33.8 America: a.d. 1801 to 1900  (Page 10/31)

• Nullification. First set forth in the Exposition of 1828 by the legislature of South Carolina, this stated that each state had the right to judge when its "agent", the federal government, exceeded its powers and then to take measures to prevent enforcement within state limits. Calhoun was the secret author. Jackson threatened the use of army and navy in a showdown in 1833 and South Carolina backed down
• The Bank of the United States. Jackson forced the demise of the previously well run U.S. Bank by denying it government funds. Local banks, released from control, increased paper credit for speculation in western lands and shortly there- after the financial panic of 1837 burst upon the country. Van Buren, a shrewd, able and dignified president spent the whole of his administration developing a substitute for the Bank of the United States. He was also the principal architect of the modern American political party

Andrew Jackson hated the British and all Indians, due to several unfortunate incidents in his childhood. It was an almost foregone conclusion, therefore, that when the whites wanted more land for cotton in the south that Jackson should outlaw the tribal kingdoms of the Choctaws, Creeks, Chickasaws and Cherokees in Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. The Indians appealed to the Supreme Court and Chief Justice John Marshall upheld their claim, but Jackson paid no attention and ordered the army "to get them out". 30,000 of those Indians were driven, one way or another on the "Trail of Tears" to Oklahoma and one quarter of them died on the trip. (Ref. 151 , 39 ) The common impression that after the 1830s all Southern Indians had been either killed or removed to Oklahoma is misleading, however, because some 74,000 are still present in the South today, living in loose, ill-defined clusters, such as the Creeks around Poarch, Alabama and the Lumbees south of Fayetteville, North Carolina or on reservations. It was during Jackson's administration that the Second Seminole War was fought in 1835. Abolitionists charged that this was really not an Indian but a Negro war, resulting from southern white determination to capture and enslave Negro-Seminoles. Many parallels exist between the maroon wars in Jamaica (see page 1035) and the several Seminole wars fought in Florida, Georgia and Alabama. (Ref. 267 ) Additional Notes

William henry harrison&John tyler (1841-1845) whig party

We have previously noted that Harrison was elected, in great part, on the basis of his questionable victory over the Indians at Tippecanoe. (See pages 1143-44). Upon Harrison's early death, his vice-president, John Tyler, succeeded to the presidency, both of them representing those old Jefferson Republicans who would not follow Jackson. They were helped by a few remnants of the old Federalists.

The next several presidents of the eastern establishment contributed few major policies or advancements to the nation. JAMES K. POLK (1845-49), a Democrat, did bait Mexico in order to win California. This will be discussed in a later section on "Texas and Mexican War". He was followed by GENERAL ZACHARY TAYLOR, (1849-50), a Whig whose chief fame was that he was president during the period of the California gold rush, which will also be described later. MILLARD FILMORE, (1850-53) was a Whig who became president upon Taylor's death and signed the compromise bill admitting California and Texas as states and the organization of New Mexico and Utah as territories free to enter the Union without reference to slavery. His administration was the last of the Whig party, as FRANKLIN PIERCE (1853-57) was then elected as a Democrat. During his administration, Daniel Webster was Secretary of State and it was the time of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, which will be mentioned in a later paragraph. JAMES BUCHANAN was elected for one term as a Democrat in 1857 and slavery was the real issue of that campaign as the slave trade continued, even though it had been illegal since Fillmore's administration. Between 1840 and 1847 some 440,000 slaves were illicitly exported to the United States, Cuba and Brazil. In 18 months of 1859 and 1860 some 85 slave ships were fitted out in New York City, alone. (Ref. 151 )