November 13, 2008

The West 1804-1830

• in 1804 jefferson sent lewis and clark to explore the louisiana purchase and collect animals and food
• they navigated the upper mississippi river, crossed the rockies to the snake river and followed on to oregon
• soon settlers moved to missouri territory in the louisiana purchase

Argument over Missouri

• in 1819 slaveholding missouri applied to be a state
• first state out of l. territory
• raised the issue of the spread of slavery to new territories
• also south gaining an unproportional amount of power in congress
• congressman tallmage (NY) proposed 2 ammendments
• they were to bar additional slaves for missouri and emancipate slaves born after statehood at their 25th birthday
• north controlled house of representatives while the south controlled the senate
• 2 ammendments passed in the house but not in the senate so it didnt become a law
• missouri compromise (1820)
• addmitted MO as a slave state
• also admitted new free state Maine
• outlawed slavery in LP north of 36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude (southern border of MO)
• aging jefferson was distraught because of this "like a fire bell in the night"
• knew the issue of the spread of slavery would not go away and it would divide the public

The Panic of 1819

• european agriculture was again productive reducing the demand for american farm products
• world supply of gold was limited and american bankers (state banks) covered shortage bu issuing banknotes (paper money) for loans and bills of exchange
• the bank of the united states gets involved too as western branch offices got caught up in speculative lending
• it began insisting that banknotes from state banks that came to the bank of the united states had to be redeemed in gold/silver to save itself
• this helped the bank of the US but forced state banks to demand payment from their own borrowers
• national money and credit system collapsed
• turned into a depresssion
• employers went out of business and hundreds of thousands of wage earners lost their jobs
• americans blamed the bank of the united states and gave it the nickname "the monster"

The Election of 1824

• featured four candidates running all as jeffersonian democrats but all running as regional candidates
• andrew jackson (tennessee)
• john quincy adams (massachusetts)
• william crawford (deep south)
• henry clay(westerner/speaker of the house)
• jackson won the popular vote but the electoral votes weren't majority so it went to the house of rep. as required by the constitution
• in accordance with the 12th ammendment the house of rep would choose from top 3 electoral vote getters
• clay was out, crawford had a dibilitating stroke
• alledgedly clay went to jackson and adams offering to swing the house vote in exchange to become secretary of state
• jackson turned him down;adams accepted
• house of rep chooses adams and clay becomes secretary of state
• result is known as "corrupt bargain"
• jackson was upset and plotted his revenge