Democracy in America (1820-1840)

How did the 1824 "corrupt bargain" by which John Quincy Adams gained the presidency over Andrew Jackson (who had won the popular vote) become a part of Jackson's campaign strategy in the 1828 presidential election?

as an example of elitist conspiracy

While the new style of American politics in the 1820s was motivated by an expansive democratic spirit and a strong current of anti-elitism, it was less democratic in practice than in theory because

its new empowerment was restricted to White men.

In order to get a better understanding of what ideas were important in a certain time and place, historians analyze many primary documents. To read primary documents analytically, one must

look for details and keywords.

rotation in office

originally, simply the system of having term limits on political appointments; in the Jackson era, this came to mean the replacement of officials with party loyalists

Part of a rhetorical analysis involves determining what kind of appeal the author is making. What type of appeal is Boudinot making with this excerpt? "But if the Cherokee Nation fail in her struggle, if she die away, then all hopes are blasted, and falls the fabric of Indian civilization. Their fathers were born in darkness, and have died in darkness; without your assistance so will their sons."

pathos

Missouri Compromise

an 1820 Congressional agreement that allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, brought Maine into the Union as a free state, and prohibited slavery north of 36° 30′ latitude while allowing it in new states below that line

Tallmadge Amendment

an amendment (which did not pass) proposed by Representative James Tallmadge in 1819 that called for Missouri to be admitted as a free state and for all slaves there to be gradually emancipated

In the 1831 Supreme Court case Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, the attorney William Wirt, seeking an injunction in Georgia to prevent implementation of the Indian Removal Act, argued that the Cherokee were

an independent foreign nation.

Indian Removal Act:

: the 1830 act that removed the Five Civilized Tribes from their home in the Southeast and forcibly relocated them in the west

With its origins in the 1828 tariff dispute, what was the main concern that drove the Nullification Crisis during Andrew Jackson's first term?

A northern democratic majority could be harmful to southern interests.

tyranny of the majority

Alexis de Tocqueville's phrase warning of the potential dangers of American democracy

In addition to making official the ceding of Spanish Florida to the United States, the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 was also meant to settle the question of

America's border with the Spanish territory of Mexico.

What is the main idea and argument of Boudinot's speech?

Boudinot is pleading for funding to promote the continued "civilization" of the Cherokee people and emphasizes the potential for the advancement of the Cherokee and the benefit they offer to the United States.

The anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant Know-Nothings made up an important early faction within the coalescing Whig Party, and based their politics on the fear that

Catholics would bring factional religious violence to America.

The Nullification Crisis was heightened when Andrew Jackson convinced Congress to pass the ________, which authorized him to send federal troops into South Carolina to enforce the contentious tariff.

Force Bill

In addition to the immediate economic threat to southern states, what broader concern about uneven political power contributed to sectionalist anxieties during the Nullification Crisis?

Federal power might upend the system of slavery.

How did Andrew Jackson's position on the Bank of America help him win a decisive reelection victory over Henry Clay in 1832?

His opposition to a national bank reflected popular opinion.

In addition to the question of slavery's westward expansion, and thus the reinforcement of its legitimacy, what was the main issue at stake in the potential admission of Missouri as a slave state?

It would cause a sectional power imbalance between North and South

What is the main idea and argument of Jackson's speech?

Jackson is arguing for the quick removal of Indians in the southeast so that they can be replaced by "civilized" White people, which will benefit everyone involved.

Specie Circular

Jackson's executive order requiring that western land sales be transacted using gold or silver instead of paper notes

The main argument used by White settler authorities to justify their acquisition of Native land was

Native peoples had not truly used the land and thus had no claim to it.

The scandal among Washington socialites and elected officials called the ________ highlighted the role of establishment social hierarchy in shaping public perceptions of Andrew Jackson and his inner circle.

Petticoat Affair

The 1840 election marked the emergence of the ________, a new political paradigm in which the older Federalist and Democratic-Republican Parties were replaced by the new Democratic and Whig Parties, and grand campaign rallies and potent emotional propaganda became standard.

Second Party System

Why did the southern states believe that the 1828 tariff on imported goods, which was meant to bolster the national economy, would disproportionately harm them compared to the northern states?

The South did not have an expanding manufacturing base.

Use the excerpt below to answer the question."But this momentous question, like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed, indeed, for the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence. A geographical line, coinciding with a marked principle, moral and political, once conceived and held up to the angry passions of men, will never be obliterated; and every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper. . . . The cession of that kind of property, for so it is misnamed, is a bagatelle which would not cost me a second thought, if, in that way, a general emancipation and expatriation could be effected; . . . But as it is, we have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other. . . . [Congress should not] regulate the condition of the different descriptions of men composing a State. This certainly is the exclusive right of every State, which nothing in the constitution has taken from them and given to the General Government." - Thomas Jefferson to John Holmes, Monticello, April 22, 1820 > What does Jefferson emphasize in his message?

