Adonis Diaries

Andrew Jackson 7th President: The most powerful and popular President (1829-37) in the 19th century US history

Andrew Jackson founded the Democratic party and was the least educated of the former presidents.

Born on March 1767 in a small farm of South Carolina, he got engaged at 13 in the revolutionary troops. Orphaned at age 14, his education is cut short and multiplies the small jobs. He never applied to or attended a “university” but learned enough law to be admitted as lawyer in North Carolina in 1787.

In 1788, he is appointed district attorney general of what is currently known as Tennessee. He speculated and lost and was about to experience prison for defaulting. This adventure would mark Jackson and his apprehension for banking institutions.

Jackson is elected to the convention that discussed Tennessee Constitution and became the first representative of this State in Congress in 1796, then senator in 1797, and was appointed member of the Supreme Court of this State (1798-1804)

Jackson is elected militia chief of Tennessee and became a national hero during the 1812 war against England. The British troops entered the Capital of Washington DC and burned it.

He defeated the Indian Creeks before saving New Orleans from the British siege in January 1815.

Jackson confronted the Indian Seminole and colonized Spanish Florida. This non-declared offensive war, not approved by Congress, expanded the US territories to the east of Mississippi.

Jackson becomes governor of Florida in 1821. By 1823, he is a federal senator.

In the 1820’s, the debate over slavery in the opened western lands for colonization is raging. A sectional compromise is agreed upon: slavery is prohibited North of 36 degree and 30 minutes latitude and accepted south of this latitude. This consensus was the work of strong Congressmen such as Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun and Daniel Webster. President Monroe had no say in it.

The southern States import most of its consuming goods and reluctant on paying import taxes, while the northern States want to preserve and protect their industries from foreign competition.

Opposition to Federal financing of transportation infrastructure is another major hurdle to surmount.

The year 1819 experienced a financial crisis that halted the speculative trend in the newly expanded territories westward.

The latest creation of the second Bank of the USA in 1816, after the expiration term of the first national bank, is raising resentment.

Six of the new western States agree on the universal vote for all white citizens, and thus, you don’t need to be an owner of properties to vote. In 1828, 18 states have adopted this “democratic” voting system

The caucus system is still applied for the selection of the Presidential candidates: The political parties select their candidates, and consequently, only weak Presidents are selected to consolidate the power of the legislative body.

In 1823, the future President, John Quincy Adams was minister of foreign affairs and originated the Monroe Doctrine of the US neutrality in European affairs and guarding the American continent from any European incursions.

The Republican party is divided and refuse to abide by the caucus system. On July 20, 1822, Tennessee support the candidate Andrew Jackson.

Andrew Jackson is first in popular votes but the 99 votes of Grand Electors is far short of the absolute majority of 131. The speaker of Congress Henry Clay managed to elect John Quincy Adams as 6th President.

The string of Presidents from Virginia is broken. Jackson resigns from the Senate and retires to his property at the Hermitage. Jackson’s friends are mobilized to forming the “Democratic Party” or the “men of Jackson” against the men of Adams. Jackson is promoted as the Man of the western frontier, a region that was in full expansion, in opposition to the elite classes of the East.

Jackson got 178 votes of the Grand Electors in 1828 and 647,000 popular votes against 508,000 for Adams. The popular vote broke the 50% in participation.

Jackson opposes his veto to the renewal of of the chart of the second Bank of the US in 1832, and take out the federal funds the next year. This second national bank held one quarter of the nation’s deposits and had the monopoly of keeping all federal funds.

Jackson uses the veto as  a weapon to oppose any law that does not serve the White House policies.

Jackson relies more on his “Kitchen Cabinet” formed of informal counselors and exercises for the first time the power of firing ministers and federal employees who are nominated by the President.

The French explorer and political analyst Alexis de Tocqueville coined the term “Jackson’s Democracy”, though only white males can vote. Jackson’s opponents called him “King Andrew”.

Jackson leave the White House on March 1837, but remained the most influential man until his death in 1845.

Jackson’s Democratic Party focused its identity around liberty of enterprises and States Rights facing a weakened Federal State.

The Whig opposition favors Federal financing of transport infrastructure, raising import taxes and a centralization of banking system.

The election of 1828 changed the caucus format to the national convention of the political parties that select the candidates and their vice presidents as a “ticket”. Consequently, you had to belong to a party in order to be a candidate.

Certain States adopt the concept of “winner-take-all” and others rely on the proportional system for sending delegate to the convention.