Decide which is the cause and which is the effect in each pair listed below. Be careful, sometimes historians tell you the outcome of a situation and then explain why it happened. Use the information in chapter 12 to decide and label “C” for Cause and “E” for Effect.

_____ John C. Calhoun lost President Jackson’s confidence
_____ John C. Calhoun’s wife snubbed Peggy Eaton

_____ Cotton was overproduced in South Carolina
_____ Cotton prices fell from 32 cents a pound to 10 cents a pound

_____ The Tariff of Abominations was passed
_____ Vice-President Calhoun wrote “The Exposition and Protest of South Carolina”

_____ Jackson stopped speaking to Vice-President Calhoun
_____ Calhoun favored punishing Jackson for his Florida campaign

_____ The Sauk and Fox Indians were pursued by United States forces and defeated at the Battle of Bad Ax
_____ The Sauk and Fox Indians returned to their homeland in defiance of U.S. policy

_____ The Cherokees were forced by U.S. soldiers to move to the Indian Territory
_____ 1500 Cherokees died from moving westward

_____ President Jackson threatened to send 50,000 men to South Carolina to enforce the Tariff Acts of 1828 and 1832
_____ South Carolina nullified the Tariff Acts of 1828 and 1832

_____ South Carolina decided to repeal the Nullification Act
_____ Congress passed a law that authorized the President to enforce the collection of the tariff in South Carolina

_____ Andrew Jackson deposited federal funds in “pet” state banks
_____ Although the charter of the Bank of the United States was not renewed, the Bank continued to operate until its original charter expired in 1836

_____ John C. Calhoun was elected as a senator from South Carolina
_____ John C. Calhoun resigned from the office of Vice President

_____ “The Union -- next to our liberty, most dear.”
_____ “Our Federal Union -- it must be preserved.”

Andrew Jackson’s Inauguration

You will examine a firsthand account of Andrew Jackson’s first inauguration. Answer the questions that follow.
Thousands of people, without distinction or rank, collected in an immense mass round the Capitol, silent, orderly, and tranquil, their eyes fixed, waiting the appearance of the President in the portico. Preceded by marshals, surrounded by the judges of the Supreme Court, the old man with his gray locks emerged and bowed to the people who greeted him with a shout. Then an almost breathless silence followed, as the crowd became still, listening to catch the sound of Jackson’s voice, though it was so low as to be heard only by those nearest him.
Later, we learned that the crowd had lessened and we might enter the President’s house. But what a scene did we witness! The majesty of the people had disappeared, and a rabble, a mob, now scrambled and fought to get into the White House. What a pity! No arrangements had been made, no police officers were on duty, and the whole house had been inundated by the rabble mob. We came too late. The President, after having been literally nearly pressed to death and almost suffocated and torn to pieces by the people in their eagerness to shake hands with Old Hickory, had retreated through the back way and had escaped to his lodgings. Cut glass and china to the amount of several thousand dollars had been broken in the struggle to get refreshments. Punch and other articles had been carried out in tubs and buckets, but had it been in barrels it would have been insufficient. Ice creams and cakes and lemonade for twenty thousand people were provided. Ladies fainted, men were seen with bloody noses. It is almost impossible to describe the confusion -- those who got in could not get out again except to scramble out of the windows.
This wild scene had not been anticipated and therefore not provided against. Ladies and gentlemen only had been expected, not the people en masse. But it was the people’s day, and the people’s President would rule. God grant that one day or other the people do not put down all rule and rulers. I fear, enlightened freemen as they are, they will be found, as they have been in all ages and countries where they get the power in their hands, that of all tyrants, they are the most ferocious, cruel, and despotic.

1. How did Jackson’s inauguration differ from those of the present day?

2. This was the first inauguration at which spectators became unruly. Why had this not happened before?

3. How would you have arranged to handle the crowd in the White House? How much freedom should visitors have in such a place?

4. The author fears power in the hands of the people. Why? Have her fears been justified in later American history? Explain.

The Way West
by A.B. Guthrie

The pioneers who undertook the 2,000-mile six-month journey along the Oregon Trail faced many dangers. Nevertheless, the lure of adventure and the dream of a new life led thousands of Americans to make the long trek from Independence, Missouri, to the Oregon Territory during the 1840s. In the following excerpt from his novel The Way West, writer A.B. Guthrie describes a herd of buffalo encountered by a wagon train on the Oregon Trail. As you read this excerpt, think about the reasons Evans gives for traveling west.

