Andrew Jackson & Voting Rights

New Voters

• Andrew Jackson promised "equal protection and equal benefits" for all Americans, specifically white American men.
• Early in the nation's history, most states restricted suffrage (the right to vote) to men owning property or paying taxes.
• White male sharecroppers, factory workers, and others were brought into the political process for the first time.

Right to Vote

• Women, African Americans, and Native Americans still had limited or no rights.
• Presidential electors became directly chosen by the people in 22 of 24 states by 1828, rather than by state legislatures.

The Spoils System

• Andrew Jackson fired numerous federal workers and replaced them with his supporters.
• Jackson's actions were criticized as tyrannical, involving hiring and firing at will.
• A Jackson supporter justified the spoils system with the phrase: "To the victors belong the spoils."
• The practice of rewarding a winning candidate's supporters with government jobs became known as the spoils system.

Electoral Changes

• Jackson's supporters aimed to democratize the political system, and abandoned the unpopular caucus system.
• The caucus system, where major political candidates were chosen by committees of Congress members, was replaced by nominating conventions.
• Nominating conventions involved delegates from each state selecting the party's presidential candidate.
• The first Democratic national party convention was held in 1832 in Baltimore, Maryland.
• Delegates nominated candidates gathering two-thirds of the vote, and Jackson won the nomination.
• This new convention system allowed more people to participate in the selection of political candidates.

The Tariff Debate

• A key issue was the tariff, a fee paid by merchants on imported goods.
• As president, Jackson confronted a tariff crisis testing the national government's power
• Manufacturers in the United States, particularly in the Northeast, favored the tariff.
• Southerners opposed the new tariff.
• Tariffs made European goods more expensive, and American consumers were more likely to buy American-made goods.
• Higher prices resulted from tariffs.

The South Protests

• Vice President John C. Calhoun argued that a state or group of states could nullify (cancel) a federal law it considered against state interests.
• Southern politicians and plantation owners prepared to act.
• Some Southerners advocated secession, or breaking away from the United States to form their own government.
• Calhoun questioned the federal government's authority vs. the states' rights, raising troubling questions.
• Calhoun asserted that the states are the final authority on the constitutionality of federal laws, as the federal government was created by the states.

Jackson Takes a Stand

• Andrew Jackson's position on nullification was initially unclear.
• In April 1830, supporters of states' rights invited the president to speak at a dinner.
• Jackson declared, "Our federal union . . . must be preserved!"
• The states' rights supporters were shocked and disappointed, and Calhoun responded to the president's challenge.
• Calhoun stated "The Union—next to our liberty, most dear." meaning a state's liberty to overrule the Constitution should take precedence over the fate of the Union if its interests were threatened.
• Soon after, Calhoun resigned as vice president.

The Nullification Crisis

• In 1832, Congress passed a new, lower tariff, but Southern protests did not subside.
• The South Carolina state legislature passed the Nullification Act, refusing to pay the tariffs of 1828 and 1832.
• South Carolina, led by Calhoun, had opposed the "Tariff of Abominations".
• South Carolina legislators threatened to secede from the Union if the federal government interfered.
• Jackson supported a compromise bill by Henry Clay to gradually lower the tariff over several years to ease the crisis.
• In 1833, Jackson persuaded Congress to pass the Force Bill, allowing the president to use the U.S. military to enforce acts of Congress.
• South Carolina accepted the new tariff but nullified the Force Act as a symbolic gesture.
• The nullification crisis showed that the federal government would not allow a state to go its own way without a fight.
• The crisis between the state and federal government ended for the time being.