Andrew Jackson Event Timeline

Andrew Jackson (7) Event Timeline

03/04/1829-03/04/1837

11/04/1828

Election Day, Jackson elected;  by 1828, selection of electors increasingly made by popular vote in the states.

12/03/1828

Electors cast their ballots.

1829

02/11/1829

Electoral votes tabulated in Congress.

03/02/1829

Letter from the President Elect to Vice-President (and President of the Senate) John C. Calhoun stating Jackson’s readiness to take the oath.

03/04/1829

First Inaugural Address.

03/23/1829

Letter to the Creek Indians in which Jackson (“your father”) advises that the Creek move beyond the Mississippi.  “There your white brothers will not trouble you; they will have no claim to the land, and you can live upon it, you and all your children, as long as the grass grows or the water runs, in peace and plenty.  It will be yours for ever.”.

06/03/1829

Proclamation 38—Suspending Discriminating Duties of Tonnage and Import on Austrian Vessels.

08/13-15/1829

Van Buren to go over boundary changes with Mexico.

12/08/1829

First Annual State of the Union Message; includes language objecting to Federal appropriations for projects benefitting a single state; argues for limiting terms in office and encouraging “rotation.”

1830

04/13/1830

Tensions between Jackson and Calhoun; Calhoun suggests South Carolina should annul the cotton tariff.

05/27/1830

Vetoes Maysville Road bill with the objection that the project did not involve sufficiently general benefits.

05/28/1830

Signs the Indian Removal Act (1 Stat 411) (“An Act to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi”).  “. . . it shall and may be lawful for the President solemnly to assure the tribe or nation with which the exchange is made, that the United States will forever secure and guaranty to them, and their heirs or successors, the country so exchanged with them. . . “

06/06/1830

Proclamation—Notice of Public Land Sales in the State of Louisiana.

09/18/1830

Proclamation 40—Suspending Discriminating Duties of Tonnage and Import on Vessels of the Grand Dukedom of Oldenburg.

10/05/1830

Proclamation 41—Opening States Ports to British Vessels From Certain British Possessions.

12/06/1830

Second Annual State of the Union Message.

12/07/1830

Vetoed (by pocket veto) bills dealing with lighthouse and beacons, issuing stocks for canal-building internal improvements. (These were both mentioned in the SOTU message of 12/06/1830).

1831

02/10/1831

Proclamation 42- Ordering Persons to remove from Public Lands in Arkansas.

02/15/1831

Seminole War Correspondence Published at direction of Vice President Calhoun.  The correspondence documented their disagreements and further alienated Jackson and Calhoun.

03/18/1831

In Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokees were not a “foreign nation” (rather, “domestic dependent nations” and therefore did not have standing under Article III of the Constitution to bring claims against Georgia.

04/07/1831 -
04/19/1831

Wives of cabinet members refuse to socialize with Peggy Eaton, the wife of the Secretary of War. This tension leads Jackson to engineer a mass reshuffling of his cabinet. John Eaton resigns 04/09/1831; Martin Van Buren, Secretary of State, resigns 04/11/1831;  Samuel Ingham, Secretary of the Treasury and John Branch, Secretary of the Navy resign 04/19/1831. Jackson requested the resignation of Attorney General John Berrien 06/15/1831. Referred to subsequently as the Petticoat Affair or Peggy Eaton Affair.

08/21/1831

Nat Turner leads slave rebellion in Virginia; local officials ask for federal military assistance, and federal troops deployed without the issuance of a proclamation by the President as specified in statutes of 1795 and 1807.  Rebellion crushed by 09/03/1831.

09/26/1831

First presidential nominating convention; Anti-Masonic Convention, in Baltimore; resulted not in a “platform” but in a lengthy document suggesting what would become programmatic platforms. The “Address to the People” called for “enlightened exercise of the right of suffrage,” and noted that Jackson was a mason.

12/06/1831

Third Annual State of the Union Message.

12/12/1831

National Republican Party convention, which did not produce a platform but issued an “Address” critical of the Jackson Administration.  Nominates Henry Clay of Kentucky.

1832

02/15/1832

By Special Message, recommends Congress to appoint commissioners with authority to oversee the “speedy migration” of Indians “within the settled portion of the United States” to “the country beyond the Mississippi. . .”