Millions, Evans thought, a meemillion of buffalo, buffalo to right and left and ahead and behind, hairing the country, closing the train in, hoofing up dust that hung low like a fog. A man wouldn’t live long enough to count them even if he could count that high. And he couldn’t parcel out the uproar that they made. Bulls bellowed and cows bawled and calves cried for their mas, and the voices joined in what was one big, dolesome [sorrowful] roll.
Unless he looked to the Red Buttes, rising bare and naked over his left shoulder, or to the lonesome drying-up ponds with their crusting of salt, Evans could almost believe that the earth was alive, broken out of a sudden like a setting of eggs, but in humps and horns and shaggy hair.
The buffalo didn’t run from the train, not much, but lagged away, made mulish maybe by their numbers or sore for want of grass, and glared after the wagons, and then went hunting for graze again, for they had picked the ground clean as a chicken except for clumps of high-growing sage that gave off the smell of camphor, or turpentine, where they’d trampled it.
Evans said, “I would’ve called you a liar, Dick, if you’d told me.”
Before he answered, Dick slued around in the saddle, his eyes fixed on the train that was jolting along a half mile behind. “Plenty meat, all right.”
“The grass is just pinfeathers.”
“Well,” Dick said, while for a minute the light played in his eyes, “you wanted buffler.”
“Damnedest country! Don’t do nothin’ by halves. Either there ain’t a buffalo or there’s’s nothin’ but buffalo.”
“An’ wolves.”
And wolves. Wolves traveling in packs like he-dogs after a she, bringing up the tail of the bands of buffalo, their eyes yellow and their tongues wet while they watched for a stray calf or a cripple or one too old to keep up. Off to the right a bunch of them swarmed over a cow that had mired in a salt sinkhole, feeding on her while she still tried to pull free. A couple of buzzards slanted down and slid to the ground close by.
Buffalo and wolves, Evans though, and grasshoppers with no grass to hop on and rib bones and skulls lying around, picked clean as a clean platter, and, here and there where the rocks broke through, a rattlesnake looped, his tail acquiver.
Evans never had thought to set his eyes on such a sight as this. It was a wild, strong sight, a rich and powerful sight that awed a man and lifted him inside -- the plains climbing into ridges where, once in a long while, trees stood spare and tough, the sky curved across, so blue it pained the eye, far things brought close and sharp as through a glass, and buffalo on all the land and the roll of their bellowings in all the air.
Again he felt greatness, smallness and greatness both among such wild riches. And, seeing the train winding behind him, he thought with pride of it, of the onwardness of its people, of their stubborn, unthought-out yondering. It wasn’t a thing for reason, this yondering, but for the heart, where secrets lay deep and mixed. Money? Land? New chances? Patriotism? All together they weren’t enough. In the beginning, that is, they weren’t enough, but as a man went on it came to him how wide and wealthy was his country, and the pride he had talked about at first became so real he lost the words for it.
It was good, he thought, that they’d laid by two days at Laramie and fixed wagons and traded teams and bought supplies, though the trading was one-sided and the food high as a scared cat’s back. Flour at forty dollars a barrel, and not so damn superfine at that! Still, they were better off, even mangy Hank McBee, whom Mack had trusted for the price of coffee and sugar and flour and the boot it took to make a trade of teams. Evans liked Mack for being generous, but still he knew he was foolish. The money was as good as lost.
 The train was a top train now, victualed [with plenty of food] and repaired and leaned down for travel. Stoves lay along the line from Laramie and anvils and grindstones and pieces of furniture, thrown out as the wagons climbed the thick-dusted ridges or circled gullies cut by heavy water. This, Dick had said as if not saying much, was the roughest part of the trail east of the great pass.
The train was better ordered other ways, more regular about time and the round of work, more knowing about stock. Wiser, too. Like with rifles. The men carried them loaded still, but not capped or primed, not since Botter by accident had shot a hole in Hig’s pants and plowed a furrow in him. Hig had taken it good-natured, telling the men he could spare something behind...
Out from Laramie they’d met a bunch of ingoing Cheyennes, loaded with buffalo hides, and the company had rounded brisk into a fort while Dick went on to make palaver [confer with the Native Americans]. A little tobacco and some beads and a red shirt and powder and ball had fixed things up, though afterwards the women got uneasy because squaws and their broods and some of the bucks kept peeking under the wagon covers, wanting to see and finger the white plunder...
Evans didn’t take to himself much of the credit for the betterment, knowing the people would have learned no matter who was captain, but still he felt good about it, and pleased because the general spirit seemed so stout. Even Tadlock had got some of his brashness back, acting at the fort almost too much like his old self.
Dick broke into Evans’ thought, saying, “Fixin’ to storm, west.”
Not till then had Evans paid any mind to the cloud that had risen low over the hills. “That the way storms come from here?”
“Can’t always tell. They used to say at Laramie that an east wind brought rain.”
In the silence that followed, Evans was aware again of the long bawling of the buffalo.
1. From Guthrie’s description, were large buffalo herds a usual or an unusual sight for pioneers on the Oregon Trail?

