Introduction

Andrew Jackson's inauguration as president signaled many changes for the office of President and for the future direction of American politics in general. In this sense he was as significant in his own way as had been George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. George Washington's administration had established many precedents and limits to which future Presidents would be held. But his administration had been dignified and regal and his inauguration full of pomp and circumstance. Thomas Jefferson's administration had differed from Washington's in several key ways, where Washington had been elected unanimously by a select group of voters Jefferson had fought a rather bitter campaign among a much larger and divided electorate. Washington was elected before political parties became a permanent fixture on the American political scene and his administrations were the only ones composed of individuals whose abilities and talents came before their political affiliations. Jefferson' election was completely different. He was the first President elected whose party was a change from his predecessor and to be so different in political philosophy to be described as "The Revolution of 1800." Jefferson's administration was also marked by very noticeably informality reflected in his embrace of a "pell-mell" approach to social hierarchy. Where Washington had wished to maintain the dignity of the office of President and was careful not exceed the limits place upon the office by the Constitution, Jefferson tested the limits of presidential power while at the same time made the President a much less lofty figure. If Jefferson had started the process of democratizing the office of President, Jackson would finish the job.
When Jackson first ran for President in 1824 the revolutionary generation was all but gone and when Jefferson and John Adams died two years later the stage had been set for new leadership. While the Founding Fathers had believed that the common man needed political power to guarantee the rights recognized in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, they also believed that it would be the individuals such as themselves who would continue to lead the nation. This concept would be replaced by the era of Andrew Jackson and Jacksonian Democracy. If Jefferson had represented "noblesse oblige," or the idea that the best in society where obligated to serve the public by leading, Jackson represented a new political idiom that all men were "as competent and as politically important as his neighbor." The Jacksonians believed that political ability was possessed by all of the citizenry and that anyone could serve effectively in elected office. Many changes made this shift possible.
As new states had developed in the West the vote was separated from property requirements and many more ordinary men were able to vote for the first time. This increase in the franchise led to the election of more ordinary individuals who began to be seen not just office holders but as direct representative of their constituents by virtue of their similarity to the electorate. These development also stimulated the growth of active political parties because with more votes to compete for campaigns needed to appeal to a wider and more divers body politic. While this led to more popular involvement in elections it also degraded the quality of political discourse. Where the voters probably had understood the actual positional differences between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, the struggle between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson involved very little real political discussion and a lot of vicious and irrelevant character assassination. At the same time newspapers became very important as readers sought to inform themselves of the national political situation, which also helped encourage literacy and public education. What the Jacksonian Age certainly achieved was a tremendous increase in voter participation and a requirement that candidates take into consideration the views of the ordinary citizen.

