Andrew Jackson and Van Buren
Andrew Jackson and Van Buren
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh President of the United States (1829–1837). Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (1814), and the British at the Battle of New Orleans (1815). Sony SVS13AA11L Battery
A polarizing figure who dominated the Second Party System in the 1820s and 1830s, as president he dismantled the Second Bank of the United States and initiated forced relocation and resettlement of Native American tribes from the Southeast to west of the Mississippi River.
Sony PCG-41414L Battery His enthusiastic followers created the modern Democratic Party. The 1830–1850 period later became known as the era of Jacksonian democracy.[1]
Jackson was nicknamed "Old Hickory" because of his toughness and aggressive personality; he fought in duels, some fatal to his opponents. Sony SVS131A11L Battery
Sony PCG-41413L Battery [2] He was a wealthy slaveholder. He fought politically against what he denounced as a closed, undemocratic aristocracy, adding to his appeal to common citizens. He expanded the spoils system during his presidency to strengthen his political base.
Elected president in 1828,
Sony PCG-41412L BatteryJackson supported a small and limited federal government. He strengthened the power of the presidency, which he saw as spokesman for the entire population, as opposed to Congressmen from a specific small district. He was supportive of states' rights, Sony SVS131B11L Battery
but during the Nullification Crisis, declared that states do not have the right to nullify federal laws. Strongly against the national bank, he vetoed the renewal of its charter and ensured its collapse. Whigs and moralists denounced his aggressive enforcement of the Indian Removal Act,
Sony PCG-41411L Batterywhich resulted in the forced relocation of thousands of Native Americans to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). Historians acknowledge his protection of popular democracy and individual liberty for United States citizens, but criticize him for his support for slavery and for his role in Indian removal.[3][4] Sony SVS151A11L Battery
Jackson was born on March 15, 1767. His parents were Scots-Irish colonists Andrew and Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson, Presbyterians who had emigrated from Ireland two years earlier.[5][6] Jackson's father was born in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, in current-day Northern Ireland, around 1738.[
Sony PCG-41217L Battery7] Jackson's parents lived in the village of Boneybefore, also in County Antrim. Their former house is preserved as the Andrew Jackson Centre and is open to the public.
Jackson's Scots-Irish heritage celebrated by a mural on Belfast's Shankill Road
When they emigrated to America in 1765, Jackson's parents probably landed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Sony PCG-41216L Battery They would have traveled overland down through the Appalachian Mountains to the Scots-Irish community in the Waxhaws region, straddling the border between North and South Carolina.[8] They brought two children from Ireland, Hugh (born 1763) and Robert (born 1764).
Jackson's father died in an accident in February 1767, at the age of 29, three weeks before his son Andrew was born in the Waxhaws area. Sony PCG-71316L Battery
Sony PCG-71317L Battery
Sony PCG-71216L Battery His exact birth site is unclear because he was born about the time his mother was making a difficult trip home from burying Jackson's father. The area was so remote that the border between North and South Carolina had not officially been surveyed.[9]
In 1824,
Sony PCG-41214L Battery Jackson wrote a letter saying that he was born at an uncle's plantation in Lancaster County, South Carolina. But he may have claimed to be a South Carolinian because the state was considering nullification of the Tariff of 1824, Sony SVS151B11L Battery
Sony PCG-41213L Battery which Jackson opposed. In the mid-1850s, second-hand evidence indicated that he may have been born at a different uncle's home in North Carolina.[9]
Jackson received a sporadic education in the local "old-field" school. In 1781, he worked for a time in a saddle-maker's shop.[10 Sony PCG-71215L Battery
Sony PCG-41212L Battery] Later, he taught school and studied law in Salisbury, North Carolina. In 1787, he was admitted to the bar, and moved to Jonesborough, in what was then the Western District of North Carolina. This area later became the Southwest Territory (1790), the precursor to the state of Tennessee.
Early military service
Young Jackson Refusing to Clean Major Coffin's Boots (1876 lithograph).
During the American Revolutionary War, Jackson, at age thirteen, joined a local militia as a courier.[11] His eldest brother, Hugh, died from heat exhaustion during the Battle of Stono Ferry, on June 20, 1779. Sony PCG-71318L Battery
Sony PCG-71211L Battery
Sony PCG-71212L Battery
Sony PCG-4121GL BatteryJackson and his brother Robert were captured by the British and held as prisoners; they nearly starved to death in captivity. When Jackson refused to clean the boots of a British officer, the officer slashed at the youth with a sword, leaving Jackson with scars on his left hand and head, as well as an intense hatred for the British.[ Sony PCG-71111L Battery
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12] While imprisoned, the brothers contracted smallpox.
Robert Jackson died on April 27, 1781, a few days after their mother Elizabeth secured the brothers' release. After being assured Andrew would recover, Sony PCG-81112L Battery
Elizabeth Jackson volunteered to nurse prisoners of war on board two ships in Charleston harbor, where there had been an outbreak of cholera.
Sony PCG-4121EL Battery She died from the disease in November 1781, and was buried in an unmarked grave. Jackson became an orphan at age 14.[12] Following the deaths of his brothers and mother during the war, Jackson blamed the British for his losses. Sony SVS151G1GL Battery
Legal and political career
Jackson began his legal career in Jonesborough, now northeastern Tennessee. Though his legal education was scanty, he knew enough to be a country lawyer on the frontier. Since he was not from a distinguished family,
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he had to make his career by his own merits; soon he began to prosper in the rough-and-tumble world of frontier law. Most of the actions grew out of disputed land-claims, or from assault and battery. In 1788,
Sony PCG-91211L Battery he was appointed Solicitor (prosecutor) of the Western District and held the same position in the government of the Territory South of the River Ohio after 1791.
Jackson was elected as a delegate to the Tennessee constitutional convention in 1796. When Tennessee achieved statehood that year, Sony PCG-81113L Battery
Sony PCG-81313L Battery Jackson was elected its U.S. Representative. Sony SVS13AB1GL Battery
Sony PCG-71914L BatteryThe following year, he was elected U.S. Senator as a Democratic-Republican, but he resigned within a year. In 1798, he was appointed a judge of the Tennessee Supreme Court, serving until 1804.[13] Sony SVS131C1DL Battery
In addition to his legal and political career, Jackson prospered as planter, slave owner, and merchant. He built a home and the first general store in Gallatin, Sony PCG-81114L Battery
Sony PCG-81312L BatteryTennessee in 1803. The next year he acquired the Hermitage, a 640-acre (259 ha) plantation in Davidson County, near Nashville. Jackson later added 360 acres (146 ha) to the plantation, Sony SVS131C24L Battery
which eventually grew to 1,050 acres (425 ha). Sony SVS131E1DL Battery
Sony PCG-71913L Battery The primary crop was cotton, grown by enslaved workers. Starting with nine slaves, Jackson held as many as 44 by 1820, Sony PCG-81214L Battery
Sony PCG-81311L Battery and later held up to 150 slaves, making him among the planter elite. Throughout his lifetime Jackson may have owned as many as 300 slaves.[14][1
Jackson was a major land speculator in West Tennessee after he had negotiated the sale of the land from the Chickasaw Nation in 1818 (termed the Jackson Purchase). He was one of the three original investors who founded Memphis, Tennessee in 1819 (see History of Memphis, Tennessee).[16] Sony SVS131G1DL Battery
Military career
War of 1812
Main articles: Creek War and Battle of New Orleans
Jackson was appointed commander of the Tennessee militia in 1801, with the rank of colonel. He was later elected major general of the Tennessee militia in 1802.[17]
During the War of 1812, Sony SVS151C1GL Battery
the Shawnee chief Tecumseh encouraged the "Red Stick" Creek Indians of northern Alabama and Georgia to attack white settlements. He had unified tribes in the Northwest to rise up against the Americans,
Sony PCG-71911L Battery trying to repel European American settlers from those lands north of the Ohio. Four hundred settlers were killed in the Fort Mims massacre. In the resulting Creek War, Jackson commanded the American forces, which included Tennessee militia, U.S. regulars, and Cherokee, Choctaw, and Lower Creek warriors. Sony SVS151C2DL Battery
Jackson defeated the Red Sticks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. US forces and their allies killed 800 Red Stick warriors in this battle, but Jackson spared the chief Red Eagle, a mixed-race man also known as William Weatherford. Sam Houston and David Crockett served under Jackson in this campaign. Sony SVS151E1GL Battery
Sony PCG-71811L BatteryAfter the victory, Jackson imposed the Treaty of Fort Jackson upon both the Upper Creek enemies and the Lower Creek allies, wresting twenty million acres (81,000 km²) in present-day Georgia and Alabama from all the Creek for European-American settlement. Jackson was appointed Major General after this action.
