North And South- Jackson

North and South

As the north and south began to separate after the Era of Good Feelings (1815-1825), the Second American Party System was established. This system consisted of two distinct parties, the Democrats and their opponents, who were known as Whigs for the most part. The goal of these two parties was to create a common thought process between the north and the south. Three of the issues prominent in their campaigns to gather votes in these two regions were government, economy, and slavery. Using these topics as foundations, the members of both parties of the Second American Party System aimed establish harmony between the north and south.

Slavery played a major role in American society during the early 1820s. The argument over Missouri was a huge issue in the widening differences between north and south. Missouri applied for admission to the Union as a slave state, but Northerners objected to the admission of a new slave state, saying that the three-fifths rule already gave the South political representation in Congress that exceed its share of the nation's white population. Eventually, a compromise (the Missouri Compromise) was established. The terms of this agreement were that Massachusetts would offer its northern counties as a new state in Maine. In response, the North would agree to accept Missouri as a slave state if the South agreed to outlaw slavery in territories above the 36o30'N latitude line (the southern boundary or Missouri). The Missouri crisis, though resolved brought the South's commitment to slavery and the North's resentment of southern political power into collision, revealing an uncompromisable gulf between slave and free states. When Martin Van Buren, a devout Democrat, became Vice President, he promised to protect slavery with a disciplined national coalition committed to states' rights within an inviolable Union. But when a group of radical evangelicals called for immediate abolition of slavery, they made the national government face the issue of slavery, an issue it had been trying very hard to side step. In response, the Democrats prevented any abolitionist mail from reaching the South. Sometimes, they would not even respond to anti-slavery petitions that were sent to them. At this moment, former President Adams (an opponent to President Andrew Jackson) chose to openly oppose slavery. But already, most southerners saw what the Democrats wanted them to see: that their surest guarantee of safety within the Union was a disciplined Democratic Party that avoided sectional arguments. The Democrats said that a party that united northern and southern rights into a states'-rights, limited-government majority could guarantee states' rights within the Union. This statement answered the questions that arose during the Missouri debates: how do you protect the slave-holding South within the federal Union. Martin Van Buren believed the alternative to this agenda, the isolation of the slaveholding south, would lead to moral danger of the republic. Though said to be racists the Democrats handled the slave situation in a way that made the south understand their plan.

Views on economy were a big difference between the Jacksonian Democrats and their opponents in relation to the north and south. President Jackson hated the bank and believed it was unconstitutional and that it threatened the republic. Jacksonian Democrats welcomed commerce as long as it served the independence and rough equality of white men, but opposed paper currency saying that it encouraged an "unrepublican spirit of luxury and greed." Jackson's aim was to diminish the government's involvement in the economy and to end the special privilege that was extended to those special few, who he claimed his opponents were helping. Jackson's opponents favored a strong, central government and encouraged economic development through protective tariffs and a national bank. They argued this would create national prosperity and harmony and that it would create a profitable national economy. The war over the Second Bank of the United States was a defining term in the economic battle. When his opponents applied for a recharter of the bank, President Jackson issued a veto message. This show of power helped Jackson win reelection. In relation to the south, a protective tariff was created, which