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Jacksonian Democracy Bell-Ringer: After Andrew Jackson became president, he rewarded many of his supporters with high-level government jobs. This practice became known as the spoils system, and many of Jackson’s critics objected to it, calling it wrong. What do you think? If you were president, would you give your friends prized jobs? Why or why not?
The Election of 1828 can be characterized as the first “modern election” because of the style of the campaign rather than the substance of the issues. Jackson was victorious because his supporters manipulated and his image as the unwavering and brave hero, who was not part of the world of corrupt politics. Instead, Jackson’s supporters said that he was the “victim” of corrupt politicians to explain why he had lost the previous election in 1824. People did not really know where Jackson stood on specific issues when he was elected. He was a complicated and insecure man, who ended up accomplishing a lot more in his two terms than Americans could possible have predicted.
Jackson was a man who was shaped by the Revolutionary War. In the above left is a depiction of Banastre Tarleton’s massacre of Americans in Andrew Jackson’s birthplace in Waxhaw. In the image on the right is a depiction of Jackson’s refusal to shine a British officer’s boots, which ultimately gave him scars that he would carry for the rest of his life.
Jackson’s victory over the British at New Orleans on January 8, 1815, transformed him into a figure of national renown. His military fame would ultimately propel him to the presidency.
The 1828 presidential campaign was particularly brutal. Jackson was attacked for alleged military atrocities in handbills like this one, while his supporters accused John Quincy Adams of being a pimp for the Russian czar and of lavishly spending money on fancy china and billiards for the White House.
An artist’s rendition of the inauguration party at the White House. The storming of the White House caused Jackson’s aides to take him to safety at his hotel.
What did he Accomplish? • Made government more democratic and moved it away from an upper-class style. • Started the spoils system (see Bell-Ringer). • Destroyed our central banking system by taking all of the funds out of the Bank of the U.S. and putting those funds in local state banks because he viewed the bank as a corrupt institution. • Started the removal of the Native Americans from ancestral homelands by military force, culminating in the “Trail of Tears.” • Would lay the ground work for Mexico’s eventual loss of Texas to the United States. • Preserved the country against disunion. When South Carolina and other southern states threatened to disregard a government law and break away from the country, Jackson sent military force to make them to obey. • Defended the honor of Washington trendsetter Peggy Eaton when the ladies of Washington tried to ruin her reputation.
In this 1832 political cartoon, Jackson destroys the Second Bank of the United States by withdrawing government deposits. As the Bank crashes, it crushes the director Nicholas Biddle and the newspaper editors who opposed Jackson on this issue.
The Trail of Tears was a deadly chapter in the long, grim story of white Americans’ treatment of the Indians. Though Jackson had retired by the time the Cherokees were physically driven from their ancestral homes, he was the prime architect of the policy that led to so many deaths.
Activity: Jackson Meme • You will be assigned one topic from Andrew Jackson’s presidency. • You will review your event in your textbook and/or a photocopied handout and will then create a meme about that particular event. • Try to come up with a clever phrase or caption that you think would best describe Jackson’s response to your particular event. • Memes will be done in class tomorrow in the Language Lab, so you do not have to do any work at home for this.
