Page 262 - American Stories, A History of the United States

whether the government should actively support commerce and industry or stay out Quick Check
of the economy in the name of laissez-faire (the idea that the government should keep How did the Jacksonians differ 10.1
its hands off the economy) and free competition. from their opponents in their
opinions about the New American
Jackson and the Politics of Democracy Experiment? 10.2

10.2 What political conflicts did President Andrew Jackson face and how did he resolve 10.3
them?
T he public figure who symbolized the triumph of democracy was Andrew 10.4

Jackson of Tennessee. Jackson lost the presidential election of 1824, but his vic-
tory four years later, his actions as president, and the great political party that
formed around him refashioned national politics in a more democratic mold.

Jackson Comes to Power

In the election of 1824, Jackson won a plurality of the electoral votes, but not a majority.
(See Table 10.1.) The contest was thrown into the House of Representatives, where the
legislators were to choose from among the three top candidates: John Quincy Adams
of Massachusetts, Jackson, and William Crawford, a Georgian who favored limited
government. Adams won when Henry Clay of Kentucky, who had come in fourth,
threw his support behind Adams. When Adams appointed Clay secretary of state,
Jacksonians charged that a “corrupt bargain” had cost their favorite the presidency.
Although there was no evidence that Clay had bartered votes for the promise of a high
office, many believed the charge. Adams assumed office under a cloud of suspicion.
Adams had a frustrating presidency. The political winds were blowing against national-
istic programs, partly because the country was just recovering from a depression that many
thought federal banking and tariff policies had caused or made worse. But Adams refused
to bow to public opinion and called for expanding federal activity. He had a special inter-
est in government support for science and wanted a national university in Washington.
Advocates of states’ rights and a strict construction of the Constitution were aghast, and
congressional opponents turned the administration’s domestic program into a pipe dream.
Men hostile to the administration and favorable to Jackson controlled the Congress
elected in 1826. The tariff issue was the main business on their agenda. Pressure for
greater protection from foreign imports came not only from manufacturers but also
from farmers, especially wool and hemp growers, who would supply critical votes in
the presidential election of 1828. The cotton-growing South—the only section where
tariffs of all kinds were unpopular—was assumed to be safely in Jackson’s camp regard-
less of his stand on the tariff. Therefore, his supporters felt safe in promoting a high
tariff to swing critical votes his way. Jackson himself had never categorically opposed
protective tariffs so long as they were “judicious.”
As it turned out, the resulting tariff law was anything but judicious. Congress tried
to provide something for everybody. Those favoring protection for farmers agreed to tariff of abominations An 1828
protect manufacturers and vice versa. This across-the-board increase in duties, how- protective tariff, or tax on imports,
ever, angered southern free traders and became known as the tariff of abominations. that angered southern free traders.

TABle 10.1 THe eleCTiON Of 1824
Candidate Party Popular vote electoral vote*
J. Q. Adams No party designations 108,740 84
Jackson 153,544 99
Clay 47,136 37
Crawford 46,618 41

*No candidate received a majority of the electoral votes. The House of Representatives elected Adams.
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