1818 . Andrew Jackson is court martialed and sentenced to three years for his unauthorized attack on Pensacola in Florida.
Charles Pinckney backs Jackson, and tours the south giving speeches demanding his release.
1819. Britain buys the Floridas from Spain, and stops the flow of illegal slaves into the south. Charles Pinckney lambasts Monroe’s government for ‘losing‘ Florida.
A financial panic in this year is the beginning of a three year depression. Charles Pinckney rails against the Second Bank of the United States.
1820. No compromise is reached over Missouri, Monroe being loathe to capitulate to abolitionists when the south seems inclined to give its votes to Pinckney in the next election. In New York, DeWitt Clinton forms the People’s Party in response.
Dewitt Clinton beats Pinckney to the presidency, with Monroe’s’ People’s Party a poor third. Clinton advocates a mild form of antI-slavery and gradual emancipation.
1821. Jackson is released from prison. In speeches to his supporters he refers to a letter in his possession, from Monroe, authorizing him to attack Pensacola. Pinckney gives a fiery speech denouncing Monroe’s corruption, but collapses during the speech. Four days later he dies. Monroe denies sending the letter, but soon retires from politics. John C. Calhoun becomes leader of the Unionist party.
The letter referred to by Jackson is never produced, and Jackson never speaks of it again.
1822. Seminoles from British Florida make raids across the border into Georgia in retaliation for the destruction of a Seminole village. Fears of war with Britain. Jackson demands some kind of military response, Calhoun urges caution. President Clinton resolves the matter diplomatically.
A conspiracy to organize a slave revolt is uncovered in South Carolina. Calhoun’s Unionist Party, now largely confined to the south eastern states, is becoming a pro-slavery party.
1823. Jackson urges Congress to pass a resolution condemning European intervention in the Americas, but it is rejected.
1824. The election of this year is contentious and chaotic., with four presidential candidates.
John Quincy Adams, who is concerned about the administration’s foreign policy and is frustrated by the glacial pace of slave emancipation, forms a new party, the National Republican Party, drawing largely upon the north east for its support. His running mate is Henry Clay. They favor government spending on infrastructure.
The Unionist Party goes with a Calhoun/Crawford ticket, on a pro-slavery, free trade platform.
The National Democratic Party, getting most of its support from the south-west, goes with Jackson as its candidate, with Thomas Hart Benton as his running mate. The party platform is pro-slavery, anti-bank, and pro-expansion.
The People’s Party, the only party with any semblance of a broad base across the country, has its stronghold in New York. President Clinton runs on a mildly anti-slavery platform, and is pro-bank. His running mate is Martin Van Buren.
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