Deck 11: The Rise of Democracy 1824-1840

Question 1

The chapter introduction tells the story of politicians Powhatan Ellis and Franklin Plummer to make the point that

A) people had strange names in the 1800s.
B) these two men, frontiersmen who identified with the common folk, typified the democratic-minded politician in the age of Jackson.
C) appealing to common folk was an effective campaign technique in an age that prized equality and opportunity.
D) Andrew Jackson was more a figurehead than a really influential leader.

Answer 1

appealing to common folk was an effective campaign technique in an age that prized equality and opportunity.

Question 2

To reconcile the fundamental tension between equality and opportunity, Americans in the final analysis committed to

A) equality of opportunity.
B) political equality, but economic inequality.
C) political means to achieve the end of equal economic conditions.
D) equality of condition for native-born whites by denying opportunity to blacks, Indians, and immigrants.

Answer 2

equality of opportunity.

Question 3

Which of the following was an important characteristic of politics in the age of Jackson?

A) a dynamic expansion of judicial power and leadership
B) expanded political democracy and increased participation in politics
C) the acceptance of a party system as a delegitimized transgression and planning for its end
D) end of the spoils system of filling public offices with political supporters

Answer 3

expanded political democracy and increased participation in politics

Question 4

As President, John Quincy Adams

A) took the lead in organizing a new political party to undergird his reelection campaign.
B) named Andrew Jackson as his secretary of state.
C) negotiated a series of key diplomatic agreements with several foreign powers.
D) proposed a broad program of support for manufacturing, agriculture, and the arts.

Question 5

Which of the following statements concerning Jacksonian America is true?

A) Virtually all adult white males enjoyed the rights of suffrage.
B) Because political leaders had to appeal to an expanded electorate, campaigns became less boisterous and more focused on specific policy issues.
C) American society was becoming more tolerant of Indian tribes.
D) Jackson believed politicians should dress in their Sunday best when on the stump.

Question 6

In the presidential election of 1824,

A) John Quincy Adams won re-election to a second term.
B) the Whigs defeated the Democrats.
C) the House of Representatives chose the president, because no candidate received a majority of the popular vote.
D) Andrew Jackson was chosen by the House of Representatives.

Question 7

Which of the following was a part of the new political party system of democracy?

A) the use of judicial oversight
B) the spoils system
C) campaigning in which the key issues were center stage
D) splitting of a state's electoral votes to the presidential candidate who won that state

Question 8

While the democratic winds of change blew all over the world during the 1830s and 1840s, only in one country were the reforms significant. This country was

A) Great Britain.
B) Prussia.
C) the United States.
D) France.

Question 9

Public interest and involvement in politics grew in the U.S. after 1820 because of a growing

A) enthusiasm for the unity of the Era of Good Feelings.
B) conviction that government should promote the economic well-being of society.
C) disillusionment with the politics of personality.
D) fear of threats from abroad.

Question 10

Martin Van Buren regarded political parties as not only acceptable but essential to democratic government because

A) he remembered that the first parties had come to accept the legitimacy of political opposition movements.
B) he believed governments could not govern effectively without parties.
C) he believed parties provided a check on abuse of power and kept the public informed.
D) while ambassador to England, he saw how effectively two parties had worked there.

Question 11

How did President Andrew Jackson feel about the "spoils system"?

A) He refused to use this traditional practice because he thought it was undemocratic.
B) He defended all government bureaucracy.
C) He created this system so, of course, he used it.
D) He defended it as a democratic reform.

Question 12

Three major issues dominated Jackson's administration, all the result of the nation's rapid geographic and economic expansion. Which of the following is NOT one of these three issues?

A) Indian removal to the West
B) controls on both slave and free black communities
C) the protective tariff
D) money and banking issues

Question 13

Which of the following statements best describes the attitude of Jacksonian Democrats toward slavery and blacks?

A) They strongly supported slavery as a positive good for all parts of the country.
B) They accepted the institution of slavery in the South and opposed rights for free blacks in the North.
C) They quietly encouraged the minority among their ranks who worked for the abolition of slavery.
D) They took steps at the state level to improve the condition of blacks, but did not try to abolish slavery.

Question 14

During the Jacksonian era, free blacks in the North

A) could not vote in any state.
B) escaped outright segregation despite some restrictions.
C) increasingly emphasized racial unity, self-help, and a renewal of ties with Africa.
D) found jobs most readily in the popular minstrel shows.

Question 15

Which of the following leaders advocated the idea of state nullification in order to oppose the tariff?

A) Andrew Jackson
B) Daniel Webster
C) John C. Calhoun
D) Henry Clay

Question 16

Jackson's popularity was derived not only from defeating the British but also from

A) his respected position as a landed gentleman slaveholder in the antebellum South.
B) the way he "spoiled" the children of wealthy political donors.
C) the "common man" bond he shared with the western people.
D) his opening extensive tracts of Indian lands to white settlement.

Question 17

Daniel Webster refuted Calhoun's theory of American government by arguing that

A) the Homestead Act was indeed unconstitutional.
B) southerners should support western expansion due to New England's growing political power.
C) the Constitution was created by "the people" and not as a compact among the separate states.
D) Jackson's economic policies were at fault.

Question 18

Which of the following statements about the nullification crisis of 1832 is FALSE?

A) The issue under discussion was the tariff, but the right of secession was also debated.
B) Andrew Jackson determined that the president had the right to use force to preserve the Union.
C) The nullification theory, according to Calhoun, gave the South a legal device to justify secession.
D) Jackson eventually backed down from the controversy and gave in completely to South Carolina's demands.