2. Who is Evans? What is his role?

3. In Evans’ view, what motivated the pioneers to make the journey west?

4. Why do you think the prices for supplies were so high at Fort Laramie?

5. Why did so many objects lie along the trail after Laramie?

6. Describe the train. Why was Evans proud of it?

7. What did Evans mean by feeling the “greatness and smallness”?

Westward Ho
Helen Carpenter’s Diary September 16, 1857

In 1857, young Helen Carpenter and her family left Kansas to seek their fortune in California. The excerpt below is from her diary. In it, she recounts her experiences crossing the desert in Utah Territory. Read the excerpt then answer the questions that follow.

Helen Carpenter’s Diary--September 16, 1857
As it takes 24 hours to cross the desert, it was thought best to start in the evening so we left camp an hour before sundown...A little before the day came to a hot spring which is said to be half way. Stopped to let the cattle rest and to get breakfast...This was the place...where people left everything but themselves and not satisfied to merely throw their things away they dumped them...into the spring. It seemed quite full of wagon tires and all kinds of irons belonging to the outfits...
The water was not bad taste, so we dipped up and cooled some for the oxen...grass brought along was doled out to the oxen.
We remained at the spring about three hours. At noon came to a sandy hill where we stopped and gave the oxen some water from the water kegs. A little at a time was put into a pan and held to an ox’s nose. If it had been put in a bucket one ox would have gotten the full amount. It would have been impossible to get his head from the water until all was gone. As it was, it was hard to manage them. They pushed and scroughed to all get a taste. After ascending the hill it was typical desert all the rest of the way. There was deep sand for eight miles, and the road on both sides was strewn with dead cattle. A number in our train succumbed to the heavy travel and heat...Dead animals by the way became more frequent, and the articles abandoned were continuous.
 1. (a) Who wrote the diary? (b) When was it written?

2. (a) How long did it take to cross the desert? (b) Why do you think the wagon train waited until nightfall to set out?

3. Describe the geography of the desert area that the Carpenters traveled through,

4. (a) What did Helen see along the road? (b) What does this tell you about the hardships of the journey?

5. Would Helen’s diary have been useful to future settlers headed for California? Why or why not?

Analyzing a Song: The Old Chisholm Trail

Below is an excerpt from “The Old Chisholm Trail,” a cowboy song of the 1870s. Read the excerpt carefully, then answer the questions that follow.

Come along, boys, and listen to my tale.
I’ll tell you of my troubles on the Old Chisholm trail.

I started up the trail October twenty-third.
I started up the trail with the 2-U herd.

Oh, a ten-dollar hoss and a forty-dollar saddle,
An I’m goin’ to punchin’ Texas cattle.

I woke up one morning on the old Chisholm trail,
Rope in my hand and a cow by the tail.

I’m up in the mornin’ afore daylight
And afore I sleep the moon shines bright.

My hoss throwed me off at the creek called Mud
My hoss throwed me off round the 2-U herd.

Oh, it’s bacon and beans ‘most every day--
I’d as soon be a-eatin’ prairie hay.

Far you well, old trail boss, I don’t wish you any harm,
I’m quittin’ this business to go on the farm.

1. What do each of these words from the song mean: punchin’, trail boss?

2. What details about the life of a cowboy does the song give?

3. Based on the song, do you think the life of a cowboy was easy or hard? Explain.

4. In the last two lines of the song, what does the songwriter say he will do? Why do you think he made this decision

5. Do you think most of the information in the song is true? Is there any part that seems to be an exaggeration?

A Mexican View of the Texas Revolution

In 1835, settlers from the United States led the Texas revolt against Mexican rule. That event increased concern in Mexico about the intentions of the United States. Jose Maria Tornel y Mendivil served as Mexican secretary of war at the time of the Texas fight for independence. In the selection below, he analyzes the relationship of the United States and Mexico. Read the excerpts and answer the questions that follow.

