Jackson's Presidency

Issues with the National Bank

The Nullification Crisis

Indian Removal Act

Biddle's arrogance contributed to the suspicion that the bank abused its powers and sered the interests of only the wealthy

Jackson believed the Bank of the United States was unconstitutional

The president at the time was Nicholas Biddle

even though the bank and its branches were privately owned, it received federal deposits and attempted to serve a public purpose by cushioning the ups and downs of the national economy.

Henry Clay favored the bank and persuaded the majority of Congress to pass a bank-recharter bill, but Jackson vetoed it denouncing it as a private monopoly that enriched the wealthy at the expense of the common people

Jackson favored states rights

In 1832, Calhoun's South Carolina held a special convention to nullify the 1828 tariff and a new tariff of 1832. The convention passed a resolution forbidding the collection of tariffs within the state

This proved John C. Calhoun's nullification theory that each state had the right to decide whether to obey a federal law or to declare it null and void

Jackson initially reacted hastily wanting to take military action against South Carolina, but eventually convinced Congress to lower the tax

In 1828, South Carolina declared the increased tariff of 1828 (Tariff of Abominations), to be unconstitutional

The Indian Removal Act of 1830 forced the resettlement of thousands of American Indians

By 1835 most eastern tribes had complied and moved west and in 1836 The Bureau of Indian Affairs was created to held resettle tribes

Jackson believed that the most humane solution was to compel the Native Americans to move and resettle in the West

Georgia and other states passed laws requiring the Cherokees to migrate to the West. The Cherokees chaallegened Georgia in the courts, and in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia in 1831, and the Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokees were not a foreign nation with the right to sue in federal court

Jackson sympathized with citizens who were impatient and wanted to take over the lands of Native Americans

Even though the charter was not due to expire for four more years, Clay felt that the current Congress would recharter the Bank. They felt that Jackson would not risk losing votes in Pennsylvania and other commercial states by vetoing it.

Jackson also ordered the federal government's deposits removed from the Bank of the United States and placed in state or "pet" banks

The people were with Jackson, and he was overwhelmingly elected to a second term.

The resolution of the nullification crisis in favour of the federal government helped to undermine the nullification doctrine, the constitutional theory that upheld the right of states to nullify federal acts within their boundaries.
The doctrine of nullification had been advocated by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798–99.

The union was a compact of sovereign states, Jefferson asserted, and the federal government was their agent with certain specified, delegated powers. The states retained the authority to determine when the federal government exceeded its powers, and they could declare acts to be “void and of no force” in their jurisdictions.

authorizing the president to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders.

Approximately 4,000 Cherokees died on this forced march, which became known as the "Trail of Tears."