A. BELIEF IN THE COMMON MAN
1. The Jacksonians had great respect for the common sense and abilities of the common man.
2. Andrew Jackson was seen as a common man who represented the interests of the people.
B. EXPANDED SUFFRAGE
1. The Jacksonians dramatically expanded White male suffrage.
2. During the Federalist Era, caucuses of party leaders maintained discipline and selected candidates. During the Jackson administration, nominating conventions replaced legislative caucuses.
C. PATRONAGE
1. The Jacksonians supported patronage—the policy of placing political supporters in office.
2. Many Jacksonians believed that victorious candidates had a duty to reward their supporters and punish their opponents.
D. OPPOSITION TO PRIVILEGED ELITES
1. As champions of the common man, the Jacksonians despised the special privileges of the Eastern elite.
2. Special privileges were anathemas to a government dedicated to promoting and protecting the common man.
A. THE TARIFF OF ABOMINATIONS, 1828
1. The tariffs passed between 1816 and 1828 were the first tariffs in American history whose primary purpose was protection.
2. The Tariff of Abominations forced John C. Calhoun to formulate his doctrine of nullification.
B. THE DOCTRINE OF NULLIFICATION
1. Developed by John C. Calhoun, the doctrine of nullification drew heavily on the states' rights arguments advanced in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions.
2. In the South Carolina Exposition and Protest, Calhoun argued that a state can refuse to recognize an act of Congress that it considers unconstitutional.
C. OPPOSITION TO NULLIFICATION
1. In the Webster-Hayne Debate, Daniel Webster forcefully rejected nullification. Webster concluded with his great exhortation, "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable."
2. Jackson's opposition to nullification enhanced his reputation as a strong President.
A. JACKSON'S VETO
1. Jackson vigorously opposed the bill to re-charter the Second Bank of the United States (BUS).
2. Jackson believed that the bank was a bastion of special privileges. He argued that the BUS was beneficial to advocates of "hard money" and thus inimical to the interests of the common people who elected him.
B. CONSEQUENCES
1. Jackson supported the removal of federal deposits from the Bank of the United States.
2. Jackson's attack on the BUS caused an expansion of credit and speculation.
3. The number of state banks, each issuing its own paper currency, increased.
4. Jackson's war on the BUS was an important catalyst for the emergence of a competitive two-party system. The Whigs hated Jackson and supported Henry Clay and his American System.
A. WORCESTER v. GEORGIA, 1831
1. The Cherokees differed from other Native American tribes in that the Cherokees tried to mount a court challenge to a removal order.
2. In the case of Worcester v. Georgia, the United States Supreme Court upheld the rights of the Cherokee tribe to their tribal lands.
B. JACKSON AND THE CHEROKEES
1. Jackson's antipathy toward Native Americans was well known. In one speech he declared, "I have long viewed treaties with American Indians as an absurdity not to be reconciled to the principles of our government."
2. Jackson refused to recognize the Court's decision,
declaring, "John Marshall has made his decision: now let him enforce it."
TEST TIP
There are normally very few APUSH questions devoted to specific presidents. Andrew Jackson is the exception. Because of his pivotal role in the nullification crisis, the bank war, and the forced removal of Native Americans, a number of APUSH questions focus on Andrew Jackson and his policies. So while it is safe to skip John Quincy Adams and Martin Van Buren, it is important to study Andrew Jackson.
C. THE TRAIL OF TEARS
1. Jackson's Native American policy resulted in the removal of the Cherokee from their homeland to settlements across the Mississippi River.
2. The Trail of Tears refers to the route taken by Native Americans as they were relocated to the Indian Territory of Oklahoma.
3. Approximately one-quarter of the Cherokee people died on the Trail of Tears.
A. KING COTTON
1. The following factors contributed to making cotton the South's most important cash crop:
• The invention of the cotton gin, which made it possible and profitable to harvest short-staple cotton.
• Rich new farm land in the Deep South was opened to the cultivation of cotton. By 1850, the geographic center of slavery was moving southward and westward.
• The rise of textile manufacturing in England created enormous demand for cotton.
B. SOUTHERN SOCIETY
1. It is very important to remember that a majority of White adult males were small farmers rather than wealthy planters.
2. The majority of White families in the antebellum South owned no slaves.
3. Nonetheless, a small minority of planters who owned 20 or more slaves dominated the antebellum South.
4. The cost of slave labor rose sharply between 1800 and 1860.
C. SLAVE SOCIETY
1. Slaves maintained social networks among kindred and friends, despite forced separations.
2. The dramatic increase in the South's slave labor force was due to the natural population increase of American-born slaves.
3. During the antebellum period, free African Americans were able to accumulate some property in spite of discrimination.
4. Although Southern legal codes did not uniformly provide for the legalization and stability of slave marriage, slaves were generally able to marry, and the institution of marriage was common on Southern plantations.
5. The majority of slaves adapted to the oppressive conditions imposed on them by developing a separate African American culture.
6. Slave revolts were infrequent. Most Southern slaves resisted their masters by feigning illness and working as slowly as possible.
A. NEW DEVELOPMENTS
1. Completed in 1825, the Erie Canal sparked a period of canal building that lasted until 1850.
2. Steamboats became widely used in the 1820s and 1830s.
3. The first railroad appeared in the United States in 1828. Within 30 years, the United States had built 30,000 miles of track.
B. CONSEQUENCES
1. The Erie Canal strengthened commercial and political ties between New York City and the growing cities on the Great Lakes.
2. Canals helped open the West to settlement and trade.
3. Steamboats dramatically increased river traffic while significantly lowering the cost of river transportation.
4. Like the canals, the railroads enabled farmers in the Midwest easier access to urban markets in the East.
5. Canals, steamboats, and railroads had the least impact on the South.