03/03/1832

Supreme Court decides Worcester v. Georgia The Court had held that Georgia did not have authority to regulate relationships between its citizens and members of the Cherokee Nation.  This was because the Cherokee had a treaty with the US, and Georgia law had no force.  Jackson had defended states rights in dealing with Indian tribes and was reported to have privately refused to enforce the Court ruling.

05/21/1832

Democratic party holds its first presidential nominating convention to nominate Andrew Jackson for second term and former Secretary of State Martin Van Buren as vice president.  Did not produce a platform.

07/10/1832

Vetoes bill reauthorizing Second Bank of the United States. The Bank’s supporters proposed reauthorization earlier than necessary (the Bank was chartered through 1836) believing this would be a good election issue.  The veto message is unusually long and important for many reasons, including the firm assertion that the President may veto legislation based on policy differences alone.  Jackson also asserts his belief that questions of constitutionality may be appropriately judged by presidents, not simply by the Supreme Court.  The veto was not overridden.

07/14/1832

Signs Tariff Act (1 Stat 583).

11/06/1832

Wins reelection; white male suffrage generally held throughout the US without any property requirements.

11/24/1832

South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification, asserting the right to nullify congressional acts involving duties and imposts on the importation of foreign commodities  No other states join South Carolina.

12/04/1832

Fourth Annual State of the Union Message.

12/05/1832

Presidential electors cast ballots.

12/06/1832

Pocket Veto of “An act providing for the final settlement of the claims of States for interest on advances to the United States made during the last war.”  Jackson objects to the way the legislation calculated interest due.

12/10/1832

Nullification Proclamation rejecting the idea that any state can nullify a federal law.  Such a principle would make the Constitution meaningless.  Jackson promises to execute the laws by all constitutional means, including a recourse to force.

12/28/1832

John C. Calhoun of South Carolina resigns as Vice President.

1833

02/13/1833

Electoral College Votes counted in Congress.

03/02/1833

“Force Bill” signed (2 Stat 632). Echoing the 1795 “Calling forth the Militia” Act, this response to South Carolina nullification defiance authorizes the president to use “any means” to disperse unlawful uses of force.

03/02/1833

Signs Compromise Tariff Act (2 Stat 629). Reduces tariff rates gradually until from 1833-1842; responds to Southern unhappiness about tariffs of 1828. This has also been called "the Force Bill"

03/15/1833

South Carolina rescinds nullification ordinance.

03/20/1833

Commissions Edmund Roberts, a special agent of the United states to negotiate commercial trade and treaties with several Asian governments.

05/29/1833

Moves Treasury Secretary McLane to be Secretary of State after McLane refuses to transfer Bank of the United States deposits to state banks. Appoints William Duane as Treasury Secretary.

06/06/1833

First Presidential Train Ride, 12 miles from Ellicott’s Mills to Baltimore, MD.

06/26/1833

Orders plans for removing federal deposits from Bank of the United States. Provoked famous cartoon, “King Andrew the First.”

09/18/1833

Message Read to the Cabinet on Removal of the Public Deposits  “Viewing it as a question of transcendent importance, both in the principles and consequences it involves, the President could not, in justice to the responsibility which he owes to the country, refrain from pressing upon the Secretary of the Treasury his view of the considerations which impel to immediate action.” This message was published at the time in the Washington Globe.

9/22/1833

Removes Duane as Treasury Secretary when he refuses to transfer Bank of the United States funds. Replaces him, as a recess appointment, with Roger B. Taney (previously serving as Attorney General).  Taney followed Jackson’s instructions.

12/03/1833

Fifth Annual State of the Union Message.

12/11/1833

Senate requests a copy of the Message read to the cabined on 9/18/1933.

12/04/1833

Pocket vetoes “Act to appropriate for a limited time the proceeds of the sales of the public lands of the United States and for granting lands to certain states.”  But nonetheless issues a lengthy Veto Message.  “The bill before me begins with an entire subversion of every one of the compacts by which the United States became possessed of their Western domain, and treats the subject as if they never had existence. . . “

12/12/1833

Message declining to comply with Senate request of 12/11/1833 for document on removing Treasury funds from Bank of United States.  “I feel constrained, therefore, by a proper sense of my own self-respect, and of the rights secured by the constitution to the Executive branch of the Government, to decline a compliance with your request.”

12/26/1833

Senator Henry Clay introduces resolution condemning Jackson’s actions concerning Bank of the US.

1834

03/28/1834

Senate passes Resolution of Censure against Jackson: “That the President, in the late Executive proceedings in relation to the public revenue, has assumed upon himself authority and power not conferred by the constitution and laws but in derogation of both.”

