American’s Economic Revolution

HIS 131

Chapter 9, 10, & 11

I. America’s Economic Revolution

There had been signs for many years that the United States was poised for a period of dramatic economic growth…In the 1820’s and 1830’s, that period finally began….Improvements in transportation and the expanding range of business activity created, for the first time, a national market economy.

Each area of the country could concentrate on the production of a certain type of goods, relying on other areas to buy its surplus production and to supply it with those things it no longer produced itself.

For example, this regional specialization allowed the South to concentrate on growing its most lucrative crop…cotton….And, it allowed the North to develop a new factory system, which began an industrial revolution that would, in time, become even greater than the one that had begun in England in 1770.

By the mid-1820’s, the nation’s economy was growing more rapidly than its population. ---------------------------------- Many factors combined to produce this dramatic transformation.

The American people were becoming more numerous and were spreading across a far greater expanse of territory, providing both a labor supply for the production of goods and a market for the sale of those goods.

A “transportation revolution”…based on the construction of roads, canals, and eventually railroads…was giving merchants and manufacturers access to new markets and raw materials….New entrepreneurial techniques were making a rapid business expansion possible…And, technological advances were helping to spur industry to new levels of activity.

Perhaps, equally important, Americans in the 1820’s adopted an ethic of growth that was based on a commitment of hard work, individual initiative, thrift, and ambition…The results of their efforts seemed to confirm the value of such a commitment.

II. Sectionalism and Nationalism

For a brief but alarming moment during this exciting time of economic revolution, the increasing differences between the nation’s two leading sections (the North and South) threatened to damage the unity of the United States.

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But once a sectional crisis was averted with the Missouri Compromise, the forces of nationalism continued to assert themselves…And, the federal government began to assume the role of promoter of economic growth.

A. The Missouri Compromise

When Missouri applied for statehood in 1819, slavery was already well established there…The French and Spanish inhabitants of the Louisiana Territory (including what later became Missouri) had owned slaves…And felt that they should continue to do so, because in the 1803 treaty that had finalized the Louisiana Purchase, the United States government had promised to maintain and protect the inhabitants in the free enjoyment of their property

By 1819, approximately 60,000 people resided in the Missouri Territory, of whom 10,000 were slaves.

In that year, while Missouri’s application for statehood was being considered in Congress, Representative James Tallmadge of New York moved to amend the bill allowing Missouri statehood by prohibiting further introduction of slaves into Missouri and providing that the existing slaves in Missouri should be gradually emancipated.

This Tallmadge Amendment provoked a controversy that was to rage for the next two years. --------------------------- Although the issue arose suddenly, the sectional jealousies that produced it had long been accumulating…Already the concept of a balance of power between the Northern and Southern states was well developed.

In 1819, the Union contained an equal number of free and slave states…eleven each….If Missouri should be admitted as a slave state, not only would the existing sectional balance be upset, but a precedent would be established, that in the future, could still further increase the political power of the South. (what precedent is that?)…That, based on the argument of sustaining slavery in the Louisiana Territory due to the Purchase Treaty of 1803 with France, when other states in this territory were admitted into the Union, they would also be admitted as slave states, thus increasing the political power of the South. ------------------------------ Other arguments for and against are as follows:

The North saw this western territory as a “safety valve” for their growing metropolitan areas…Because many areas had become extremely urbanized, the west provided opportunity…or at least the appearance of…opportunity for individual growth….Therefore, it was hoped that the west could provide the “American Dream” to the poor white population of the Northern cities.

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To the Northerners, if slavery was allowed in the newly admitted western states, there would be no opportunity for the poor whites because they could not compete with the “0” cost slave labor.

On the other hand, the South saw the west as an opportunity for economic growth and also as a “safety valve.”

Many Southerners looked to the West as an area to expand their cotton plantations. Many areas in the South were seeing their soil depleted because of over planting and the West provided a new unused area where they could revive their cotton production…And, in order to accomplish this and make their agriculture profitable, they would need cheep slave labor.

As mentioned, the Southerners also looked at the West as a “safety valve,” but not in the same way as the North.

Because of the growing slave population in the South, many Southerners were very concerned about the potential for violent slave uprisings…They saw the West and its need for additional slaves to work newly formed plantations as a potential market to sell off their surplus slaves. ----------------------------------- A way out of the stalemate opened when the Senate combined the Bill for the statehood of Maine with the Missouri Bill…This Bill, known as the Missouri Compromise allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state….This compromise did maintain the balance of power between the North and South, but it also created additional controversy that had grave implications later.

To prevent the possibility of other areas of the Louisiana Territory requesting admission as slave states, Congress established that slavery would be prohibited in all of the rest of the Louisiana Territory north of the southern boundary of Missouri, or north of latitude line 36/30.

B. John Marshall and the Supreme Court

John Marshall remained as chief justice for almost 35 years…from 1801 to 1835.

During these years Republican presidents filled vacancies with Republican justices, one after another, and yet Marshall continued to carry a majority with him in most of the Courts decisions.

He was a man of practical and penetrating mind…of persuasive and winning personality…and, of strong will.

