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Learn about Andrew Jackson's rise to power, the impact of Jacksonian Democracy, the Spoils System, the Crisis Over Tariffs, and the tragic Trail of Tears during Indian Removal, all significant events in the early 19th century United States.
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How Jackson was elected • Jackson became a national hero during the War of 1812 • His nickname was “Old Hickory” because he was as tough as a hickory tree • Jackson was seen as a “common man” and small farmers, craft workers, & others supported him • Suffrage, or the right to vote, had been expanded • Property requirements for voting were relaxed or eliminated
Spoils System • “To the Victor Goes the Spoils” • President Jackson replaced many federal workers with his supporters • Goal of the Democrats = shake up the federal bureaucracy • They thought ordinary citizens could handle any government job • Spoils System = practice of replacing government employees with the winning candidate’s supporters
A Crisis Over Tariffs • Tariff: a fee paid by merchants who imported goods • Tariff of Abominations: name Southerners gave to the highest tariff • It was passed to protect Northern manufacturers from foreign competition (Americans were more likely to buy American-made goods) • South had to pay higher prices for European goods
How did the South Protest the Tariff? • V.P. John C. Calhoun argued that a state or a group of states had the right to nullify, or cancel, a federal law it considered against state interests • Southerners call for Southern states to secede, or break away, from the U.S. • Nullification: the idea that a state had the right to cancel a federal law it considered unconstitutional • Congress (1832) passed a new lower tariff & Pres. Jackson had Congress pass a Force Bill, allowing military action to enforce acts
Indian Removal • The five civilized tribes- Native Americans in the eastern US who adopted modern lifestyles • In 1830 Congress passes the Indian Removal Act- allows the government to forcibly relocate Native Americans west of the Mississippi • Cherokee sue for the right to stay and supreme court rules in their favor in Worcester vs. Georgia
Trail of Tears • Andrew Jackson defies the supreme court decision and convinces a small band of Cherokee to sign a treaty to move west • In 1838 General Winfield Scott forces the Cherokee to leave Georgia for Oklahoma • 17,000 Cherokee leave and march through winter causing 4,000 to 8,000 deaths along the trail
