Rise of Andrew Jackson and his presidency. He focuses on Andrew Jacksons clashes with wig Party Members such as henry clay and Daniel Webster in the bank wars of the 1830s. This class is about 55 minutes. Well, good morning, everybody. And welcome to American History. My name is jonathan barth. You all know me as professor barth. And i am a history professor at Arizona State university. In conjunction with two very stellar world class programs, and there they are. On the screen. The school of historical philosophical and religious studies, quite a mouthful, so we call this shippers, great program, and then also the center for political thought and leadership. Or ptl. Another stellar program. If this lecture intrigues you, you should check out our center. Were doing some big things. And finally, if you are interested in learning more about yours truly, there we are, www. Professor barth. Com, you can read about me on that web site. Well, a generation of politicians has passed. Alexander hamilton dies in a duel in 1804. James madison pictured there on the right retires from politics and dies in 1836. John adams, and Thomas Jefferson, died on the same day, july 4th, 1826, 50 years to the day of the signing of the declaration of independence, pretty incredible, you cant make Something Like that up. But america is changing. A market revolution is sweeping the young republic. Mass commercialization. Profit making. New opportunities for investments. Inventions. Entrepreneurship. A burst in the population. Look at the population explosion from one million in 1750 to 13 million by 1830, this is a young population, average age, about 17 years old, aggressive, energetic, highly individualistic, oftentimes reckless. A burgeoning population. Factories have sprouted out all across the north. Especially new england. Producing textiles. And other manufactured goods. Outside of the cities, outside of new england, an agricultural boom in ohio, in pennsylvania, wheat exports off the chars. In the south, a new plan, cotton, that that drug of a plant, creating that soft durable textile. Spreading all throughout the south, entrenching that slave system deeper and deeper in the south, cotton takes off. And if youre going to have textiles, if youre going to have cotton steam boats by the 1820s and 1830s trekking up and down the mississippi river. Canals. Canal mania. Canals built all across the country, the most famous being the erie canal completed in 1825. Connecting the hudson river to lake erie, and what an accomplishment that is. If you have canals, if you have plantations, and factories, and you need credit, and here too we have lots and lots of credit. Banks sprouting up all across the United States. From three banks in 1790 to several hundred banks by the 1820s. The banks are chartered by the states, stay within that particular states boundary, and each one is showing their own currency. But sitting on top of those state banks is the mother bank, the chief bank, the central bank, the bank of the United States. And this is the second bank of the United States. Because as you recall, from earlier in the semester, there was a first bank of the United States, 1791, alexander hamilton, pushes through congress a bank of the United States, this bank, a private bank, with stockholders, and dividends, this bank, hamilton says, will benefit not only financial, private financial interests but will benefit the country, the public. How will it benefit the public . Because the treasury, the u. S. Treasury will deposit money in the bank, money coming in from taxes, and the treasury can also borrow money from the bank, this bank has a 20year charter, but it has lots of opponents. You remember, that chief opponent, Thomas Jefferson hates the bank. The bank, jefferson believes, is an institution that imperils american liberty. By elevating to power a wealthy financial elite. An unproductive elite. Jefferson opposes it. Jefferson comes to power in 1800. So the bank of the United States, the first bank, the charter expires in 1811, but one year later, a war erupts with britain, that war is a very expensive war, and the National Government finds itself in tremendous fiscal straits. And so after the war is finished, five years later, the democratic republicans, the party of jefferson, charter a second bank of the United States, and this second bank, much like the first, also will have a 20year charter, this charter will run out in 1836, and presumably congress and the president in good faith will renew the charter. So there you have it. And there were bumps along the road, right, after the bank was chartered, you will recall from the last charter, the panic of 1819 explode, this massive bubble in western land speculation, a bubble caused largely by the bank, by all of this new bank currency, it creates a bubble, and then it bursts. But the country recovers from the panic of 1819 fairly quickly, and so the second bank of the United States survives that panic, and goes into the 1820s with very little opposition. Most americans by the mid 1820s have come to accept the bank, the market, revolution, its fully under way. But its not just the economy that is changing, it is the political arena that is changing. Two new political parties, the wigs, and the democrats. Bucking heads. Who are these wigs and democrats . Well, representative new england for the whigs we have Daniel Webster, a lawyer from massachusetts, one of the most brilliant or tors in u. S. Congressional history. Quite an impressive figure, Daniel Webster is. We also have in massachusetts, john quincy adams. Son of the second president of the United States, john adams. He too is a whig. But then most famously of course, we have henry clay, hailing from the state of kentucky. And clay, well, clay ends up running for president , five times. Just cant get it. Cant seem to do it. But nonetheless, henry clay is one of the most important political figures in American History. What does clay do . Well, clay has a program, a system, an american system, and that american system is threefold, henry clay says first, we need to have protective tariffs on american manufacturing. And sure enough, henry clay, when he becomes secretary of state, under president john quincy adams, adams signs into law a new tariff, the tariff of 1828, raising the tariff from 25 to 45 . Thats one heck of a tariff. 45 . Why do they do that . To protect american manufacturers and textile goods. Clay also says we need federally funded internal improvements. Using federal dollars, to finance the building of roads, canals, bridges, and so forth. And then finally, clay says, we need to recharter that bank of the United States. Unlike hamilton, however, clay frames his defense of the bank of the United States in common man rhetoric. Hamilton said the bank is good for financial interests. Clay says the bank is good for farmers. The bank is good for mechanics. For manufacturers. The bank is good for the country as a whole, we need to recharter this bank, and there is the whig party platform, the whigs support clays american system, the whigs support utilizing the powers of the federal government, to stimulate economic activity, and they adopt a broad interpretation of the constitution. The federal government, the whigs does have the right to engage in this activity and most of the whigs will come from new england, because of the tariff, those factories are in new england, but also from the west and this is what distinguished clay from hamilton. Hamilton makes no appeals to the west. Clay is from the west. And clays internal improvements in the bank he hopes will get some western votes. But they have opposition. And theres that democratic party, the democrats, oppose the american system. The democrats adopt a strict interpretation of the constitution. A very limited view of the federal governments powers. The domes appeal to farmer the democrats appeal to farmers, to wealthy plan tain tation owners in the south, but also to common ordinary people, to wage erners, to working class laborers in places like new york. New york definitely a hot bed for democratic activity. The south and the west. New york, you have martin van buren, a democrat, later president of the United States, he later leaves the democratic party, and joins the antislavery, free soil party, well get to that in a future lecture. Representing the south for the democrats, we have another legendary figure. John c. Calhoun. Calhoun, a rabid defender of slavery. But also a rabid opponent of the tariff. He hates that tariff so much, in fact, that calhoun calls the tariff of 1828 the tariff of abominations. This 45 tariff calhoun says discriminates against the south, and sure enough, calhoun, that same year, in 1828, authors, in secret, and he does so in secret because hes Vice President of the United States, at the same time, just to give you an idea how muddy the political world is back then, calhoun authors in secret, an essay, advocating nullification, the idea that the states can nullify, or make null and void any federal law that they deem unconstitutional. South carolina does not nullify this tariff yet. But it puts the idea in their head. Well, from the west, we have Andrew Jackson. Andrew jackson, and there he is. The man. Probably the most colorful president in United States history. I say probably, i think we could state almost objectively, the most colorful president in u. S. History. A jine of a figure. Tall. He stood at 61. That was very tall for that day and age. 61, skinny, bushy eyebrows, hair, brushed high above, a very large forehead, with piercing blue eyes. Look at those eyes. Jackson was a hot tempered man. He was a bit stubborn. And oftentimes, bullheaded. He had strong convictions, and he knew when he was opposed to something, he stood up to, to that, that system. Well, he had a few nicknames in fact as well, Andrew Jackson, he went by the name old hickory, old hickory, tough as old hickory wood. The second nickname, you wont believe this, sharp knife. Who has a nickname like sharp knife. Andrew jackson has a nickname like sharp knife. What is his story . He was born in 1767 in waxaw, north carolina, he was born and his parents died at a very early agend was and was raised with no parental restraints and as a young boy he got into brawls and fights and wasnt all that interested in learning or reading. Jackson was nine years old at the time of the American Revolution and youll see young andy, right there, in the middle. Nine years old. At age 13, he joined the militia, as a messenger, and at one point, he ran that a british officer, and british officer told him, told young andy, he said clean my