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Democracy came to reflect the idea of popular sovereignty
Also social leveling and the decline of deference
Opportunity and self-made men
The founding fathers considered democracy to be direct rule of the people
A concept they feared and rejected
Jacksonians considered the voice of the people to be the voice of God
No one could expect social privilege because of family ties
European visitors noted the lack of first class accommodations
The word servant was disappearing; in its place was help
Domestic workers were not considered a social subclass
Members of different earning groups dressed similarly
Democracy expressed itself in medicine, law and religion
Unorthodox healers were given place alongside doctors
Local bars allowed lower standards in some areas
The clergy came under more control of the laity
The popular press became increasingly important
Written and read by common people
Many small venues and a few influential papers with large readership
Democratic expression in literature and art
Popular taste v. elite or traditional culture
Romanticism was adapted to sentimentalism in popular literature
Formulaic gothic novels sold well
Possible because of increased literacy
Also cheaper printing
More novels written by women
Focused on avoiding vice and tricking evil suitors
Virtuous women eventually found virtuous men
Melodrama became popular in theater
Stock characters: bad man, good woman, good man
Bad acting or scripts could result in riots
Patrons behaved raucously
Artists captured everyday subjects
William Sydney Mount and George Caleb Bingham
Credo: Never paint for the few but for the many
Architecture was viewed as civic art
Reflected Greek forms and styles
Monumental impressiveness at a low cost
Sculpture used heroic Americans as subjects
For public admiration and inspiration
Horatio Greenough and Clark Mills were prominent
Higher culture emphasized self-reliance, transcendentalism
Longfellow, Lowell and Holmes the Brahmin Poets
Hawthorne and Melville experiment with romanticism
Landscape painters: Cole, Durand Church (Hudson River School)
Poe was more European, anti-establishment
Universal white manhood suffrage was the rule by the 1820s
Rise in elected v appointed officials
Martin Van Buren and others began to build statewide
political organizations
Idea of the loyal opposition developed
Other political changes
Two party system enhanced
Electors more often chosen by popular vote
Voting percentages increased dramatically
1824 27%
1828 55%
1840 78%
Panic of 1819 concern about money issues
Issues such as banks, tariffs, internal improvements
Jacksonians were concerned about monied interests
Opponents were concerned about rabble rousers
New York Working Men's Party thought so
Also favored redistribution of assets
Philadelphia was a center of labor activity
General Trades Unions was formed
Achieved a 10-hour workday
Set an early precedent for mass action
Abolitionists became more active
Some also wanted equal rights for women
These reformers saw little success
The Election of 1824 and J.Q. Adams Administration
A messy election: Republicans were in disarray
Congressional Republican chose William Crawford
Monroe favored John Quincy Adams
Henry Clay and John Calhoun also ran
Andrew Jackson
Calhoun withdrew, Crawford had a stroke
Sent Southern votes to Jackson
Jackson won a plurality of electoral votes
Cast election to the House
Clay gave his support to Adams
Not seen as legitimately elected
The new Congress was hostile to JQA
Jackson supporters passed a tariff of abominations
Tried to establish a national university and observatory
Hoped to develop a national system of canal and RRs
Unpopularity doomed his plans
Adams accused of gambling, corruption
Mrs. Adams said to be illegitimate
Jackson accused of violence murder
Mrs. Jackson said to be a bigamist
Jackson the common man, military hero
First pres candidate born in a log cabin
noble man
JQA
The overeducated aristocrat
The New England intellectual
Jackson wins easily
Reorganizes cabinet after two years
Affected by the Peggy Eaton Affair
Van Buren rewarded as Minister of England
Jackson favored removal to W of the Mississippi River
GA, AL and MS wanted quick action
The Cherokee refused to move
Also republican form of government
Thought their measures of civilization should protect them
Jackson favored coercive state action and denied Cherokee autonomy
The Supreme Court supported the Cherokee (Worcester v GA)
Cherokee removal (Trail of Tears) happened anyway
Jackson despised centralized economic power, private investors profiting from public funds, or all three.
Biddle became back president of the Bank in 1823.
The bank had performed well under his direction
Some feared that the bank placed too much power in the hands of a
small, privileged group.
Jackson had great reservations about the Bank
Biddle asked early for recharter in 1832 4 years early
Introduced in Congress in 1832 passed with ease
Jackson vetoed the bill
Noted his belief that the bank was unconstitutional
Violated the fundamental right of democracy and equal
Protection
Congress failed to override the veto
Democrats stood behind Jackson's decision in election of 1832
National Republicans (Clay) incorrectly assess pro-bank sentiment
Jackson sees victory in 1832 as a mandate to finish the bank off
Jackson withdraws federal funds from the Bank
New Secretary of the Treasury Roger Taney also ceased new deposits
State gave extended credit recklessly
National Bank counterattacked by calling in outstanding loans
Biddle hoped to win support for the recharter
Congress began to oppose AJ's fiscal policy
Senate refused to confirm Taney
The result was an economic crisis in 1837
Jackson's banking policies led to runaway inflation
Deposits into pet banks caused inflation and weakened fed controls
The Specie Circular ended loose money policies in 1836
A drastic measure that led to the Panic of 1837
AJ's loyal VP succeeds in the election of 1836
Whigs split with regional candidates in order to throw election to
the House
Van Buren created an independent subtreasury to fight the Panic
Whigs stalled the bill of three years
Whigs favored recharter of the National Bank
Whigs ran military hero William Henry Harrison in 1840
VP John Tyler of VA
Whigs portrayed homespun hero to luxury loving aristocrat
Harrison wins narrowly in popular vote
Two national parties compete on equal footing
Two parties offered different ideologies
Whigs positive liberal state
Govt right and duty to intervene
To subsidize and protect general prosperity and growth
Democrats negative liberal state
Hands off avoid government interference
Avoid creating privilege for the wealthy
Whig supporters—industrialists, merchants and farmers
Favored high tariffs,wanted stimuli for the market economy
Favored government supported moral reform (protestants)
Concerned about new immigrants
Democrat supporters small farmers, workers, emerging entrepreneurs
Revealed negative feelings about the market economy
Favored by immigrants and those who favored immoral
Amusements
Believed in self-reliance and equality for all white men
Returned to the US to visit in 1831
Had a generally favorable impression of American progress
Liked the involvement of the common man in government
Appreciated the retention of civil liberties
Concerned about the inequalities between whites and persons of color
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