History 1301 assignment 2

US I - LESSON FIVE

This lesson contains my ideas about US History. It is meant to give you information, and to get you to think. The lesson is drawn from various sources and

Andy Jackson – He would surprise many people. Expectations were that he would accept the presidency as a prize for beating the British at New Orleans and then serve as a figurehead president while professional politicians ran the government. After all, he had little political experience, and all most people knew about him was he had been an excellent general in wars. This was hardly an indication he would serve with distinction as president. People were wrong. After eight years he would go into the history books as one of the strongest presidents in American history. First he would have to win an election.

The Election of 1828 – It was the first really "dirty" election in American history. While neither Jackson nor Adams would engage in mudslinging, many of their supporters did. Clay's supporters were the worst. They realized Jackson's people blamed Clay for Jackson's defeat in 1824 and that if Jackson won Clay could expect nothing but infighting for the next eight years. Things got so bad Clay's people engaged in character assassination against Jackson's wife, claiming she was still legally married to another man and living with Andy in mortal sin. Ill before the campaign started, she died before Jackson won. He did not forgive Clay or his people.

One Tough President - In 1835, Richard Lawrence, a man who really believed he was King Richard III of England decided President Jackson was responsible for keeping him from his throne.  Lawrence bought two pistols to kill Jackson.  He fired both from point-blank range.  Both misfired and Jackson beat Lawrence into submission.  Needless to say Lawrence spent the rest of his life in a mental institution.  

Calhoun and Nullification – John C. Calhoun of South Carolina was Vice President. In fact he had been Vice President for several years. In 1824 Calhoun ran for President, realized he couldn't win so ran for VP He won. Within a short time he split with Adams and sided with Jackson. In 1828 he joined Jackson's ticket and expected to be Jackson's right-hand man. He was disappointed. Martin Van Buren quickly became Jackson's main adviser and Calhoun was locked out. Calhoun then broke with Jackson and resigned as Vice President to become a United States Senator. Why did he break with Adams and then with Jackson? Nullification. During Adams' term Congress raised tariff rates even higher. South Carolina and other southern states protested. Every time tariff rates were raised it forced Americans to buy goods from northern factories, which was good for the north. But, this was bad for the south, which exported cotton to Europe. When we raised tariff rates against Europe, Europe retaliated. When we bought less from Europe, then Europe bought less from us, and Europe was mainly buying southern agricultural products from us. The South then proposed the Doctrine of Nullification. This said any time a federal law hurt a state, that state could nullify the law within that state's borders. Calhoun, a southern leader supported Nullification. Adams opposed it, so he and Calhoun broke. Jackson, although a southerner, was strongly committed to the union and to the constitution. He believed that Nullification would destroy federalism. After Calhoun resigned, he returned to South Carolina and was immediately appointed a senator. He returned to Washington to lead the fight for Nullification. Jackson threatened to call the army out if any state nullified any federal law. Nobody supported South Carolina, so she was forced to back down and the Nullification crisis was over. It is important to remember that although South Carolina was left on her own in the 1830s, thirty years later she would lead the call for something else. The next time she would not be unsupported. What that was we will see in a future lesson.

Indians – Jackson is often vilified for forcing Indians, especially the Cherokee to move west of the Mississippi, but before we join in criticizing Jackson let's stop and examine what Jackson was doing from another perspective. True Jackson was an old Indian fighter, but as an Indian fighter he gained respect for Indians. Unlike other whites who worked to exterminate them, Jackson wanted to get the Indians out of harms way. Based on population growth from 1607 to 1830 it appeared whites would not be living west of the Mississippi in any great numbers until the 1930s. I know. Hind site is great, but nobody in 1830 could predict massive immigration in future decades. Jackson's solution? Move the Indians west of the Mississippi and hope that when whites moved out there after the 1930s they would no longer hate Indians. The Cherokee refused to move, so made no preparations to go. This would be a prescription for disaster when they were finally forced to leave.

Specie Circular - This was a major mistake. After the Revolutionary War paper money had a very bad reputation so the United States government decided it would issue only gold and silver coins. Since the government was not issuing paper money it did not care if other entities did. States and banks immediately began printing and issuing their own paper money. For decades the national government accepted this money in payment for federal land. Suddenly Jackson announced the federal government would accept gold or silver only in payment for land. No more paper money, be it from a state or a bank. Jackson was leaving office, so this policy wouldn't affect him, but his successor would feel the full force of this unadvised act.