boots, and young andy said i aint cleaning your boots and the officer took his sword, slashed young andys leaving a permanent scar on his left hand, and the left side of his head. Well, jackson went on to help found the state of tennessee, got married, in 1806, someone insulted his wife, he challenged the man it a duel, shot him. He shot him. The only president in the United States history who has ever killed a man. Thats Andrew Jackson. Sharp knife. All right . Well Andrew Jackson joins the military. He joins the military. And fights the creek indians in 1814. Fides the seminole insidance in 1817. And then in 1815, earns his fame through the battle of new orleans. This spectacular victory against the british, even though again, as you remember, the war was already over. That doesnt seem to matter. Because this elevates Andrew Jackson to celebrity status. And that is indeed what jackson is. A celebrity. He has some political experience. He served about two years in the u. S. Senate. But thats really all. Jackson, well, he was also very wealthy. Very, very wealthy. Theres this plantation, the hermitage, the hermitage starts out, 1804, jackson has nine slaves. By the 1830s, jackson has well over 100 slaves and slaves are very expensive. Most Common People cant afford any at all. Jackson has over 100. He is a very, very wealthy man. Very well to do. Well, jackson enters, like i said, enters the senate in 1823. In 1824, he runs for the presidency, a fourway race between jackson, adams, William Crawford and henry clay. Jackson wins the popular vote 42 . Jackson also wins the most electoral votes, but jackson does not win a majority of electoral votes. And so the contest goes to the house of representatives. Henry clay is speaker of the house, henry clay cannot stand Andrew Jackson. His rival in the west. An ry clay strikes a deal with john quincy adams, that says, tell you what, ill get the votes, you need, in the house of representatives, if you make me secretary of state. The deals made. Adams wins in the house of representatives becomes the secretary of state and Andrew Jackson furious with this corrupt bargain, this rigged election. Jackson vows, i will get my revenge. In four years. Sure enough. He does. 1828, two man contest. Jackson versus adams. Jackson wins in a landslide. And look at that electoral map. Quite an impressive victory. Landslide victory. And how does he do it . How does he do it . The answer is very simple. Democracy. Democracy. Jackson benefits from universal male suffrage. We call this period jacksonnian democracy. Property qualifications for all free men in the United States are eliminated. No property required to vote. Double the number of voters in 1828 than you saw in 1824. Jackson uses this to his advantage. And wages a Political Campaign that utilizes a form of politics we call populism. Populism. And populism is a political term that has come up quite a bit in the last few years. What is populism . Well, populism is not an ideology per se. You can find populism on the left, you can find populism on the right. Populism is a style of politics, a style of politics that speaks to the interest, to the hopes, to the fears, of common ordinary people. Populists tend to pit the people versus the elites. The people versus the establishment. Possible lifts tend to warn of nefarious forces in positions of power, whether those positions of power are in government or in the corporate world. Nefarious forces. And the cherry on top, populists often benefit from charismatic personalities. And very often, with populism, youll see populists emerge who uses the shear force of personality. The to rally people around him and to use that charisma to attacks what he claims at least in his defense, to attack corrupt entrenched interests. Thats what populism is. Andrew jackson is a populist. Andrew jackson inaugurated into the presidency in 1829. And in celebration of his presidency, he throws a party. Opens up the white house lawn to the public. Hundreds of people from around the country pour in to the white house lawn, shop keepers, wage earners, common, ordinary, every day americans, sleeping on hotel room floors, and in hallways, and they pack in, on the white house lawn. A spiked punch bowl and whiskey is being passed around. It is where lombardi and jackson are stoked and as you can imagine, these guys dont like it one bit and they look at what is going on and this disgusts them. Can you imagine what Daniel Webster thought of Something Like this . Hes not going to like it too much. Jackson is ready. And well, the country ready for jackson . Thats the real question. What is this man going to do . Theres no telling. Hes a loose cannon, right . Whats going to happen . Well, henry clay says all right, well, we lost that election, thats fine, clay says. Im going to push through my american system. And he begins with internal improvements. Clay says, we need a road, weve got all these farmers from my home state of kentucky, we need a road that stretches from lexington, kentucky, to maysville, kentucky, right there along the ohio river. And i want to use federal dollars to build that road. The bill goes on jacksons, arrives on jacksons desk, after it flies through congress. Jackson responds and vetoes the bill. The road veto. One of the first famous vetoes in president ial history. Clay