History Lecture 10 24 2013 Andrew Jackson and the Era of the Common Man Key Terms Whig Party Minstrel Shows How should we think of Andrew Jackson Frederick Jackson Turner Jackson was the West itself Thomas Perkins Abernathy Jackson was ever an aristocrat at heart Jackson s Early Life Elected president 1828 All presidents before him had been born in wealthy families in a limited geographic area Virginia Massachusetts Born in 1767 of Irish immigrant parents in a back country Carolina settlement Grew up on his aunt s plantation Basic schooling and a dislike of books and abstract ideas Described as being hit tempered and aggressive Enlisted in the militia during the Revolution and was captured by the British Trained as a lawyer In 1788 he followed a friend with connections to Tennessee bringing seven slaves o He was a very wealthy man by age 21 one of the wealthiest in Tennessee Rode the circuit as a lawyer In 1791 Jackson married Rachel Donelson Robards o She never divorced her first husband yet married Jackson anyway 1806 he kills a man in a duel Indian Fighter Jackson gained a reputation as a fierce Indian Fighter in Creek War 1813 1814 and Seminole War 1817 1819 o The US gained a vast tract of land as a result of the Creek War Military Hero War of 1812 Battle of New Orleans 1815 emerged a war hero After becoming a military hero Jackson Was present at 6 out of the 11 treaties of cession made with southern Indians between 1814 1824 Acquired a fortune speculating land In 1818 Jackson built The Hermitage a very immaculate mansion o In short Jackson became a very big spender He served in the U S House and Senate and on the Tennessee Supreme Court At the time of his election Jackson lived off the labour of more than 100 slaves Andrew Jackson the candidate in 1824 Characterized himself as half horse half alligator 1824 Election Jackson referred to this as the corrupt bargain o He had one more of the electoral and popular vote but Adams was still declared winner party Election of 1828 A Watershed Moment Factions within the Democratic Republican party arise o Those individuals with nationalist sympathies split into the National Republican Nominee in 1828 is John Quincy Adams o Those with states rights sympathies splint into the Democratic party Nominee in 1828 Andrew Jackson We see the re emergence of a two party system Significant because we see more campaigning than ever before Results of the 1828 Election Jackson wins 69 of the electoral vote Jackson strengthened the power of the Executive branch o Uses the power of the veto extensively Those who opposed him nicknamed him King Andrew National Republican Party re named the Whigs in response o Whigs were a group in England who opposed the King Democrats vs Whigs Democrats o Advocates of state s rights o Sought to limit government intervention into the economy o Attracted support from aspiring entrepreneurs the urban working class back country farmers and some slaveholders Whig Party o Supported the American System A protective tariff A national bank Federal aid to internal improvements Federal regulation of the economy o Attracted support from established businessmen bankers farmers near canals rivers etc and the plantation aristocracy o Election of 1828 Rise in popular democracy As states got rid of property requirements they added that one must be white and male in order to vote By 1843 fully 93 of blacks in the North lived in states which explicitly prevented them from voting By the 1820s scientists began arguing that racial inferiority of Native and African Americans was innate something they were born with Phrenology o The science of determining an individual s intellectual capacity by the shape of the Scientific Racism skull Minstrel Shows Widely popular form of entertainment in the 1820s Consisted of skits singing and dancing all performed by white actors in blackface Ridiculed black people as ignorant lazy and superstitious Significant because o Highlights the fact that racist stereotypes were at the heart of American culture in the early mid 19th century o Minstrel shows provided working class white men with a means through which to assert their superiority o Minstrel shows were a national phenomenon Other emergent forms of American culture Boxing Blood sports o Cock fighting o Dog Fighting Novels and the penny press Conclusion Rather than the era of the common man the 1820s witnessed the rise of a white man s republic