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The Election of 1828 and “Old Hickory”

Jackson ran again in 1828 for the Democratic-Republicans (by this time known simply as the Democrats). Adams ran against Jackson as a National Republican but lost after carrying only New England. Jackson, who had appeal with the common men of America, took all of the West and South.

In reality, Jackson—or “Old Hickory,” as many called him—was a wealthy slave owner, lawyer, and general who had almost nothing in common with the average westerner. Still, his reputation as a fighting frontiersman and his military prowess proved more popular than the stuffy Adams from New England.

The Spoils System

Upon taking office, Jackson immediately surrounded himself with like-minded cronies, distributing the spoils of victory to greedy office-seekers who had supported him throughout his legal, military, and political careers. Jackson defended this spoils system with arguments that Washington needed a change of pace, but opponents slammed him for filling the administration with democratic rabble and abusing his powers of office. Indeed, many of these spoils-seekers did turn out to be corrupt and untrustworthy.

The Tariff of Abominations

Jackson’s first political battle came soon after his election and involved the always-sticky issue of tariffs. Jackson’s supporters, bitter after his 1824 loss to Adams, had pushed for the passage of an incredibly steep tariff. The Jacksonites believed that southern congressmen would kill the tariff before it became law, which would anger pro-tariff New Englanders, who would blame Adams and vote him out of office.

Unfortunately for the Democrats, the tariff was actually passed in 1828, after Jackson had already defeated Adams. Southerners, who imported many foreign goods and had no manufacturing of their own, cried out against the Tariff of 1828, which they labeled the “Tariff of Abominations,” claiming that it made Yankees rich at their expense. Jackson’s vice president, John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, led the protests against the tariff by writing an anonymous essay called “South Carolina Exposition and Protest” in 1829. Inspired by the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798–1799, Calhoun’s pamphlet argued that the individual states in the South should declare the tariff null and void.

The Nullification Crisis

For the next four years, South Carolinians tried to muster enough votes within the state legislature to act on Calhoun’s proposal. Even though Jackson himself disliked the tariff, he stood firmly against nullification and disobedience of the federal government. Congress did pass another lower tariff, the Tariff of 1832, as a gesture of goodwill to the South, but southerners still objected.

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