Early Presidents Discussion Board Assignment July 14

    Andrew Jackson was elected in a popular election 1828. Jackson is considered the majority politics president and one of the most popular in American history. Here are a series of sites dealing with the life and times of Andrew Jackson: http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/aj7.html and http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/P/aj7/about/bio/jackxx.htm. Here is his first inaugural address: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/inaug/jackson1.htm. Jackson's Indian policy was the policy of removal that began with the Removal Act of 1830. Here is that act: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/removal.htm. Andrew Jackson did not like banks in general and the National Bank of the United States in particular. The Whigs led by Henry Clay attempted to get an early recharter of that bank and Jackson vetoed the recharter bill. Here is his Bank Veto: http://odur.let.rug.nl/%7Eusa/P/aj7/writings/veto.htm and Henry Clay's response to that veto: http://alpha.furman.edu/~benson/docs/clay.htm. Jackson was reelected in 1832 and here is his second inaugural address: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/inaug/jackson2.htm. A real crisis occurred in his second term known as the nullification crisis; here is his response to South Carolina in the midst of this crisis: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/proclamations/jacko1.htm. Here is a site with links that covers the life and presidency of Andrew Jackson: http://www.presidentsusa.net/jackson.html

     Martin Van Buren was Jackson's choice and was elected president in 1836. Here is the inaugural address of Martin Van Buren: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/inaug/vanburen. Martin Van Buren was involved with a major depression greatly due to the economic policies of Jackson. Here is a site with links that covers the life and presidency of Martin Van Buren: http://www.presidentsusa.net/vanburen.html

     William Henry Harrison was elected in 1840 as the first Whig president. His inaugural speech was one of the longest in American history due to the slow presentation: http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres26.html. Here is a site with links that features the life and brief presidency of Harrison: http://www.presidentsusa.net/whharrison.html. After one month, Harrison died in office and was replaced by John Tyler. Here are the highlights of his accidental administration: http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/jt10.html and here is a site that features the life and presidency of Whig president, the first accidental president, John Tyler: http://www.presidentsusa.net/tyler.html

     Tyler's presidency hurt the Whig party and the Democrats recaptured the white house in 1844 with a darkhorse candidate named James Polk. Here are a series of sites that feature the life and times of James Polk: http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/jp11.html and http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/nc/bio/public/polk.htm and http://www.geocities.com/peterroberts.geo/Relig-Politics/JKPolk.html

     Here is the inaugural speech of James Polk: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/inaug/polk.htm. Polk became the second war president with the Mexican War and he also was responsible for a successful treaty with England for the Pacific Northwest known as the Oregon Treaty. Here is that treaty: http://www.ccrh.org/comm/river/docs/ortreaty.htm. Here is a site that features the life and presidency of John Polk: http://www.presidentsusa.net/polk.html

     Polk did not run again for president and the Whigs returned to power with the election of military hero Zachary Taylor. Here is the inaugural address of Zachary Taylor: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/inaug/taylor.htm. Here is a site that features the life and presidency of Taylor: http://www.presidentsusa.net/taylor.html. Taylor became the second Whig to die in office and was replaced by Millard Fillmore. Here is a biography of this little remembered Whig president: http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/mf13.html and here is a site with links that focuses on the life and presidency of Fillmore: http://www.presidentsusa.net/fillmore.html