As the market revolution changed how people worked, it also changed politics. In the election of 1824, no candidate won a majority of electoral votes; Andrew Jackson led, but the House chose John Quincy Adams. When Adams named Henry Clay Secretary of State, Jackson's supporters called it a "corrupt bargain." Jackson won in 1828.
Key idea
By the 1820s most states had dropped property requirements for white men to vote, and turnout rose. Andrew Jackson (1829 to 1837) defended the spoils system (giving government jobs to party supporters), vetoed the recharter of the Second Bank (1832), and faced down South Carolina in the Nullification Crisis (1832 to 1833). His supporters became the Democrats; his opponents formed the Whigs: the second party system.
Why it works
Jackson saw himself as the people's defender against a privileged few. In his bank veto he said the Bank gave special favors to the rich and to foreign investors, and that the Constitution did not allow it. His opponents saw a President grabbing power: earlier presidents had vetoed bills mainly on constitutional grounds, while Jackson also vetoed bills he thought were bad policy, and cartoonists drew him as "King Andrew the First." Both sides claimed to speak for liberty.
Worked example: The Nullification Crisis
In November 1832 a South Carolina convention declared the federal tariffs of 1828 and 1832 "null" and void in the state. How was the crisis settled?
- South Carolina argued, as the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions had suggested, that a state could reject a law it judged unconstitutional. Vice President John C. Calhoun, from South Carolina, had written the theory.
- Jackson, though no friend of high tariffs, said nullification was treason to the Union and asked Congress for a Force Bill to collect the tariff by arms if needed.
- Henry Clay arranged a Compromise Tariff that lowered rates over ten years.
- In March 1833 Congress passed both; South Carolina repealed its nullification of the tariff.
Answer: A lower tariff plus a threat of force: both sides could claim a win, and the Union held.
Common mistake
"Democracy" did not expand to everyone in this era. Voting widened for white men. In the same years free Black men lost the vote in several states: New York's 1821 constitution dropped property rules for white men but required Black men to own \$250 in property, and Pennsylvania's 1838 constitution limited voting to white men. Women could not vote anywhere. And Jackson's years brought Indian removal. Check: ask "democracy for whom?"