THE TRIUMPH OF WHITE MEN'S DEMOCRACY

1. THE TRIUMPH OF WHITE MEN'S DEMOCRACY America: Past and Present Chapter 10

2. Democracy in Theory and Practice • Fear that democracy would lead to anarchy wanes in the 1820s and 1830s • Equality of opportunity stressed • Alexis deTocqueville believed most evident feature of democracy is decline in spirit of deference • America becomes society of winners and losers

3. Democracy and Society • Egalitarian expectations despite growing economic inequality • No distinctive domestic servant class • No class distinctions in dress • White male equality before the law radical by European standards • Egalitarian attack on licensed professions • Popular press the source of information and opinion

4. Democratic Culture • Artists work for mass, democratic audience rather than for an aristocratic elite • Popular hero of the 1830’s is the self-made man • Popular genres include Gothic horror, romantic fiction, melodramas, genre paintings • Writers – Hawthorne, Whitman, Poe, Melville, Cooper • Painters – Cole, Church, Bingham • Serious artists seek to inspire with neoclassical sculpture, landscapes of untamed nature • Only a few truly avant-garde, romantic artists

5. Democratic Political Institutions: Politics of Universal Manhood White Suffrage • Nearly all adult white males gain right to vote without property qualification • Appointive offices made elective • Professional politicians emerged • Public benefits of two-party system extolled • Political machines develop at state level

6. Democratic Political Institutions :National Parties • Changes in presidential elections spur party growth • Parties often serve special economic interests • Parties share republican ideology, commitment to equality of opportunity • Parties differ on how to achieve common aims • Neither party seeks to extend rights beyond adult white male constituency • Radical third parties argue the cause of African Americans, women, working people

7. Economic Issues • Interest in government economic policy intensified after 1819 • Some wanted to do away with banks, paper money, and easy credit • Others wanted more government aid • Political parties took stands on the role of the federal government in economic growth

8. Labor Radicalism and Equal Rights • Working men’s parties and trade unions emerged in the 1820s and 1830s • They advocated public education reform, a ten-hour workday, an end to debtors prison, and hard currency • They made some gains but they proved to be only temporary • The women’s rights movement and abolitionists made little progress

9. Jackson and the Politics of Democracy • Jackson becomes a symbol of democracy’s triumph • Actions of Jackson and his party refashion national politics in a democratic mold

10. The Election of 1824 and J. Q. Adams' Administration • The election of 1824 a five-way race • Jackson wins popular vote • Adams wins in House of Representatives with Henry Clay’s support • Clay’s appointment as Secretary of State leads to charges Adams "bought" the presidency • Mid-term election of 1826 gives Jackson forces control of Congress

12. Jackson Comes to Power • Jacksonians organized for election of 1828 • appeal to sectional self-interest make politics exciting to the average man • Jackson wins election as a man of the people • Jackson democratizes presidency • fires at will officeholders he does not like (Spoils System) • defends by asserting the right of all men to a government post • Peg Eaton scandal results in shuffling of Jackson cabinet • “Kitchen cabinet”

13. Election of 1828

14. Indian Removal • Indian removal policy inherited from prior administrations • Jackson agrees that the federal government had not pushed Indians hard enough • Jackson ignores Supreme Court decision in Worcester v. Georgia • Responds to Cherokee resistance by asking Congress for Indian Removal act of 1830 • 1838--U.S. Army forces Cherokees west along the Trail of Tears

15. The Nullification Crisis • John C. Calhoun leads development of intellectual defense of state sovereignty • 1828--tariff passed, South Carolina objects but takes no action (Tariff of Abominations) • 1832--tariff passed, South Carolina nullifies • Jackson threatens to send army, rift between Jackson and Calhoun highly visible • Both sides retreat • South Carolina gets lower tariff • Jackson demonstrates federal will (Jackson supports limited federal power, but states not truly sovereign) • Crisis early indication of dangerous future divisions

16. The Bank War and the Second Party System • "The Bank War" a symbolic defense of democratic value • Criticism that is concentrated too much power in the hands of the privileged • Leads to two important results • economic disruption • a two-party system

17. Mr. Biddle's Bank • Bank of the United States unpopular • Open to charges of special privileges • Manager Nicholas Biddle looks and behaves like an aristocrat • Bank possesses great power and privilege with no accountability to the public

18. The Bank Veto and the Election of 1832 • Jackson vaguely threatens Bank in first term • Biddle seeks new charter four years early • Congress passes, but Jackson vetoes • claims the Bank is unconstitutional • defends veto as a blow for equality • Jacksonian victory in 1832 spells Bank’s doom

20. Killing the Bank • Jackson destroys Bank by withdrawing federal deposits • Funds transferred to some state (“pet”) banks • Biddle uses his powers to cause recession, attempts to blame Jackson • Jackson issues specie circular – only gold and silver accepted as payment for public lands • Destruction of Bank provokes fears of dictatorship, costs Jackson support in Congress

21. The Emergence of the Whigs • Whig party a coalition of two forces • opponents of Jackson • Anti-Masonic party • Whigs defend activist government in economics, enforcement of “decency” • Democrats weakened by • defection of working-class spokesmen • depression produced by Jackson’s fiscal policies

22. The Rise and Fall of Van Buren • Martin Van Buren succeeds Jackson in 1836 • Term begins with Panic of 1837 • Laissez-faire philosophy prevents Van Buren from aiding economic distress • Van Buren attempts to save government funds with independent subtreasuries • Whigs block subtreasuries until 1840 • Panic of 1837 blamed on Van Buren

24. The Rise and Fall of Van Buren (2) • Whigs fully organized by 1840 • Whig candidate William Henry Harrison • image built as a common man who had been born in a log cabin • running mate John Tyler chosen to attract votes from states-rights Democrats • Harrison and Tyler beat Van Buren

26. Heyday of the Second Party System • Election of 1840 marks rise of permanent two-party system in the U.S. • Whigs and Democrats evenly divide the electorate for next two decades • Parties offer voters a clear choice • Whigs support a "positive liberal state," community (industrialists, merchants, more successful farmers) • Democrats support "negative liberal state," individual (smaller backwoods farmers, workers, declining gentry immigrants, Catholics, freethinkers) • Parties share a broad democratic ideology

27. Tocqueville’s Wisdom • Alexis de Tocqueville praises most aspects of American democracy • Warns of future disaster if white males refuse to extend liberty to women, African Americans and Indians.