very upset. But this is just the beginning. This is just the beginning. All right. Clay says, he revetoed my internal improvements bill. Lets try another plank on the american system. Lets try a new tariff. The tariff of 1832. Now, this is a strange tariff because it seems to contradict clays program. The tariff of 1832 lowers the tariff from 45 to 35 . Why does clay do this . Well, you will recall, that tariff of abominations, in 1828, South Carolina and other states in the south are very angry about this. Clay fears that maybe 45 is pushing it too much. Lets lower it a little bit. High enough still but just a little bit in order to soften some of that opposition. The bill of rights on andrew ar jacksons desk. President jackson signs the bill. All sounds good. Oh, well, South Carolina isnt so pleased with this bill. South carolina nullifies the tariff of 1832. Why would they do this . It lowered the tariff. South carolina says, not enough. Not enough. This tariff is unconstitutional. We have a right to declare this tariff null and void and if you do not respect our nullification of this bill, of this tariff, we will leave the United States. Whats Andrew Jackson going to do . Calhoun is a democrat. Well, jackson gets word of this and jackson could not be more furious with john c. Calhoun. For jackson, this is an affront to his authority as president. Jackson signed the bill. Jackson says, quote, to say that any state may at pleasure leave the union is to say that the United States is not a nation. Jackson asked congress to pass a force bill. This bill will permit the president to send 50,000 u. S. Troops into South Carolina. Jackson prepares the u. S. Navy. The u. S. Navy now off the coast of South Carolina, jacksons ready to invade the state of South Carolina. Whats going to happen . The nullification crisis, were on a brink of civil war over a tariff, who would have thought . They pass a compromised tariff in the midst of this crisis, a comprised tariff that lowers the tariff gradually over a tenyear period. By the end of ten years in stages, that tariff will only be 25 . Between this compromised tariff and between jacksons force bill, South Carolina backs off accepts the tariff. C calhoun does not like jackson. But South Carolina, they back off. Jackson called their bluff. The South Carolina legislature nullified the force bill. Jackson said, okay, whatever. If you insist. Go ahead and do that. Clay looks at jackson and says, i never thought i would say this, andrew, but thank you. Jackson goes, oh, clay. Oh, clay. Im not done. Clay says, youre not done . What do you mean youre not done . Jackson says theres one other thing. The bank. Clay, the bank . Its funny you mention that, andrew, because i was thinking that maybe we would go ahead and recharter this bank a little early. Why not. We dont need to wait until the last moment. Its 1832, lets get going. Lets recharter this bank. Youre on board with that, right, mr. President . Jackson, well, not only am i not on board, mr. Clay, but im ready to wage war against this bank of the United States and here we have it, the bank war. One of the most dramatic events in United States history. The charter of that second bank will expire very shortly. Whigs which to recharter it early. They didnt expect this. Declares his opposition to the bank. Where does this come from . Where does this come from . It seems to come out of nowhere. Jackson did not run his campaign in 1828 against the bank. In fact, jackson made no mention of the bank during his president ial campaign. There was no hint he was going to do Something Like this. Jackson unleashes a torrent of insults. Jackson says, the bank is unconstitutional. The bank is a monopoly, an unconstitutional monopoly. Not only is it a monopoly, jackson says, its a monster and those are quotes. The monster, jackson says. Jackson warns that if this bank is rechartered, we will see in this nation the creation of a new moneyed financial elite that will overthrow this young republic. We must do everything we can to stop this nefarious thing, this den of vipers, he calls it. Pretty strong language. He calls it the hydra of corruption. That mythical, multiheaded beast. Is this bank truly corrupt . As evidence, jackson points out, 59 members of congress, jackson says, 59 members of congress own stock in the bank of the United States. They have a financial interest in pushing this recharter through. Not only that, Daniel Webster, while hes serving in the senate, is also a director of this private bank, a hydra of corruption from jacksons point of view and i, Andrew Jackson, am going to take this bank down. Henry clay cannot believe it. Youre mad, henry clay says. No, youre mad, Andrew Jackson says. I cant believe youre doing this jackson. Jackson looks at clay, oh, yeah. Clay, how many times are you going to run for president . Two times, three times, four times, five times. How many times you got to lose, clay, before you realize that you cant win, clay . Clay is just out of his mind. I cant believe this is going on. Youre bluffing, clay says. Oh, im not bluffing, mr. Clay. Im not bluffing. Im going to take this bank down if its the last thing i do, believe me, im going to do it. Clay does not believe jackson. Congress is in an uproar. All of a sudden, what is going to happen . Should we side with