The Battle of New Orleans. General Andrew Jackson stands on the parapet of his makeshift defenses as his troops repulse attacking Highlanders, by painter Edward Percy Moran in 1910.
Jackson's service in the War of 1812 against the United Kingdom was conspicuous for bravery and success.
Sony PCG-71614L BatteryWhen British forces threatened New Orleans, Jackson took command of the defenses, including militia from several western states and territories. He was a strict officer but was popular with his troops. They said he was "tough as old hickory" wood on the battlefield, and he acquired the nickname of "Old Hickory". Sony PCG-61A11L Battery
Sony PCG-61913L BatteryIn the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815, Jackson's 5,000 soldiers won a decisive victory over 7,500 British. At the end of the battle, the British had 2,037 casualties: 291 dead (including three senior generals), Sony PCG-61A13L Battery
Sony PCG-61911L Battery 1,262 wounded, and 484 captured or missing. The Americans had 71 casualties: 13 dead, 39 wounded, and 19 missing.[18]
Jackson became a national hero for his actions in this battle and the war. He received the Thanks of Congress and a gold medal by resolution of February 27, Sony PCG-61A14L Battery
Sony PCG-61813L Battery1815. Alexis de Tocqueville later commented in Democracy in America that Jackson "...was raised to the Presidency, and has been maintained there, solely by the recollection of a victory which he gained, twenty years ago, under the walls of New Orleans."
First Seminole War
Main article: Seminole Wars
Jackson served in the military again during the First Seminole War. He was ordered by President James Monroe in December 1817 to lead a campaign in Georgia against the Seminole and Creek Indians. Sony PCG-71C11L Battery
Sony PCG-71C12L Battery Jackson was also charged with preventing Spanish Florida from becoming a refuge for runaway slaves. Critics later alleged that Jackson exceeded orders in his Florida actions. His directions were to "terminate the conflict".[1Sony PCG-71C11L Battery
Sony PCG-71C12L Battery9] Jackson believed the best way to do this was to seize Florida. Before going, Jackson wrote to Monroe, "Let it be signified to me through any channel ... that the possession of the Floridas would be desirable to the United States, and in sixty days it will be accomplished."[20] Monroe gave Jackson orders that were purposely ambiguous, sufficient for international denials. Sony SVE141C11L Battery
Military governor Jackson was sworn in at Plaza Ferdinand VII in Pensacola, Florida
The Seminole attacked Jackson's Tennessee volunteers. The Seminole attack left their villages vulnerable,
and Jackson burned their houses and the crops. He found letters that indicated that the Spanish and British were secretly assisting the Indians. Jackson believed that the United States could not be secure as long as Spain and the United Kingdom encouraged Indians to fight, and argued that his actions were undertaken in self-defense. Sony SVE141D11L Battery
Sony SVE171E12L BatteryJackson captured Pensacola, Florida, with little more than some warning shots, and deposed the Spanish governor. He captured and then tried and executed two British subjects, Sony SVE141L11L Battery
Sony SVE171E11L Battery Robert Ambrister and Alexander Arbuthnot, who had been supplying and advising the Indians. Jackson's actions struck fear into the Seminole tribes as word spread of his ruthlessness in battle (he became known as "Sharp Knife").Sony SVE151E11L Battery
The executions, and Jackson's invasion of territory belonging to Spain, a country with which the U.S. was not at war, created an international incident. Many in the Monroe administration called for Jackson to be censured. The Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, an early believer in Manifest Destiny,
Sony SVE151J11L Battery defended Jackson. When the Spanish minister demanded a "suitable punishment" for Jackson, Adams wrote back, "Spain must immediately [decide] either to place a force in Florida adequate at once to the protection of her territory ... or cede to the United States a province, of which she retains nothing but the nominal possession, but which is, in fact ... a post of annoyance to them."[2Sony SVE151G11L Battery
Sony SVE151G13L Battery1] Adams used Jackson's conquest, and Spain's own weakness, to get Spain to cede Florida to the United States by the Adams–Onís Treaty. Jackson was subsequently named Florida's military governor and served from March 10, 1821, to December 31, 1821.
Election of 1824
Main article: United States presidential election, 1824
Jackson in 1824, painting by Thomas Sully
The Tennessee legislature nominated Jackson for President in 1822. It also elected him U.S. Senator again. By 1824, Sony PCG-61713L Battery
Sony PCG-61316L Battery the Democratic-Republican Party had become the only functioning national party. Its Presidential candidates had been chosen by an informal Congressional nominating caucus, but this had become unpopular. In 1824, most of the Democratic-Republicans in Congress boycotted the caucus.
Sony PCG-61315L BatteryThose who attended backed Treasury Secretary William H. Crawford for President and Albert Gallatin for Vice President. A Pennsylvania convention nominated Jackson for President a month later, stating that the irregular caucus ignored the "voice of the people"
and was a "vain hope that the American people might be thus deceived into a belief that he [Crawford] was the regular democratic candidate".[22] Gallatin criticized Jackson as "an honest man and the idol of the worshippers of military glory, but from incapacity, military habits, and habitual disregard of laws and constitutional provisions, altogether unfit for the office".[23]
Besides Jackson and Crawford, the Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and House Speaker Henry Clay were also candidates. Jackson received the most popular votes (but not a majority, and four states had no popular ballot). Sony PCG-91111L Battery
Sony PCG-61215L BatteryThe electoral votes were split four ways, with Jackson having a plurality. Because no candidate received a majority, the election was decided by the House of Representatives,
Sony PCG-61211L Batterywhich chose Adams. Jackson supporters denounced this result as a "corrupt bargain" because Clay gave his state's support to Adams, who subsequently appointed Clay as Secretary of State. As none of Kentucky's electors had initially voted for Adams, and Jackson had won the popular vote,
Sony PCG-71216L Battery some Kentucky politicians criticized Clay for violating the will of the people in return for personal political favors. Jackson's defeat burnished his political credentials, however; many voters believed the "man of the people" had been robbed by the "corrupt aristocrats of the East". Sony PCG-91112L Battery
Election of 1828
Equestrian statue of Gen. Jackson, Jackson County Courthouse, Kansas City, Missouri
Main article: United States presidential election, 1828
Jackson resigned from the Senate in October 1825, but continued his quest for the Presidency. The Tennessee legislature again nominated Jackson for President. Jackson attracted Vice President John C. Calhoun,
Sony PCG-71212L BatteryMartin Van Buren, and Thomas Ritchie into his camp (Van Buren and Ritchie were previous supporters of Crawford). Van Buren, with help from his friends in Philadelphia and Richmond, revived the old Republican Party, gave it a new name as the Democratic Party, "restored party rivalries",
Sony PCG-71211L Battery and forged a national organization of durability.[24] The Jackson coalition handily defeated Adams in 1828.