4 The members of the Court lived together, without their families, during the winter months

when the Court was in session…and Marshall had abundant opportunity to bring his talents to bear upon his younger colleagues.

He not only influenced their ways of thinking…he also molded the development of the Constitution itself.

The net effect of the hundreds of opinions delivered by the Marshall Court was to strengthen the judicial branch at the expense of the executive and legislative branches of government….Also, Marshall’s Court increased the power of the federal government and lessened the power of the state governments.

Marshall’s Court also advanced the interests of the propertied classes, especially those engaged in commerce.

C. The Monroe Doctrine

The end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 marked the breakup of the Spanish empire in the New World.

Between 1815 and 1822 Jose de San Martin led Argentina to independence, while Bernardo O'Higgins in Chile and Simon Bolivar in Venezuela guided their countries out of colonialism.

These new republics sought -- and expected -- recognition by the United States, and many Americans endorsed that idea…But, President James Monroe and his secretary of state, John Quincy Adams, were not willing to risk war for nations they did not know would survive…From their point of view, as long as the other European powers did not intervene, the government of the United States could just let Spain and her rebellious colonies fight it out.

Great Britain was torn between the principle of monarchy and a desire for new markets… South America as a whole constituted, at the time, a much larger market for English goods than the United States….and when Russia and France proposed that England join in helping Spain regain her New World colonies, Great Britain vetoed the idea.

The United States was also negotiating with Spain to purchase Florida, and once that treaty was ratified, the Monroe administration began to extend recognition to the new Latin American republics -- Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico were all recognized in 1822.

5 In 1823, France invited Spain to restore the Bourbon Monarchy (these were the descendants of the monarchy overthrown in the French Revolution), and there was talk of France and Spain warring upon the new republics in South America with the backing of

the Holy Alliance (Russia, Prussia and Austria).

This news appalled the British government -- all the work the eighteenth-century British statesmen to get France out of the New World would be undone, and France would again be a power in the Americas.

George Canning, the British foreign minister, proposed that the United States and Great Britain join to stop France and Spain from intervention in South America…Both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison urged President Monroe to accept the offer, but John Quincy Adams was more suspicious…Adams also was quite concerned about Russia's efforts to extend its influence down the Pacific coast from Alaska south to California, then owned by Mexico.

At the Cabinet meeting of November 7, 1823, Adams argued against Canning's offer, and declared, It would be more candid, as well as more dignified, to state the United States’ feelings directly to Russia and France instead of hiding behind the direction of Great Britain.

He therefore argued, and finally won over the Cabinet, to an independent policy.

In Monroe's message to Congress on December 2, 1823, he delivered what we have always called the Monroe Doctrine, although in truth it should have been called the Adams Doctrine.

Essentially, the United States was saying in the Monroe Doctrine, to the powers of the Old World, that the American continents were no longer open to European colonization, and that any effort to extend European political influence into the New World would be considered by the United States "as dangerous to our peace and safety." The United States would not interfere in European wars or internal affairs, and expected Europe to stay out of American affairs.

Although it would take decades to coalesce into an identifiable policy, John Quincy Adams did raise a standard of an independent American foreign policy so strongly that future administrations could not ignore it. One should note, however, that the policy succeeded because it met British interests as well as American, and for the next 100 years it was only secured by the backing of the British fleet.

6 III. The Revival of Opposition

A. “Corrupt Bargain!”

The first move to bring Andrew Jackson back into politics was a resolution by the state legislature nominating Jackson for president, in July 1822.

On October 1, 1823, the legislature voted 35 to 25 for Jackson for Senator (Senators were elected by state legislatures until 1913). On December 3, 1823, he moved into O'Neil's boardinghouse in Washington City, with his old friend and military subordinate John Eaton.

The "Junto" as Jackson's political colleagues were called, began the campaign for President with Jackson meetings around the country.

His popularity was stunning…In Summer 1823, a series of letters, appeared in a Philadelphia paper, later to be widely circulated in pamphlet form…Signed with the pen name, Wyoming (symbolizing the far Western frontier), they were mostly written by John Eaton.

They talked about the corruption of the time and the need to return to "Republican Virtue"…They identified Jackson with the Founding Fathers, promoted him for the Presidency, and gave some sense of Jackson's ideas on how to run the country.

The party system had all but vanished in America…In 1816, Monroe was elected President by an electoral vote of 183-34 with 4 abstentions. In 1820 it was 231-1.

The old Federalist party, last in office at the beginning of 1801, was fatally wounded due to its association with opposition to the recent struggle with Britain, the War of 1812. "Blue Light Federalist", a term of abuse, implied that Federalists had signaled to British ships with blue lights from the New England shores.

The one viable party was know as the "Democratic", "Republican", or "Democratic Republican" party, and sheltered a mixture of tendencies….Those who favored severe limitations on Federal government called themselves "Old Republicans" or "Radicals".

In 1824, a caucus of the democrats in Congress was called to nominate a candidate for President…The idea of a presidential nominating convention was far in the future. The caucus was widely criticized as contrary to democracy, and attendance was extremely low.