The power to regulate slavery within a state does not rest with Congress.

Argumentative documents, such as transcripts of speeches that take a side in a debate, are one type of primary source that can be used to help us understand history. Why are argumentative documents an important source to analyze?

They give us an idea of the zeitgeist, or "spirit of the age," from a given time period.

Among the odd combination of political factions that eventually formed the Whig Party in 1834 were the Know-Nothings, whose anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant stance resonated with nativists, and the ________, who tapped into an underlying paranoia in the electorate by suggesting that a secret society controlled the republic.

anti-Masons

While in the United States to examine prison reforms, and therefore to consider legal institutional policies, Alexis de Tocqueville also observed the legal, bureaucratic details of the broader democratic system and insightfully concluded that American democracy was only about these matters on its surface and was more fundamentally about

a certain disposition or state of mind in the people.

Tariff of Abominations

a federal tariff introduced in 1828 that placed a high duty on imported goods in order to help American manufacturers, which southerners viewed as unfair and harmful to their region

Kitchen Cabinet:

a nickname for Andrew Jackson's informal group of loyal advisers

filibuster:

a person who engages in an unofficial military operation intended to seize land from foreign countries or foment revolution there

whigs

a political party that emerged in the early 1830s to oppose what members saw as President Andrew Jackson's abuses of power

Petticoat affair:

a romantic scandal that highlighted the divisions between Andrew Jackson's circle and the established socialites of Washington, D.C.

The 1828 election of Andrew Jackson marked the end of the ________, an understanding of legitimate political power that rested on tradition and the presumed superiority of a "natural aristocracy."

code of deference

Opposition to the Freemasons, a secular fraternal club that included prominent figures such as Andrew Jackson and Benjamin Franklin, motivated one important faction to join the other anti-Jackson groups that would comprise the Whig Party, demonstrating the importance of ________ to American politics and to building a new party heading into the election of 1840.

conspiracy theories

In addition to a well-organized campaign that advocated for him at the local level and coordinated messaging with influential newspaper editors, Jackson also reminded voters of the ________ that tainted the 1824 election, a move that helped him present his own candidacy as a departure from elitist insider politics.

corrupt bargain

When the 1824 election resulted in a popular vote majority for Andrew Jackson but not a sufficient number of Electoral College votes, House Speaker Henry Clay persuaded his House colleagues to cast their states' votes for John Quincy Adams, who then appointed Clay Secretary of State. This reciprocal arrangement was described as a/an ________ by Clay and Adams's political adversaries, who rallied around Jackson and promised revenge.

corrupt bargain

Reflecting the same instability that characterized its founding, the Whig party's political victory in 1840 quickly soured after President Harrison died and Vice-President Tyler confounded party supporters by

embracing policies similar to those of Andrew Jackson.

In addition to forgiving Spain's five-million dollar debt to the United States, the terms of the 1819 Adams-Onís Treaty also set the border between the U.S. and Spanish-controlled Texas at the Sabine River (between present-day Louisiana and Texas) and, as promised by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, called for the United States to

give up all claims to land west of this border.

An institutional imbalance between paper banknotes and ________ was foundational to the interconnected crises that resulted in the Panic of 1837.

hard currency

Andrew Jackson's actions opposing a central bank were informed by his novel view of presidential power, which was different from that of previous officeholders because

he saw himself as the symbolic representation of the people.

Though White settlers often viewed Native religiosity with suspicion, and saw their own beliefs as both dramatically different and more evolved, Native and European-derived religious views were not so far apart given that both traditions believed

in a single creator who presided over a hierarchical spiritual domain

America's westward expansion further complicated already fraught questions about slavery and monetary policy. In the 1830s, the federal government's policies regulating land purchases in the West contributed to the Panic of 1837 because

it caused hard currency to be drained from eastern banks.

The new state of Missouri, which had applied for that status in 1819 after its territory was acquired as part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, was threatening to the political power of northern states because

it would be admitted as a slave state.

Question Part of a rhetorical analysis involves determining what kind of appeal the author is making. What type of appeal is Boudinot making with this excerpt? "But if the Cherokee Nation fail in her struggle, if she die away, then all hopes are blasted, and falls the fabric of Indian civilization. Their fathers were born in darkness, and have died in darkness; without your assistance so will their sons."

pathos

In what some critics saw as a new version of the spoils system, Jackson undertook a policy called ________, wherein he removed dozens of civil officers and handpicked their replacements, often awarding lucrative positions to party loyalists.

rotation in office

A typical sign of impending economic collapse, a ________ occurs when too many depositors abruptly attempt to redeem their paper banknotes for hard currency.

run on the bank

The Jackson administration's policy of rotation in office, in which the president removed dozens of civil officers and personally replaced them with party loyalists, was condemned by his critics as being a new version of the controversial earlier arrangement called the

spoils system.

