Unit 4 Lesson 3: Jacksonian Democracy Flashcards

Question

What was Jacksons responce to the nulifers

Answer 1

Jackson disagreed with the nullifiers’ arguments, claiming the Constitution gave the government the clear right to “lay and collect taxes.” He took a strong stand and pledged to protect the Union against those who tried to tear it apart over the tariff.

Answer 2

In 1832, South Carolina officially declared the tariff “null and void,” bringing the crisis to a head. Jackson responded by declaring that a state did not have the right to nullify a federal law. Next, South Carolina called for 10,000 volunteers to defend the state. Congress followed by passing a law that allowed troops to be used to force states to obey federal laws. To many, civil war seemed a real possibility.

Answer 3

the Compromise Tariff of 1833 was passed, which lowered the tariff rates.

Answer 4

Jackson loathed the bank. He called it a “monster” and viewed it as a tool of the wealthy. As a westerner, he had experienced how banks foreclosed on farmers, leading them to ruin. To Jackson, hard currency—gold and silver—was the only money that could be trusted.

Answer 5

Jackson responded by using the bank as a campaign issue. He used the bank as another battle in his fight for the common man. According to Jackson, the bank was an enemy of ordinary Americans and a tool of the wealthy.

Answer 6

Jackson removed government money from the bank and placed funds in smaller state banks.

Answer 7

He then issued the Specie Circular, which required that western land sales could be conducted only using hard money

Answer 8

when hard currency became scarce, money began to dry up and the economy screeched to a halt. The resulting Panic of 1837 was a political blow to the Democrats.

Answer 9

Jackson’s veto of the bank caused his opponents to form the Whig Party.

Answer 10

The original Whigs were a British party that resisted the power of King George III. By taking the same name, Jackson’s critics were likening him to a monarch.

Answer 11

Whigs wanted an active federal government that supported economic growth, money for internal improvements, and a national bank.

Answer 12

Whigs also tended to be wealthy, as they included prominent southern planters and wealthy urban northerners.

Answer 13

In his first message to Congress, Jackson proclaimed that the Native American groups living in Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama stood in the way of westward settlement.

Answer 14

The **Five** **Civilized** **Tribes**, called such because they had adopted many American cultural practices, lived in these states.

Answer 15

. As a result, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830. The law called for the removal of the Five Civilized Tribes from their homes in the Southeast to land in the West, or present-day Oklahoma.

Answer 16

In the important case of Worcester v. Georgia, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that Native Americans were “distinct political communities” and had the right to govern themselves. Thus, state laws did not apply to their territories.

Answer 17

the Supreme Court itself did not have the power to enforce its ruling; Jackson refused to enforce the court’s decision.

Answer 18

Some of the tribes left quickly, but many of the Cherokees stayed because of previous treaties. In order to ensure removal, Jackson relied on the U.S. military to make them move. In a series of forced marches known as the Trail of Tears, as many as 1,000 Cherokee people died on the way to Oklahoma.

Answer 19

The Cherokee believed that because they had treaties with the U.S., agreed to change their culture, and adopted many American traits, they would be allowed to live in peace. However, they were still ordered to move.

Answer 20

the Democrats and Whigs.

Answer 21

During the election, large-scale campaign rallies and emotional propaganda became the norm. Voter turnout also increased. In 1840, 80 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot. In comparison, the figure was 25 percent in 1828.

Answer 22

The Whigs ran William Henry Harrison as their candidate. They promoted him as a war hero because of his success fighting Native Americans

Answer 23

The Democrats re-nominated President Martin Van Buren, who was first elected in 1836 on the coattails of Jackson’s popularity

Answer 24

The Democrats attempted to discredit Harrison. The Whigs used this to their advantage by presenting Harrison as a man of the people. They contrasted this with Van Buren, whom they painted as an aristocrat living in a palace.

Answer 25

The technique was a success. Harrison easily won the election.

Answer 26

a policy of increasing a country's size by expanding its territory.

Answer 27

The Louisiana Purchase expanded America’s geography, but the exact borders of the purchase were not universally agreed upon. One of the most contested areas was Florida, where American expansionists argued the entire peninsula was rightly part of the United States.

Answer 28

With the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819, the U.S. acquired Florida and a boundary between the United States and Spain was decided.

