Tariff of 1832 reduced tariffs by 10% but South Carolina still threatened secession and declared the tariff to be "Null and Void" > Compromise Tariff of 1833 (Clay) with strong regional support from the southern states
1832 - Jackson vetoed the re-charter of the Bank of the U.S. (BUS) which was the major depository of funds of the National government because he felt it was anti-western, run by an elite moneyed aristocracy, and too corrupt (Czar Biddle)
Election of 1832:
Clay (National Republican) v. Jackson (Democratic)
*First 3rd Party: Anti-Masonic Party
*First national conventions, which adopted written party platforms
Jackson's second term:
1. Weakened the BUS by "removing" federal deposits and putting them into state (pet) banks (surplus funds were pouring in from high tariff duties)
2. Issued a Specie Circular (1836) which required all public lands to be purchased with "hard" or metallic money
3. Proposed the forcible removal of the eastern Indian tribes beyond the Mississippi > "Trail of Tears"
^ Resisted by the Seminole Indians who were led by Oseceola and took the lives of 1500 U.S. soldiers (costliest conflict in American History!)
The story of Texas:
1823 - Mexican land grant to Stephen Austin and 300 American families > 30,000 by 1835 > friction especially over slavery (most settlers came from the South and Southwest)
1835 - Santa Anna wiped out all local rights and started to raise an army to suppress the upstart Texans
1836 - Texas declared its independence with Sam Houston as their commander in chief > defeat at the Alamo but victory at San Jacinto
1837 - Texas petitioned for annexation but Van Buren was hesitant because antislavery groups in the U.S. opposed the expansion of slavery
Election of 1836:
Martin Van Buren (D) v. William Henry Harrison (Whig)
Whigs: Alienated opponents of Jackson
Supporters of Clay's American System
Southern state rightists
Northern merchants
Van Buren's presidency - 4 years of toil and trouble!
- Panic of 1837
- Divorce Bill > Independent treasury
Election of 1840:
Van Buren (D) v. William Henry Harrison (Whig)
"Tippecanoe, and Tyler too!"
* Emergence of a two-party system
Democrats: Glorified the liberty of the individual on guard against the inroads of "privilege" into government
Clung to states' rights and federal restraint in public policy
Whigs: Trumpeted the natural harmony of society and the value of community
Favored moral reforms such as abolition of slavery and prohibition
Eager to use the power of the federal government to promote economic growth (national bank, public schools, protective tariffs)
* But - Both parties commanded the loyalties of all kinds of Americans, from all social classes, and in all sections of the country