During the election, Jackson's opponents referred to him as a "jackass". Jackson liked the name and used the jackass as a symbol for a while, but it died out. However, it later became the symbol for the Democratic Party when cartoonist Thomas Nast popularized it.[25] Sony PCG-71312L Battery
The campaign was very much a personal one. As was the custom at the time, neither candidate personally campaigned, but their political followers organized many campaign events. Both candidates were rhetorically attacked in the press, which reached a low point when the press accused Jackson's wife Rachel of bigamy. Sony PCG-71311L Battery
Sony PCG-71318L BatteryThough the accusation was true, as were most personal attacks leveled against him during the campaign, it was based on events that occurred many years prior (1791 to 1794). Jackson said he would forgive those who insulted him, Sony PCG-71218L Battery
Sony PCG-71317L Battery but he would never forgive the ones who attacked his wife. Rachel died suddenly on December 22, 1828, before his inauguration, and was buried on Christmas Eve.
Inauguration
Main article: First inauguration of Andrew Jackson Sony PCG-71217L Battery
Jackson was the first President to invite the public to attend the White House ball honoring his first inauguration. Many poor people came to the inaugural ball in their homemade clothes. The crowd became so large that Jackson's guards could not keep them out of the White House, Sony PCG-71313L Battery
Sony PCG-71315L Batterywhich became so crowded with people that dishes and decorative pieces inside were eventually broken. Some people stood on good chairs in muddied boots just to get a look at the President.
Sony PCG-3J1L BatteryThe crowd had become so wild that the attendants poured punch in tubs and put it on the White House lawn to lure people outside. Jackson's raucous populism earned him the nickname "King Mob".Sony PCG-3B1L Battery
Election of 1832
Main article: United States presidential election, 1832
In the 1832 presidential election, Jackson easily[citation needed] won reelection as the candidate of the Democratic Party against Henry Clay, of the National Republican Party, and William Wirt, of the Anti-Masonic Party. Sony PCG-3B2L Battery
The Anti-Masonic Party used Northern sentiment against Freemasonry to attack Jackson,[citation needed] who was a Mason. John C. Calhoun, Vice President under John Quincy Adams and during part of Jackson's first term, had resigned over differences with Jackson, particularly over nullification and the Petticoat affair;[citation needed] Jackson replaced him with longtime confidant Martin Van Buren of New York. Sony PCG-3B3L Battery
In January 1835, Jackson paid off the entire national debt, the only time in U.S. history that has been accomplished.[26][27] However, this accomplishment was short lived. A severe depression from 1837 to 1844 caused the national debt to increase to over $3.3 million by January 1, 1838[28] and it has not been paid in full since. Sony PCG-3B4L Battery
Electoral College
Jackson repeatedly called for the abolition of the Electoral College by constitutional amendment in his annual messages to Congress as President.[29][30] In his third annual message to Congress, he expressed the view "I have heretofore recommended amendments of the Federal Constitution giving the election of President and Vice-President to the people and limiting the service of the former to a single term. Sony PCG-3C2L Battery
Sony PCG-5P2L BatterySo important do I consider these changes in our fundamental law that I can not, in accordance with my sense of duty, omit to press them upon the consideration of a new Congress."[31]
Spoils system
Main article: Spoils system
When Jackson became President, he implemented the theory of rotation in office by political appointments,
Sony PCG-3H4L Battery declaring it "a leading principle in the republican creed".[29] He believed that rotation in office would prevent the development of a corrupt bureaucracy. To strengthen party loyalty, Jackson's supporters wanted to give the posts to party members, a patronage system. In practice, this meant replacing federal employees with friends or party loyalists.[32 Sony PCG-3C3L Battery
Sony PCG-3H3L Battery] By the end of his term, Jackson dismissed nearly 20% of the Federal employees at the start of it, replacing them with political appointees from his party.[33] While Jackson did not start the "spoils system", he did encourage its growth for many years to come. It led to its own kind of corruption, including the appointment of officials with no experience related to their responsibilities.[citation needed] Sony PCG-3D3L Battery
Opposition to the National Bank
Main article: Bank War
Democratic cartoon shows Jackson fighting the monster Bank. "The Bank", Jackson told Martin Van Buren, "is trying to kill me, but I will kill it!" Sony PCG-3D4L Battery
Following Jefferson, Jackson supported an "agricultural republic" and felt the Bank improved the fortunes of an "elite circle" of commercial and industrial entrepreneurs at the expense of farmers and laborers. After a titanic struggle, Jackson succeeded in destroying the Bank by vetoing its 1832 re-charter by Congress and by withdrawing U.S. funds in 1833. (See Banking in the Jacksonian Era)
The bank's money-lending functions were taken over by the legions of local and state banks that sprang up. This increased credit and speculation. At first, as Jackson withdrew money from the Bank to invest it in other banks, land sales, canal construction, cotton production, and manufacturing boomed.[34
Sony PCG-3G3L Battery] Then, in 1836, Jackson issued the Specie Circular, which required buyers of government lands to pay in "specie" (gold or silver coins). The result was a great demand for specie, which many banks did not have enough of to exchange for their notes. These banks collapsed.[34]
Sony PCG-3B1L BatteryThis was a direct cause of the Panic of 1837, which threw the national economy into a deep depression. It took years for the economy to recover from the damage.[35]
The U.S. Senate censured Jackson on March 28, 1834, for his action in removing U.S. funds from the Bank of the United States. When the Jacksonians had a majority in the Senate, the censure was expunged.
Nullification crisis
Main article: Nullification Crisis
Another notable crisis during Jackson's period of office was the "Nullification Crisis", or "secession crisis", of 1828 – 1832, Sony PCG-3E3L Battery
Sony PCG-3F3L Battery which merged issues of sectional strife with disagreements over tariffs. Critics alleged that high tariffs (the "Tariff of Abominations") on imports of common manufactured goods made in Europe made those goods more expensive than ones from the northern U.S., raising the prices paid by planters in the South. Sony PCG-3F1L Battery
Sony PCG-3F2L Battery Southern politicians argued that tariffs benefited northern industrialists at the expense of southern farmers.
The issue came to a head when Vice President Calhoun, in the South Carolina Exposition and Protest of 1828, supported the claim of his home state, South Carolina, that it had the right to "nullify"—declare void—the tariff legislation of 1828, Sony PCG-5N2L Battery
and more generally the right of a state to nullify any Federal laws that went against its interests. Although Jackson sympathized with the South in the tariff debate, he also vigorously supported a strong union, with effective powers for the central government. Jackson attempted to face down Calhoun over the issue, which developed into a bitter rivalry between the two men. Sony PCG-5P4L Battery
Particularly notable was an incident at the April 13, 1830, Jefferson Day dinner, involving after-dinner toasts. Robert Hayne began by toasting to "The Union of the States, and the Sovereignty of the States". Jackson then rose, and in a booming voice added "Our federal Union: It must be preserved!" – a clear challenge to Calhoun. Calhoun clarified his position by responding "The Union: Next to our Liberty, the most dear!"[36]
Jackson Presidential Dollar
Jackson's alliance with Calhoun was further strained by what became known as the Petticoat affair;
Sony PCG-813L BatteryFloride Calhoun, the Vice President's wife, led several other Cabinet members and their wives in the social ostracism of Secretary of War John H. Eaton and his wife, Margaret O'Neill Eaton. The internal roil eventually led Eaton to resign and caused the purge of the several pro-Calhoun cabinet members by Jackson. Sony PCG-5S1L Battery
Sony PCG-7185L BatteryAs a strategic move Martin Van Buren resigned (as Secretary of State) but remained a close confident of Jackson; he helped organize and played a leading role in the Jackson's unofficial Kitchen Cabinet[37] Sony PCG-5S2L Battery
At the first Democratic National Convention, which was privately engineered by members of the Kitchen Cabinet, Calhoun and Jackson broke from each other politically and Van Buren replaced Calhoun as Jackson's running mate in the 1832 presidential election.[38] In December 1832, Calhoun resigned as Vice President to become a U.S. Senator for South Carolina. Sony PCG-5S3L Battery
In response to South Carolina's nullification claim, Jackson vowed to send troops to South Carolina to enforce the laws. In December, 1832, he issued a resounding proclamation against the "nullifiers", stating that he considered "the power to annul a law of the United States, assumed by one State, Sony PCG-5T1L Battery
Sony PCG-7182L Battery incompatible with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed". South Carolina, the President declared, Sony PCG-5T2L Battery
Sony PCG-7181L Batterystood on "the brink of insurrection and treason", and he appealed to the people of the state to reassert their allegiance to that Union for which their ancestors had fought. Jackson also denied the right of secession: Sony PCG-5T3L Battery
Sony PCG-7174L Battery "The Constitution... forms a government not a league... To say that any State may at pleasure secede from the Union is to say that the United States is not a nation."[39]
Jackson asked Congress to pass a "Force Bill" explicitly authorizing the use of military force to enforce the tariff, but its passage was delayed until protectionists led by Clay agreed to a reduced Compromise Tariff. Sony PCG-9Z1L Battery
Sony PCG-7173L Battery The Force Bill and Compromise Tariff passed on March 1, 1833, and Jackson signed both. The South Carolina Convention then met and rescinded its nullification ordinance. The Force Bill became moot because it was no longer needed. On May 1, 1833, Jackson wrote, "the tariff was only the pretext, and disunion and southern confederacy the real object. The next pretext will be the negro, or slavery question."[40] Sony PCG-9Z2L Battery
Indian removal
Main article: Indian removal
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of Jackson's presidency was his policy regarding Native Americans, which historians see as amounting to the ethnic cleansing of several Indian tribes.[41][42][43
Sony PCG-7171L Battery Jackson was a leading advocate of a policy known as Indian removal. Jackson had been negotiating treaties and removal policies with Indian leaders for years before his election as president. ]
Sony PCG-7162L BatteryMany tribes and portions of tribes had been removed to Arkansas Territory and further west of the Mississippi River without the suffering of what later became known as the Trail of Tears. Further, many white Americans advocated total extermination of the "savages", particularly those who had experienced frontier wars. Sony PCG-7142L Battery
Sony PCG-7161L Battery Jackson's support of removal policies can be best understood by examination of those prior cases he had personally negotiated, rather than those in post-presidential years. Nevertheless, Jackson is often held responsible for all that took place in the 1830s. Sony PCG-7151L Battery
In his December 8, 1829, First Annual Message to Congress, Jackson stated:
This emigration should be voluntary, for it would be as cruel as unjust to compel the aborigines to abandon the graves of their fathers and seek a home in a distant land. Sony PCG-7152L Battery
Sony PCG-7153L Battery But they should be distinctly informed that if they remain within the limits of the States they must be subject to their laws. In return for their obedience as individuals they will without doubt be protected in the enjoyment of those possessions which they have improved by their industry.[44] Sony PCG-21313L Battery
Before his election as president, Jackson had been involved with the issue of Indian removal for over ten years. The removal of the Native Americans to the west of the Mississippi River had been a major part of his political agenda in both the 1824 and 1828 presidential elections.[45]
Sony PCG-81411L BatteryAfter his election he signed the Indian Removal Act into law in 1830. The Act authorized the President to negotiate treaties to buy tribal lands in the east in exchange for lands further west, outside of existing U.S. state borders. Sony PCG-31311L Battery
While frequently frowned upon in the North, and opposed by Jeremiah Evarts and Theodore Frelinghuysen, the Removal Act was popular in the South, where population growth and the discovery of gold on Cherokee land had increased pressure on tribal lands. Sony PCG-51111L Battery
Sony PCG-81313L Battery The state of Georgia became involved in a contentious jurisdictional dispute with the Cherokees, culminating in the 1832 U.S. Supreme Court decision (Worcester v. Georgia), which ruled that Georgia could not impose its laws upon Cherokee tribal lands. Jackson is often quoted (regarding the decision) as having said, Sony PCG-51113L Battery
Sony PCG-81312L Battery"John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it!" According to Remini, Jackson never said this, as the quote first appeared in Horace Greeley's The American Conflict in 1864.[46][47] Sony PCG-51211L Battery
Photograph of Jackson at age 78, 1844/45
In any case, Jackson used the Georgia crisis to pressure Cherokee leaders to sign a removal treaty. A small faction of Cherokees led by John Ridge negotiated the Treaty of New Echota with Jackson's representatives.
Sony PCG-81311L BatteryRidge was not a recognized leader of the Cherokee Nation, and this document was rejected by most Cherokees as illegitimate.[48] Over 15,000 Cherokees signed a petition in protest of the proposed removal; the list was ignored by the Supreme Court and the U.S. legislature,
Sony PCG-81214L Battery in part due to delays and timing.[49] The treaty was enforced by Jackson's successor, Van Buren, who ordered 7,000 armed troops to remove the Cherokees. Due to the infighting between political factions, many Cherokees thought their appeals were still being considered until troops arrived.[5Sony PCG-51311L Battery
Sony PCG-81114L Battery0] This abrupt and forced removal resulted in the deaths of over 4,000 Cherokees on the "Trail of Tears".
A daguerreotype of Jackson.
By the 1830s, under constant pressure from settlers, each of the five southern tribes had ceded most of its lands, but sizable self-government groups lived in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida.
Sony PCG-81113L Battery All of these (except the Seminoles) had moved far in the coexistence with whites, and they resisted suggestions that they should voluntarily remove themselves. Their nonviolent methods earned them the title the Five Civilized Tribes.[49] Sony PCG-51312L Battery
More than 45,000 American Indians were relocated to the West during Jackson's administration. A few Cherokees escaped forced relocation, or walked back afterwards, escaping to the high Smoky Mountains along the North Carolina and Tennessee border.[51] Sony PCG-51411L Battery
Jackson's administration bought about 100 million acres (400,000 km²) of Indian land for about $68 million and 32 million acres (130,000 km²) of western land. Jackson was criticized at the time for his role in these events, and the criticism has grown over the years. U.S. historian Robert V. Remini characterizes the Indian Removal era as "one of the unhappiest chapters in American history".[52]
Attack and assassination attempt
Richard Lawrence's attempt on Jackson's life, as depicted in an 1835 etching.
The first presidential attack was against Jackson. Jackson ordered the dismissal of Robert B. Randolph from the Navy for embezzlement. Sony PCG-51412L Battery
Sony PCG-71111L Battery On May 6, 1833, Jackson sailed on USS Cygnet to Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he was to lay the cornerstone on a monument near the grave of Mary Ball Washington, George Washington's mother. During a stopover near Alexandria, Sony PCG-51511L Battery
Randolph appeared and struck the President. He fled the scene chased by several members of Jackson's party, including the well-known writer Washington Irving. Jackson decided not to press charges.[10] Sony PCG-51513L Battery
On January 30, 1835, what is believed to be the first attempt to kill a sitting President of the United States occurred just outside the United States Capitol. When Jackson was leaving through the East Portico after the funeral of South Carolina Representative Warren R. Davis, Richard Lawrence, an unemployed housepainter from England, Sony VPCF115FM battery
aimed a pistol at Jackson, which misfired. Lawrence pulled out a second pistol, which also misfired. Historians believe the humid weather contributed to the double misfiring.[53] Lawrence was restrained, and legend says that Jackson attacked Lawrence with his cane. Others present, including David Crockett, restrained and disarmed Lawrence. Sony VPCF11JFX battery
Lawrence told doctors later his reasons for the shooting. He blamed Jackson for the loss of his job. He claimed that with the President dead, "money would be more plenty" (a reference to Jackson's struggle with the Bank of the United States) Sony VPCF11MFX battery
Sony VPCF114FX battery and that he "could not rise until the President fell". Finally, he told his interrogators that he was a deposed English King—specifically, Richard III, dead since 1485—and that Jackson was his clerk. He was deemed insane and institutionalized. Sony VPCF11FGX battery
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Afterward, due to public curiosity concerning the double misfires, the pistols were tested and retested. Each time they performed perfectly. Many believed that Jackson had been protected by the same Providence that protected the young nation. This national pride was a large part of the Jacksonian cultural myth fueling American expansion in the 1830s. Sony VPCF113FX battery
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Shortly after Jackson first arrived in Nashville in 1788, he lived as a boarder with Rachel Stockley Donelson, the widow of John Donelson. Here Jackson became acquainted with their daughter, Rachel Donelson Robards. At the time, Sony VPCF11LFX battery
Sony VPCF11BFX batteryRachel was in an unhappy marriage with Captain Lewis Robards; he was subject to fits of jealous rage.[55] The two were separated in 1790. According to Jackson, he married Rachel after hearing that Robards had obtained a divorce. However, the divorce had never been completed, Sony VPCF11DGX battery
Sony VPCF11AFX battery making Rachel's marriage to Jackson bigamous and therefore invalid. After the divorce was officially completed, Rachel and Jackson remarried in 1794.[56] To complicate matters further, evidence shows that Rachel had been living with Jackson and referred to herself as Mrs. Jackson before the petition for divorce was ever made.[5Sony VPCF117FX battery
Sony VPCF1190X battery7] It was not uncommon on the frontier for relationships to be formed and dissolved unofficially, as long as they were recognized by the community.
The controversy surrounding their marriage remained a sore point for Jackson, who deeply resented attacks on his wife’s honor. Sony VPCF112FX battery
Sony VPCF119GX batteryBy May 1806, Charles Dickinson had published an attack on Jackson in the local newspaper, and it resulted in a written challenge from Jackson to a duel. Since Dickinson was considered an expert shot, Jackson determined it would be best to let Dickinson turn and fire first, hoping that his aim might be spoiled in his quickness; Jackson would wait and take careful aim at Dickinson.
Sony VPCF11NFX batteryDickinson did fire first, hitting Jackson in the chest. Under the rules of dueling, Dickinson had to remain still as Jackson took aim and shot and killed him. However, the bullet that struck Jackson was so close to his heart that it could never be safely removed. Sony VPCF11KFX battery
Jackson's behavior in the in the dual outraged men of honor in Tennessee, who called it a brutal, cold-blooded killing and saddled Jackson with a reputation as a fearful, violent, vengeful man. He became a social outcast.[58] Sony VPCF11CGX battery
Rachel died of a heart attack on December 22, 1828, two weeks after her husband's victory in the election and two months before Jackson took office as President. Jackson blamed John Quincy Adams for Rachel's death because the episode ridiculing his wife was repeatedly used in the campaign of 1828. He felt that this had hastened her death and never forgave Adams.[59]
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Jackson’s quick temper was notorious. Brands says, "His audacity on behalf of the people earned him enemies who slandered him and defamed even his wife, Rachel. He dueled in her defense and his own, suffering grievous wounds that left him with bullet fragments lodged about his body."[60]
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Jackson had three adopted sons: Theodore, an Indian about whom little is known,[61] Andrew Jackson Jr., the son of Rachel's brother Severn Donelson, and Lyncoya, a Creek Indian orphan adopted by Jackson after the Creek War. Lyncoya died of tuberculosis in 1828, at the age of sixteen.[62] Sony VPCF116FX battery
Tennessee Gentleman, portrait of Jackson, ca. 1831, from the collection of The Hermitage.
The Jacksons also acted as guardians for eight other children. John Samuel Donelson, Daniel Smith Donelson and Andrew Jackson Donelson were the sons of Rachel's brother Samuel Donelson, who died in 1804. Andrew Jackson Hutchings was Rachel's orphaned grand nephew.
Dell Latitude E6420-ATG BatteryCaroline Butler, Eliza Butler, Edward Butler, and Anthony Butler were the orphaned children of Edward Butler, a family friend. They came to live with the Jacksons after the death of their father.[63] Dell Latitude E5500 Battery
The widower Jackson invited Rachel's niece Emily Donelson to serve as host at the White House. Emily was married to Andrew Jackson Donelson, who acted as Jackson's private secretary and in 1856 would run for Vice President on the American Party ticket. Dell Latitude E5400 Battery
Dell Latitude E6230 BatteryThe relationship between the President and Emily became strained during the Petticoat affair, and the two became estranged for over a year. They eventually reconciled and she resumed her duties as White House host. Sarah Yorke Jackson, the wife of Andrew Jackson Jr., became cohost of the White House in 1834. Dell Latitude E5510 Battery
Dell Latitude E6220 Battery It was the only time in history when two women simultaneously acted as unofficial First Lady. Sarah took over all hosting duties after Emily died from tuberculosis in 1836. Jackson used Rip Raps as a retreat, visiting between August 19, 1829 through August 16, 1835.[64]
Jackson remained influential in both national and state politics after retiring to The Hermitage in 1837. Jackson remained a firm advocate of the federal union of the states, and rejected any talk of secession. "I will die with the Union", he always insisted.[65] Dell latitude e6400 Battery
The tomb of Andrew and Rachel Donelson Jackson located at their home, The Hermitage.
Jackson was a lean figure standing at 6 feet, 1 inch (1.85 m) tall, and weighing between 130 and 140 pounds (64 kg) on average. Jackson also had an unruly shock of red hair, which had completely grayed by the time he became president at age 61. Dell Latitude E6400 ATG Battery
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He had penetrating deep blue eyes. Jackson was one of the more sickly presidents, suffering from chronic headaches, abdominal pains, and a hacking cough, caused by a musket ball in his lung that was never removed, that often brought up blood and sometimes made his whole body shake. About a year after retiring the presidency,[6Dell Latitude E6410 Battery
Dell Latitude E5530 Battery6] Jackson became a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Nashville. He enjoyed eight years of retirement until his death at The Hermitage on June 8, 1845, at the age of 78, of chronic tuberculosis, dropsy, and heart failure. Dell Latitude E6410 ATG Battery
Jackson was a Freemason, having been initiated at Masonic Lodge, Harmony No. 1 in Tennessee; he also participated in chartering several other lodges in Tennessee. He was the only U.S. president to have been a Grandmaster of a State Lodge until Harry S. Truman in 1945. Dell Latitude E6510 Battery
Dell Latitude E6420 Battery His Masonic apron is on display in the Tennessee State Museum. An obelisk and bronze Masonic plaque decorate his tomb at The Hermitage.[67][68][69]
In his will, Jackson left his entire estate to his adopted son, Andrew Jackson Jr., except for specifically enumerated items that were left to various other friends and family members.
Martin Van Buren (December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was the eighth President of the United States (1837–1841). Before his presidency, he was the eighth Vice President (1833–1837) and the tenth Secretary of State (1829-1831), both under Andrew Jackson. Dell Precision M2400 Battery
Van Buren was a key organizer of the Democratic Party, a dominant figure in the Second Party System, and the first president not of British or Irish descent—his family was Dutch. He was the first president to have been born a United States citizen,[2] Dell Precision M4400 Battery
Dell Latitude E4300 Battery since all of his predecessors were born British subjects before the American Revolution.[3] He is the only president not to have spoken English as his first language, having grown up speaking Dutch,[4] and the first president from New York. Dell Precision M4500 Battery
As Andrew Jackson's Secretary of State and then Vice President, Van Buren was a key figure in building the organizational structure for Jacksonian democracy, particularly in New York State. As president, he did not want the United States to annex Texas, an act which John Tyler would achieve eight years after Van Buren's initial rejection. Between the bloodless Aroostook War and the Caroline Affair, relations with Britain and its colonies in Canada also proved to be strained.
His administration was largely characterized by the economic hardship of his time, the Panic of 1837. He was scapegoated for the depression and called "Martin Van Ruin" by his political opponents. Van Buren was voted out of office after four years, losing to Whig candidate William Henry Harrison.
In the 1848 election Van Buren ran unsuccessfully for president on a third-party ticket, the Free Soil Party. Van Buren died fourteen years later at the age of seventy-nine. Dell Precision M6400 Battery
Martin Van Buren was born in the village of Kinderhook, New York, on December 5, 1782, about 25 miles (40 km) south of Albany, New York. His father Abraham Van Buren (1737–1817) was a farmer, the owner of six slaves,[5] and a tavern-keeper in Kinderhook. Dell Latitude E6430 Battery
Dell XPS 15 Battery Abraham Van Buren supported the American Revolution and later the Jeffersonian Republicans. Martin Van Buren's mother was Maria Van Alen (née Hoes) Van Buren (1747–1818).[6] Dell Latitude E6430-ATG Battery
Van Buren was the first president born a citizen of the United States, as all previous presidents were born before the American Revolution. His great-great-great-grandfather Cornelis Maessen van Buren had come to the New World in 1631 from the small city of Buren, Dell Latitude E6430S Battery
Dell XPS 14D-L401X Battery Dutch Republic, in present day Netherlands. Van Buren grew up in a Dutch-speaking community. His native language was Dutch, and to date, he has been the only U.S. President who has spoken English as a second language.[7] Dell Latitude E6430-XFR Battery
Van Buren received a basic education at a poorly lit schoolhouse in his native village and later studied Latin briefly at the Kinderhook Academy and at Washington Seminary in Claverack.[8] He excelled in composition and speaking. His formal education ended before he reached 14, when he began studying Law at the office of Francis Sylvester, Dell Latitude E6520N Battery
a prominent Federalist attorney in Kinderhook. After six years under Sylvester, he spent a final year of apprenticeship in the New York City office of William P. Van Ness, a political lieutenant of Aaron Burr. Van Buren was admitted to the bar in 1803. Dell Latitude E5220 Battery
Van Buren married Hannah Hoes, his childhood sweetheart and first cousin once removed, on February 21, 1807, in Catskill, New York. Like Van Buren, she was raised in a Dutch home and never lost her distinct Dutch accent. The couple had four sons and one daughter: Abraham (1807–1873) a graduate of West Point and career military officer; John (1810–1866), graduate of Yale and Attorney General of New York; Martin, Jr. (1812–1855), Dell Latitude E5420M Battery
secretary to his father and editor of his father's papers until a premature death from tuberculosis; Winfield Scott (born and died in 1814); and Smith Thompson (1817–1876), Dell Latitude E5430 Battery
Dell XPS 14 Batteryan editor and special assistant to his father while president. Their daughter was stillborn. After 12 years of marriage, Hannah Van Buren contracted tuberculosis and died on February 5, 1819, at the age of 35.[9] Martin Van Buren never remarried. Dell XPS 15D Battery
Early political career [edit]
Van Buren had been active in politics from at least the age of 17 when he attended a party convention in Troy, New York where he worked to secure the Congressional nomination for John Van Ness. However, once established in his practice, Dell XPS 15-L501X Battery
Dell Inspiron 17R Batteryhe became wealthy enough to increase his focus on politics. He was an early supporter of Aaron Burr. He allied himself with the Clintonian faction of the Democratic-Republican Party, and was surrogate of Columbia County, New York from 1808 until 1813, when he was removed. Dell XPS 15-L502X Battery
Van Buren joined the opposition party in 1813, and was a member of the New York State Senate from 1812 to 1820, and New York Attorney General from 1815 to 1819. He was a presidential elector in 1820, voting for James Monroe and Daniel D. Tompkins. Dell XPS 15Z Battery
At first he opposed Clinton's plan for the Erie Canal, but later supported it when the Bucktails were able to gain a majority in the Erie Canal Commission, and supported a bill that raised money for the canal through state bonds. Dell XPS 17 Battery
In 1817, Van Buren's connection with so-called "machine politics" started. He created the first political machine encompassing all of New York, the Bucktails, whose leaders later became known as the Albany Regency. Dell XPS 17-L701X Battery
Dell Inspiron N4010R Battery The Bucktails became a successful movement that emphasized party loyalty; they captured and controlled many patronage posts throughout New York. Van Buren did not originate the system, but gained the nickname of "Little Magician" for the skill with which he exploited it. He also served as a member of the state constitutional convention, Dell XPS 17-L702X Battery
Dell Inspiron N4010D Battery where he opposed the grant of universal suffrage and tried to maintain property requirements for voting.
He was the leading figure in the Albany Regency, a group of politicians who for more than a generation dominated much of the politics of New York and powerfully influenced the politics of the nation. The group, together with the political clubs such as Tammany Hall that were developing at the same time,
Dell Inspiron N4010 Batteryplayed a major role in the development of the "spoils system", a recognized procedure in national, state and local affairs. He was the prime architect of the first nationwide political party: the Jacksonian Democrats. In Van Buren's own words, "Without strong national political organizations, there would be nothing to moderate the prejudices between free and slaveholding states."[10] Dell XPS L502X Battery
U.S. Senate and national politics [edit]
In February 1821, Martin Van Buren was elected a U.S. Senator from New York, defeating the incumbent Nathan Sanford who ran as the Clintonian candidate. Van Buren at first favored internal improvements,
Dell Inspiron N3010R Batterysuch as road repairs and canal creation, therefore proposing a constitutional amendment in 1824 to authorize such undertakings. The next year, however, he took ground against them. He voted for the tariff of 1824 then gradually abandoned the protectionist position, coming out for "tariffs for revenue only."
In the presidential election of 1824, Van Buren supported William H. Crawford and received the electoral vote of Georgia for vice-president, but he shrewdly kept out of the acrimonious controversy which followed the choice of John Quincy Adams as President. Dell XPS L701X Battery
Dell Inspiron N5030 BatteryVan Buren had originally hoped to block Adams' victory by denying him the state of New York (the state was divided between Van Buren supporters who would vote for William H. Crawford and Adams men). Dell Inspiron 14V Battery
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Dell Inspiron N5110 Battery However, Representative Stephen Van Rensselaer swung New York to Adams and thereby the 1824 Presidency. After the lost election, Van Buren dropped Crawford, and instead supported Andrew Jackson to be the next presidential candidate. Dell Inspiron N4020 Battery
Always notably courteous in his treatment of opponents, he showed no bitterness toward either John Quincy Adams or Henry Clay, and he voted for Clay's confirmation as Secretary of State, notwithstanding Jackson's "corrupt bargain" charge.
Dell Inspiron N7010D BatterAt the same time, he opposed the Adams-Clay plans for internal improvements and declined to support the proposal for a Panama Congress. As chair of the Judiciary Committee, he brought forward a number of measures for the improvement of judicial procedure and, in May 1826, Dell Inspiron N4030 Battery
Dell Inspiron N7010R Battery joined with Senator Thomas Hart Benton in reporting on executive patronage. In the debate on the "tariff of abominations" in 1828, he took no part but voted for the measure in obedience to instructions from the New York legislature, an action which was cited against him as late as during the presidential campaign of 1844. Dell Inspiron N5010D Battery
Van Buren was not an orator, but his more important speeches show careful preparation and his opinions carried weight; the oft-repeated charge that he refrained from declaring himself on crucial questions is hardly borne out by an examination of his senatorial career. In February 1827, he was re-elected to the Senate by a large majority. Dell Inspiron N5010 Battery
Dell Inspiron N4110 Battery He became one of the recognized managers of the Jackson campaign, and his tour of Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia in the spring of 1827 won support for Jackson from Crawford. Martin Van Buren sought to reorganize and unify "the old Republican party" behind Jackson.[11]
Sony PCG-41414L Battery At the state level, Jackson's committee chairs would split up the responsibilities around the state and organize volunteers at the local level. "Hurra Boys" would plant hickory trees (in honor of Jackson's nickname, "Old Hickory") Sony SVS13AA11L Battery
Sony PCG-41413L Batteryor hand out hickory sticks at rallies. Van Buren even had a New York journalist write a campaign piece portraying Jackson as a humble, pious man. "Organization is the secret of victory," an editor in the Adams camp wrote. Sony SVS131A11L Battery
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Sony PCG-41412L BatteryHe once said to a group of lobbyists the famous quote and "By the want of it we have been overthrown." In November 1828, Van Buren was elected Governor of New York for the term beginning on January 1, 1829, and resigned his seat in the Senate. Sony SVS151A11L Battery
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Martin Van Buren's tenure as New York governor is the second shortest on record. While his term was short, he did manage to pass the Bank Safety Fund Law (an early form of deposit insurance) through the Legislature. Sony SVS151B11L Battery
Jackson Cabinet [edit]
On March 5, 1829, President Jackson appointed Van Buren Secretary of State, an office which probably had been assured to him before the election, and he resigned the governorship on March 12.[12]
Sony PCG-41218L BatteryHe was succeeded in the governorship by his Lieutenant Governor, Enos T. Throop, a member of the regency. As Secretary of State, Van Buren took care to keep on good terms with the Kitchen Cabinet, the group of politicians who acted as Jackson's advisers, and did not oppose Jackson in the matter of removals from office but was not himself an active "spoilsman." Sony SVS151G1GL Battery
He won the lasting regard of Jackson by his courtesies to Peggy Eaton, wife of Secretary of War John H. Eaton, with whom the wives of the cabinet officers led by Vice President Calhoun's wife, Floride Calhoun had refused to associate in the Petticoat Affair. Aside from the Petticoat Affair, he skillfully avoided entanglement in the Jackson-Calhoun imbroglio.
1832 Whig cartoon shows Jackson carrying Van Buren into office
No diplomatic questions of the first magnitude arose during Van Buren's service as secretary, but the settlement of long-standing claims against France was prepared and trade with the British West Indies colonies was opened. Sony PCG-4121EL Battery
Sony PCG-41217L Battery In the controversy with the Bank of the United States, he sided with Jackson. After the breach between Jackson and Calhoun, Van Buren was clearly the most prominent candidate for the vice-presidency. Sony PCG-4121FL Battery
Vice-Presidency [edit]
In December 1829, Jackson had already made known his wish that Van Buren receive the nomination.[13] In April 1831, Van Buren resigned as Secretary of State as a result of the Petticoat affair—though he did not leave office until June. Van Buren still played a part in the Kitchen Cabinet.[14
Sony PCG-41216L Battery] In August 1831 Van Buren was appointed Minister to the United Kingdom and he arrived in London in September. He was cordially received, but in February, he learned that his nomination had been rejected by the Senate on January 25, 1832. Sony PCG-4121GL Battery
Sony PCG-41215L BatteryThe rejection, ostensibly attributed in large part to Van Buren's instructions to Louis McLane, the American minister to Britain, regarding the opening of the West Indies trade, in which reference had been made to the results of the election of 1828, was the work of Calhoun, the vice-president. Sony PCG-41214L BatteryWhen the vote was taken, enough of the majority refrained from voting to produce a tie and give Calhoun his longed-for "vengeance." No greater impetus than this could have been given to Van Buren's candidacy for the vice-presidency. Sony PCG-41211L Battery
After a brief tour through Europe, Van Buren reached New York on July 5, 1832. The 1832 Democratic National Convention, the party's first and held in May, had nominated him for vice-president on the Jackson ticket, Sony PCG-41212L Battery
Sony PCG-41213L Battery despite the strong opposition to him which existed in many states. Van Buren's platform included supporting the expansion of the naval system. His declarations during the campaign were vague regarding the tariff and unfavorable to the United States Bank and to nullification,
Sony PCG-61913L Batterybut he had already somewhat placated the South by denying the right of Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia without the consent of the slave states.
Election of 1836 [edit]
Sony PCG-61911L Battery
Main article: United States presidential election, 1836
A portrait of Martin Van Buren.
It took Van Buren and his partisan friends a decade and a half to form the Democratic Party; many elements, such as the national convention, were borrowed from other parties.[15]
In the election of 1832, the Jackson-Van Buren ticket won by a landslide. When the election of 1836 came up, Jackson was determined to make Van Buren, his personal choice, Sony SVS13AB1GL Battery
Sony PCG-61813L Battery President to continue his legacy. Martin Van Buren's only competitors in the 1836 election were the Whigs, who ran several regional candidates in hopes of sending the election to the House of Representatives, where each state delegation would have one vote. William Henry Harrison hoped to receive the support of the Western voters, Sony SVS131C1DL Battery
Sony PCG-61714L BatteryDaniel Webster had strength in New England, and Hugh Lawson White had support in the South. Van Buren was unanimously nominated by the 1835 Democratic National Convention at Baltimore. He expressed himself plainly on the questions of slavery and the bank at the same time voting,
Sony PCG-71C12L Batteryperhaps with a touch of bravado, for a bill offered in 1836 to subject abolition literature in the mails to the laws of the several states. Van Buren's presidential victory represented a broader victory for Jackson and the party. Van Buren entered the White House as a fifty-four-year-old widower with four sons. Sony SVS131C24L Battery
Sony PCG-71C11L Battery Martin Van Buren was the first real American politician and was also the first to use grassroots campaigning in his presidential campaign. He wanted to make a political party that united the plain republicans of the north and the planters of the south. Sony SVS131E1DL Battery
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Twentieth Century etymologist Alan Walker Read has published research asserting the wide usage of the phrase "O.K." (okay) started during the presidential campaign and subsequent presidency of Martin Van Buren. Sony SVS131G1DL Battery
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Presidency 1837–1841 [edit]
Policies [edit]
Presidential Dollar of Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren
Issue of 1938
Martin Van Buren announced his intention "to follow in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor", and retained all but one of Jackson's cabinet. Van Buren had few economic tools to deal with the Panic of 1837. Sony PCG-61A11L BatteryThe Panic was followed by a five-year depression, with the failure of banks and then-record-high unemployment levels. Some modern economists have argued that the Panic was caused by the bank policies of the Jackson administration,
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with the power of create money being distributed into decentralised banks, most of which would then continue to cause a massive inflationary bubble.[16] Sony SVS151C1GL Battery
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Van Buren advocated lower tariffs and free trade, and by doing so maintained support of the South for the Democratic Party. He succeeded in setting up a system of bonds for the national debt. His party was so split that his 1837 proposal for an "Independent Treasury" system did not pass until 1840. Sony PCG-71614L Battery
Sony SVE171G112 Battery It gave the Treasury control of all federal funds and had a legal tender clause that required (by 1843) all payments to be made in specie, but it further inflamed public opinion on both sides. Sony PCG-71713L Battery
In a bold step, Van Buren reversed Andrew Jackson's policies and sought peace at home, as well as abroad. Instead of settling a financial dispute between American citizens and the Mexican government by force, Van Buren wanted to seek a diplomatic solution. In August 1837, Van Buren denied Texas' formal request to join the United States, again prioritizing sectional harmony over territorial expansion. Sony PCG-71811L Battery
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In the case of the ship Amistad, Van Buren sided with the Spanish Government to return the kidnapped slaves. Van Buren oversaw the movement of Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw and Seminole tribes from Georgia, Sony PCG-71911L Battery
Sony SVE171E11L BatteryTennessee, Alabama, and South Carolina to the Oklahoma territory, executing the orders passed under Jackson. To help secure Florida, Van Buren also continued the Second Seminole War, which had begun while Jackson was in office. Fighting was not resolved until 1842, after Van Buren had left office.
In 1839, Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement visited Van Buren to plead for the U.S. to help roughly 20,000 Mormon settlers of Independence, Missouri, who were forced from the state during the 1838 Mormon War there. The Governor of Missouri, Lilburn Boggs, had issued an executive order on October 27, 1838, known as the "Extermination Order". It authorized troops to use force against Mormons to "exterminate or drive [them] from the state".[17][
Sony SVE151J11L Battery18] In 1839, after moving to Illinois, Smith and his party appealed to members of Congress and to President Van Buren to intercede for the Mormons. According to Smith's grandnephew, Van Buren said to Smith, "Your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you; if I take up for you I shall lose the vote of Missouri".[19][20] Sony PCG-71912L Battery
Van Buren took the blame for hard times, as Whigs ridiculed him as Martin Van Ruin. Van Buren's rather elegant personal style was also an easy target for Whig attacks, such as the Gold Spoon Oration. State elections of 1837 and 1838 were disastrous for the Democrats, Sony PCG-71913L Battery
Sony SVE151G13L Battery and the partial economic recovery in 1838 was offset by a second commercial crisis in that year. Nevertheless, Van Buren controlled his party and was unanimously renominated by the Democrats in 1840. Sony PCG-71914L Battery
The revolt against Democratic rule led to the election of William Henry Harrison, the Whig candidate. He once mentioned his relief of leaving office saying, "As to the presidency, the two happiest days of my life were those of my entrance upon the office and my surrender of it".Sony PCG-91211L Battery
Sony SVE151G11L Battery
Administration and Cabinet [edit]
Though he did vote against the admission of Missouri as a slave state, and though he would be the nominated presidential candidate of the Free Soil Party, an anti-slavery political party, in 1848,[2Sony PCG-91311L Battery
Sony SVE151E11L Battery1] there was no ambiguity in his position on the abolition of slavery during his term of office.[22] Van Buren considered slavery morally wrong but sanctioned by the Constitution.[2
Sony SVE141L11L Battery3] When it came to the issue of slavery in DC and slavery in the United States, he was against its abolition, and said so in his Inaugural Address in 1837: "I believed it a solemn duty fully to make known my sentiments in regard to it [slavery], Sony SVE141C11L Battery
Sony SVE141D11L Batteryand now, when every motive for misrepresentation has passed away, I trust that they will be candidly weighed and understood.
"I must go into the Presidential chair the inflexible and uncompromising opponent of every attempt on the part of Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia against the wishes of the slaveholding States, and also with a determination equally decided to resist the slightest interference with it in the States where it exists."[2Sony PCG-61713L Battery
Sony PCG-61317L Battery4] Slavery would be abolished in the District of Columbia on April 18, 1862.
Later life [edit]
1858 portrait by GPA Healy, on display at the White House
On the expiration of his term, Van Buren returned to his estate, Lindenwald in Kinderhook, where he planned out his return to the White House. He seemed to have the advantage for the nomination in 1844; Sony PCG-91111L Battery
Sony PCG-61316L Batteryhis famous letter of April 27, 1844, in which he frankly opposed the immediate annexation of Texas, though doubtlessly contributing greatly to his defeat, was not made public until he felt practically sure of the nomination. In the Democratic convention, though he had a majority of the votes, Sony PCG-91112L Battery
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Sony PCG-61315L Battery he did not have the two-thirds which the convention required, and after eight ballots his name was withdrawn. James K. Polk received the nomination instead.
Daguerreotype of Martin Van Buren, circa 1855.
In 1848, he was nominated by two minor parties, first by the "Barnburner" faction of the Democrats, then by the Free Soilers, with whom the "Barnburners" coalesced. He won no electoral votes, but took enough votes in New York to give the state—and perhaps the election—to Zachary Taylor. In the election of 1860, Sony PCG-71311L Battery
Sony PCG-61312L Batteryhe voted for the fusion ticket in New York which was opposed to Abraham Lincoln, but he could not approve of President Buchanan's course in dealing with secession and eventually supported Lincoln. Sony PCG-71218L Battery
Martin Van Buren then retired to his home in Kinderhook. After being bedridden with a case of pneumonia during the fall of 1861, Martin Van Buren died of bronchial asthma and heart failure at his Lindenwald estate in Kinderhook at 2:00 a.m. on July 24, 1862. Sony PCG-71217L Battery
Sony PCG-71313L Battery
Sony PCG-61311L Battery He was 79 years old. He is buried in the Kinderhook Cemetery along with his wife Hannah, his parents, and his son Martin Van Buren, Jr.[25] A cenotaph to him is located near the parking lot of the Kinderhook Reformed Dutch Church. Van Buren outlived his four immediate successors as President (William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk and Zachary Taylor).
Memorials [edit]
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Van Buren County, Michigan is named after him. It was so named in 1829 while Van Buren was Secretary of State. This was done in hopes of winning support in the Jackson administration for Michigan's bid to become a state. Van Buren County is one of several counties named after Jackson or members of his cabinet for this reason. In 2012, Van Buren was featured in a Google commercial. Sony PCG-71315L Battery
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