William Crawford, a "Radical", was nominated though he had just had a severe stroke and could not speak. Three other candidates were put in the field: Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and John Quincy Adams.

7 The Election of 1824:

The results were:

Jackson Adams Crawford Clay

Individual Votes 153, 544 108,740 46,618 47,136

Electoral Votes 99 84 41 37

If no presidential candidate had a majority of electoral votes, the House of Representatives chooses from among the top three. Each state casts one vote as a unit.

Henry Clay, in last place, was out of the running. But as Speaker of the house, he did much to eke out an extremely narrow victory for Adams. Then Clay was made Secretary of State - prompting Jackson to call him the "Judas of the West" receiving his "thirty pieces of silver", and making "Corrupt Bargain" the campaign cry of the 1828 election.

Actually, Clay acted on his conviction as well as in self-interest, since Adams' philosophy was most like his. But the result seemed like such a contradiction of the voters' intention that it may have ruined his later presidential hopes.

B. Removing John Quincy Adams

Well aware that he would face hostility in Congress, Adams nevertheless proclaimed in his first Annual Message a spectacular national program.

He proposed that the Federal Government bring the geographical sections of the country together with a network of highways and canals, and that it develop and conserve the public domain, using funds from the sale of public lands.

Adams also urged the United States to take a lead in the development of the arts and sciences through the establishment of a national university, the financing of scientific expeditions, and the erection of an observatory. His critics declared such measures transcended constitutional limitations. --------------------------------- In the years 1825-1828, a strong coalition arose to throw Adams and Clay out of office… and, after Jackson's huge showing, he was the obvious candidate of those who wanted to limit Federal power.

One member of this anti-Adams coalition was the Vice President, John C. Calhoun…He wrote an acquaintance in 1826 that the Adams Administration (and in his words) "because of the way it came to power ... must be defeated at all hazards, regardless of its measures.”

8 Another faction moving into coalition with Jackson were the 'Radicals' or 'Old Republicans', who were rigidly opposed to centralized government…Martin Van Buren of New York State, a kind of political manager for the Radicals, quickly formed a strong

respect for Jackson, and helped forge the link between his group, and Calhoun and Jackson.

Van Buren also favored the creation of strong contending political parties, and became one of the principal architects of the Democratic Party.

Adams hurt his cause in his first State of the Union address. Drawing up an ambitious program of internal improvements, he said he hoped Congress would not give the world the impression "that we are palsied by the will of our constituents". ..Many felt this went to the heart of Adam's disregard for the will of the voting population. **What do you think about this statement? Does this indicate a disregard for the will of the voters, and why?

C. Jackson Triumphant

The 1828 presidential election was one of the dirtiest ever, and Jackson believed, with some reason, that his wife Rachel was driven to an early grave by charges of immorality.

All of Jackson's high-handed actions as General were brought up. One notable example was the "Coffin Handbill" featuring pictures of 6 coffins, and describing, one-sidedly, the story of some soldiers that Jackson had court-martialed and supposedly executed himself…Naturally, Jackson's reputation and record of dueling made good print for the opposition. The most remarkable thing about the Jackson's campaign was an unprecedented level of political organization…The new democratic organization kept in close correspondence, built a network of party newspapers, and created all sorts of spectacles, parades and identifying devices.

One of these identifying devices was that of "Old Hickory"…and, they were everywhere. Large hickory poles erected in town squares or smaller ones attached to signs, steeples, and fore and aft on steam boats. In New York there was a parade a mile long…Hickory brooms also stood for 'Hickory' sweeping out the filth of corruption.

A different sort of campaigning went on in congress, where Jackson supporters played to the Northeastern manufacturing interests by passing high protective tariffs….Jackson favored tariffs for raising revenue, if kept within fairly modest bounds, as well as to protect industries vital to the country's defense….Jackson walked a thin line on this matter, saying he was for a "judicious tariff" and getting some ridicule for this.

9 The South was adamantly anti-tariff, and prominent South Carolinians were on the verge of proclaiming a right to nullify offensive national laws, with a threat of succession if Washington intervened by force.

Yet they supported Jackson….Why?… Southerners must have seen Jackson as the least of two evils against the Adams-Clay alliance….And Adams was the very stereotype of New England with its disdain for the slave states and the poorly educated South and West…The Democrats also expected Vice President Calhoun from South Carolina to wield great influence. Calhoun was secretly very deeply involved with the most extreme anti-tariff men, the so-called "Nullifiers".

During the campaign, Jackson was mostly out of sight, as was thought proper for a presidential candidate. He was very much involved in the running of the campaign, and corresponding with hundreds of local Jackson committees…He did appear at a New Orleans celebration of his victory over the British…the largest public demonstration ever in the United States…One that was unsurpassed for many years.

On election day…in some places… Jackson men marched together to the polls, in a celebratory parade…An astonishing fact is that the number of voters counted nearly quadrupled over 1824‘s numbers.

Four of the 24 states, including New York, took away property requirements for voting, so that basically all white males could vote….In addition, Jackson was saying "Vote for us if you believe the people should govern"….In other words, Democrat meant just what the word implied. Adams' words about not being "palsied by our constituents" certainly reinforced this message to the benefit of the Jackson campaign.

