A PEOPLE and A NATION SIXTH EDITION Norton

A PEOPLE and A NATION SIXTH EDITION Norton Katzman Blight Chudacoff Paterson Tuttle Escott Chapter 11: Reform and Politics in the Age of Jackson, 1824– 1845 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -2 Ch. 11: Reform & Politics in the Age of Jackson, 1824– 45 • Religious revivalism and massive social and economic changes give rise to reform • Reformers eventually enter politics, especially Antimasons and Abolitionists • Second Party System: greater organization and participation as parties compete over role of government in society and economy • Both parties push for westward expansion Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -3 I. Second Great Awakening (1790 s– 1840 s) • Religion is the prime motivator for reformers • Itinerant evangelists at camp revivals stress emotional personal conversion to attain salvation; extensive in South and New York • Religion democratized: greater lay activity • Baptists and Methodists grow, and women very active in revivals and later reform Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -4 I. Second Great Awakening (cont. ) • Revivalists stress human perfectibility: all can attain salvation and all can improve • All have a moral obligation to combat evil • Besides missionaries, evangelicals become reformers and create numerous reform groups • Try to address the many problems in rapidly changing U. S. w/ new market economy • Women active reformers; a new public path Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -5 II. Reforms • Female reformers often disagreed w/ males • While men blame prostitutes, female reformers advocate punishing male patrons and helping prostitutes find decent jobs • Temperance groups formed by evangelicals (alcohol a sin) and female reformers (stress damage to families) • Employers support them to increase production Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -6 II. Reforms (cont. ) • American Society for the Promotion of Temperance (1826) lobbies for individual abstinence and state prohibition laws • Per capita alcohol consumption drops sharply • Many reformers are biased against immigrants • Dorothea Dix seeks reform for mentally ill and orphans; exposes inhumane facilities and lobbies states for improvements Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -7 III. Antimasonry (mid-1820 s to mid-1830 s) • Freemasons: a secret fraternity of the elite • Antimasons see them as an evil danger to Republic; spurred to action by the murder of a Mason (1826) • Enter politics w/ conventions to select candidates to challenge Masons for office • First national convention (1831) and nominate a presidential candidate (1832) Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -8 III. Antimasonry (cont. ) • Strong in New England NY; weak in South • Declines (mid-1830 s) because single-issue party, and Mason activity decreases • Political ramifications: inspired political participation, especially non-elite classes • Pioneered nominating conventions and party platform Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -9 IV. Abolitionism • Before 1830 s, few whites support abolition • American Colonization Society (1816) pushes gradual, voluntary abolition and deportation of all blacks to Africa (Liberia) • African Americans (Walker, Douglas, Tubman, Truth) pioneered demand for immediate, uncompensated end of slavery • Stress evils of slavery; conflict w/ U. S. ideals Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -10 V. William Lloyd Garrison & Immediatists (1830 s) • A few whites join black immediatists • Motivated by religion: see slavery as sin and abolition as moral crusade; intense political activists who reject compromise • White immediatists found Liberator (1831) and American Anti-Slavery Society (1833) • Most white abolitionists are not immediatists; agree slavery a sin, but want a gradual end Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -11 VI. Opposition to Abolitionists • Massive white resistance to abolitionists, especially immediatists; many riots (1835 peak year) and murders, mainly in South • U. S. House adopts "gag rule" (1836) to block discussion of abolition petitions • Violence and repression (censorship) unifies abolitionists and spurred them to more action Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -12 VII. Women Abolitionists & Women's Rights • Women active abolitionists, but criticism from abolition opponents and male reformers causes women to examine gender inequality • Grimke sisters insist men and women have "same rights and same duties" • Stanton, Mott, and Stone organize convention (Seneca Falls, 1848) and launch movement Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -13 VII. Women Abolitionists & Women's Rights (cont. ) • Declaration at Seneca Falls is modeled after 1776 Declaration • Demand equality in politics (vote), society (education), and economy (property) so women can achieve full individual potential • Encounter massive male resistance, but create new public, political roles for women Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -14 VIII. Election of 1824 • More open political system develops • By 1824, most states allow popular vote (not state legislatures) to pick electors • Four regional candidates challenge candidate of congressional caucus • Democratic-Republicans split; no one earns majority; House picks JQ Adams as president Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -15 IX. Election of 1828 • Jackson supporters angered by Clay's "corrupt bargain" (1824) and organize to undermine President JQ Adams • Jackson's Democrats defeat National Republicans (1828) w/ massive organization and popular participation • Democrats are the first organized, national political party; and Jackson is first president from West Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -16 X. Andrew Jackson • Rose from humble start to become a wealthy planter and slaveowner (TN); campaigns on his military victories and common man origins • Opposes U. S. Government activity of Adams • Opposes centralized economic and political power; assumes such policies favor rich • Stresses return to Jefferson's agrarian republic Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -17 XI. Jacksonians as Reformers • Opposes reforms (public education) that increase government to solve problems • Strengthens presidency (Kitchen Cabinet for advice, vetoes frequently to control Congress) • Begins spoils system to reward Democrats • Jackson claims he helps majority, but opponents see "King Andrew" as tyrant Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -18 XII. Nullification Crisis • Regional debates (tariff) ignite crisis over relationship of states to U. S. Government • Calhoun and Hayne (SC) assert that a state can void a U. S. law it sees as unconstitutional • Claim nullification protects minority (South) from tyranny of majority (North) • Planters argue nullification protects slavery Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -19 XII. Nullification Crisis (cont. ) • Webster argues nullification will create disorder and undermine U. S. strength • Jackson agrees w/ Webster and reacts quickly when SC nullifies tariff (1832) • Prepares for military intervention w/ Force Act, but also offers tariff reduction • Lacking southern support, SC retreats, but state/federal debate is not resolved Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -20 XIII. Second Bank of the United States (BUS) • Helps w/ credit, currency, and state bank regulation, but states resent its influence • Jackson vetoes recharter (1832); asserts that BUS helps rich and is undemocratic • Major issue in campaign, and Democrats easily defeat National Republicans (Clay) • Jackson dismantles BUS (1833) Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -21 XIV. Specie Circular (1836) • Ends credit purchases of public land • Jackson fears state banks issuing risky loans/ bank notes (Jackson dislikes paper currency) • Circular causes credit contraction, fewer land sales, and economic downturn • Congress opposes Circular, but is unable to change it till 1838 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -22 XV. Second Party System • Reform and new party system changes politics • Jackson's opponents form Whigs (1834) to fight Jackson's "tyranny" • 2 parties compete nationally at all levels • Both organize and generate high voter participation in many close elections • Almost universal adult white male suffrage Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -23 XVI. Whigs • Advocate activist U. S. Government to spur economic growth (new BU. S. , more paper currency) and reforms (public education) • Religion/ethnicity affects party membership • Evangelical Protestants join Whigs (blend politics and religion); foreign-born, Catholics and non-evangelical Protestants support Democrats (separate politics and morality) Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -24 XVII. Elections of 1836 & 1840 • Van Buren, a professional politician defeats Whigs in 1836, but then hurt by depression (late 1830 s– 1843) • Whigs in 1840 campaign on economy and win w/ military hero, Harrison • Harrison dies soon after inaugural, and Tyler (former Democrat) alienates fellow Whigs Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -25 XVIII. Manifest Destiny & Expansionism (1840 s) • Both parties push expansion west and south • Manifest Destiny: expansion is inevitable, just, and divinely ordained; very nationalistic • Reflects land hunger and racism (to whites, Indians and Hispanics are inferior) • Security (U. S. wants secure borders) • Anglo-American tensions grow partly because British oppose U. S. expansion Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -26 XIX. Texas & Oregon • Whites in Texas break w/ Mexico (1836), but U. S. hesitates to admit • Would increase number of slave states • Texas is independent, and some Americans fear it would ally w/ British to block U. S. expansion • Many northerners settle in Oregon; creates border conflicts w/ England Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -27 XX. Election of 1844 • Southerners want Texas, and northerners want whole Oregon Territory • 2 well-organized parties compete in close election w/ high voter participation • Polk (Democrat) wins w/ strident expansionist platform on Texas and Oregon • Admit Texas (1845); creates conflict w/Mexico Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11 -28 Summary: Discuss Legacy & How Do Historians Know • What "Bible Belt" was formed in the early 1800 s and how did it contrast w/ 1600 s and 1700 s? • How is a distinct South in part a legacy of this era? • HDHK box p. 285*: how does The Liberator reflect reform activities by women and African Americans? *Norton, A People and a Nation, Sixth Edition Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.