Oh hey there and welcome back to Heimler's History. So we've been going through Unit 4 of the AP U.S. History curriculum, and in this video we're going to consider how the democratic process expanded to include more and more folks from 1800 to 1848. So get them brain cows ready, because they about to get milked. So during the first half of the 19th century, participatory democracy expanded pretty significantly, and I want to show you the causes of why that occurred and what the effects of it were.
So first let's have a look at the causes. So during this period of time, small farmers and workingmen and frontier settlers began demanding the franchise, which is to say, the right to vote. And in order to understand why, we need to talk about the Panic of 1819. So in the years leading up to this panic, the Second Bank of the United States had tightened up their lending policies in order to try to control inflation. Inflation, in case you don't know, means rising prices. And that sounds like a good thing to do, but in restricting the funds available to borrow, the National Bank caused many state banks to close, and that's when things got… What's the word?
Nasty. So add to these irresponsible banking practices a decrease in the demand for exported American goods like cotton and you got yourself a right economic mess. Unemployment shot up, bankruptcies occurred seemingly everywhere, and for those who are now unable to pay their debts, they went to prison in staggering numbers.
And so as a result of all this turmoil, laboring men, especially in the West where the Depression hit the hardest, wanted to be able to hold those politicians accountable. Now you may be wondering, Why couldn't they vote up to this point? The reason is that during this time the franchise was connected with property ownership. You ain't got no land, you ain't got no vote. And so combine the frustration over the panic of 1819 with the fact that several frontier states had already established universal white male suffrage unconnected to land, and the nation was ripe for reform.
So by 1825 most eastern states joined with their western counterparts and had substantially lowered or in some cases eliminated property qualifications for voting. And now with so many more folks entering the political fray a significant growth and realignment occurred in the political party. So let's talk about that realignment.
Now I mentioned in a previous video that the Federalist Party was crumbling because of its opposition to the War of 1812, and at this point they were basically defunct. And so it was the Democratic Republicans who were the lone national party at this point. But because of all the events I just mentioned earlier, this party began to fragment into factions. The first faction was known as the Democrats, and the second was known as the National Republicans. Now, don't get confused here, these aren't new political parties, that will come later, but these are just two rival factions within the Democratic-Republican party.
The National Republicans had a more expansive view of federal power, and in this way they took up the old Federalist convictions about the national government. They also absorbed the Federalist notion of loose constructionism, which, in case you forgot, is a way of interpreting the Constitution more, you know. The Democrats, on the other hand, were like the Democratic Republicans in the image of Thomas Jefferson. They stood for limited federal power and strict constructionism, which was a tighter way of interpreting the Constitution, which basically said that the federal government can do nothing that is not explicitly written in the Constitution.
So with all this factionalism rampant in the party, the election of 1824 was set to be kind of a dumpster fire, and on that count, it did not disappoint. Unable to agree on a single presidential candidate, the Democratic Republicans ended up with four candidates, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, William Crawford, and Andrew Jackson. Now Jackson and Adams were the strongest contenders, and when the election came it was Jackson who won most of the popular votes, but none of the other candidates won a majority of the Electoral College votes, Jackson included. Therefore, according to the Constitution, when that happens, the President must be chosen by the House of Representatives. So Clay, because he came in fourth in the electoral votes, threw his support behind Adams and used his influence in the House to ultimately get Adams elected.
Jackson, as the winner of the most popular votes and the most electoral votes, as you can imagine, was furious. And then to add fuel to that fire, as soon as Adams assumed the presidency, he named Henry Clay as his Secretary of State. So Jackson and his followers called this the corrupt bargain, even though in truth no one had really done anything wrong.
It was actually the Democratic Republicans themselves who had created this problem by putting forward four candidates. In that situation, it was dang near impossible for anyone to win the required majority. And the House was just doing its constitutional duty to select a president. president and it's the president's prerogative to appoint a cabinet.
So to my knowledge, there was no real evidence of wrongdoing, but nevertheless, such a situation stunk to Jackson and his supporters. But by the time the next election rolled around in 1828, these two factions had hardened into formal political parties, of which I shall say more in the next video. Alright, that's what you need to know about Unit 4, Topic 7 of the AP US History Curriculum. Click right here and grab my review packet if you need help getting an A in your class and a 5 on your exam in May.
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That's how it goes. Heimler out.