In December, it had become obvious that Jackson won the election in a landslide…The count was 178 to 83 electoral votes, or 647,276 to 508,064 popular votes. --------------------------------- The campaign of 1828, in which his Jacksonian opponents charged him with corruption and public plunder, was an ordeal John Quincy Adams did not easily bear…After his defeat he returned to Massachusetts, expecting to spend the remainder of his life enjoying his farm and his books. Unexpectedly, in 1830, the Plymouth district elected him to the House of Representatives, and there for the remainder of his life he served as a powerful leader… Above all, he fought against circumscription of civil liberties.

In 1836 southern Congressmen passed a "gag rule" providing that the House automatically table petitions against slavery. Adams tirelessly fought the rule for eight years until finally he obtained its repeal…In 1848, he collapsed on the floor of the House from a stroke and was carried to the Speaker's Room, where two days later he died.

10 I. The Age of Jackson (The Age of the Common Man)

On March 4, 1829, an unprecedented throng, thousands of Americans from all regions of the country…farmers, laborers, and other of lower social status…crowded before the Capitol in Washington, DC, to witness the inauguration of Andrew Jackson.

After the ceremonies, the boisterous crowd than moved down Pennsylvania Avenue, following their hero to the White House.

And there, at a public reception open to all, they filled the state rooms past their capacity…trampling one another, soiling the carpets, ruining the elegantly upholstered sofas and chairs in their eagerness to shake their new president’s hand.

Amos Kendall, one of Andrew Jackson’s closest political associates wrote these words reporting his observations of this event, “It was a proud day for the people…General Jackson is their own President.”

However, to other observers, the scene was less appealing…Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, a friend and close colleague of John Marshall, looked upon the event and reported that it was a “disgusting scene.” -------------------------- In a sense, both Kendall and Story were correct.

For if the age of Jackson did not mark the elevation of all Americans to prosperity and equality, it did mark a transformation of American politics that extended power widely to new groups.

Formerly the preserve of a relatively small group of property owners, politics now became the province of virtually all the nation’s citizens (that is, all its white males…for few Jacksonians were willing to contemplate the participation of women or blacks in the electoral process).

At least in a political sense, the age of Jackson well-earned its title of “The Age of the Common Man.”

A. Jackson and Congress

The last part of the 1828-29 session, from the time Jackson was inaugurated, was largely a battle over Jackson's appointments.

11 A major part of his platform was "rotation in office"…Jackson saw a great deal of corruption in the official bureaucracy and threatened to root it out…This generated much fear among the officeholders, and the opposition tried to paint Jackson as a Robespierre instituting a reign of terror.

In reality, he only turned about 10% of officeholders out of office, disappointing many of

his supporters…Still, Jackson is "credited" with instituting the "spoils system" of rewarding ones political supporters with official offices…So whether the appointments were due to a need to replace corrupt officials, or to reward ones party workers, Jackson’s opposition worked hard at resisting his appointments, and in many cases succeeded.

In 1829-30, there were two major legislative events.

The first was the Indian Removal Act which forced many Indian tribes to resettle beyond the Mississippi.

Jackson was very much behind this bill…It was a cruel measure which caused thousands of deaths by starvation and disease, either along the Trail of Tears, or in the new territories which were sometimes barren, and in any event strange and unfamiliar territory to the resettled tribes.

Most of the Indian tribes in the eastern sections of the United States had been all but totally subdued by the expanding nation…and by 1838, under the Indian Removal Act, the five major tribes of the East were forcibly moved over the so-called Trail of Tears to a specially established Indian Territory in Oklahoma…As mentioned, thousands of these Indians perished on this journey hence the name, the Trail of Tears.

The best that can be said for Jackson is that the only other viable alternative at this time was to leave matters in the hands of the states, and that might not have produced any better results. The other legislative event was major one because of the precedent it set.

Jackson vetoed a bill to build a road to Maysville, Kentucky called the Maysville Road. Jackson vetoed this bill on the ground of its being a project to benefit only the state of Kentucky, and hence not a project for the national government…This was the first of Jackson's controversial vetoes.

The 1830-31 session of Congress is not known for any major accomplishment or political maneuvers. Part of the reason is, perhaps, that the many followers of John C. Calhoun (the Vice President) were neither allied to the administration, nor ready to go into open rebellion…Also, Henry Clay, who could have possibly organized Jackson’s opposition had gone into retirement when Adam's defeat ended his cabinet career.

12 However, all of this changed in the 31-32 session.

Not only did Clay return to the Senate, but in December 1831 the National Republicans nominated him for the presidency. Andrew Jackson too, had a much stronger cabinet, free of bickering, which could help organize and promote his program.

Clay returned to the national spotlight feeling pessimistic about his chances against Jackson. He felt his main would to bring a measure to Congress that would put the

administration in an embarrassing position.

Early in this session, Clay proposed a modification of the tariff…lowering it…but leaving the protective elements in. Clay hoped this would, by lowering revenues, have put off Jackson's intended repayment of the national debt by nearly a year.