04/15/1834

Message to the Senate Protesting Censure Resolution.  In response to this message, the Senate ordered (05/07/1834) that this Message not be entered on the Journal.

06/21/1834

Death of General Lafayette noted by Executive Order 46.

06/23/1834

Senate rejects Taney as Secretary of the Treasury.

Signs Act (1 Stat 729) to regulate trade with Indian tribes and to preserve peace on the frontiers.  Designates US territory west of the Mississippi that is not part of Missouri, Louisiana or the territory of Arkansas is "the Indian Country." Trading is to be regulated by the commissioner of Indian Affairs. Prohibits sale of alcoholic beverages to Indians.

06/30/1834

Signs Act establishing Department [sic] of Indian Affairs; act also set aside part of Arkansas Territory for Indians. The office was transferred to the Department of the Interior in 1849.

06/30/1834

Signs Act authorizing Secretary of the Navy to make experiments for the safety of the steam engine (1 Stat 728).

12/01/1834

Sixth Annual State of the Union Message. Jackson announces that all national debt will be repaid as of 01/01/1835;  includes explanation of his pocket veto of Wabash River internal improvements bill.

1835

01/30/1835

Attempted assassination of Jackson by Richard Lawrence fails when his pistols misfire.

02/22/1835

Committee appointed by Senate to investigate whether Senator Poindexter of Mississippi was involved in assassination attempt.

03/03/1835

Veto of “Act to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to compromise the claims allowed by the commissioners under the treaty with the King of the Two Sicilies, [sic] concluded October 14, 1832.”  Jackson argues that the act is inconsistent with the separation of powers.

05/20/1835 – 05/23/1835

Democratic Convention in Baltimore. The convention was held long before the election to prevent opposition to Jackson’s chosen successor, Martin Van Buren.  Van Buren was nominated unanimously on the first ballot.

07/01/1835

Alexis de Tocqueville published the first volume of Democracy in America.

12/08/1835

Seventh Annual State of the Union Message; Jackson suggests prohibiting distribution of abolitionist literature by mail in the South.

12/17/1835

Message to Congress informs of a bequest by James Smithson for an institution “for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.”

12/28/1835

Nominates Roger B. Taney as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

12/28/1835

Second Seminole War begins in Florida with attack led by Osceola on troops led by Major Francis Dade (“Dade Massacre").  This was the longest and most costly war between Native Americans and the United States.

12/29/1935

New Echota Treaty with representatives of the Cherokee Tribe who agree to move Cherokees west of the Mississippi to land where they will be self-governing.

1836

03/02/1836

Texas declares independence.

03/06/1836

Fall of the Alamo.

03/15/1836

Senate confirms Taney as Chief Justice.

05/18/1836

Senate ratifies New Echota Treaty calling for removal of Cherokees west of the Mississippi.  Treaty Proclaimed on 5/23/1836.

06/15/1836

Arkansas admitted as 25^th State.

06/23/1836

Signs “Surplus bill” (“An Act (1 Stat 52) to regulate the deposites [sic] of the public money” authorizing distribution of surplus federal funds to the states;  beneficial for Van Buren.

07/02/1836

Signs Act (1 Stat 73) making appropriations for implementing the New Echota Treaty, $1,836,600 “for the removal of the Cherokees.”

07/11/1836

Specie Circular, issued by Treasury Department at Jackson’s direction, requiring payments for public lands in specie (gold or silver). Subsequently seen as cause of 1837 economic downturn.

09/01/1836

Proclamation 43B- Suspending Discriminating Duties on Vessels of the Grand Dukedom of Tuscany.

11/08/1836

Election Day, Van Buren elected President.

12/06/1836

Eight Annual State of the Union Message.

1837

01/16/1837

Resolution of Censure (1834) Expunged from Senate record.

01/26/1837

Michigan admitted as State.

02/06/1837

Submits to Congress a list of unresolved claims against Mexico.

03/03/1837

Recognizes Texas independence by nominating Alcee La Brauche to be charge d'affaires to the Republic of Texas.

03/03/1837

Pocket vetoes “An act designating and limiting the funds receivable for the revenues of the United States,” on grounds that it is fatally flawed because the language is “so liable to a diversity of interpretations.”

03/03/1837

Signs Judiciary Act (2 Stat 176) increased Supreme Court membership from 7 to 9 justices.

03/04/1837

Farewell Address.