Chapter 9 Questions

1. What was the symbolic importance of Andrew Jackson and his inauguration?
2. What characterized Jacksonian Democracy? How did it contrast with Jeffersonian democracy?
3. What innovations did the constitutions of the newer western states contain?
4. How were public offices filled in most western states?
5. How and why did the participation of the common man in politics change during the age of Jackson?
6. How did the Jacksonians regard special privilege?
7. What stimulated the formation of new political parties for the 1828 election? Where did the new party system establish itself the fastest?
8. What was Andrew Jackson stand on the issues in 1828?
9. Who were the Democrats?
10. Who identified with Jackson?
11. What was new about the way Jackson employed the veto?
12. Why did the arrival of the "spoils system" seem revolutionary?
13. What was the "Kitchen Cabinet?"
14. How was Jackson similar to Jefferson politically?
15. How did the issues of western lands, the tariff and a potential revenue surplus affect the Jackson administration.
16. Why was Robert Hayne and South Carolina accused of dis-unionist policies?
17. Why would the distribution of surplus federal revenues to the states prevent the reduction of the price of western land?
18. What was the basis of the proposed alliance between the South and the West in 1830?
19. Who was Nicholas Biddle and the Bank of the United States?
20. How did Henry Clay and Daniel Webster intend to use the re-chartering of the United States Bank to their advantage? Why did Nicholas Biddle support them? How did the plan backfire?
21. What was the South Sea Bubble?
22. What did Jackson think about banks?
23. Who were Louis McLane, William J. Duane and Roger B. Taney?
24. What prompted Nicholas Biddle to restrict business loans?
25. Why were the toasts given at the Jefferson Day dinner in 1830 so important? Who gave them and what was said?
26. What was the major area of political difference between Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun?
27. Who was Peggy Eaton?
28. What bill did Jackson veto in 1830? Why did he veto this bill?
29. Which of the following Indian tribes tried to hold onto there lands by adopting white ways? Why did this method fail?
30. Which tribe resisted the forced removals until forced to surrender in
31. 1842
32. What was the "Trail of Tears?" Where did it end and what state today occupies much of this same location today?
33. How many Cherokees died on the "Trail of Tears?"
34. What compensation did Andrew Jackson insist that the displaced Native American Indians receive?
35. Why did the white people covet the Cherokee's lands?
36. What was the importance of Cherokee Nation v. Georgia?
37. What was the importance of Worcester v. Georgia?
38. Who were Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner?
39. What was The South Carolina Exposition and Protest?
40. What was "Nullification" and why was there renewed interest in it in South Carolina during 1832 because:
41. What was Jackson's response to nullification and what was his "Proclamation to the People of South Carolina."
42. What was significance of the1832 bill passed by the South Carolina legislature which prohibited the collection of tariff duties in the state after Feb. 1, 1833?
43. What was The Force Bill?
44. What was the effect of increased specie flow into American banks in the 1830s?
45. How did the federal government generate a $20 million surplus in 1836?
46. What was the Specie Circular?
47. Did Jackson's have any diplomatic successes?
48. What was the importance of being a Jeffersonian by 1836?
49. What helped contribute to the formation of the Whig party?
50. Who succeeded Jackson in 1836? How did he achieve this end?
51. In 1836 why did the Whigs run three candidates for President? How did the Whigs think that the electoral college and Congress would aid them in winning the presidency?
52. Why did Martin Van Buren oppose the Bank of the United States?
53. What was Martin Van Buren position on the tariff?
54. What were some of the causes of the Panic of 1837? How did Van Buren deal with the crisis?
55. What was Van Buren's approach to the general economic depression?
56. What was The Independent Treasury Act:
57. How did the Whigs change their strategy for the 1840 election? What have did a log cabin and hard cider have to do with William Henry Harrison.
58. What was "Tippecanoe and Tyler too!" and "Rumpsey, Dumpsey, Colonel Johnson, Killed Tecumseh!"
59. How did William Henry Harrison regard the office of president in comparison to Andrew Jackson?
60. What was William Henry Harrison 's most significant action while serving as president?