If Jackson vetoed this bill, he would disappoint the northern states, like Pennsylvania, whose votes he needed…If he approved it, with its strong affirmation of the “protective principal”…i.e. that the government was entitled to pass tariffs on imports, whose primary intent was to protect the American manufacturers of the same items, this would drive a very strong wedge between Jackson and all of his Southern supporters, who wanted freedom to choose between American (Northern) goods and European goods.

Unfortunately for Clay's chances, Congress modified and passed the bill making a moderate reduction of both protective tariffs and pure revenue raising tariffs, which Jackson could sign without a total alienation of the South.

B. Background of the Bank Wars

Jackson came to the presidency with a negative view of banks in general, and especially the Bank of the United States (or "BUS"). This was a bank in private hands with a very special relationship with the government…The government used it as a repository for all its gold and silver, and the bank's bills were accepted as equivalent to gold for any payments to the government.

At this time there was no government issued paper money…Any bill of paper "money" was actually an I.O.U. from a particular bank, redeemable as specie…specie meaning gold or silver.

One function of the BUS, which most historians say it performed well (though Jackson didn't think so) was to maintain the stability of all the circulating currency…Under normal conditions it was believed, and the rule generally held good, that a bank should have immediate access to specie worth one fifth the value of the bills it put into circulation…This was thought, and generally proved, sufficient for the bank to be able to redeem the claims that would be made on it.

13 In theory, everyone could try to redeem their bills on the same day so that even a solid bank, by these standards would be unable to fulfill its pledge, but under normal circumstances this did not happen…However, a bank that had immediate access to only a tenth or a twentieth of the specie value of its circulating bills was a real danger to itself and to its clients.

This is where the BUS helped to maintain the economic stability…The BUS would try to detect such situations in the making, and when detected, would buy up large quantities of the paper of the offending bank, and present them to the offending bank for redemption.

Thus the bank which tried to lend far more money than it could reliably stand behind might be put in embarrassing straights which would stop them from such activities.

One result of this was that the bank had two kinds of enemies. One kind was exemplified by Jackson…those who basically considered gold and silver the only legitimate form of currency.

The other class of enemies were bankers, or their business partners, who were kept by the BUS from involvement in risky schemes (which they probably thought they were entitled to attempt).

There were also quite legitimate causes for concern about the BUS…It did enjoy an advantage over other banks; and for this, it had very little accountability to the government. Also, with its unaccountability and great money power, it could in effect bribe candidates or occupants in office, or buy newspapers to campaign for those friendly to its interests. Because knowing that Jackson was an enemy, it felt that its existence was threatened…And in the 1832 election year, it did these things on a large scale.

Jackson came into office believing that the bank, in its current form, was a menace and that something had to be done about it. Though bold when committed to a course, he did not, tend to rush into things…And there is good reason to suppose he might have only set out to constrain rather than destroy the bank…that is, if the other side had shown a will to compromise.

C. Henry Clay and the Bank Wars

Henry Clay considered the bank issue…if it could be made an issue…to be in his favor.

In 1836 the BUS would cease to be the national bank, if not rechartered by congress. Clay and other members of Congress convinced Nicholas Biddle, the bank's President that the BUS could possibly be rechartered in 1832 with the present congress. But Clay and his supporters indicated to Biddle that they could not be so sure of the recharter if it were put off until after 1832.

14 If the recharter bill was approved by Congress, Jackson could always veto it. But if the bill went before Jackson prior to the 1832 election if Jackson vetoed the bill, he might lose the critical votes of Pennsylvania, the home of the bank, and other states with a strong commercial interest.

Roger B. Taney, Jackson's Attorney General said as Clay‘s and Biddles‘s plan came to light "Now as I understand the application at the present time, it means in plain English this - the Banks says to the President, your next election is at hand - if you charter us, great - if not, beware of your position".

Probably this move by Clay and the Bank, understood by Jackson just as Taney had described it, convinced Jackson that no compromise could be made with the bank.

An odd anti-Jackson coalition was taking shape in Congress. The proponents of Tariffs and of the U.S. as a nation with national transportation projects, joined their most extreme political opponents, headed by John Calhoun. The most extreme of these, including Calhoun, claimed a state's right to declare federal laws (especially tariffs) null, and secede from the Union if the Union sought to force them to comply. These individual were the so-called nullifiers.

The first major act of these "strange bedfellows" was, in January 1832, the rejection of Martin Van Buren for Ambassador to Great Britain…He had been appointed in the congressional recess and served since the summer. He had been a fine secretary of state, therefore no one could doubt he was well qualified for the job.

His rejection by Congress seemed like little more than the National Republican's indulgence of Calhoun's personal feud with Van Buren. In fact a tie vote was artificially contrived so that Calhoun could exercise the Vice-president's right of breaking such ties. Ironically for Calhoun, this action only made it easy for Jackson to have Van Buren, rather than Calhoun, as Vice President in his next term.

Also in January, a formal proposal was made to recharter the BUS.

Administration forces in Congress did all they could to obstruct its passage, or buy time, while the administration press worked on public opinion. They launched an investigation into the bank, finding much pressure being exerted on journalists and politicians.

