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

Chapter 9: JACKSONIAN AMERICA

Primary Sources

1
Below is an excerpt from Daniel Webster's reply to Robert Y. Hayne's defense of the theory of nullification. What does Webster see as the danger inherent in Calhoun's doctrine? How is this speech in keeping with Webster's political views—especially his view of the nature of the Union and the role of the national government?

Daniel Webster

2
Joseph G. Baldwin's Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi caught the spirit and unmasked the pretensions of the age of Jackson. With unerring aim, his satire hit its mark, and future generations were left with a delightful portrait of the period. But Baldwin, like most good satirists, was serious about his subject, and his insights into the era may tell us more than a hundred political speeches on the same subject.

What is the author describing here? What gave rise to the economic conditions he pictures, and what is his opinion of what was taking place? What does Baldwin feel to be the main problem highlighted by these activities? On whom does he place the blame?

Who was the "Jupiter Tonans of the White House" to whom the author calls attention? What action did this individual take to stop the abuses and what resulted? From the way it was described, what was the author's opinion of the action taken by this Jupiter Tonans, and, considering what you have read in your text, would the author have been a Whig or a Democrat? In either case, what element (or branch or faction) of that party does he seem to support? What was the result of the action taken by Jupiter Tonans?

Historian Bray Hammond, in his study of American banking, described the Jacksonian program as "one of enterpriser against capitalist, of banker against regulation." How does the account by Baldwin correspond with Hammond's theory? How might it be possible that the Jacksonian program both created and ended the situation described here?

Joseph G. Baldwin

3
In this 1830 annual message to Congress, President Andrew Jackson discusses his policy of Indian removal. How would you characterize his description of Native Americans in this statement? What arguments does Jackson use to justify the policy of removal, and what good does he see arising from it?

http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/american_historical_documents_1830_andrew_jackson_message_congress_indian_removal

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