From the state of Maine to Louisiana a call has been made in the public squares to recruit volunteers for the ranks of the rebels in Texas. Everywhere meetings have been held, presided over, as in New York, by public officials of the government, to collect money, buy ships, enlist men, and fan that spirit of animosity that characterizes all the acts of the United States with regard to Mexico....
The Texas question... has given the cabinet of the United States every opportunity desired for the increase of her territory. Relying upon the inability of the Mexican republic to assemble the necessary resources for a definite and successful attempt to recuperate her lost territory and to vindicate her honor, nothing will be easier for the Americans than to add one more star to their flag...
The loss of Texas will inevitably result in the loss of New Mexico and the Californias. Little by little our territory will be absorbed, until only an insignificant part is left to us. Our destiny will be similar to the sad lot of Poland. Our national existence, acquired at the cost of so much blood, recognized after so many difficulties, would end... It is for this reason that General Teran wrote, “Whoever consents to and refused to oppose the loss of Texas is a despicable traitor, worthy of being punished with a thousand deaths.’
Such is the opinion of all good Mexicans.... The fear that we will find ourselves involved in a war against the United States is not without foundation. It is obvious that their aim has been to acquire possession of the disputed territory by force if necessary.

1. How had Americans responded to the Texas rebellion against Mexico, according to Tornel y Mendivil? What motives does he attribute to the United States in its dealings with Mexico?

2. According to Tornel y Mendivil, why did the U.S. think it could take over Texas easily?

3. If Mexico lost, which other territories did Tornel y Mendivil think it was also likely to lose?

4. How did General Teran characterize Mexicans who did not support efforts to retain Texas?

5. How might documents like this one have influenced United States policy toward Texas from 1836 to 1844?

The Battle of the Alamo:

A Texan’s Last Report
Every American is familiar with the Battle of the Alamo, fought early in 1836 at a mission in San Antonio, Texas. There 180 Texans faced some 5,000 Mexican troops. Colonel William B. Travis, commanding at the Alamo, sent out a last appeal for help on March 3.

March 3, 1836
I beg leave to communicate to you the situation of this garrison....
From the 25th to the present date, the enemy have kept up a bombardment.... During this period the enemy have been busily employed in encircling us with entrenched encampments on all sides.... Not withstanding all this, a company of 32 men, from Gonzales, made their way into us on the morning of the 1st instant [the present month] at 3 o’clock, and Col. J.B.Bonham (a courier from Gonzales) got in this morning at 11 o’clock, without molestation.
I have so fortified this place, that the walls are generally proof against cannon balls; and I still continue to intrench on the inside, and strengthen the walls by throwing up the dirt.... The spirits of my men are still high, although they have had much to depress them. We have contended for ten days against an enemy whose numbers are variously estimated at from 1,500 to 6,000 men....
I sent an express to Col. Fannin, which arrived at Goliad on the next day, urging him to send us reinforcements -- none have yet arrived. I look to the colonies alone [Texas] for aid; unless it arrives soon, I shall have to fight the enemy on his own terms. I will, however, do the best I can under the circumstances; and I feel confident that the determined valor, and desperate courage, heretofore evinced by my men, will not fail them in the last struggle: and although they may be sacrificed to the vengeance of a gothic [uncivilized] enemy, the victory will cost the enemy so dear, that it will be worse for him than a defeat. I hope your honorable body [Texas government] will hasten on reinforcements, ammunition, and provisions to our aid, as soon as possible....
If these things are promptly sent and large reinforcements are hastened to this frontier, this neighborhood will be the great and decisive battle ground. The power of Santa Anna is to be met here, or in the colonies; we had better meet them here, than to suffer a war of desolation to rage in our settlements.
A blood red banner waves from the church of Bejar, and in the camp above us, in token that the war is one of vengeance against rebels: they have declared us as such, and demanded that we should surrender at discretion, or that this garrison should be put to the sword. Their threats have had no influence on me, or on my men, but to make all fight with desperation, and that high souled courage which characterizes the patriot, who is willing to die in defense of his country’s liberty and his own honor....
The bearer of this will give your honorable body, a statement more in detail, should be escape through the enemies lines -- God and Texas -- Victory or Death!
Your obedient servant,
W. Barrett Travis,
Lieutenant Colonel Commanding
P.S. The enemies troops are still arriving, and the reinforcement will probably amount to two or three thousand.

 After the Fall of the Alamo
Francisco Ruiz, Mayor of San Antonio and a Mexican official, entered the Alamo about 30 minutes after the battle ended. The following reading is from his report.

On the 6th of March 1836, at 3 a.m., General Santa Anna at the head of 4,000 men advanced against the Alamo. The infantry, artillery, and cavalry had formed about 1,000 [yards] from the walls of the same fortress. The Mexican army charged and were twice repulsed by the deadly fire of Travis’s artillery, which resembled a constant thunder. At the third charge the Toluca battalion commenced to scale the walls and suffered severely. Out of 830 men only 130 of the battalion were left alive....
As soon as the storming commenced we crossed the bridge on Commerce Street... and about 100 yards from the same a party of Mexican dragoons fired upon us and compelled us to fall back on the river to the place that we had occupied before. Half an hour had elapsed when Santa Anna sent one of his aides-de-camp with an order for us to come before him. He directed me to call on some of the neighbors to come with carts to carry the [Mexican] dead to the cemetery and to accompany him, as he desired to have Colonels Travis, [James] Bowie, and [Davy] Crockett shown to him.
On the north battery of the fortress convent, lay the lifeless body of Colonel Travis on the gun carriage, shot only through the forehead. Toward the west and in a small fort opposite the city, we found the body of Colonel Crockett. Colonel Bowie was found dead in his bed [where he had lain ill] in one of the rooms on the south side....
The gallantry of the few Texans who defended the Alamo was really wondered at by the Mexican army. Even the generals were astonished at their vigorous resistance, and how dearly victory was bought.

1. Why did William Barrett Travis choose to stand at the Alamo in the face of such odds?

2. Why do you think that people consider this letter one of the most heroic documents in American history?

3. What was the purpose of Mayor Francisco Ruiz’s entry into the Alamo?

4. What was the Mexican army’s view of the defenders of the Alamo?

Of the People, by the People, for the People
Government for the Common Man

In the election of 1824, there were four primary candidates. For each give (1) home state, (2) experience, philosophy, and qualifications, and (3) # of electoral votes received.
William H. Crawford
John Quincy Adams
Andrew Jackson
Henry Clay

Who actually won the election and became President?

Why was this election termed the “corrupt bargain” and what effect did it have over the next four years?

What types of programs did Adams promote as President? Was he successful in getting his programs passed?

The election of 1828 was very different from that in 1824. Describe the 1828 election and its outcome.

During Jackson’s Presidency new political parties emerged. Identify each and their basic ideas.

Whigs

Democrats

Campaigns also began to change. What was the role of the caucus and nominating convention?

How did suffrage change during the 1820s?

Describe the inauguration and inaugural ceremonies when Jackson took office.

What qualities helped Andrew Jackson succeed in life and as a President?

What nicknames were given to Andrew Jackson? What do these nicknames tell us about his personality?

“To the victor belong the spoils” refers to the spoils system. What was the spoils system and how did Andrew Jackson use it?

What was Andrew Jackson’s kitchen cabinet and why was it necessary?

Andrew Jackson said, “The Bank is trying to kill me, but I will kill it!” What was he talking about and what were the related issues?


Jacksonian Democracy

1. What was the Tariff of Abominations? What were its advantages and disadvantages?

2. John C. Calhoun led the fight against the Tariff, why?

3. Define “nullify” or “nullification.” How did this term apply to Calhoun’s argument?

4. Daniel Webster argued against Calhoun. Webster claimed that states could not nullify, why?

5. The Nullification Crisis deepened the division between the President and Vice President that came to a crisis at the Jefferson Day dinner. What happened at the dinner and what was the resulting action taken by Calhoun?

6. Define “secede.”

7. Why did South Carolina threaten to secede from the Union?

8. What was Jackson’s basic position on the rights and position of Native Americans?

9. Why were Native Americans forced off their lands?

10. In 1828 a legal battle was waged between the state of Georgia and the Cherokees.
What did Georgia try to do that upset the Cherokees?
How did the Cherokees respond to this action and what was the result?
How did Jackson respond to the entire incident?

11. What did the Indian Removal Act do?

12. What was the Trail of Tears?

13. What was the Seminole War and its significance?

14. Who became President after Andrew Jackson? How was he qualified for this position?

15. What economic problems did he face? (explain the Panic of 1837)

16. How did he respond to these economic challenges?

17. When the 1840 Presidential election came around, who were the major candidates and what were the major issues?

18. Give three slogans used during this campaign.

From Sea to Shining Sea

1. Why did the United States and Britain agree to share the Oregon Country?

2. Why did Mountain Men go to the Far West?

3. What hardships did travelers face on the Oregon Trail?

4. Why did Mexico originally want Americans to settle in Texas?

5. How was the Republic of Texas set up?

6. Why did the United States refuse to annex Texas?

7. Who were the first white settlers in New Mexico and California?

8. What was mission life like for Native Americans?

9. What did Americans mean by Manifest Destiny?

10. How did the United States eventually gain Oregon?

11. What events led to war with Mexico?

12. How did Spanish and Indian traditions blend in the new lands?

13. What was the Mexican Cession and how did it come about?

14. What was the Gadsden Purchase?

15. Why did the Mormons settle in Utah and how did they set up a successful community?

16. How did the discovery of gold affect life in California?

17. What mix of people helped California grow and prosper?