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Coinage Act
An 1834 bill Jackson signs as part of his push to make gold and silver the dominant specie in America. It made a small reduction in the value of silver relative to gold to encourage citizens to turn in their gold to the Mint. However, the bill actually resulted in the disappearance of much of the remaining silver in general circulation. -
The Creeks
A large Native American tribe primarily in Georgia and Alabama. Jackson defeated the tribe during his first military camp in 1814 at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and imposed on them the Treaty of Fort Jackson. -
The Corrupt Bargain
In the spring of 1825, Jackson accused Speaker of the House Henry Clay of making a "corrupt bargain" with John Quincy Adams, where Clay would be appointed secretary of state under Adams if Clay would throw his support behind Adams in the disputed election of 1824. -
Democratic Party
One of the first political parties founded in America and headed by Jackson. Served as the main rival to the National Republican Party. -
The Hermitage
Jackson's plantation in Tennessee. He bought it in 1804 and later made it the military headquarters of the second district when we served as major general. It burned in 1834, but the plantation had been fully rebuilt by the time Jackson retired there in 1837. -
Indian Removal
Jackson's policy of attempting to remove all Indian tribes to areas west of the Mississippi, where they could live forever in safety. He arranged treaties under which the Indians would trade their land east of the Mississippi and move west under the "protection" of federal troops. In reality, this policy caused the deaths of thousands of Indians, and still later, as America continued to expand westward, the Indians were confined to reservations or extinguished altogether. -
Internal Improvements
A controversial issue early in U.S. history, where the federal government was unsure of whether it could legally spend money to construct roads, bridges, canals, etc. within a given state. Jackson generally believed it could not. A faction of the government that believed it could eventually developed into the National Republican Party. -
Maysville Road Bill
Jackson vetoed a bill to build a new road in the home state of Henry Clay, partly because of his dislike of internal improvements and partly because he refused to help his opponent Clay. -
Nashville
The fledgling capital of Tennessee, where Jackson lived for several years. He served as a delegate from the surrounding Davidson County to the state constitutional convention National Republican party: In addition to the Democratic Party led by Jackson, one of the first political parties in America. An outgrowth of the internal improvements party and headed by Henry Clay, it served as the Democrats main rival. -
National Republican Party
A rival party to Jackson's Democratic Party, the National Republican Party is most closely associated with Henry Clay. -
Ordinance of Nullification
A bill passed by a special session of the South Carolina legislature in 1832, declaring the Tariff of 1828 and the Tariff of 1832 null and void within the state, leading to the Nullification Crisis. -
Second Bank of the United States
A national bank chartered by Congress in 1816 for a twenty-year period. By the time Jackson became President it handled seventy million dollars a year and controlled about one-fifth of all of the loans in the country. Jackson swore to the kill the bank, then led by Nicholas Biddle. -
The Seminoles
A tribe of Indians in Florida whom Jackson fought against in 1817 and 1818. Later, when he was President, his administration spent more than fifteen million dollars fighting a war against the Indians and trying to throw them out of the state. -
Tariff of 1828
A protective tax levied by Jackson supporters and meant to curry favor with Northern industry leaders. Southerners saw the tax as an unfair subsidy for Northern manufacturing. -
Tariff of 1832
An attempt by Jackson and Congress to remedy the unevenness of the Tariff of 1828. It would eventually lead to the Nullification Crisis. -
Treaty of Fort Jackson
A punitive treaty Jackson imposed on the Creek Indians in 1814 after defeating the tribe in a series of battles. It stripped the tribe of much of its land and rights. -
Waxhaws
Small backwoods area on the North Carolina and South Carolina border where Jackson grew up. -
Whig Party
The third major party in the U.S., after the Democratic party and the National Republican party, the Whigs were an amalgamation of Jackson opponents: Nullifiers, states righters, and men like John C. Calhoun and Henry Clay. -
Battle of Horseshoe Bend
The battle in which Jackson defeated the Creek Indians.
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Battle of New Orleans
Jackson became a national hero after defeating the British at New Orleans during the War of 1812–albeit several days after the signing of a peace treaty in Europe. The battle was one of the most lopsided victories in American history, where the British lost over two thousand men and the Americans only a handful.
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Nullification Crisis
The biggest crisis of Jackson's Presidency, started by South Carolina opposition to the tariffs leveled in 1828 and 1832 by Jackson supporters. "Nullifiers" thought that a state could nullify a federal law within its own borders if it so desired. When South Carolina, led by John C. Calhoun, announced its intention to nullify the tariffs in the fall of 1832, it touched off what almost developed into a civil war, as Jackson massed military resources on the state's borders. Finally resolved in the spring of 1833 when South Carolina agreed to a new fairer tariff passed by Congress.
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Panic of 1819
Four years of economic depression blamed on actions of the Second Bank of the United States.