Harrison and the Whigs – By 1840 the Whigs knew Van Buren was a ‘lame duck’ who could easily be turned into a ‘dead duck’. They borrowed a page from the Democrats. Run a war hero. But who? Perry of Lake Erie fame was dead. Jackson was the enemy. Ah! Harrison. Never mind that his victory had been almost 30 years ago. Never mind that he was very old, and for his time he was even older. Life expectancy was very low in 1840. Running Harrison would have been akin to running Strom Thurmond in 2004. (A one hundred year old president?) He was a hero and heroes win. Harrison won. He immediately got sick and died. The Whigs now had a problem. They had given little thought to their vice president other than using him to balance the ticket. Harrison was from the north so John Tyler was from the south. The problem was Tyler shared none of the Whig's views. When we get back to political history in a short while we will see what happened. For now let's take a look at social and economic history.

Economic Changes – Family life changed because the economy changed. How? Prior to the Industrial Revolution most families engaged in subsistence farming. Dad was home with the family 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Dad was the unquestioned ruler of the farm. Now, with the Industrial Revolution, the family has left the farm and gone to live in the city. Dad works in the factory 10-12 hours a day 6-7 days a week. By the time he gets home the kids are in bed sleeping. Dad is out of site; out of mind. Dad is rapidly losing his power. He is still respected, but now instead of Dad being right there to enforce his will, we have Mom saying "Wait until your father gets home."? The kids are thinking "By the time Dad gets home Mom will have forgotten, and even if she hasn't Dad will be too tired to do anything except eat and go to bed."

The Second Great Awakening – Like the Great Awakening it was religious in nature. Predestination was rejected. But, unlike the Great Awakening it began reforms in many other facets of life. Women led by , Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony organized for women's right to equality, free speech, and the vote. They failed, but they did lay the groundwork for future more successful efforts. Temperance and prohibition movements began too. What is the difference? Temperance wanted to restrict drinking. We have that today. You can't buy alcoholic beverages in Texas stores on Sunday morning. It is illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to drink, so all people in America wait dutifully for their 21st birthday to have their first sip of an alcoholic beverage. Why are you laughing? Do you really believe that Americans would break the alcoholic drinking law? Prohibition wanted to outlaw drinking. We tried prohibition in the 1920s. It was a waste of two constitutional amendments and gave organized crime the greatest opportunity to increase its power.

Abolition – It was the most controversial and most divisive reform movement of the day. William and Frederick Douglass were the two main leaders of this movement. Today it is politically correct to credit Douglass with being the number one leader of the abolitionist movement, and it is equally politically correct to simply state that abolitionists wanted to free the slaves without discussing what they wanted to do with those former slaves after they were freed. The unspoken assumption was that ex-slaves would be welcome neighbors and everybody would live as one big happy family. Unfortunately, political correctness has little to do with reality. Let's look at reality. First – "Douglass was number one?" Even today except for electing Barak Obama, whites seldom follow a black man. Jesse Jackson set up the Rainbow Coalition to attract people of all races, colors, and ethnic groups, yet the great majority of its members were Black. There is even less reason to believe whites would follow a Black in the 1850s when our nation was being torn apart by the slavery issue. There is no doubt Douglass was a powerful speaker, but that ability actually caused people to doubt him. Many whites could not believe a run away slave could be so eloquent and educated. They thought he was a free black being passed off as a slave. Douglass credited Garrison for bringing him to the abolition movement. He was searching for something to do, read Garrison's newspaper and said Garrison's words "sent a thrill of joy" through him. So, Garrison, a white, not Douglass, a black, was actually the main abolitionist leader. Now what about the notion that Blacks would be welcome neighbors to whites and everybody would live as one big happy family? The majority of abolitionists firmly believed Blacks would be unable to compete with or coexist with whites. The solution? Send Blacks back to Africa or to the Caribbean. Abolitionists had already established Liberia in Africa for this express purpose. So Garrison, not Douglass was the main leader, and Archie Bunker was not looking forward to having George Jefferson move in next door.