Question 19

Which of the following is an accurate statement about the presidential election of 1840?

A) The incumbent won.
B) The Democratic candidate won.
C) The election demonstrated that a strong, democratic, and popular two-party system was firmly established.
D) The election was decided again in the House of Representatives.

Question 20

Jackson finally destroyed the National Bank by

A) precipitating a depression in 1833.
B) withdrawing federal funds from it.
C) refusing to continue to deposit federal funds in it, instead depositing them in selected state banks.
D) refusing to accept paper money.

Question 21

Which of the following statements concerning the Bank of the United States is true?

A) It was the critical issue in the 1824 election that threw the election into the House of Representatives.
B) In the 1820s and 1830s it was mismanaged, unresponsive to the nation's needs, and unsuccessful in stabilizing the currency.
C) Andrew Jackson hated it because he thought it was an agent of special privilege and he vetoed the bill to recharter it.
D) The Supreme Court ruled the bank unconstitutional.

Question 22

Which of the following is an indication that the development of the modern presidency began with Andrew Jackson?

A) He was the first president to effectively use the veto power to shape legislative policy to his liking.
B) He created the offices of secretary of state and secretary of war.
C) He used his office to shape the country's economic direction.
D) He doubled the size of the federal bureaucracy.

Question 23

Within only two months of taking office, President Martin Van Buren ran into trouble because of

A) a business panic that became a lingering depression.
B) a diplomatic crisis with Great Britain that favored the Whigs.
C) the problems associated with the Trail of Tears.
D) antislavery protests.

Question 24

Which of the following would you expect of the Whigs in the 1830s and 1840s?

A) a pessimistic outlook, especially about the role of government
B) support for monetary reforms
C) support for regulating the new market economy
D) a belief that government should not foster moral welfare

Question 25

Which of the following groups played a rather surprising role in the Whig campaign in 1840?

A) free blacks
B) women
C) Indians
D) None of these answers is correct.

Question 26

In the Charles River Bridge case, the Supreme Court

A) encouraged free enterprise by striking down a monopoly.
B) declared the Specie Circular unconstitutional.
C) struck down the South Carolina Nullification Act.
D) established the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Question 27

In the Jacksonian party system,

A) the Whigs supported a very active role for government; the Democrats generally favored a limited government.
B) the Democrats supported a more active government, and the Whigs, a limited government.
C) neither party believed moral questions should be injected into politics.
D) both parties promoted the market and commercialization equally.

Question 28

In Worcester v. Georgia (1832), the U.S. Supreme Court found for the Indian tribes; however, President Martin Van Buren still had the U.S. Army round up resistant ________ and forced them to join the Trail of Tears westward march.

A) Chickasaw
B) Creek
C) Sioux
D) Cherokee

Question 29

Americans in the age of Jacksonian democracy celebrated equality, but they did not mean equality of wealth or condition, but equality of ________.

Question 30

The outcome of the 1824 election, determined by the House of Representatives, angered Jackson's supporters when ________ was named secretary of state.

Question 31

________ played a key role in organizing the Democratic Party, as well as in justifying political parties as useful tools of democracy; he also followed Jackson as president.

Question 32

The Jacksonian era has been called the "Age of the ________,"when ordinary folk were celebrated and courted by politicians.

Question 33

The system whereby victorious candidates for political office replace officeholders with their own supporters is called the ________.

Question 34

In the case of ________ v. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled that Indians had full authority over Indian land.

Question 35

The forced removal of the Cherokees to Oklahoma in 1838, a deadly march under army escort, is known as the ________.

Question 36

In protest against the federal tariff, John C. Calhoun of South Carolina developed a ________ theory, which supported state sovereignty and ultimately laid the groundwork for southern secession.
Nullification

Question 37

________, who was despised by Andrew Jackson, was an effective president of the national bank.

Question 38

The ________ Party was successful in the 1840 presidential election.

Question 39

List four components of the new democratic political system. How did each of these represent a change in the previous political system?

Question 40

What was Calhoun's theory of nullification? Explain how, according to Calhoun's theory, a law could be nullified.

Question 41

What was the nationalist theory of the Union? What were three major differences between it and Calhoun's theory of nullification?

Question 42

What were two main ways southern Indian tribes tried to resist removal? Why were these methods unsuccessful?

Question 43

Give three reasons people demanded removal of the eastern Indian tribes. Why was the program of Indian removal popular? Why did support for this program become stronger after 1815?

Question 44

Why was Andrew Jackson hostile to the Second Bank of the United States?

Question 45

What powers did the Second Bank of the United States possess that would help it regulate state banks and affect the economy?

Question 46

Give three ways that the Jacksonian era was, and three ways that it was not, an era of the common people. On the whole, which of the two arguments do you think was more important in the Jacksonian era?

Question 47

How did Andrew Jackson change the office of the presidency? Of the different changes you describe, which do you think was the most important?

Question 48

Which of the two major political parties responded most favorably to the growing market economy? Give three examples of how that party showed its support.

Question 49

List three political techniques employed by Franklin Plummer of Mississippi that illustrated the new democratic political system. In what sense could he be considered a product of democracy?

Question 50

Give three examples of the rising tide of racism among white Americans during the Jacksonian era. Why do you think racism increased during an era when democratic values were praised?

Question 51

Compare Calhoun's theory of nullification to Webster's nationalist theory. How does the Constitution prove both theories to be correct? To be incorrect?

Question 52

How is the National Bank of the United States unconstitutional? Why does the U.S. continue to be without a national bank?