clay . Should we side with jackson . Should the bank be rechartered . The number one issue on everyones mind. And jackson has some enemies. Not just clay but the president of the bank himself, nicholas biddle. A man who really could not be more opposite from Andrew Jackson. They shared something in common, they were very determined, very stubborn and bullheaded. But biddle was extremely welleducated. Jackson didnt have a college education. The only president in our history before or since, accepti excepting george washington, who did not have a college education. Biddle admitted into the university of pennsylvania. Age 10. Five years later, if that wasnt enough, biddle transfers to the university at 15 and hes a genius. He knows what hes talking about. But thats also biddles downfall. Hes elitist. Hes arrogant. Hes a bit well, a bit, p pretencious. He sees jackson as an unsophisticated dim wit. But who is the country going to side with . Nicholas biddle earns the nickname czar nicholas. Here is a cartoon, a projackson cartoon. Its a bit faded. Old hickory and nick going at it. And, well, not only do we have nicholas biddle, we also have an election coming up. Jackson versus clay. The president ial election of 1832. What an election the drama. Look at this. Unbelievable. The future of the country financially speaking hanging in the balance. You cannot find two greater opponents. Clay in conjunction with Daniel Webster, he has a plan for his election. Clay pushes through congress that summer, just a few months before election day, a bill to recharter the bank of the United States. Why does clay do this . Clay says, i think jacksons bluffing. Hes theres no way. In an election year, he would do something so risky and so bold as to reject a bill like this. The bank bill passes the house. The bank bill passes the senate. The bank bill arrives on the president s desk. Veto. Jackson stuns the world and vetoes the bill unleashing a veto message in which he rails against that bank of the United States. Reprinted in newspapers all across the country, now we have an election. Just a few months away from the election. Again, this question of the bank is on everybodys mind. Its the number one issue. Everyone is talking about it. Heres another cartoon. Look at that cartoon. Projackson cartoon. Remember the hydra of corruption. Jackson going up the financial beast. And its a Hard Campaign for jackson. Nicholas biddle flexes his muscle. Nicholas biddle gives henry clay a 50,000 campaign donation. Quite a lot of money for those days. Not only that, but the bank, for years already, has been funding and loaning money to newspapers all across the country. And that press, all of a sudden, in a couple months before the election, just piling onto jackson, things look really bad. Jackson, what is he going to do . Is he going to win . Things dont look so good. But jackson is confident. Jackson is confident. And in the midst of this trial, jackson says, quote, the bank is trying to kill me, but i will kill it, jackson says. I will kill it and, well, what happens . The election occurs. Election day comes about. Victory for jackson. Jackson wins the election in a landslide. Clay wins five states. Jackson stakes the bulk of the states. Youll notice South Carolina refuses to vote for jackson in the middle of that nullification crisis. Jackson wins the election and victory for the jacksonians. This cartoon here, 1833, pretty interesting cartoon. I took just a little back story. When i was in graduate school, i took a digital history course. We had to take an old photograph or an old black and white cartoon and we had to use photoshop to cover it in. And i just really thought this cartoon was interesting and its in bad shape. I took this cartoon and did that. Not bad, right . For a beginner, right . Look at the imagery in this cartoon. Pretty incredible. There standing behind jackson, the common man patting him on the back. The bankers, the financeiers running away. Look at the demon face. Look at the columns, the falling columns. Whats that all about . Well, if youre familiar with the gospels, youll know there was one time just one time that jesus became violent. When was that . When jesus pulled out his whip and drove out the money changers from the temple. Jesus saying, get out of my temple to those money changers. Jackson like christ has driven the money changers out of the temple. This is a phenomenal victory for jacksonian democracy. But its not over. Its 1833. Youll notice the charter doesnt run out until 1836. Jackson says i have to put up with this bank for three more years. I cant do that. Theres no telling what these guys are going to try to pull. I have to kill this bank now. And sure enough, jackson, after he wins the election, removes all federal deposits, all treasury deposits from the bank, starving the bank to death, removing those federal deposits early and transferring them to state banks, to projackson state banks. The bank must shut down. These projackson state banks by jacksons opponents are called pet banks. These are pets of Andrew Jackson, the whigs are very furious with squlakz. This is a whig cartoon. Look at that. King andrew i trampling on the constitution. The u. S. Bank overstepping his constitutional authority, the whigs say. Some democrats are opposed to Andrew Jackson. They