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Jacksonian Democracy & Indian Removal. How Jackson was elected. Jackson became a national hero during the War of 1812 His nickname was “Old Hickory” because he was as tough as a hickory tree Jackson was seen as a “common man” and small farmers, craft workers, & others supported him
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How Jackson was elected • Jackson became a national hero during the War of 1812 • His nickname was “Old Hickory” because he was as tough as a hickory tree • Jackson was seen as a “common man” and small farmers, craft workers, & others supported him • Suffrage, or the right to vote, had been expanded • Property requirements for voting were relaxed or eliminated
Spoils System • “To the Victor Goes the Spoils” • President Jackson replaced many federal workers with his supporters • Goal of the Democrats = shake up the federal bureaucracy • They thought ordinary citizens could handle any government job • Spoils System = practice of replacing government employees with the winning candidate’s supporters
A Crisis Over Tariffs • Tariff: a fee paid by merchants who imported goods • Tariff of Abominations: name Southerners gave to the highest tariff • It was passed to protect Northern manufacturers from foreign competition (Americans were more likely to buy American-made goods) • South had to pay higher prices for European goods
How did the South Protest the Tariff? • V.P. John C. Calhoun argued that a state or a group of states had the right to nullify, or cancel, a federal law it considered against state interests • Southerners call for Southern states to secede, or break away, from the U.S. • Nullification: the idea that a state had the right to cancel a federal law it considered unconstitutional • Congress (1832) passed a new lower tariff & Pres. Jackson had Congress pass a Force Bill, allowing military action to enforce acts
Indian Removal • The five civilized tribes- Native Americans in the eastern US who adopted modern lifestyles • In 1830 Congress passes the Indian Removal Act- allows the government to forcibly relocate Native Americans west of the Mississippi • Cherokee sue for the right to stay and supreme court rules in their favor in Worcester vs. Georgia
Trail of Tears • Andrew Jackson defies the supreme court decision and convinces a small band of Cherokee to sign a treaty to move west • In 1838 General Winfield Scott forces the Cherokee to leave Georgia for Oklahoma • 17,000 Cherokee leave and march through winter causing 4,000 to 8,000 deaths along the trail