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Rise of Jackson · Saberian History Lectures

0:00
Alright, so the wire is on. Okay. One party politics
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and the corrupt bargain. Okay. Let's go back
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to the idea that the era of good feelings, the
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era of good feelings ends with Jackson. Actually,
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the era of good feelings ends with John Quincy
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Adams. Why was the era of good feelings called
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the era of good feelings? What was so good about
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the era of good feelings? So you had peace with
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who? Peace with England and peace with the world.
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Yes? You had prosperity shortly after the war
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of 1812, shortly after the inauguration of Monroe.
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And actually you had peace with the world and
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peace in the US. You had the most peaceful transitions
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of power ever. Why? Monroe ran unopposed. So
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Monroe ran for president unopposed. Because everyone
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liked him. And it's not just that they liked
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him per se. Monroe represented something. Monroe
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was the last president to fight in the American
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Revolution. He was the last of the revolutionary
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generations. Now, Monroe himself was a military
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hero, not as big of a hero as Washington, but
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a hero in his own right. He had been active in
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both Virginia politics, in Congress, and in national
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politics. Over time, he had worked his way up
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the course as a norm. He did not have the same
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controversial foibles as Adams or as Jefferson.
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And again at this point after the War of 1812
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and the Hartford Convention, federalism as an
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ideology is no more. And so he comes in and he
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leads in a period of peace and prosperity. And
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then change. The torch goes to a new generation
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and in many ways Monroe walks away from power
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after his second term. And that's the end of
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the era of good feelings. Now one of the things
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I didn't really think of in the last iteration,
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but this time around I was thinking about this.
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You had the rise of factions. And I almost think
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for a moment, think back to other examples of
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history, what happens when the strong man falls
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or walks away? Chaos. And so let's turn our attention
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to the one party politics. And rather, The election
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of 1824. So 1824, there are some major players
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in the government. So before 1824, in the Monroe
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administration, of course Monroe is the president,
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he has some very strong characters in his cabinet.
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Name one. Henry Clay is not in the cabinet. Henry
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Clay is what? He is the Speaker of the House.
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Still a part of the government, still an integral
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part of the Republican Party, still a major player
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in the creation of this national system. He is
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the mold that holds it all together. Who else?
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You have John Quincy Adams. And Adams is what?
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Son of John Adams, the former president, he was
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also the former Secretary of State. who had negotiated
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some treaties, who had done a whole host of things
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on both the national and the international stage.
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He was an intellectual elite. I want to say he
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was Harvard educated, although he might have
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been a Yale man. But again, an Ivy League educated
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man, part of the American aristocracy in a way,
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the son of a president, a man of some prominence.
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You had Crawford. Crawford was the Secretary
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of Treasury. Yeah, and then you have John C.
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Calhoun. Calhoun is a Yale man. Calhoun was the
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secretary of war. And guess which one of them
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runs for president? All of them, including an
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outsider, Andrew Jackson. Mr. Jackson, a political
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outsider, a rough -and -tumble man from the country,
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a hero of two wars, one against the natives,
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and the hero of New Orleans. And they all run.
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It's a friggin' free -for -all, yes? Hmm. There
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were 17 men in the field and some dude comes
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out of nowhere to take it all. Sound familiar?
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Or is it too soon for that joke? Did Andrew Jackson
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have a three -day party? Well, he had a major
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party where people were even filtering the silverware
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out of the White House. But we're not there yet.
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That's not for another four years. We're not
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here. We're not there yet. No, I mean, the inaugural
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balls and Jackson, yeah, it was something stupendous.
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So here's what happened. So all of them run.
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It's a free -for -all. When I say it's a free
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-for -all, that means all of these Democratic
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Republicans are running against each other. So
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let's get to the breakdown. Jackson gets 99 electors.
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Adams gets 84. Crawford gets 41. And Clay finishes
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last. Actually, I'm trying to think. Did Calhoun
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even get any? I need to double check. That was
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it. He didn't finish the race. But Calhoun isn't
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going away. So you got... Now, what's the problem?
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Who won? Except it's not a majority and after
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the 12th amendment where the vice president goes
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from being the president's keenest political
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rival to being his running mate, the requirement
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is that you have a majority not a plurality.
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Right now Jackson has a plurality. He has the
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most of any one candidate, but does he have more
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than half? No. More than half is Majority, yes?
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So, under the old constitution, what do you do
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when no one wins in the electoral college? Senate
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chooses the Vice President, it goes to the House
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of Representatives. It goes to the House, one
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state, one vote. Now, I have to ask you a question,
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with the exception of Jackson. What do all What
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do Clay, what do Adams, and Crawford all have
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in common? They were all part of the Monroe administration.
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They're Washington insiders. What, y 'all don't
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hear the echo yet? You don't hear the echo yet.
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They're Washington insiders, and Clay knows that
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he's not gonna get it. But what's Clay? Of the
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what? Speaker of the House. Clay knows he's not
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going to get it. So now he's got a choice. Clay
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can throw his weight behind the outsider who
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possesses neither the temperament nor the judgment
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to be president. Echo. Or he can throw his weight
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behind the safe choice Adams. I mean, he could
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try throwing his weight behind Crawford, but
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he still doesn't get a majority. So he throws
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his weight behind Adams. So in the final lot,
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Adams gets 13 states. Jackson gets seven, because
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it's one state, one vote. It's not about electors.
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And Crawford, still holding on, gets four. And
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so the man who would be king. And what do you
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think the outcry must have been? Well, they called
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it a corrupt bargain, but you don't think the
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modern translation might be, the game is rigged?
