaning that they would no longer redeem commercial paper in specie at full face value. Despite a brief recovery in 1838, the recession persisted for approximately seven years. Banks collapsed, businesses failed, prices declined, and thousands of workers lost their jobs. Unemployment may have been as high as 25% in some locales. The years 1837 to 1844 were, generally speaking, years of deflation in wages and prices.

Specie Circular

The Specie Circular is the United States presidential executive order issued by President Andrew Jackson in 1836 pursuant to the Coinage Act and carried out by his successor, President Martin Van Buren. It required payment for government land to be in gold and silver

Trail of Tears

The Trail of Tears was a series of forced removals of Native American nations from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States to an area west of the Mississippi River that had been designated as Native Territory. The forced relocations were carried out by various government authorities following the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830. The relocated people suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation while en route, and more than four thousand died before reaching their various destinations. The removal included members of the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations. The phrase "Trail of Tears" originated from a description of the removal of the Cherokee Nation in 1838

Force Bill

The United States Force Bill, formally titled "An Act further to provide for the collection of duties on imports", refers to legislation enacted by the 22nd U.S. Congress on March 2, 1833, during the Nullification Crisis. Passed by Congress at the urging of President Andrew Jackson, the Force Bill consisted of eight sections expanding presidential power and was designed to compel the state of South Carolina's compliance with a series of federal tariffs, opposed by John C. Calhoun and other leading South Carolinians. Among other things, the legislation stipulated that the president could, if he deemed it necessary, deploy the U.S. Army to force South Carolina to comply with the law.

Whig Party

The Whig Party was a political party active in the middle of the 19th century in the United States. Four Presidents belonged to the Party while in office. Along with the rival Democratic Party, it was central to the Second Party System from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s. It originally formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic Party. In particular, the Whigs supported the supremacy of Congress over the Presidency and favored a program of modernization, banking, and economic protectionism to stimulate manufacturing. It appealed to entrepreneurs and planters but had little appeal to farmers or unskilled workers.