The 1848 presidential election takes place in the aftermath of the Mexican-American War and intense debates over the extension of slavery into the Mexican Cession. After both the Whig Party and the Democratic Party nominate presidential candidates who are unwilling to rule out the extension of …
Martin Van BurenFree Soil PartyDemocratic PartyWhig PartyLewis Cass+1 morefree-soil-partyantislaverypolitical-realignmentsectional-conflictslavery-expansion
William Henry Harrison defeated incumbent President Martin Van Buren in the 1840 election, winning 234 of 294 electoral votes through what would become known as the first modern image-based political campaign. When a Democratic newspaper mockingly suggested giving Harrison “a barrel of hard …
William Henry HarrisonMartin Van BurenWhig PartyCharles Oglepolitical-deceptionelectoral-fraudmedia-manipulationsystematic-corruptiondemocratic-erosion
Samuel Swartwout, Jackson’s political appointee as Collector of the Port of New York, absconds with $1,225,705.09 (equivalent to $36.2 million in 2024 dollars) after his term expires, fleeing to England in what becomes the most spectacular embezzlement scandal of the era. Swartwout, an old …
Samuel SwartwoutAndrew JacksonMartin Van BurenU.S. Treasuryembezzlementspoils-systempatronagekakistocracyfinancial-corruption+1 more
U.S. troops under General Winfield Scott begin forcibly removing the Cherokee Nation from their ancestral homelands in Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Alabama, starting a process that becomes known as the Trail of Tears. President Martin Van Buren, enforcing the fraudulent 1835 Treaty of New …
Martin Van BurenWinfield ScottCherokee NationJohn RossU.S. Army+1 moreethnic-cleansingtrail-of-tearsindian-removalstate-violencemilitary-force+1 more
Just two months into Martin Van Buren’s presidency, major New York state banks refuse to convert paper money into gold or silver on May 10, 1837, having exhausted their hard currency reserves. Other financial institutions across the country quickly follow suit, triggering the Panic of 1837—a …
Martin Van BurenAndrew JacksonNew York banksState banksU.S. Congressfinancial-crisiseconomic-policybanking-systempanic-1837jackson-era+1 more
President Andrew Jackson orders Treasury Secretary Levi Woodbury to issue the Specie Circular, an executive order requiring that payment for public lands be made exclusively in gold or silver (specie) rather than paper currency, effective August 15, 1836 for purchases over 320 acres. The policy aims …
Andrew JacksonLevi WoodburyMartin Van BurenU.S. Treasury DepartmentLand speculatorsfinancial-manipulationeconomic-policyjackson-erabanking-systemland-speculation+1 more
U.S. government officials sign the Treaty of New Echota with approximately 500 Cherokee Indians claiming to represent the 16,000-member Cherokee Nation, ceding all Cherokee lands east of the Mississippi River in exchange for territory in present-day Oklahoma and $5 million. The treaty is negotiated …
Cherokee NationJohn RossTreaty PartyU.S. CongressAndrew Jackson+1 moreindian-removaltreaty-fraudethnic-cleansinginstitutional-corruptiontrail-of-tears+1 more
Upon assuming office in March 1829, President Andrew Jackson immediately implements the “spoils system,” sweeping employees from over 900 political offices—approximately 10 percent of all federal appointments—and replacing them with political supporters, friends, and relatives as rewards …
Andrew JacksonMartin Van BurenWilliam MarcyFederal civil servantsspoils-systempatronagekakistocracyinstitutional-corruptionmerit-bypass+1 more