American History: A Survey (Brinkley), 13th Edition

Chapter 9: JACKSONIAN AMERICA

Main themes of Chapter Nine:

• The expansion of the electorate during the "age of Jackson," and the limits of that expansion



• The growing tension between nationalism and states' rights, as particularly reflected in the nullification crisis and the Webster-Hayne debate



• The brutal treatment of Native Americans by the Jackson administration, culminating in Indian Removal and the Trail of Tears



• The competing views of American economic development held by both sides in the Bank War, and their regional implications



• The rise of the Whig Party as an alternative to Andrew Jackson and the Democrats, and the Jacksonian political strategies used by both Whigs and Democrats in the Second Party System

• The democratization of the electorate that took place during Andrew Jackson's presidency, and those groups left out of this political transformation



• Andrew Jackson's philosophy of government and his impact on the office of the presidency



• The debate among historians about the meaning of "Jacksonian Democracy," and Andrew Jackson's relationship to it



• The nullification theory of John C. Calhoun, and President Jackson's reaction to the attempt to put nullification into action



• The reasons why the eastern Indians were removed to the West and the impact this had on the tribes



• The motivations animating Jackson's Bank War, and the effects of the Bank War on the American financial system



• The judicial climate of the Taney Court, how it differed in principle from the decisions of the earlier Marshall Court, and how it worked to foster Jacksonian ideals



• The differences in party philosophy between the Democrats and the Whigs, the reasons for the Whig victory in 1840, and the effect of the election on political campaigning



• The causes of the Panic of 1837, and the effect of the panic on the presidency of Van Buren



• The negotiations that led to the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, and the importance of the treaty in Anglo-American relations