[USA] - 7th President of the USA Andrew Jackson - Part 2

Andrew Jackson	Birth: 15 March 1767
	Died: 8 June 1845
	Party: Democrat
	Presidency: 1829 ~ 1837
	Vice President: John C. Calhoun, Martin Van Buren
	Nickname: Old Man Hickory

 

● Spoils System and Jacksonian Democracy

Andrew Jackson was a self-taught orphan who have lost his family in many tragic incidents.

He was very popular among the public as he was the first president who hasn’t come from a family with privilege. Andrew Jackson believed in the sovereignty of the common people and the majority.

 

 

His ideas of democracy were called ‘Jacksonian Democracy’. He has introduced the ‘Spoils system’ which was also called the Patronage system.

This system allowed presidency to appoint political supporters on federal offices.

Also, he expanded voting rights (although limited to white-men) to the common as he favored the ‘majority rule’.

Andrew Jackson has displayed the best and probably the worst aspects of democracy during his terms.

 

 

 

● Peggy Eaton Affair

The politics between the wives of the cabinet was important apparently. John Eaton’s wife Peggy Eaton was an outcast from the wives of the cabinet officials

. Before Peggy Eaton married John Eaton, Peggy had an ex-husband named John Timberlake. While John Timberlake served his duties in the navy and died, John Eaton who had stayed in John Timberlake’s boarding house married Peggy.

There was a strict moral standard during those days and people thought Peggy Eaton’s marriage and actions were unethical.

 

Peggy Eaton

 

 

John Eaton was the secretary of war and Andrew Jackson stood by the Eaton’s. Andrew Jackson attempted to ease tension between the wives by arranging social events however the officials of the cabinet decided to simply resign.

The vice president John C. Calhoun was one of those who resigned which infuriated Andrew Jackson. Martin Van Buren who later becomes the 8th president of the USA, took Calhoun’s place as he willed to socialize with Peggy Eaton without issues.(Of course, Join C Calhoun didn't resign solely becamse of Peggy Eaton)

 

 

 

● Kitchen Cabinet

Incidents such as the Peggy Eaton Affair made Andrew Jackson dislike the cabinet meeting.

He would reduce the number of cabinet meetings. He would often open his political discussions with his supporters in the White House kitchen instead which gave the nickname of such meetings as the Kitchen Cabinet

 

 

 

● Nullification Controversy

The Tariff of Abominations was truly hated by everyone in the United States. Andrew Jackson and vice president John Calhoun both objected the tariff.

However, both had different perspective regarding the tariff. John Calhoun supported the Jeffersonian Democracy which valued the ‘States’ Rights’, elitism and individual liberalism.

While Andrew Jackson’s Jacksonian Democracy set more opportunity for the common and maintain a weak government with a powerful executive branch.

 

 

Calhoun thought the state could ‘nullify’ the federal law and Calhoun’s home state South Carolina was suffering from the Tariff of Abominations passed in 1928. Andrew Jackson maintained that the state could not nullify the federal law.

John Calhoun couldn’t resolve disputes with Andrew Jackson along with the upcoming ‘Nullification controversy’, Peggy Eaton affair and resigns as vice president in 1932. In 1930, the ‘Nullification Controversy’ arises. There were movements in South Carolina to ‘nullify’ the federal law.

 

 

In 1930, Robert Y. Hayne who was the senator of South Carolina speaks of nullifying the tariff and claiming the states’ rights. Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts counters Hayne’s arguments that only the Supreme Court has the power to nullify the federal law.

 

 

In 1932, congress passes a lower tariff compared with the 1928 Tariff of Abominations. However, South Carolina refuses both the 1928 and 1932 tariffs while mentioning segregation from the United States.

Andrew Jackson would send federal military forces to the border while Henry Clay prepares a compromise. However, South Carolina accepted both tariffs and the ‘Nullification Controversy’ was resolved.

 

 

● Start of the Liquidation of the Second Bank of America

The Second Bank of the United States expiration charter was 1836. The congress would have to sign and approve another act to maintain its function.

However, Andrew Jackson starts the ‘Bank War’ to close the Second Bank of the United States even faster. Andrew Jackson believed that the Bank of the United States was a leftover of the Hamilton’s idea of a strong government and its operations slowed down investments.

 

 

Andrew Jackson withdrew federal deposits in the Second Bank of America which was led by Roger B. Taney. The president of the Second Bank of America Nicholas Biddle counters Jackson’s aggressive actions by collecting loans and increasing interest rates.

However, eventually the congress couldn’t pass the extension of the charter and the bank became a private corporation which would eventually liquidize. State banks loaned money from the new federal deposits and investments in the west became more active.

 

 

 

● The Specie Circular

On July 1836, Andrew Jackson announces the ‘Specie Circular’. Specie meant ‘precious metals’ such as gold and silver. The ‘Specie Circular’ intended to ban trades of federal land with paper money while allowing only specie (gold and metal like precious metals) for trades of federal land.

 

 

After the function of the Second Bank of the United States was crippled, and the money from the new federal deposits circulated, Andrew Jackson was concerned that the value of paper money dropped too severely.

This sudden policy would cause multiple bankruptcies as the value of land would drop as well.