Antebellum America: From Jackson to the Civil War APUSH Exam Review Session III

1. Antebellum America: From Jackson to the Civil WarAPUSH Exam Review Session III

2. The Age of Jackson as a Period of Change Things to remember about Jackson: • The first westerner to elected president • He was a self-made man, yet a wealthy slave owner • He was a champion of the common man • He was a military/national hero comparable to Washington • To him politics were intensely personal and partisan, reflecting political sentiments of the day • This political partisanship gave way to the creation of the Democratic Party

3. Quick Review: How might the contested election of 1824 have contributed to Jackson’s political partisanship?

4. Jacksonian Democracy Jackson’s Political Prejudices: • The Federal Government had become the domain of the wealthy elite. • These elite interests too often used the government to their advantage. • These artificial advantages were unfair, corrupting and inherently undemocratic. • Jackson’s primary target – Henry Clay’s American System of govt support for: • Internal Improvements • National Bank • Protective Tariffs

5. Jacksonian Democracy Jackson’s Philosophy on Government: • Government of the elite ultimately becomes inefficient and corrupt. • A rotation system, where by new democratizing blood would make government more democratic, less corrupt, and more responsive to the will of the voter. (SPOILS SYSTEM) *Jackson’s creation of the spoils system directly contributed to political partisanship and political party formation. Factors contributing to the growth of Jacksonian Democracy: • The number of Americans voting dramatically expands. • As growing number of Americans experience opportunity, they are more demanding of the govt to guarantee equality of opportunity.

6. The Nullification Crisis The Economic Roots of the Crisis: • Historic southern hostility toward tariffs. • By the 1830s, Cotton constitutes at least 50% of all US exports. • The Tariff of 1828 (Tariff of Abominations) • Fears in South Carolina that enhanced federal authority encouraged by a high tariffs could be turned against the institution of slavery. Why so sensitive about slavery? • Rabid abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison began publishing The Liberator in 1831 • Nat Turner’s 1831 rebellion locked the South into a perpetual state of terror and fear • “King Cotton” dominated the southern economy

7. The Nullification Crisis • The Kentucky & Virginia Resolutions provided a historical precedent. • Calhoun wrote Exposition & Protest, in which he laid out his Doctrine of Nullification. • This Nullification Doctrine stated that federal legislation that was detrimental to the interests of a state (like a tariff) could be declared null and void; • If three-fourths of the states agreed, the legislation would be void nation-wide; • If the federal government refused to allow its laws to nullified by a single state, that state had the right to secede. *Webster-Hayne Debates (1830) bring issue to Congress.

8. The Nullification Crisis • In 1832, Congress increases tariff rates. • South Carolina responds by declaring the Tariffs of 1828 & 1832 null and void, prohibiting the collection of tariffs, and threatening secession if the federal government intervened. • Jackson announced that federal law was supreme, secession was illegal, and all who participated were committing treason. • Congress passed the Force Bill granting Jackson the power to prepare for military action. • Clay brokers a compromise, whereby tariff rates would be reduced over 10 years and South Carolina suspended and later rescinded the Ordinance of Nullification.

9. Jackson and the Bank War Jackson’s Arguments against the BUS: • The BUS was a financial monopoly for its investors who were unfairly profiting from government deposits • Many Congressmen & Senators were on the payroll of the BUS – conflict of interest/corruption • The BUS had used its own political patronage and economic prowess to influence politics and elections The Opening Salvo in the Bank War: • The BUS president, Nicholas Biddle, pushed Congress to recharter the bank ahead of schedule to make it an election year issue. • Jackson vetoed the bill. (Jackson was the first president to use the power of the veto for partisan political purposes.) • The 1832 election was seen referendum on the BUS.

10. Jackson and the Bank War The Bank War, Round 2: • Jackson interprets his victory over Henry Clay as a mandate to “kill” the BUS – esp. after he discovers that the Bank had financially supported Clay’s campaign. • To kill the BUS, Jackson calls on Roger B. Taney to redirect federal deposits to state “pet” banks, while continuing to use federal deposits in the BUS for govt expenditures. • Biddle raises interest rates and constricts the supply of money hoping that the resulting recession 1833-34 would be blamed on Jackson. (Only strengthened Jackson’s claim that the BUS was too independent and powerful.)

11. Jackson’s Legacy • More so than any of his predecessors, Jackson expanded the power of the Executive Branch. • While a strong Executive, many of Jackson’s policies favored states’ rights advocates and thus increased sectional tensions. • His populistic, egalitarian rhetoric provided a platform and vocabulary for the emerging Democratic Party. • In opposition to Jackson, the Whig Party is established.

12. The Union in Peril (1848-1861) Causes of the conflict: • Slavery, as a growing moral issue in the North, verses its defense and expansion in the South. • Constitutional disputes over the nature of the federal union and states’ rights. • Economic differences between the industrializing North and the agricultural South over such issues as tariffs, banking, and internal improvements. • Political blunders and extremism on both sides that accelerated tension and reduced the possibility for compromise.

13. Political Divisions in the 1850s Democrats: • “Outsiders” who opposed capitalist transformation • skilled workers who resented wage labor • Catholics who resented the Protestant dominated Whig Party – esp. on reform • Heirs of Jefferson & Jackson who challenged elite, wealthy institutions • Often racists, and committed to the preservation of slavery • Immigrants who were exploited by industrial capitalism • Democratic strongholds: Northern urban areas, South, and the parts of the West Whigs (Republicans after 1854): • “Insiders” who benefitted from capitalist transformation. • White collar workers • Upper-class Protestants • Northern & Western farmers that lived near/depended on transportation routes • Those that favored/benefited from improved internal improvements • Supporters of tariffs • Supporters of a national bank • Reform minded – esp. temperance & abolitionism • Anti-Catholic • Anti-Immigrant • Free Soil

14. Flashpoint – Slavery in the West Major Events in the Expansion of Slavery: • 1820 Missouri Compromise • 1846-48 War with Mexico & Mexican Cession • Compromise of 1850 • 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act • 1857 Dred Scott Ruling

15. Flashpoint – Challenges to Slavery Major Events that Challenged Slavery: • Growing abolitionist movement in the North • The Free Soil Movement (Free Soil Party 1848) • Northern challenges to Federal Fugitive Slave Laws • Growing awareness of slavery – Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) • The fall of the Whig Party • Reaction to the Kansas-Nebraska Act • Bleeding Kansas • 1854 Birth of the Republican Party • John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry (1859) • The Election of Republican Abraham Lincoln (1860)