In June 1832 the recharter bill passed both houses, and soon after, Jackson vetoed the bill, and accepted it as an election issue. When Van Buren returned from Europe following the news of his Senate rejection, he found a haggard Jackson declaring "The bank, Mr. Van Buren is trying to kill me but I will kill it".

The veto message was a stirring campaign document, one of the most powerful ever, though some have said it smacked of political agitation, or class warfare.

15 Part of it went "...when the laws undertake to add to ... make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society - the farmers, mechanics, and laborers ... have a right to complain of the injustice of their Government".

Biddle compared Jackson's veto message to "the fury of a chained panther biting at the bars of his cage ... a manifesto of anarchy, such as Robespierre might have issued to the mobs". And Biddle and his allies were well satisfied that it would prove Jackson's undoing. This only proved how little they understood the American voting population.

D. The 1832 Election

On September 26, 1931, the first national convention in American History nominated William Wirt for president under the banner of the Anti-Masonic Party…This strange and short lived party formed partly because of the apparent murder of William Morgan, an ex-mason, who had tried to publish the Masons' secret rituals, and denounced them.

Political Anti-Masonism may have also represented an attempt to harness the growing feelings of anti-elitism, and as it happened, both major candidates for president were or had been high in the Masonic order. The Masons did seem to have been a kind of social network that was of great use to the social or political climber. It did seem to many that politicians and judges who were Masons were also letting alleged conspirators (that were also Masons) off easily.

The Anti-Mason candidate, Wirt was close in principals to Henry Clay, the National Republican candidate, and regretted having to run against Clay. The Anti-Masons, in fact, drew heavily from the ranks of National Republicans. Some Anti-Masonic and National Republican strategists felt the two parties needed each other to beat Jackson, and tried to get both parties to nominate the same man for president. Clay could have renounced the Masons and run with the Anti-Masonic party, as many did….However, Clay rejected the Anti-Masons, and would not approach them, though he entertained some hopes that Wirt might send support his way.

Therefore, the two parties remained separate, and the National Republicans nominated Clay for president in December. The Democratic party also held a convention almost half a year later, in May. They made Martin Van Buren the Vice Presidential candidate, and of course, Jackson's candidacy for president was taken for granted.

The Jackson Democrats continued to weld together a most impressive organization, and the Democratic press worked overtime to sway public opinion against the Bank of the United States (which was a growing political issue).

They also continued the parades, “ Old Hickory” pole distinguishing symbols, and other morale boosting ploys for the party.

16 In opposition to Jackson’s candidacy, The Bank of the United States reprinted and distributed speeches made by Jackson‘s critics, which they erroneously thought was bad for Jackson. However, in the end, Jackson won the 1832 with 55 percent of the popular vote, and 219 electoral votes to Clay's 49 and Wirt's 7.…Another challenger, John Floyd of Virginia got South Carolina's 11 votes.

II. The Emergence of Whiggery

Jackson’s forceful tactics in crushing the Bank of the United States helped galvanize a

growing opposition coalition that be the mid-1830’s was ready to assert itself in national politics.

It began as a gathering of national political leaders opposed to Jackson’s use of power… Openly condemning Andrew Jackson and calling him “King Andrew I,” this group began to call themselves Whigs, referring to the party in England that traditionally worked to limit the power of the king.

As the new party began to develop as a national organization with supporters in every state, its appeal spread even more…Both in philosophy and in character, the Whig part offered a recognizable contrast to Jackson’s Democratic party.

A. Party Philosophies

Even before the election of Jackson in 1828, those who would ultimately form the Democratic party had stood for a certain general approach to government and society… And during the years of the Jackson administration, that approach began to take the form of something approaching a philosophy.

To the Democrats, America’s future was to be one of steadily expanding opportunities… To that end, the federal government should be limited in power, the rights of states should be protected, and the nation should work to eliminate all social and economic arrangements that served to secure power for the privileged class and hold back the common man.

Jacksonian Democrats believed wholeheartedly in the necessity of material progress… However, in practice, Democrats were far more likely to look with suspicion on proposals for stimulating modern commercial and industrial growth.

They tended to associate such growth with the creation of menacing institutions of power…such as the Bank of the United States.

17 This opposition to economic progress was often seen in the political behavior of many Democrats.

Both in Washington politics and in the state governments, Democratic politicians opposed such modernizing institutions as…government chartered banks and corporations, state-supported internal improvements, even public schools.

Rather than economic development and consolidation, Democrats favored territorial expansion, which they believed would widen opportunities for ambitious Americans. ------------------------- On the other hand, the political philosophy that became known as Whiggery, looked favorably on expanding the power of the federal government…encouraging industrial and commercial development, and tying the country together into a consolidated economic

system.

While Democrats looked suspiciously on such technological advances as railroads, telegraphs, and manufacturing machinery…Whigs embraced such material progress enthusiastically.

And, where Democrats advocated rapid geographic expansion, Whigs urged a more prudent and cautious movement into the West….Whigs were fearful that a too rapid territorial growth would produce instability.

