01:512:104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Yankee Ingenuity, John Quincy Adams, Spoils System
16 May 2018
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Chapter 10 - The Growth of Democracy
The New Democratic Politics
• Had the USA still consisted only of the thirteen original states, the
North-South compromises might well have broken down by the 1820's
and split the nation into two parts.
• Westward expansion was the unifying force
• Westward expansion encouraged the democratic process
The Expansion and Limits of Suffrage
• Before 1800 the original 13 states limited the vote to property owners=
wealth held power
• Mobility undermined the social structure
• Western states extended the right to vote to all white males, forcing
older states to follow
• More factions = more concessions to get votes
• Women didn't get the vote, neither did blacks
• Could mob rule succeed?
The Election of 1824
• The "Era of Good Feelings" ended with the Panic of 1819 and the
Missouri Crises
• Democratic Republican was fractured and as a result 4 candidates ran
• Andrew Jackson
• John Quincy Adams
• William H. Crawford
• Henry Clay
• Adams and Clay were tied so Clay supported Adams= Clay became
secretary of state= Jackson was pissed and had public support so he
was poised to win next election
• Election of 1824 spelled the end of elitist politics
Organizing Popular Politics
• Van Buren had a vision of tightly organized, broad-0based political
groups
• Politics now appealed to popular enthusiasms
• Beginnings of mass rallies
• New politics were heavily based on party loyalty, politicians were loyal
to the people and vice versa
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• The task of politicians was to emphasize those differences in ways that
forged support not just for one election but for permanent national
communities of political interest
The Election of 1828
• The first election to demonstrate the power and effectiveness of the new
party system
• Andrew Jackson, with Van Buren as campaign manager rode the wave
of the new democratic politics to the presidency beating JQA who
formed the new National Republican party
• Changed Democratic Republicans to Democrats
• Jackson's running mate was Calhoun, JQA's vice president
• That Calhoun could change factions so easily would end with the new
party politics
• Democrats were the first to create a coalition between North, South and
West= Jackson victory
The Jackson Presidency
• "The Age of the Common Man"
• The first politician to respond to the ways in which westward expansion
and the extension of the suffrage were changing politics
A Popular Figure
• Represented the common man
• A military hero
• Antagonistic to British and FNP
• Jackson's inauguration was packed with common people
The Spoils System and the New Politics
• Rewarded party loyalists by giving them positions in the government
• Strong difference between old and new politics
• Old people switched side regularly, (Calhoun)
The Nation's Leader vs. Sectional Spokesmen
• Jackson believed that he was a national figure
• Jackson believed that the president represented everyone= strong
executive
• Believed that the majority should govern instead of the sectional past
• Opponents were Calhoun (south), Clay (West) and Webster (north)
• Calhoun was a defender of the slave system
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• Webster was advocate of tariffs. A national bank, and a strong judiciary
• Clay was only one willing to forge political alliances
A Strong Executive
• Jackson with Van Buren dominated government
• Used veto more frequently
• Gave power to the states (roads)
Internal Improvements: Building an Infrastructure
• Despite arguments over who should fund infrastructure everyone
agreed that it needed to be done
The Transportation Revolution
• National Road- largest federal expense tying East and West= fostering
a national community
Canals and Steamboats
• Roads were unpractical for commercial purposes
• Erie Canal
• Yankee ingenuity
• Imported Irish workers
• Turned New York away from Europe to America
• Success convinced other states to build their own canals= canal boom
• Steam boat were more efficient and able to navigate inland rivers
• Boom to river cities
Railroads
• Forced America's iron industry to modernize
• Labor intensive
• At first steamboats and canals would be more efficient
• No standard rail width= slow start
The Legal Infrastructure
• Federal courts asserted broad federal powers over interstate commerce
• Encouraged enterprise
• Court prevented states from interfering with contracts
• Court denied monopoly= competition
• Fulton's steamboat invention was patented but the actual application
wasn't
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