believe this guy is taking some dictatorlike steps. Hes too kinglike, they say. But jackson wins this victory. Youll notice, whats that document jackson is holding up driving the bankers out . Order of the removal of the public moneys deposited from the u. S. Bank. Thats in reference to the removal of federal deposits. Years later when jackson is on his death bed, hes asked, jackson, what was your whats your most proud accomplishment . Jackson has four words, i killed the bank. His proudest accomplishment. And sure enough, from 1836 to 1913, 77 years in this country, no central bank. No central bank. In 1913 the congress chartered a new central bank, a central bank called the Federal Reserve. This Federal Reserve, well, you could teach a whole class on the Federal Reserve, right . But in short, one of the countrys wealthiest financers, j. P. Morgan, just prescriior to death, designed the Federal Reserve. It was pushed through congress. It prints our money. A mostly private bank. It prints the money or actually, nowadays, what it does, is it digitizes money creation, more often than creating, and it loans out the money, usually at 1 or 2 interest to leading banks, to goldman sachs, j. P. Morgan, bank of america, all of those banks, and they lend it out at a higher rate of interest making profit from the difference to ordinary people like you or businesses, more often or not, theyll use that new must be as created by the Federal Reserve and lend it to hedge funds, wall street speculators, futures, dand itsa corner stone of the currency. If you look closely at a 1 bill, it doesnt say u. S. Treasury note on the top, does it . It says Federal Reserve note. Same if you look at a 5 bill, right . Or a 10 bill or a 20 bill. Look at that. There he is. Wow. There he is. Andrew jackson himself. Thats strange. What is he doing on that bill . Call me crazy, but that almost looks intentional. Am i right about that . That almost looks intentional. Almost like a gotcha. We win. Kind of like if you if youre a big game hunter, if youre a hunter and you kill some big game, you take that head and you mount it on a wall as a trophy, right . Or maybe im wrong. I might be wrong. Maybe they forgot that jackson would be totally opposed everything this note stood for. What happened in the short term after jacksons presidency. The democrats win in 1836. But martin van buran, he runs into some troubles. The pandemic of 1837. All of those pet banks, those state banks that receive those federal deposits, use those deposits, create new credit, overspeculation in western land, creates a land bubble. The bubble pops in 1837. The democrats become extremely unpopular across the country, now its the whigs turn. In 1840, the whigs run against martin van buren. Were going to run a war hero. Everybody loves war heroes. The hero of the battle of tippy canoe. William harrison. To be safe, were going to put on harrisons ticket, a democrat, a democrat who is very critical of jackson. John tyler. Hes a virginia planter. And he was a jeffersonen, but he thought jackson was too kinglike. Well throw a democrat on there. Thats going to make this is a safe moderate ticket and look at that landslide for the whigs. They control the house, the senate, the presidency. Henry clay rubbing his hands, hes ready to go. William Henry Harrison delivers his inauguration speech. A storm comes through washington, d. C. , pouring down rain. During the speech, in that rain, welcome Henry Harrison, 68 years old, comes down with pneumonia and dies one month later. Unbelievable, clay says. Now john tyler is president , totally not what we planned, clay says. Well, thats okay. Were going to tyler is not jackson at least. Jackson is not in office. Were going to push through a new bill. Clay pushes through a new bill for a panic. This time he calls it something different. Because the bank of the United States has been a bit stained. He calls it the fiscal bank. It flies through the house. It flies through the senate. Gets on john tylers bill, veto. Clay cant believe it. Vetoes the bill. All right. Were going to try again. Clay pushes through another bill. This time were going to we wont call it a bank. Thats how much the country hates banks. Were going to call it the fiscal corporation. Its the same thing but were renaming it. It goes through the house. It goes through the senate. It reaches tylers desk, veto again. John taylyler vetoes the bank b twice. Clay cant believe this is happening. Were going to have to wait four more years, clay says. This is unbelievable that we have to put up with this. They wait four years. Finally clay says, clall right, im doing it this time. He runs for president against james k. Polk and loses the election. Poor, poor henry clay. Well, thats the bank war episode. Its a fun episode, i think. However you feel about the bank war, right, maybe it was good, maybe it was bad. But its an interesting event, right . There was a darker side to jackson. A darker side to his presidency, a darker side to populism. And Andrew Jackson during his administration we have one of the harshest, one of the cruellest events in u. S. History and that is the trail of tears. The removal of roughly 100,000 native americans from the old southwest. Cotton is the big fad of the day. Cotton plantations spreading across the south. And, well, standing