1 Mathe III Lecture 9 Mathe III Lecture 9. 2 Envelope Theorem.
Lecture 9
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Transcript of Lecture 9
Lecture 9The Decline of Deferential Politics
The American Revolution weakened the power of the old colonial elite, but did not eliminate it They continued to dominate the
political system in the Early Republic
Many ordinary men were land owners and could vote, but the elite controlled them through loans and “treating”
What changed the situation was the increasing expansion of suffrage by eliminating property ownership requirements in order to vote
Made possible by: A more egalitarian version of
republican ideology Western expansion which made it
possible for people to leave elite-dominated areas and forced elites to treat people better to keep them
Women voting in New Jerseyin the early 1800s (because of
alegal fluke that was soon
closed)
Lecture 9The Rise of Political Parties
Some scholars believe the first party system (Republicans vs. Federalists) was not a real party system because the parties themselves did not accept that political parties were legitimate and did not believe in the concept of a “loyal opposition”
The new political parties of the early 19th century filled the void left by the decline of deferential politics
No longer was politics dominated by a small group of wealthy notables (planters, merchants, etc.) who did not make their living through politics, but by an ambitious group of middle-class men, coming in from law, journalism, etc., who made politics a paying career
Martin Van Buren epitomized this new type of politician: a lawyer by training, he built a political machine in New York State and then used it to move into national politics
Martin Van Buren
Lecture 9Election of 1824
1824 saw the first national election dominated by the new democratic style of politics
Three candidates who were nominal Jeffersonian Republicans refused to accept the nomination by the party caucus of William Crawford, as its presidential candidate, and challenged him in the November election
The three candidates overwhelmed the ailing Crawford in the Electoral College
Andrew Jackson: 99 votes John Quincy Adams: 84 votes William Crawford: 41 votes Henry Clay: 37 votes
With no majority winner, the election was decided in the U.S. House of Representatives
Henry Clay, who was powerful there, supported Adams, who prevailed
When Adams appointed Clay as Secretary of State, Jackson’s followers cried foul, calling it a “corrupt bargain”
The Presidential Candidates of 1824:
Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams,
Henry Clay, and William H. Crawford
A tragic episode in Adams otherwise brilliant career A brilliant diplomat—father of the
Monroe Doctrine His great talents did not include
the qualities needed to succeed as president such charisma and public warmth
Policies: ardent nationalist, supported the American System, and federal money for all internal improvements
Assailed by his political enemies as an aristocrat and tyrant
Last president who tried to be the “Patriot King” Your textbook describes him as a
“notable”--a throwback to the era of deferential politics
He refused to be a party leader and vainly tried to rise above political differences
Lecture 9 John Quincy Adams as President
Lecture 9Election of 1828
If 1824 was the first national election that demonstrated the potential of democratic politics, then 1828 was the election that showed how the sentiments of ordinary Americans could be deliberately harnessed behind a single candidate
Martin Van Buren used his political machine to promote the candidacy of Andrew Jackson
He and other Jacksonians orchestrated an unprecedented publicity campaign
They portrayed Jackson as a man of the people, who would defend equal rights and popular rule against unfair privilege
Jackson overwhelmed Adams in the Electoral College, winning 178 of the 261 electoral votes
Ordinary Americans felt one of them had finally made it to the White House
Andrew Jackson came into the presidency in 1828 with a definite sense of what he and his followers believed Favored agrarian interests over
manufacturing Feared concentrated economic power Favored limited government Favored state and local over national
authority Generally unsympathetic to the
Benevolent Empire Spoils System
Jackson embraced the spoils system like no president before him
He supported the wholesale removal of bureaucratic appointees from the previous administration and frequent rotation of officeholders to insure the maximum patronage yield
Jackson believed any reasonably intelligent man could do just about any government job
Lecture 9Andrew Jackson as President
Cartoon lampooning Jackson’ssupport of the spoils system
