The American Nation A History of the United States, Combined Volume (14th Edition)

266 Chapter 9 Jacksonian Democracy

1828 Andrew Jackson is elected president
1829 Crowds cause chaos at Jackson’s White House
inaugural reception
Jackson relies on his “Kitchen Cabinet”
1830 Daniel Webster, in his “Second Reply to Hayne,”
calls Union perpetual and indissoluble
Jackson vetoes the Maysville Road Bill
1831 Nat Turner leads slave rebellion in Virginia
Chief Justice Marshall denies Cherokee rights in
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia
1831– Southern Indians are removed to Oklahoma
1838 South Carolina defends states’ rights in
Ordinance of Nullification
Force Bill grants president authority to execute
revenue laws
Jackson vetoes Bank Recharter Bill
Chief Justice Marshall rules in Cherokees’ favor in
Worcester v. Georgia
Jackson is reelected president

Milestones

Chapter Review

1833 Treasury Secretary Roger B. Taney orders

Treasury funds removed from Bank of the

United States

Calhoun and Clay push through Compromise

Tariff

1836 Jackson issues Specie Circular to control

speculation

Martin Van Buren is elected president

1837– Panic sweeps nation, ending boom

1838

1838 4,000 Cherokee die on Trail of Tears to

Oklahoma

1840 “Log Cabin” Campaign is first to use “hoopla”

William Henry Harrison is elected president

1841 Harrison dies one month after inauguration; John

Tyler becomes president

Key Terms

Bank war The political dispute over whether to
renew the charter of the Second Bank of the
United States. In 1832, Congress voted to rechar-
ter the bank but President Andrew Jackson vetoed
the measure and the charter expired in 1836. He
argued that the Bank was unconstitutional, a dan-
gerous monopoly, and vulnerable to control by
foreign investors, 252
Jacksonian democracy A political doctrine, chiefly
associated with Andrew Jackson, that proclaimed
the equality of all adult white males—the common

man—and disapproved of anything that smacked

of special privilege, such as chartered banks, 248

nullification A doctrine, forcefully articulated by

John C. Calhoun in 1828, asserting that a state

could invalidate, within its own boundaries, federal

legislation the state regarded as unconstitutional, 258

second party system A term for the political con-

tention between the Democratic party, as rejuve-

nated by Andrew Jackson in 1828, and the

Whigs, who emerged in response to Jackson, 260

The Democrats had been blown up by their
own bomb. In 1828 they had portrayed John
Quincy Adams as a bloated aristocrat and Jackson
as a simple farmer. The lurid talk of Van Buren din-
ing off golden plates was no different from the sto-
ries that made Adams out to be a passionate
gambler. If Van Buren was a lesser man than
Adams, Harrison was a pale imitation indeed of
Andrew Jackson.
The Whigs continued to repeat history by rush-
ing to gather the spoils of victory. Washington was
again flooded by office seekers, the political confu-
sion was monumental. Harrison had no ambition to
be an aggressive leader. He believed that Jackson had
misused the veto and professed to put as much

emphasis as had Washington on the principle of the

separation of legislative and executive powers. This

delighted the Whig leaders in Congress, who had had

their fill of the “executive usurpation” of Jackson.

Either Clay or Webster seemed destined to be the real

ruler of the new administration, and soon the two

were squabbling over their old general like sparrows

over a crust.

At the height of their squabble, less than a

month after his inauguration, Harrison fell gravely ill.

Pneumonia developed, and on April 4 he died. John

Tyler of Virginia, honest and conscientious but doc-

trinaire, became president of the United States. The

political climate of the country was changed dramati-

cally. Events began to march in a new direction.