The Whig vision of America was of a nation embracing the industrial future…a vision of a nation rising to world greatness as a commercial and manufacturing power.

And, although Whigs insisted that their vision would result in increasing opportunities for all Americans, they tended to attribute particular value to the enterprising, modernizing forces in their society…that is…the businessmen and organizations that most effectively promoted economic growth.

Therefore, while Democrats were inclined to oppose legislation establishing banks, corporations, and other modernizing institutions…Whigs generally favored such measures.

B. The Crowded Campaign of 1836

Despite the growing power of the Whigs, Andrew Jackson and the Democrats continued to control federal appointments and contracts…And Jackson also continued to make liberal use of his patronage powers to increase the good fortunes of his party’s candidates.

The Democratic party also benefited from Jackson’s continuing popularity and from its elaborate party organization.

18 With little debate, the Democratic party convention nominated Jackson’s personal favorite, Martin Van Buren, as its Democratic candidate for President. ------------------------------ The Whigs, however, in 1836, did not have the same level of unity and discipline as their Democrat opponents….Actually, they could not even agree on a single candidate.

Their strategy…which was masterminded by the Bank of the United States President Nicholas Biddle, was to run several candidates, each of them supposedly strong in their particular part of the country.

The three Whig candidates were Daniel Webster from New England, the former Indian Fighter and hero of the War of 1812 from Ohio, William Henry Harrison, and W. P. Mangum of North Carolina.

Another anti-Van Buren candidate, Hugh Lawson White, who was actually a Democrat, also ran for President. White is often considered a Whig during this election, because he defected to the Whig party shortly after the election.

None of these four anti-Van Buren candidates could hope to get a majority in the electoral college, but herein lies Biddle’s strategy…Together they might draw enough votes away from Van Buren and also prevent him from receiving a majority, forcing the election to go to the House of Representatives.

There, in the House, the Whigs could conceivably maneuver votes to elect one of their own men.

However, when the returns were in, Van Buren had clearly won a majority of the electoral as well as the popular votes.

C. Economic Dilemmas of the Van Buren Administration

At the time of the election of 1836, while Andrew Jackson was still in office, a nationwide boom was reaching its height.

Canal developers and railroad builders were at a peak of activity. Prices were rising as people indulged in frenzy of spending and speculating.

Money was plentiful…most of it manufactured by the banks….banks which multiplied their loans and banknotes with little regard to their reserves of specie.

By early 1837, outstanding bank loans amounted to five times as much as in 1830...never had a nation seemed so prosperous.

19 Land, as usual, was a favorite target of speculation, especially the land sold by the federal government…Nearly three-fourths of the land being sold by the government went to speculators…These were men acquiring large tracts of land in the hope of reselling at a profit…And this left only about one fourth of government land sales to actual settlers.

Land speculators generally borrowed from the banks to make payment at the land offices.

For the time being the government profited…Receipts from land sales, which had averaged less than $2.4 million annually for the ten years preceding 1835, rose to more than $24 million in 1836.

Land sales were the government’s largest source of revenue….In 1836, the government was receiving more money than it was paying out, and steadily the national debt was being reduced….By the beginning of 1837, the government for the first and only time in

its history was completely out of debt. ------------------------------------------- Not only was the government out of debt…there was also a large and growing surplus in the US treasury….The question for Congress and the administration was how to get rid of the treasury surplus.

The question that arose was…why not give the surplus to the states?…This would be an effective way of getting rid of it, and the idea appealed to Congress. Congress passed, and Jackson signed a distribution act providing that the surplus accumulated (about $40 million) be paid to the states in four quarterly installments…each state getting a share proportional to its representation in Congress.

As the states began to get their shares, they promptly spent their money…constructing highways, railroads, and canals.

The distribution of this governmental surplus gave further stimulus to the economic boom.

However, this transfer of federal funds to the states began to strain the so-called “pet banks” that were now handling federal accounts…This was because they were having to call in a large part of their own loans in order to cover the funds being transferred to the state governments. ------------------------- Congress did nothing to check the speculation fever and the still sitting president, Andrew Jackson, was becoming very concerned…Though money continued to pour into the US treasury from the land offices, most of it was money of doubtful value.

The government was selling good land and was receiving in return a miscellaneous collection of state bank notes, none of them worth any more than the credit of the issuing bank.

20 Jackson decided to act….he issued his Specie Circular (1836), announcing that in the future only hard money or the notes of “specie-paying” banks would be accepted for the sale of government lands. --------------------------- Martin Van Buren had been president less than three months when panic struck.

The banks of New York, followed by those of the rest of the country, suddenly suspended specie payments (that is, they stopped paying cash on demand for their banknotes and other obligations)….During the next few years, hundreds of banks failed, and so did hundreds of other business firms.

As unemployment grew, bread riots occurred in some of the larger cities…Prices fell, especially the price of land…..many railroad and canal developments were abandoned… The ensuing economic depression, The Panic of 1837 , the worst depression the

American people had ever experienced, lasted for five years. ---------------------------------- The Whigs blamed Jackson for the depression…They said the depression had come because of his destruction of the National Bank and his mismanagement of public finance….But, the Whigs were also to blame.