The so-called "Tariff of Abominations" put in place by President Adams in 1828, suggested to critics that federal trade policy favored some regions to the detriment of others, a suspicion that helped to heighten tensions in the debate over

states' rights.

Treaty of New Echota

the 1835 agreement that ceded Cherokee land in Georgia and prepared the legal framework for the Trail of Tears

log cabin campaign

the 1840 election, in which the Whigs presented William Henry Harrison as a man of the people

Emerging as an unstable, regionally diverse coalition in opposition to Andrew Jackson's Democrats, the Whigs absorbed two early 19th century parties known for stoking paranoia and conspiracy theories. One group was the Anti-Masonics and the other was called

the Know Nothings.

The 1840 election was the outcome of the expansive new democratic revolution in America, replacing the earlier Federalist and Democratic-Republican Parties with the Whig and Democratic Parties, creating the new political paradigm called

the Second Party System.

Adams-Onís Treaty:

the agreement that ceded Spanish Florida to the United States and set the border with Mexico at the Sabine River

In addition to several instances of large-scale financial fraud, what sweeping government scandal emerged in the early years of Andrew Jackson's first term?

the arbitrary removal and replacement of civil officers

rhetoric:

the art of persuasion, or the techniques and focused appeals that a speaker or writer thinks will be effective in reaching an audience

Beginning in the 1820s, a new emphasis on the will of the majority and the expansion of democratic impulses replaced the earlier American political orientation called

the code of deference

Five Civilized Tribes:

the five tribes—Cherokee, Seminole, Creek, Choctaw, and Chickasaw—who had most thoroughly adopted Anglo-American culture; they also happened to be the tribes that were believed to stand in the way of western settlement in the South

While recognizing that American democracy stood in opposition to divinely-sanctioned monarchy, Alexis de Tocqueville believed that the majority rule of democracy was potentially more oppressive to the citizen's "private will" than a king's rule because

the majority compels by both physical and moral force.

A rhetorical appeal is one that relies on ________ to make a case for adopting a particular point of view or pursuing a recommended course of action.

the most effective means of persuasion

spoils system

the political system of rewarding friends and loyal party supporters with political appointments

code of deference

the practice of showing respect for individuals who had distinguished themselves through accomplishments or birth

American System

the program of federally sponsored roads and canals, protective tariffs, and a national bank advocated by Henry Clay and enacted by President Adams

Trail of Tears:

the route of the forced removal of the Cherokee and other tribes from the southeastern United States to the territory that is now Oklahoma

While White settlers often perceived Native culture as less civilized and ethically rule-bound than their own, Indigenous women sometimes had a degree of political influence and domestic self-determination that White women did not, as evident in policies regarding

the selection of leadership and the owning of property

second party system

the system in which the Democratic and Whig Parties became the two main political parties after the decline of the Federalist and Democratic-Republican Parties

monster bank:

the term Democratic opponents used to denounce the Second Bank of the United States as an emblem of special privilege and top-down government

corrupt bargain

the term that Andrew Jackson's supporters applied to John Quincy Adams's 1824 election, which had occurred through the machinations of Henry Clay in the U.S. House of Representatives

nullification

the theory, advocated in response to the Tariff of 1828, that states could void federal law at their discretion

According to Tocqueville, Americans believed that sovereignty, and thus political authority, belonged to ________, and not to divinely-sanctioned kings or generationally privileged aristocratic rulers.

the totality of ordinary citizens

While visiting French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville identified equality before the law as one of America's defining policies, he also feared that this standing could be undermined by

the tyranny of the majority.

Primary documents such as political speeches or declarations of candidacy for political office are especially valuable to historians because

they help us better understand how consequential positions were being argued.

While in the 1831 court case Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, the Supreme Court found that the Cherokee did not qualify as a foreign nation, the 1832 case Worcester v. Georgia, which questioned whether a White missionary could legally reside on Cherokee land, established the important concept of ________, which would become a point of contention in future legal negotiations.

tribal sovereignty

A contradiction to the new democratic expansiveness in the early 1800s was the requirement that White male voters also own property, a rule that eventually gave way to

universal manhood suffrage.

Much of presidential candidate Andrew Jackson's political appeal to voters rested on his status as a

victorious military leader.

universal manhood suffrage

voting rights for all White male adults