In the midst of President Andrew Jackson’s presidency, white supremacy was becoming a prominent principle in American society, facilitating confrontation between whites and blacks but also between whites and Native Americans. Just months into Jackson’s first term, David Walker published a controversial and incendiary pamphlet: An Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World, But in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America. (more…)
John Calhoun and his like-minded supporters hoped that nullification would become a legitimate alternative to secession for the South. Nullification was the doctrine that Calhoun believed meant that states could nullify a federal law, on the basis that states had their own sovereignty and the federal government could not infringe on that sovereignty. See Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: Transformation of America, 1815-1848, 402. This approach was designed to primarily perpetuate the institution of slavery, without the conflict culminating in secession, or worse, civil war.
John Calhoun, by 1831, had alienated himself from President Andrew Jackson, and he wanted to “head off talk of secession,” and on July 26, 1831, he published his “Fort Hill Address” in a South Carolina newspaper. Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: Transformation of America, 1815-1848, 399.
In the aftermath of President Andrew Jackson’s destroying the Second Bank of the United States, there were ramifications throughout the country, from top to bottom.
President Andrew Jackson did not want banknotes in the American economy, as he was an adherent to the gold standard. Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: Transformation of America, 1815-1848, 376. He would be forced to confront Nicholas Biddle, the President of the Second Bank of the United States.
In 1816, with James Monroe as president, Congress agreed to “charter a Second Bank for twenty years.” Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: Transformation of America, 1815-1848, 374.
President Andrew Jackson had good fortune as his presidency began with a wave of prosperity. See Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: Transformation of America, 1815-1848, 360.
The Maysville Road was a major internal improvement that Congress had captured in a bill, the Maysville Road Bill. Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: Transformation of America, 1815-1848, 357. It was meant to be a link in the burgeoning transportation network, “connecting the National Road to the north with the Natchez Trace to the south and the Ohio with the Tennessee river systems.” Id.
In the first year of Andrew Jackson’s presidency, the removal of Native Americans from their lands became a top priority.
In the face of the removal of Native Americans, the Cherokees turned to the federal courts for help.
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