US History

U.S. History Study Guide

©2018 of 194 10.3 The Kitchen Cabinet and Spoils System Past presidents had used the Cabinet as a policy forum, selecting men of different experience to represent all the interests of the country. Instead, Jackson surrounded himself with close friends from Tennessee and political supporters. All Jackson's cabinet members were his supporters who had very little political skill and were known to go through the side door to meet Jackson in the White House, opponents dubbed Jackson’s advisors the “Kitchen Cabinet.” Jackson favored a rotation of office known as the spoils system, where the winning party (in this case, Jackson’s Democrats) would remove officeholders belonging to the opposing party and fill the open position with their party, “to the victor belongs the spoils.” Jackson reasoned that ordinary party members could fill government positions as well as any trained officials. Federal Land Policy The method of dispatching government land raised regional controversies. Westerners wanted cheap lands available to everyone. Northeasterners opposed this policy because it would lure away their cheap labor supply and drive up wages. Southerners supported the West, hoping to weaken the ties between East and West. The Webster-Hayne Debate Senator Robert Hayne of South Carolina made a speech in support of cheap land using Calhoun's anti- tariff arguments to support his position. In his remarks, he referred to the possibility of nullification. Daniel Webster’s famous replies to this argument moved the debate from the issue of land policy to the nature of the union and the states’ rights within it. Webster argued for the Union as indissoluble and sovereign over the individual states. His closing statements have become a quotable part of history: “It is, Sir, the people’s Constitution, the people’s government, made for the people, by the people, and answerable to the people… Liberty and Union now and forever, one and inseparable!” 10.4 Tariff of Abominations and Nullification Crisis The first and most important crisis Jackson faced while in office was the Nullification Crisis and was the final split between Andrew Jackson and his vice president, John C, Calhoun. Congress had raised protective tariffs steadily over the previous decade: in 1816 and1824, and again in 1828, a year before Jackson’s presidency. These tariffs protectedWestern farming interests, NewEnglandmanufacturers, and Pennsylvania miners, but hurt farmers in the South. Southern politicians grew angry at the imbalance that they named the 1828 tariff, “The Tariff of Abominations.” South Carolina reacted by flying its flags at half-mast when the tariff was passed, and threatened to boycott New England’s manufactured goods. Achieve Page 124