Lecture 9Jackson’s Political Wars
Nullification Crisis The South bitterly opposed the Tariff
of 1828, especially South Carolina where it was called the “Tariff of Abominations”
Insufficient tariff reductions in the new 1832 law led South Carolina to try to nullify both laws in their state
Jackson threatened military action to enforce the tariff, but it never happened because Henry Clay intervened with a compromise tariff
Bank War The other great political battle of
Jackson’s presidency was over whether to recharter the 2nd Bank of United States
Jackson passionately opposed the recharter, especially when the Bank’s allies in Congress pushed the issue early in 1832 hoping Jackson would not oppose them in an election year
Jackson vetoed the recharter bill, claiming Congress had no authority to issue a charter and attacking the bank as a bastion of economic privilege
The public rallied to Jackson and after re-election he pulled federal deposits out of the 2nd Bank of the United States into pro-Jackson state banks—”pet banks”
Cartoon celebrating Jackson’sattack on the Second Bank
of the United States
Lecture 9The Trials of Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren became Vice President in Jackson’s second term when John C. Calhoun resigned during the Nullification Crisis As Vice President and Jackson’s
closest political ally, he was Jackson’s logical successor and won election in 1836
Van Buren’s presidency was jinxed from the start The Panic of 1837 erupted just
before Van Buren’s inauguration and fairly or unfairly he received the blame
Democratic monetary and fiscal policy was arguably to blame for panic and for making it worse
Independent Treasury Act: withdrew federal money from the banking system—pleasing hard money Democrats but hurting the economy
While Van Buren avoided war with Mexico his continuation of Jackson’s Indian removal policy resulted in the longest and costliest Indian War in American history—the 2nd Seminole War
Cartoon contemplating a man’sruin from the Panic of 1837
Lecture 9The Whigs
Not all Americans agreed with the Jacksonian’s program
Whigs coalesced around opponents of Andrew Jackson and his policies
They called themselves Whigs (after the anti-monarchical English party of the 18th century) to emphasize what they saw as Jackson’s aggressive pursuit of executive power
The rise of the Whigs completed the emergence of the first true party system in U.S.
Both party’s opposed each other but did see the opposition as illegitimate
Whig’s political positions Favored activist federal government Favored federal support for all
internal improvements Favored a national bank Favored a protective tariff Closely associated with moral
reform movements of the Benevolent Empire
Cartoon attacking Jackson’s
heavy-hand political style
Lecture 9Labor and the Panic of 1837
By the 1830s, there existed a politically-oriented labor movement
They sought to spread the prosperity of the Industrial Revolution to workers
They wanted to abolish private banks, chartered monopolies, and debtor’s prisons
They wanted a society without dependent workers, in which men worked for themselves and owned their own means of production
These parties could not compete with the Democratic Party (i.e., Jacksonians), as most workers saw the Democrats, with their egalitarian rhetoric, as more able to achieve some of their goals
The workingmen’s parties also were undone by the courts that generally were hostile to organized labor, declaring labor unions as criminal conspiracies
The Panic of 1837 dealt them a deathblow by taking away what little bargaining power labor had, as workingmen faced mass unemployment
Lemuel Shaw, the Massachusetts judge who gave
organized laborone of its few legal victories inCommonwealth v. Hunt (1842)
by declaring labor unions in the state were not criminal
conspiracies
Lecture 9 Election of 1840
With the Democrats and Van Buren getting the blame for the Panic of 1837, 1840 looked to be a promising election year for the Whigs
They adopted the tactics and egalitarian rhetoric of the Democrats, nominating a popular war hero, William Henry Harrison
The Whigs whipped up enthusiasm for the candidate with songfests, parades, and mass meetings
They attacked Van Buren as an aristocrat, with aristocratic tastes
The Whigs also incorrectly portrayed Harrison as a self made man happy to live in a log cabin and drink hard cider, when he was really more of an aristocrat than Van Buren having been born and grown up in a mansi0n
Harrison easily defeated Van Buren, but died a month after taking office and his successor, John Tyler, a former Democrat, often supported Democratic policy goals
William Henry
Harrison