About Presidency of Andrew Jackson

For some time, America was hugely successful. They would sell their goods at a high rate, mainly cotton, and the South became Europe’s principal supplier of cotton. Because of this, Americans were sure that they would continue to have a great economy. However, in 1819, Europe had recovered from the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. Not only this, but America’s banks tightened credit because they thought some might overinvest in factories in the land. Both of these factors caused an economic depression.

Farmers weren’t selling what they produced, and people were quickly losing their money. This commotion caused the people to demand that the government should protect them from these events. All of this led to the opening of the political process. After the revolution, white men had to own a certain amount of property to vote. However, during the 1800s, several changes took place. In 1824, all of the states except for four had decided to allow every free white man to vote. As all free white men were being allowed to vote, restrictions were being placed on African Americans to prevent them from voting. Later on, people edited the New York Constitution and now allowed all white men and wealthy African Americans to vote. Although the election process was becoming more democratic, some barriers were still present.

In 1824, most, if not all, politicians considered themselves Democratic-Republicans, and in that year, five were nominated to be president. Each of these nominees had strong support, but in the elections, nobody was able to win the majority. Because of this, the vote went to the House of Representatives. They had to pick the top three candidates and select from them. The three considered were Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adam, and William H. Crawford. Henry Clay was in fourth place, causing him to lose the chance of becoming president. Clay decided to tell his backers to go for Adam, and by doing this, Jackson got infuriated. Thanks to Clay, Adam was able to gain the presidency, and this drove Jackson to his 1828 quest for office. He was especially mad because he had won both the popular and the electoral votes.

Because of the “corrupt bargain” and what had happened in 1828, Jackson decided to run for president, but with a different strategy. He knew that Adam made no effort to reach out to the people and that he just depended on his title of president. To combat this, Jackson used mudslinging. Not only this, but his leaders arranged barbecues and rallies to attract more people. After these strategies, the southerners, westerners, and the working classes of the North supported Jackson. In the election of 1828, not surprisingly, Jackson won the presidency. This period was known as the era of the “common man” because after using the people’s interest to get his votes, Jackson also allowed the public to assist his inauguration.

A major crisis that Jackson confronted was nullification. People were still debating whether a state could nullify a federal law. At the time Jackson was running for the presidency, the Panic of 1819 wasn’t present anymore, but the state’s economy was all over the place. In South Carolina, where people who grew cotton, the depression had significantly damaged them. Americans there blamed this to the high tariffs placed on their goods. In 1816, taxes had been set to protect America’s industries. These tariffs benefited both the North and the Western regions because the duties made Americans buy their goods. However, in the South, taxes didn’t affect them because Europe didn’t export cotton. Because of this, in 1824, when Congress raised the taxes, South Carolina, along with other southern states, objected. When running against Adams, Jefferson encouraged an extremely high duty, thinking that it wouldn’t pass. He did this because he wanted the North and West to support him because they supported Adams. Surprisingly, Congress passed the tariff. This action caused Southerners to grow enraged and write the South Carolina Exposition. This document, written by John C. Calhoun, created the new idea of nullification. South Carolina decided to try this and “nullified” the tariff. Jackson, however, was smart and while threatening them with the army and navy, he also told Congress to lower the tax. By doing so, Jefferson isolated South Carolina and the idea of nullification slowly diminished.

The Second Bank of the United States was provided with a twenty-year charter and created in 1816. This bank, at first, extended credit easily and helped the economy grow. However, in 1819, it initiated to call its loans and instead promoted the Panic of 1819. This bank later changed owner to Nicholas Biddle, who believed that the bank should prevent the credit from expanding too far. Also, back in the day, there was no national currency; these events were occurring forty years before it. Jackson came to oppose this bank, primarily because in the 1790s he had lost his money. Conflicts rose between Biddle and Jackson in 1832 when Biddle wanted a renewal of the bank’s charter. Because Jackson thought Biddle wanted this to be an issue in the election of 1832, he swore to get rid of the bank. However, Congress renewed the charter despite what Jackson thought. Jackson vetoed the permit and justified his actions with various examples such as that it favored the wealthy and that the Constitution didn’t allow its creation. When Jackson won the election of 1832, he ordered to take the deposits to state banks, and although the Senate wasn’t for this, the bank couldn’t keep up and closed when its charter expired. Because state banks lacked credit and weren’t regulated as often y the government, counterfeit became popular.

The Cherokees were pushed off their lands by the Whites because of four reasons. The first reason was White land lust. Because of soil exhaustion, Southerners wanted more land to produce cotton, and they wanted it even more because of the inventions that made it easier to grow. The second reason was Racism. Americans mostly considered Cherokees to be un-Christian, uncivilized, and inferior to them. At this time, people felt that they were dying out and that people could use that land in the West. The third reason was the Federal Policy. Because of the Indian Removal Act, the United State’s policy made it that they had to move them out to the West. The final reason was Andrew Jackson’s ire. Jackson forced Native Americans to move from Georgia to Oklahoma because they were protesting to his orders. Jackson played a significant part in this removal. For one, he passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Also, when the Cherokees attempted to show how unfair this was to them through cases, Jackson overlooked when they asked for help and let these events occur.

After they moved the Natives, Americans initiated to purchase land in the West. To do so, some used paper money. However, because of the counterfeiting that had occurred some money wasn’t considered to have value. These events caused Jackson to pass the Specie Circular, which demanded to stop accepting paper money and only allow gold and silver. The Specie Circular told the people that the government didn’t trust paper money. The result was that paper money lost value. Also, this abandoned settlers to worse troubles regarding the economy.

Jackson’s Democrats mainly thought that the federal government should be kept small. They also viewed themselves as successors of Jefferson, who saw the government as evil. They also believed that the government shouldn’t control what people do privately, and this caused them to be less aggressive towards economic development. They also had two groups where society fell. One was “the people,” who were farmers, workers, and planters, and “the aristocracy,” who were merchants, financial agents, and bankers. To them, the people were hard workers that earned an honest living, and the aristocracy consisted of people who manipulated markets for their good.

The Whigs were people who favored an active federal government. Whigs supported the use of federal funds to make internal improvements and government power to increase the moral health of the nation. In their eyes, the development of the economy caused people to be more abundant, created jobs and increased popular demand for goods. They thought there wasn’t any conflict between big businesses and the people. Also, to them, banks were good, and they opposed slavery in the new territories. By the election that took place in 1840, two parties successfully formed. However, most of the time, the Jacksonians were superior to the Whigs.

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