Continuing to Grow

1. Continuing to Grow Beginning the Western Movement The Andrew Jackson Presidency

2. The United States was growing economically with the help of factories in the North and massive cotton production in the South. These two factors led US business to make money and thrive. As the economy grew in the US, more and more immigrants continued to pour into the country from Western Europe. These immigrants came looking for a better life. Many stopped in the major cities of the Northeast, such as New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, but many more wanted to keep moving west. In the states and territories of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, Ohio and others immigrants could take their own land and create a brand new life in which they weren’t dependent on anyone else.

3. In the 1810’s it had become much easier to move around the country. Earlier Americans traveled on horseback or wagon. Wagons had trouble traveling outside of cities because rain would cause mud and the wagons would get stuck. In the early 1800’s new inventions were created to help travel. Roads were turnpikes created by entrepreneurs who built roads and then were paid by the travelers who used them. The first roads were called “corduroy roads”. These were made by cutting trees in half and lying them side by side. The roads were obviously very bumpy and rough, but at least they weren’t too muddy.

4. Water transportation was also made easier with the invention of canals and the steam boat. Canals were man made rivers that were dug to connect existing rivers. Canals made it so large amounts of goods could be carried from place to place over water even when there was no natural waterway. Steamboats, invented by Robert Fulton, were even more important. Steamboats ran by having a paddle wheel turned by steam. This paddle wheel allowed boats to move against the current and against the wind. Now boats could travel in any direction on a river rather than just down stream.

5. Railroads were also beginning to spread throughout the eastern United States in the 1820’s. Railroads were the most effective way for businesses or farmers to move their products and supplies because they could travel anywhere, even if no water was around. They were also more effective than canals because you didn’t have to dig a deep trench filled with water, you only had to nail a lot of iron rails into the ground. Railroads also helped communication. Mail was carried on the trains. Also, along every train track telegraph wires were set up to carry messages by Morse Code.

6. Politics also had a big change in the 1820’s. Prior to 1824, not many people paid much attention to Presidential elections. Politics was a game played by the wealthy. That all changed with the election of 1824. In the election of 1824, their were four main candidates. None of them earned the necessary 50% of the vote to get elected. Andrew Jackson, hero of New Orleans, actually got the most votes. According to the Constitution, if nobody gets 50% of the votes, the House of Representatives picks the President. In the House, the 3rd place vote getter, Henry Clay, convinced his supporters to vote for the 2nd place finisher, John Quincy Adams. Clay’s votes gave Adams over 50% of the vote and he became President. Clay was then named Adams’s Secretary of State. Jackson thought it all seemed suspicious and was enraged.

7. For the next four years Jackson campaigned to be elected President. Nobody had ever campaigned before. Jackson had barbecue dinner parties, passed out buttons, made speeches, and had many town meetings to speak with normal, everyday people. Jackson became so popular that he won the election of 1828 in a landslide. By campaigning, Jackson was able to increase the total number of voters from 350,000 in 1824 to 1.2 million in 1828. Politics and elections have never been the same since.

8. After winning the election of 1828 Andrew Jackson hired many of his friends and helpers as government workers. His opponents protested that this was just a payoff and was just as bad as John Quincy Adams hiring Henry Clay after the election of 1824. The hiring of Jackson’s friends became known as the “spoils system”.

9. Once in office Jackson had many controversial actions. The first dealt with the Cherokee Indians of North Georgia. When the English first settled in America, they told the Cherokee that if they changed their lives to be more like Europeans, they could stay. The Cherokee began to dress like European, farm like Europeans, build towns like Europeans, and use the English language. Unfortunately for them, in 1829 gold was discovered in Dahlonega, Georgia and the wealthy of Georgia wanted it. They turned to the government to drive the Cherokee off of the land in Dahlonega. The Cherokee appealed to the US Supreme Court, who said the Cherokee could stay. Jackson, on the other hand, ignored the courts and had the US Army drive the Cherokee from North Georgia to Oklahoma. Many died along the way.

10. Other controversies under Jackson were the National Bank and the Tariff. Jackson, as a Southerner, hated the National Bank, and wanted to end it. Members of Congress however, most from the North, liked the Bank so they voted to continue it. Jackson vetoed the bill that would continue the bank and it ended. Jackson also disliked the Tariff, but had no right to end it. One of Jackson’s friends, John C Calhoun, from South Carolina said that his state would “nullify” or ignore the Tariff and refuse to enforce it. Even though Jackson hated the tariff, he was even more mad that someone would dare not follow national law while he was president. Jackson threatened to send the army to South Carolina if they did not follow the law.