Chapter 10 Questions

1. Who were Alexis De Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont? Why did they visit the United States?
2. Who wrote Domestic Manners in America?
3. What did Charles Dickens think about America? Why did he write American Notes?
4. What was the theme of Marie, ou l'Esclavage aux Etats Unis?
5. What wasDemocracy in America:
6. According to Alexis De Tocqueville what were the primary factor in determining a person's influence or worth in American society?
7. How did Alexis De Tocqueville describe wealth in America? What mistakes did he make?
8. How did Alexis De Tocqueville shape his views of America?
9. In what year was the first federal census taken? According to the first federal census, about how many Americans lived in the country?
10. What was happening to the population of America about every 20 years?
11. What caused many people to move in the 1830s and 1840s?
12. Which city had the greatest population by 1850?
13. Between 1820 and 1850 how did the growth and emergence of new towns compare with major cities?
14. Which city was dubbed "The Emporium of the West?"
15. Which was the most heavily populated city in the South in 1850?
16. In 1820 what proportion of Americans were engaged in agriculture? What type of enterprise was American farming in the first half of the nineteenth century?
17. In the 1820s what was atypical relationship between artisans and their apprentices.
18. How had the workplace changed by 1850? What was the twice-daily dram?
19. What change in manufacturing occurred in Lynn, Massachusetts during the 1830s?
20. How did the Embargo and the War of 1812 combined with improvement in transportation during the 1820s affect manufacturing?
21. How did men working less at home and more in factories, shops and offices affect women and household affairs?
22. As women acquired more household authority how was their involvement in other fields of human endeavor affected?
23. Who was Sarah Hale?
24. Who wrote A Treatise on Domestic Economy for the Use of Young Ladies? What was its purpose?
25. How did family size change as families and women's roles in them changed?
26. What did Bronson Alcott advocate?
27. How did the belief that children were "innately good" conflict with orthodox Calvinism.
28. What was "The Second Great Awakening?" What did Deism have to do with it?
29. What did ministers such as Timothy Dwight and Reverend Lyman Beecher think about God's mercy and "disinterested benevolence?"
30. Who was Charles Grandison Finney? What did he have to do with the Erie Canal and "the burned-over district?" What did he consider a "theological fiction?"
31. What did evangelists inspire many women to do in regard their families and children?
32. Along with the changes in family structure and the church another very important "pillar" of the emerging American middle class was the growth of voluntary associations. What did these have to do with orphans, drunkeness, and entering the "heathen world?"
33. Who were George Rapp and the "Rappites?"
34. What Ann Lee establish between 1774 and 1784?
35. What values did the Rappites and the Shaker communities share?
36. Who were the Mormons, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young? What was "Celestial Marriage?" What was the Nauvoo Legion? Where did the Mormons find their Zion?
37. Who were Robert Owen and Charles Fourier? What are utopian socialists?
38. Who was Thomas Gallaudet?
39. Who was Samuel Gridley Howe?
40. Who was Dorothea Dix?
41. What were "grogshops?"
42. What was revolitionary about Benjamin Rush's book Inquiry into the Effects of Ardent Spirits?"
43. How did alcohol consumption change in the early years of the new?
44. What was the importance of cheap corn and rye whiskeys.
45. What was the American Temperance Union? What did it mean to, "sign the pledge?"
46. Who were the "Washingtonians?"
47. What was the importance of Maine's 1851 prohibition law? How did other states react?
48. Who was Benjamin Lundy? What was The Genius of Universal Emancipation?
49. Who was William Lloyd Garrison? What were The Liberator and the New England Anti-Slavery Society?
50. What did William Lloyd Garrison do to a copy of the U.S. Constitution?
51. Who was Elijah Lovejoy?
52. Who were the Tappan brothers and what was the establish The Liberty Party?
53. Who wrote Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World?
54. What was the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas?
55. Why was William Lloyd Garrison rejected by more moderate abolitionists?
56. Why was Margaret Fuller unique in the struggle for women's rights?
57. What was important about Margaret Fuller's Women in the Nineteenth Century?
58. Who were Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton? Why did they redirect their major focuses?
59. What was the Seneca Falls Convention?
60. Who was Susan B. Anthony?
61. What was Phrenology?

Conclusion
When Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that, "the whole of society seems to have turned into one middle class," he had actually invented the term in the American context. And while he made some notable errors in his description of America as he found it in the 1830s, he also made many profoundly correct observations about Americans which still seem to ring true. Compared to much of the old world which was heavily bound by traditional class boundaries, in America the appearance of equality, wealth, or success were far more important than social origins, opportunities, or education. In America it was success, however acquired or how long possessed, that mattered. Also mobility and restlessness were exercised by seemingly everyone and these took on a variety of forms beyond financial or social success. In the nineteenth century the United States experienced a flurry of movements interested in everything from repairing and improving the social structure to building completely new societies.
Of course much of the changes in America had to do with the coming of the industrial age and the effects it had on society and the family. As factories began to employ more people outside the home family relationships changed even as the cost of goods decreased and the variety increased. America became a land where a working person might benefit both by working in a factory and by being able to purchase the product the factory produced. And as home life materially improved and men tended to be away at work more women took on new roles in the home and mothers became "selflessly devoted to the care of others." And even though such women were generally discouraged from taking on interests outside the home this sense of moral duty and purpose nevertheless spilled over into all sorts of altruistic pursuits. After women became involved in the education and religious development of their children this interest would become more and more reflected in such social reform movements as abolitionism, temperance and eventually the women's rights movement itself.
While some people were trying to improve society at large others were trying to find what they hoped would become altogether better alternatives. This impetus was reflected in many utopian and religious movements such as the Shakers, Mormons, Rappites and the Amana and Oneida communities. Yet despite all this creative energy, as the nineteenth century continued to unfold and the American experiment developed its own identity and culture and seemed to be thriving, storm clouds were slowly gathering. Tragically, even as the society grew and flourished and American art and literature were clearly coming into their own, the social fabric began to show signs of fatigue. In the next Unit the Democratic Culture, an agent of national unity, starkly contrasts with the destabilizing combination of Expansion and Slavery.