Chapter 14

From the Frontier to the White House

• Andrew Jackson was born on South Carolina frontier in 1767.
• At the age of 13 Jackson joined his local militia and soon after was captured by British forces.
• After the war Jackson became a laywer.
• Jackson became known after the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812.
• In the election of 1824 Jackson lost to Adams.
• Finally in the election of 1828 Jackson won the title as president.
• the idea that the common people should control the government became known as Jacksonian Democracy

The Inauguration of Andrew Jackson

• On March 4, 1829, more than 10,000 people, who came from every state, crowded into Washington, D.C., to witness Andrew Jackson's inauguration.
• Up until the 1820s only white men with property could vote.
• Now the states agreed every male could vote. (Still African Americans, American Indians, or women could not vote.)
• Over one million Americans voted in 1828, thats more three times the number who voted in 1824.
• After Jackson was sworn in it became violent “But it was the People's day, and the People's President,” Smith concluded. “And the people would rule.”

Jackson's Approach to Governing

• Jackson made his decisions with the help of trusted friends & political supporters.
• The rich men who had been used to influence the government viewed the “kitchen cabinet” with deep suspicion because they believed that the men were not right for the country.
• Most of these civil servants viewed their posts as lifetime jobs, but Jackson disagreed.
• Many of Jackson's supporters called it spoil system.
• [spoils system: the practice of rewarding political supporters with government jobs] .
• Only about 10 percent of civil servants were replaced—and many deserved to be.

The Nullification Crisis

• 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.
• The Northern states had with new factories and favored the new tariff law, southerners opposed tariffs for several reasons such as tariffs hurting cotton sales to other countries
• Jackson understood southerners' concerns and signed a new law that lowered tariffs in 1832.
• Even though they were low they still were not low enough. Led byCalhoun, they proclaimed South Carolina's right to nullify, or reject, both the 1828 and 1832 tariff laws.
• South Carolina threatened to secede if the national government tried to enforce the tariff laws.
• [secede: to withdraw from an organization or alliance]
• Tensions between the North and the South would increase in the years ahead.

Jackson Battles the Bank of the United States

• Andrew Jackson saw himself as the champion of the people.
• 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 but not farmers and workers. He felt that the bank stood in the way of opportunity.
• Henry Clay pushed a bill through Congress that renewed the bank's charter four years early. Clay thought that this would make Jackson get hate for what he chose to do about it.
• There was much more farmers and poor people than weathly people so Jackson could base his choice off of that.
• Jackson vetoed the recharter bill.
• The voters agreed with jackson and a large majority elected Jackson to a second term in 1832.

Jackson's Indian Policy

• Andrew Jackson had little sympathy for American Indians.
• Jackson made it a national policy to remove American Indians who remained in the East by force.
• America tried to settle common conflicts with the American Indians by treaties.
• In exchange for giving up their old lands, American Indians were promised food, supplies, and money.
• By the time Jackson became president, only 125,000 American Indians still lived east of the Mississippi River.
• Many things had caused such a drop in population such as war.
• the Creek, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole tribes were still in eastern land. They were often called Five Civilized Tribes.
• The Five Civilized Tribes hoped to live in peace with their neighbors but most white men did not agree to this.

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 that let American Indians in the East trade their lands for new territory on the Great Plains. The law did not say that they should be removed by force
• In 1831 the Supreme Court held that American Indians had a right to keep their lands. An angry Jackson disagreed.
• Groups that refused to move west voluntarily were met with military force, usually with tragic results.
• This was true of the Sac and Fox Indians of Illinois they fought under thier chief named Black Hawk. Black Hawk's War ended in 1832 with the slaughter of most of his warriors, and as he was taken off in chains.

The Trail of Tears

• 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.
• 4,000 American Indians died during the long walk to Indian Territory that took place in the winter.
• This journey is known as the Trail of Tears.
• Led by a young chief named Osceola, the Seminoles of Florida resisted removal for ten years. Their struggle was the most costly Indian war ever in the United States.

The Trail of Tears

Andrew Jackson's story

Andrew Jackson's story

• Andrew Jackson lived March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845
• Both of Jackson’s parents emigrated from Ireland.
• Exactly where Jackson was born is disputed because the Waxhaws wilderness was so remote that the precise border between North and South Carolina had yet to be surveyed.
• Jackson had bullets in his chest from duels his whole life.
• Jackson adopted a pair of Native American infants during the Creek War in 1813 and 1814.