Answer 29

But for expansionists, the treaty did not go far enough. They argued Texas should have been included in the deal.

Answer 30

However, free and slave states were evenly divided, creating a balance in the Senate. If Missouri was admitted as a slave state, that balance would be upset.

Answer 31

. To preserve the balance in the Senate, Maine (which had been part of Massachusetts) would enter the country as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. To prevent future conflicts, a line connected to Missouri’s southern border at 36°30′ latitude was drawn across the Louisiana Territory. Each time a new territory applied for statehood, slavery could exist south of the line, but was forbidden north of it.

Answer 32

It fell south of the 36°30′ line

Answer 33

The majority of the territory was closed to slavery.

Answer 34

After the Adams Onís Treaty defined the U.S.-Mexico boundary, the Spanish Mexican government began encouraging Americans to settle in the province of Texas, which was still under Spanish control.

Answer 35

Spain recruited empresarios, people who brought settlers to the region in exchange for land.

Answer 36

One of the first empresarios was Moses Austin, who settled 300 Americans in Texas.

Answer 37

In 1829, Mexico abolished slavery. American slaveholders in Texas ignored the policy and began pushing for Texas to become a state. The Mexican government grew concerned. In 1830, it forbade additional American immigration to Texas and increased its military presence.

Answer 38

But Mexico had no intention of losing its northern province. Mexican President General Antonio López de Santa Anna marched his army into San Antonio in February 1836. At an old mission known as the Alamo, 200 Texas defenders withstood Mexican forces for 10 days. After the standoff, all but a few of the Texans had died.

Answer 39

Texans under Sam Houston responded in April 1836 at the Battle of San Jacinto, during which Mexican forces were defeated and Santa Anna was taken prisoner. Santa Anna was forced to sign a peace treaty where he agreed to recognize Texas as an independent nation with a southern border at the Rio Grande River. The agreement did not last long. Santa Anna soon lost power and the new Mexican government insisted Texas was still part of Mexico.

Answer 40

In September 1836, Houston was elected president of Texas. Texans voted in favor of annexation by the United States. However, American politicians feared annexation would both bring war with Mexico and once again bring the issue of slavery and the sectional balance to the forefront.

Answer 41

In a concept known as Manifest Destiny, many Americans believed that it was their God-given right to conquer the continent and bring Protestant and Democratic values with them. Manifest Destiny resulted in the brutal treatment of Native Americans and Hispanic communities already living in the areas where expansion took place. Their lands could be taken and the people who lived there were removed, made to assimilate, or worse.

Answer 42

ames K. Polk, a slaveholder from Tennessee, won the presidency. He ran on a platform that supported expansion, the annexation of Texas, and the acquisition of the Oregon Territory. Many Texans already wanted to join the United States, and Polk was happy to oblige.

Answer 43

The issue of Oregon had been in dispute for some time. The area comprised an enormous wilderness that had once been claimed by Spain, Russia, Britain, and the United States. By 1844, only British and U.S. claims remained unresolved.

Answer 44

But when Polk became president, Britain would not agree to his extreme campaign promise. Instead, a deal was negotiated where Oregon’s boundary would be set at the 49th parallel, a compromise that some northerners viewed as a betrayal.

Answer 45

In December 1845, Polk officially agreed to annex Texas.

Answer 46

The U.S. had argued that the Rio Grande River was the rightful boundary. Mexico disagreed, claiming the border was farther north at the Nueces River. In 1846, Polk ordered troops across the Nueces, into disputed territory. From Mexico’s perspective, it was an invasion. U.S. forces began to build a fort on the “American” side of the Rio Grande. Shots soon rang out and 16 U.S. soldiers were killed. Polk asked for a declaration of war, claiming in the declaration that Mexico “has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon American soil.” On May 12, war with Mexico was officially declared.

Answer 47

Take control of northern Mexico. Seize California. Capture Mexico City. The first goal was quickly accomplished by future-president General Zachary Taylor. California was soon captured as well. On September 14, 1847, General Winfield Scott captured Mexico City, located far south of the Texas border.

Answer 48

In 1848, the war officially ended with the signing of the T**reaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo**. The treaty was a triumph for expansionists as Mexico ceded nearly half its land to the United States. The** Mexican Cession **included California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado. The treaty also set Texas’s southern border at the Rio Grande.