Intro to Andrew Jackson's presidency

1. Essential Question
Champion of the “King Andrew”
Common Man ?
Andrew Jackson

2. Democratic trends in the early
19th century
Andrew Jackson

3. Voting Requirement in the Early 19th
Century
Andrew Jackson

4. Voter Turnout 1820-1860
Andrew Jackson

5. Politics for the People
• Under the Federalists democracy was not
respected
• By the 1820s, democracy was widely
appealing
Andrew Jackson

6. Politics for the People
• Politicians now had to bend to appease
and appeal to the masses
• The popular ones were the ones who
claimed to be born in log cabins and
had humble backgrounds.
Andrew Jackson

7. Politics for the People
• Those who were aristocratic (too clean, too
well dressed, too grammatical, to highly
intellectual) were scorned
• During the Jacksonian era, voter turnout
rose dramatically, as clear political parties
developed and new styles of politicking
emerged
Andrew Jackson

8. Politics for the People
• Candidates increasingly used banners,
badges, parades, barbecues, free drinks,
and baby kissing in order to “get the
vote.”
Andrew Jackson

9. Why the Increased
Democratization
• White male suffrage increased
• Party nominating committees.
– Voters chose their state’s slate of Presidential
electors.
• Spoils system.
Andrew Jackson

10. Why the Increased
Democratization
• Rise of Third Parties.
• Popular campaigning (parades, rallies,
floats, etc.)
• Two-party system returned in the 1832
election
Andrew Jackson

11. Jackson's First Presidential Run
Andrew Jackson

12. 1824
Andrew Jackson

13. Jackson's Opponents 1824
Henry Clay John Quincy Adams John C. Calhoun
[KY] [MA] [SC]
William H. Crawford
[GA]
Andrew Jackson

14. Election of
1824
A Corrupt
Bargain?
Andrew Jackson

15. Election of 1824
• 12th Amendment
• Top three Electoral vote getters would be
voted upon in the House of Reps.
• The majority (over 50%) would be elected
president
Andrew Jackson

16. Election of 1824
• The Election would come down to
Andrew Jackson and John Quincy
Adams.
• They both had the most electoral votes
Andrew Jackson

17. Election of 1824
• When Clay was appointed Secretary
of the State, Jacksonians cried foul
play
• Evidence of any possible deal has
never been found
• Adams and Clay reputations ruined
Andrew Jackson

18. John Q. Adams Presidency
• Not that
memorable
Andrew Jackson

19. 1828 Election
Key Issues
Andrew Jackson

20. Rachael Jackson
Final Divorce Decree
Andrew Jackson

21. Adams Supporters
• Jackson's was a slave-trading, gambling,
brawling murderer.
• Call Jackson's dead mother "a common
prostitute, brought to this country by the
British soldiers,"
• after whose service she "married a
MULATTO MAN, with whom she had
several children of which number General
JACKSON IS ONE!!!"
Andrew Jackson

22. Jackson supporters
• Accuse Adams of
– having premarital relations with his
wife
– being a pimp, arranging an American
prostitute for Czar Alexander I.
Andrew Jackson

23. Andrew Jackson

24. tells voters that candidate
Andrew Jackson is unfit for the
office of President, having
"illegally and wantonly shed the
blood of his countrymen and
fellow soldiers" by ordering six
militiamen executed on 1815 Feb.
21 after a military trial in which
they were convicted after leaving
camp to return home, although
their tours of duty were not up.
Andrew Jackson

25. The Center of Population in the
Country Moves West
Andrew Jackson

26. The Jackson Coalition
• Andrew Jackson brought together a coalition
of white men who were not happy:
– Factory workers in the Northeast
– Immigrants in the cities.
– Farmers (non-slaveholders) in the South
– Pioneer farmers in the West
• Introduced the spoils system
• It was the coalition of the Common Man.
Andrew Jackson

27. Jackson's faith in the
common Man
• Intense distrust of Eastern
“establishment,” monopolies, & special
privilege.
• His heart & soul was with the “plain folk.”
• Belief that the common man was capable of
uncommon achievements.
Andrew Jackson

28. Election of
1828
Andrew Jackson

29. The Reign of King Mob
Andrew Jackson

30. Jacksonian Democracy Characteristics
• The "New Democracy"
• Aristocracy replaced with democracy
• Most high offices still held by wealthy
citizens
Andrew Jackson

31. Jacksonian Democracy Characteristics
• Spoils system
• Based on universal white
manhood suffrage not
property
• Demand a new type of
politician
• Rise of workingmen’s parties
Andrew Jackson

32. Who was Jackson?
• First President born west of the
Appalachian Mountains.
• He was a populist – he was a supporter of
the rights and power of the people.
• Jackson viewed himself as a spokesperson
of the people.
Andrew Jackson

33. What was Jacksonian democracy?
• Rise of Andrew Jackson and the
Democratic Party in 1828.
• Democratic reforms brought by
President Jackson
– expanding suffrage to restructuring federal
institutions.
– Spoils system invented
Andrew Jackson

34. Jacksonian Democracy
• An authentic democratic movement!
• Expanded suffrage and popular
participation in government.
Andrew Jackson

35. Jacksonian Democracy
• For the first time, white men with
little or no property could vote.
• No country, not even England,
allowed poor white men to vote.
Andrew Jackson

36. Jacksonian Democracy; The
contradiction
• Jacksonian Democracy was only for white men
• Against class supremacy, but they believed in
white supremacy.
Andrew Jackson

37. Jacksonian Democracy; The
contradiction
• They supported slavery and the
subjugation of Native Americans!
• The Democratic Party never opposed
slavery
– Jackson was determined to keep that issue
out of national affairs.
– Under the “gag rule,” Congressmen were not
allowed to discuss slavery on the floor of
Congress.
Andrew Jackson

38. President Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson