United States History 17A
Study Guide 8
 
 
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Study Guide 8
Nation of Nations
Chapter Eleven

The Rise of Democracy

Answer the following questions:
1. In what ways did the new political system that developed after 1820 differ so strikingly from that of the early republic?
2. How did Franklin E. Plummer reflect this new class of politician? 
I. Equality and Opportunity
3. Coming from the more stratified society of Europe, what were Europeans who visited the United States in this period struck by most?
4. What were 3 democratic 'manners' of Americans that Europeans found positively shocking?
5. How did Americans seem to feel about such democratic behavior?
6. What did Americans mean by the term equality?
7. What happened in the Jacksonian era as result of fashionable clothing becoming cheaper and much more widely available? How did textile mills play a role in this change?
8. By the 1830s, what was the prevailing color for men?
II. The New Political Culture of Democracy
The Second American Party System
   As a consequence of the collapse of the Federalist party after the War of 1812, a new party system gradually began to emerge. By the election of 1824, the National Republicans had assumed most of the platform of the Federalists. They advocated a strong national congress with implied powers, like a tariff, to protect manufaturers. Their opponents rallied around the new hero of the common man, Andrew Jackson, and called themselves Democrats. The Democratic party upheld the tradition of the old Jeffersonian Republicans and argued against a strong national congress. They preferrred to see political power remain with the states, and so opposed the concept of implied powers.
   In summary, although the Federalists and Jeffersonian Republicans had been replaced by the National Republicans and the Democrats, the beliefs of those older parties were still very much alive.

9. In the 1820s, which party became the heir of the beliefs of the Federalists and of the Jeffersonian Republicans? What were those beliefs? 
10. What requirements for voters and officeholders were reduced or dropped in the 1820s? How did these new democratic reforms affect voter turnout in1840 compared with 1824?
11. Why was the wealthy elite at a disadvantage in this new political environment?
12. What frequently overshadowed issues in these new political campaigns? What became an almost universal campaign tactic?
13. Even with these egalitarian conditions in the age of the 'common man', who was still prevented from voting? 
III. Jackson's Rise to Power
14. Look at the painting on p. 299 and read the caption beneath it. Besides the prevalence of drinking, (which explains why bars are closed and liquor not allowed within 100 feet of polling places on election days today), how were votes cast in elections in the Jacksonian era?  Also, "election day remained an ___ event".
15. Identify the following information about Andrew Jackson: From what college did he graduate? Where did he establish himself as a large landowner and slaveholder?  What was his nickname?

IV. Democracy and Race
16. In 1820, how many Indians remained east of the Mississippi? Which 5 tribes still held millions of acres of prime cotton land?
17. How did attitudes toward Indians change after 1815?
18. How did the Cherokee John Ross deal with the threats of Indian removal? What eventually happened to him?
19. For what 2 reasons did Jackson prod the Congress for Indian removal? When did Congress pass the Removal Bill?
20. In what 3 ways did the Georgia legislature try to harrass the Cherokees?
21. What was the decision of Marshall's Supreme Court in the case of Wocester v.Georgia in1832? What was Jackson's response to this case?
22. Who ordered the Cherokee romoval along the 'trail of tears' in 1838? How many Cherokees traveled on this trail?
23. On the 'trail of tears', what percent died along the way of exposure, disease or exhaustion? What may have happened to as much as 90% of the western land allotments given to the tribes that were removed?
24. Where in the north could black males vote on equal terms with whites?
25. In the years before the Civil War, what percent of the northern population were free African Americans?
26. What were black exclusion laws passed by several western states?
27. What 2 basic civil rights were denied to free African-Americans in the north by some or most states?
28. From what were free African-Americans segregated or forced to occupy in corners or remote areas?
29. For what 2 reasons were white workers overtly hostile to black workers, forcing them into the lowest paying, and most unskilled jobs?
30. What three things resulted from free African Americans being forced into poverty?
31. What was the most popular form of entertainment in Jacksonian America? What was featured in these shows?
32. How did the minstrel shows contrast free black Americans with those in slavery?
 
33. What was the basic message of the minstrel shows?
V. The Nullification Crisis
34. Why was South Carolina particuarly hard-hit by the depression of 1819? What was seen as the cause of its miseries?
35. What was the 'Tariff of Abominations'?
36. What did John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, argue in his theory of nullification?
37. According to Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, the doctrine of ___ gave ___ , not the states, the authority to determine the meaning of the Constitution.
38. What did a South Carolina convention do in November of 1832?
39. In his response, called the 'Proclamation on Nullification' of December, 1832, what did Jackson add to Webster's argument against nullification? And what did he warn the citizens of South Carolina?  What ended the Nullification Crisis? 
VI. The Bank War
40. What did many farmers see as the cause of the Depression (sometimes called a Panic) of 1819?
41. What became a symbol for these farmers of the rapid passing of a simpler way of life?
42. Why were workers often critical of the paper money system?
43. To avoid being cheated, what did workers call for?
44. Of what was Jackson convinced about banks and paper money?
45. What did Jackson do when Congress passed a bill to recharter the Bank of the United States in 1832?
46. What did Jackson order Roger Tawney to do, actions which ultimately destroyed the Bank? 
VII. Van Buren and Depression
Please go to the site, A Revised American Party System, and answer the questions there. 
49. Who was the whig candidate who ran successfully for President in the log cabin campaign of 1840, defeating the Democrat's Martin Van Buren? How did the Whigs protray him to the people? What was untrue about this image?
50. The Whig campaign, by portraying the election as __ , was perfectly attuned to __?

 
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Revised March 17, 2008

by Tom Gallup, e-mail address: [email protected]
West Valley College
http://www.westvalley.edu/wvc/ss/gallup/gallup.html