The legislation to distribute the treasury surplus was sponsored by the Whigs, even though Jackson signed it…This act, by weakening the “pet banks” handling federal funds, helped bring on the economic crash because Jackson’s Specie Circular started a general run on the banks as land buyers rushed to get cash in return for their banknotes in order to be able to purchase government lands. ------------------- However, neither the Whigs nor Jackson were totally to blame….Actually, the depression was international, affecting England and Western Europe as well.

As English investors faced a financial crisis at home, they began to withdraw funds from America, thus accounting for part of the strain on American banks.

A succession of crop failures on American farms not only reduced the purchasing power of farmers but also necessitated imports of food from other countries…In order to pay for these imports, additional money was therefore drawn out of the United States, thus accounting for part of the strain on American banks. ------------------------------ Besides its economic consequences, the Panic of 1837 had other significant results.

Hard times increased social, sectional, and economic tensions….Distress among the people was turned into dissatisfaction with the administration, so that the predominance of the Democrats was brought to and end after Martin Van Buren had served but a single term.

21 D. The Log Cabin Campaign

As the campaign of 1840 approached, the Whigs scented victory…The effects of the depression still gripped the country, and the Democrats, the party power, were now vulnerable to attack.

The Whigs, now began realizing that a party representing the upper-income groups, must pose as a party of the people if it expected to win the election.

The Whigs also realized that they would have to achieve more unity and a stronger organization than they had demonstrated in 1836...They would this time have to settle on one candidate who could appeal to all segments of the party and to all sections of the country. -------------------------- The Whigs held their first convention in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, December 1839...The

convention nominated William Henry Harrison of Ohio, and for vice president, they nominated John Tyler of Virginia..

Although he had little governmental experience, he was a renowned Indian fighter like Andrew Jackson, and he was also a popular national figure because of his War of 1812 record.

The Democrats, meeting in their national convention at Baltimore, Maryland, nominated Martin Van Buren again for president. ---------------------------- The Whigs depicted themselves as the party of the people, the party able to save the nation from depression…and, the Whigs then accused the president of being an aloof aristocrat who used cologne, drank champagne, ate off gold plates, and otherwise engaged in undemocratic and un-American practices.

In retaliation, a Democratic newspaper unwisely claimed that William Harrison was a simple soul who would be glad to retire to a log cabin if provided with a pension and plenty of hard cider.

In a country where many people lived in or had lived in log cabins, this was an unwise line of attack…and the Whigs took full advantage.

Yes, declared the Whigs, their candidate was a simple man of the people, and he loved log cabins and hard cider…Thereafter, the log cabin was an established symbol at every Whig meeting, and hard cider became the established beverage.

Against such techniques and the lingering effects of the depression, the Democrats could not hope to win…When the votes were counted in November, William Henry Harrison was elected as the 9th president of the United States.

22 E. The Frustration of the Whigs

Despite their decisive victory, the Whigs were to find the next four years frustrating and divisive ones.

In large part, that was because their appealing new president, “Old Tippecanoe,” William Harrison, neither had a chance to demonstrate what sort of leader he might become.

Sixty-eight years old in 1841, he had appeared to be in good health…but the strain of the campaign and the inauguration (after which he rode bareheaded through the streets of Washington to the White House in the bitter cold), seemed to become too much for him.

Shortly after taking office, he contracted a cold…His cold soon turned into pneumonia… and Harrison died on April 4, 1841.…exactly one month after he had been inaugurated. --------------------------- Harrison was the first president to die in office. And there was momentary uncertainty as

to what should happen next….Of course the constitution was quite clear that the “powers and duties” of the president would pass to the vice president in the event of the president’s death.

And, when John Tyler calmly took the oath of office as president, he left no doubt that he considered himself the legitimate new president of the United States. --------------- Troubling to the leaders of the Whig party was that with Harrison gone, control of the government had passed to a man with whom they much weaker ties.

Tyler was originally a Democrat…He had left the party in reaction to what he considered Jackson’s excessive politics of equal rights for all….The main reason the Whigs had included him on their party ticket was to attract votes of similarly disenchanted conservative Democrats.

But, while John Tyler had certain attitudes in common with the Whig leadership, there was still signs of his Democratic past in his approach to public policy. ---------------------- Because of the Whig concern over Tyler’s true political devotion, Congress in an unprecedented action revoked Tyler’s membership from the Whig party…All of Tyler’s Whig cabinet members except Daniel Webster resigned…and to fill their places, the president appointed men of his own political leanings…all former Democrats.

Therefore, a foreboding new political alignment was taking shape…Tyler and a small band of conservative Southern Whigs who followed him were getting ready to rejoin the Democrats.

23 When the office of secretary of state became vacant in 1844, Tyler appointed John C. Calhoun from South Carolina, who was the ex-vice president, and one of the soon-to-be leaders in the drive for Southern independence.

Now…in the common man’s party of Democrats Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, came a group of men who had aristocratic ideas about government…men who thought that government had an obligation to protect and even expand the institution of slavery, and who believed in states’ rights with a single-minded, almost fanatical devotion.