11/14/08 notes--1st period

• As Latin American countries were gaining independence from Spain, European powers wanted to take over these weak countries. The Monroe Doctrine, proposed by the Secretary of State, stated that if European powers would stay out of the western hemisphere, then the U.S. would stay out of their affairs.
• Spoils system- the system in which the president rewards his supporters who helped him win the election with government jobs. President Jackson was the first one to use the spoils system--he believed that people only had to be somewhat intelligent to fill these government jobts.

-The spoils system is controversial. Some people think it is a good idea to rotate people in the government and get fresh ideas while others think it is better to leave the more experienced people on the job.

• During Jackson's presidency, the Indians in the southwest are still living on old, ancestral lands that the white Americans want. Treaties stated that the Indians owned this land, but the land-hungry whites opposed government policies that helped the Indians.
• State's rights southerners (southerners who wanted the state to have more power than the federal government) said that the government didn't have the constitutional power to support the Indians.
• Georgia is most opposed to the federal government policy. The Cherokee Indians living in Georgia declare themselves as an independent republic because they wrote their own constitution and spoke their own language.
• Georgia passes a state law that declares that any laws passed by the Cherokees have no effect.
  
• President Jackson agrees that the government does not have the authority to recognize the Indians as sovereign in a state. He offers to move the Indians west of the Mississippi for the whites.
• The Cherokees don't like this so they take the issue to the Supreme Court in 1830. The case is called Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia, and it rules that the Cherokees could not sue Georgia because they are not a sovereign people.
• In the case Worcester vs. Georgia(1830), the supreme court said that Georgia did not have the authority to enforce state laws over the Cherokees.
• President Jackson doesn't agree with the court decision and announces that he will not use federal resources to enforce it.
• In 1838, Jackson's successor Martin van Buren creates the Indian Removal Act, and the army escorts the Indians to present day Oklahoma
• Many Indians die on this painful journey--it is known as the Trail of Tears

• The Nullification Controversy of 1830- in 1828, congress writes a new tariff law intended to help Jackson get reelected. This is the highest protective tariff ever levied in the country. The south opposed it because they import many materials from Europe, such as shoes. They even began to call it the Tariff of Abomination.
• South Carolina leads in opposition to the Tariff of 1828. The southerners were worried about the Missouri Compromise and slavery--they opposed emancipation. They also feel politically isolated and like they are losing power.
• John Calhoon (Jackson's Vice President) from South Carolina argues that southern states needed to be able to nullify laws. He also argues that the union was an agreement between sovereign states and that states would decide whether or not a federal law applies to them.
• Jackson disagrees with this--he considers nullification an act of treason, which is punishable by hanging.
• Jackson asks congress to reduce tarriff rates and they do
• the Tariff of 1832 lowers the tariff of 1828, but it is not as low as the south wants it. This offends Jackson because he is trying to make the southerners happy.
• Jackson goes to Congress and passes the Force Bill.
• The Compromise Tariff od 1833 lowers the tariff even more
• South Carolina and Jackson finally come to an agreement, causing them to avoid war