in the way of those cotton plantations are 125 native americans, the creek, the cherokee, the seminole, other groups. In 1830 both the whigs and the democrats push through congress with jacksons signature the indian removal act. Giving the president permission to negotiate with Indian Tribes to remove them from the southwest into a new territory, indian territory, what is today oklahoma. Jackson defends this by saying, look, i want to preserve indian culture. Indian culture is at risk. Were going to move them forcibly into oklahoma where they will forever be able to live in peace, of course, a few years later, settlers arrive in oklahoma and want that land as well. But jackson does one into an opponent and that opponent is the Supreme Court. In 1831 the cherokee sue the state of georgia, goes all the way to the Supreme Court and chief Justice John Marshal rules in favor of the cherokee. He says removing their land is unconstitutional. It looks like the plan is done. Andrew jackson responds to chief Justice Marshal and he says, Justice Marshal has made his decision, quote, now let him enforce it. And he completely ignores the decision and the indian removal goes through. The most infamous act episode in this removal was the trail of tears in 1838. 15,000 cherokee actually, next lecture, well look at this cherokee civilization because they made a strong effort to try to comply. Wasnt enough. Wasnt enough. The cherokee, 15,000 of them removed from georgia to oklahoma on a journey on foot that was 116 days. Terrible conditions. Roughly 1 in 4 cherokee die of disease or malnutrition. Thats 4,000 cherokee. Just to give you an idea, theres the theres the route of the indian removal. Just to give you an idea of how bad things were, there was a confederate soldier after the civil war from the state of georgia and he had this to say about the trail of tears. He said, i forgot the war between the states and have seen many men shot, but the cherokee removal was the cruellest work i ever knew. And so in conclusion, what can we say about jackson . What can we say about democracy . What can we say about populism . Theres a lot of lessons here, right . And i think, well, democracy can do a lot of good, right . Democracy can do a lot of good. Populism can do a lot of good. Strong personalities can do a lot of good. But all three of those things can do a lot of bad as well. Populism or a jacksonianstyle democracy is risky. Its like rolling the dice. You dont know how its going to turn out. Things could happen that are good, but you dont know. You dont know. And most of the time people dont go for populists, but during times of uncertainty, during times in which things theres a sense is that theres a corrupt elite system, that often will give an avenue to populist good or bad, demagogue or wellmeaning, whatever have you in the avenue can often be exploited and so you have to be careful. You have to be very careful in moments like that. Jackson, what do we make of him . Im not sure, right . Interesting guy. Definitely an interesting guy. Well, next class we have a new republic, a new republic, the republic of texas. And that republic of texas is going to apply for state hood in the United States and thats going to cause its own controversy. So that does it. Enjoy your weekend and i will see you on monday. Weeknights this month on American History tv, were featuring the contenders, our series that looks at 14 president ial candidates who lost the election but had a lasting effect on u. S. Politics. Tonight we feature former speaker of the house james g. Blain of maine who served as secretary of state and was the republican nominee for president in 1884. Watch tonight beginning at 8 00 eastern. Enjoy American History tv this week and every weekend on cspan3. Every saturday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan3, go inside a Different College classroom and hear about topics ranging from the American Revolution, civil rights, u. S. President s to 9 11. Thanks for your patience and logging into class. With most campuses closed, watch professors transfer to a virtual setting. Reagan met him halfway, reagan encouraged him, reagan supported him. Freedom of the press, madison called it freedom of the use of the press and it is freedom to print things and publish things. Lectures in history, on hern history tv on cspan3, every saturday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Lectures in history is also available as a podcast. Find it where you listen to podcasts. Youre watching American History tv. Every weekend on cspan3, explore our nations past. Cspan3, created by americas Cable Television companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Next on lectures in history, Eastern Connecticut State University professor Thomas Balcerski talks about the culture of congress in the antebellum era. They bonded across party lines by living together in boarding houses. However, leading up to the civil war, these friendships and alliances disintegrated revealing National Politics at the time. Welcome, everybody. Its me, your professor. Thomas balcerski and im excited to offer you a lecture today on the political culture of the antebellum congress. The outline for todays lecture, were going to start with a review of the first and
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