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As Kurt Russell once said in Escape from LA,
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the more things change, the more they stay the
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same. Was that pretty good with the voice? It's
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a great film, Escape from LA. I do recommend
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y 'all watch it. It's not required viewing for
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this class, but it's a fun little 90s film. I
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mean, I could. It's just more paperwork than
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what I want to deal with. All right, so Jackson
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loses, but is the game over no no and if you're
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John Quincy Adams you win but is it a clean win
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no and when you don't get a clean win might that
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give you some problems down the road when you
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have to govern might that give you a bit of a
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mess so John Quincy Adams of course as president
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for one term like his father runs for re -election
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Okay, so that was the election of 1824. What
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happens four years later? Election of 1828. And
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what do you think is going to be going on? Well,
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guess what? It's time for the what? Time for
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the rematch. Alright. Rise of common man politics.
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Couple of things start changing. First of all,
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Jackson himself rises to power on a wave of a
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whole lot of people who hadn't voted in an election
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before. Now, in this case, The common man politics
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was this, many of the states, especially the
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northern and southern states, transition from
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what did you need in order to vote in America
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in the early Constitution land? You had a say
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in the state because you held a piece of the
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state, yes? So we transition from a system where
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you vote because you are a landowner to what
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is called universal manhood suffrage. By the
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way, I do find it ironic that we call the right
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to vote the suffrage. Have we not suffered enough
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in this election? Yes? Now, huh? Now, not quite
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everyone. Who did they not let vote? Well, Native
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Americans weren't citizens. Now, they did let
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the people who were allowed to vote were... Men
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who did not own, okay, so now introduced to it
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were immigrants. In other words, the newly established
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immigrants. People, landless peasants. So if
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I'm talking about landless peasants, that includes
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tenant farmers, sharecroppers. So tenant farmers,
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sharecroppers. And in some states, free blacks.
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Obviously not in too many southern states, but
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some of the northern states did allow free blacks
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to vote. In the south, Obviously, if you're a
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slave, you're not a citizen. You have no control
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over much. Also, kind of a little bit of an aside,
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they did not permit women to vote until, well,
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of course, the 19th Amendment, 1919, really,
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first election, they vote 1920. So that's, relax
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ladies, you get to suffer with us soon enough.
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Now, think about this for a moment. In order
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to own land, what did you need? Capital. And
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you paid taxes, which meant you were invested
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in the state. If you were a landowner, you had
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a better shot of being literate. Immigrants,
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landless peasants isn't necessarily literate.
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Did they even pay taxes? Not necessarily. Most
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of your states are paying taxes by property taxes.
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And then of course, where is most of the federal
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revenues coming from? Say it again. Tariffs.
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Yes, import taxes. Tariffs, yes. So here you
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are. have a whole bunch of people who have never
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voted before in their life. They're not perceived
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as educated. They're not perceived as classy.
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And they're voting. And they come out of nowhere.
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And they vote Andrew Jackson in, partially because
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they adore Jackson, but partially because they
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thought the election was stolen last time. Do
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we think we might call them the throngs of angry
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men. So here's the election of 1828. So here
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you have Andrew Jackson, the Democratic Republican,
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and John Quincy Adams, what they called the National
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Republican. These are not true party labels.
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They just had to change the color on them. But
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Jackson, in many ways, is considered the father
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of the modern Democratic Party. Of course, if
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you By what Al Smith said, the Democratic Party
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went from being the party of Jefferson and Jackson
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to the party of Marx and Lenin. But we'll get
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to that when we get to... Well, we'll get to
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Al Smith when we get to the New Deal. Huh? Wrong
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Lenin. Wrong Lenin. Oh, well... John Lenin did
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also exhibit similar tendencies in terms of politics.
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Actually, I am going to use his song Imagine
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when we get to the 60s. Sierra remembers it well.
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Or as I like to call it, the great American heresy.
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But anyway, so what do you notice? What states
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did Adams carry? Mostly Adams. The North. He
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carried Maine. He carried Vermont, New Hampshire,
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Maryland, New Jersey. What did those states used
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to vote? Federalist. Now what's interesting is
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Jackson doesn't just carry the South. What else
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does he carry? The West. Why would the men of
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the West vote for Jackson? Because he's one of
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them. Tennessee is a western state, so this isn't
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about slavery. Everyone's thinking about the
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divide between North and South. This isn't about
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slavery. This is about democracy. This is about
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having your voice heard. This is about the hero
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of New Orleans, whether he will represent us,
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whether he will save us from the banks. whether
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he will save us from those Washington bureaucrats
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who oppress us. And also, what else made Andrew
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Jackson famous besides the Battle of New Orleans?
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Who did he fight? He's a self -made man and who
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did he fight before that? Natives. If you're
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in Ohio, if you're in Illinois, if you're in
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Missouri, if you're in Indiana, if you're in
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the West, The native peoples aren't an oppressed
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minority group. The native peoples are an existential
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threat to your existence, to you. You're still
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on the frontiers of human civilization. You still
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worry about the Indian threat. And in the War
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of 1812 and in the Creek War, what did those
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people do? They killed people, possibly people
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you knew, possibly a parent, a relative, an aunt,
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an uncle. And so, again, you have been taught
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to think of the Ad nihilation of the native peoples
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is a great tragedy, and it was, but to the people
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who did it, it was because peaceful coexistence
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was not possible. You get the idea. You have
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lived in a time and a land of peace. You do not
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know what it is like to have your enemies just
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on the other side of a river or just on the other
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side of a forest. Now, so he carries the day.
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And I'm going to transition to now not the rise
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of Jackson, but the reign of Jackson.