The Long Road to Annapolis: The Founding of the Naval Academy and the Emerging American Republic

CHAPTER 4 Academies and Aristocracy in Andrew Jackson’s America

[ CHAPTER 4 ] Academies and Aristocracy in Andrew Jackson’s America The election of Andrew Jackson to the presidency in 1828 ushered in a new era in American politics and society. Jackson’s background as a frontier general and his apparent lack of interest in naval affairs did not bode well for the U.S. Navy.Yet during the 1830s, the navy assumed a much larger role in national life because of America’s rapidly growing maritime commerce. No longer responsible only for national defense, naval officers increasingly took on the task of expanding American commerce through diplomacy and scientific exploration.The navy’s broadened role seemed to suggest the need for an improved system of education for officers. Some Americans believed the establishment of a West Point–style academy for the navy was the best way to meet this need. Others, especially politicians of the Jacksonian persuasion , looked upon the Military Academy with suspicion and hostility. Although this antagonism had a negative influence on the naval academy movement in the 1830s, the navy’s expanded responsibilities meant that naval education continued to be a matter of national prominence. The spirit of improvement that characterized the United States in the 1820s emphasized the country’s developing commerce as the foundation for national progress. U.S. trade grew steadily in the Jackson years, with the country’s exports increasing by 94 percent. The transportation revolution combined with continued westward settlement fueled significant growth in agricultural exports such as cotton, tobacco, and food crops. A “gospel [ 102 ] Academies and Aristocracy in Andrew Jackson’s America of commerce” pervaded American society during this period. Americans could not help but recognize that the most advanced civilizations throughout human history were commercial powers. In the United States, commerce encouraged scientific and intellectual pursuits as well as individual initiative and enterprise. It also served as a vehicle for the spread of American republicanism and civilization to other parts of the world, particularly the Pacific, the Far East, and Latin America. Maritime commerce had a direct connection to territorial expansion across North America. Although the term “Manifest Destiny” was not yet coined, Americans believed it was the destiny of the United States to extend its influence across the continent all the way to the Pacific, improving the new territories it acquired by bringing them American political, economic, social, and moral values. More land meant more agricultural surplus and increased exports. Political and business leaders envisioned the continental United States becoming a base of operations for an American maritime empire that would spread throughout the world. “In every age of the world, there has been a leading nation,” declared author Ralph Waldo Emerson, “one of a more generous sentiment, whose eminent citizens were willing to stand for the interests of general justice and humanity. . . . Which should be that nation but these States? . . . Who should be the leaders, but the Young Americans?”1 The Navy in the Age of Jackson In his first annual message to Congress, Andrew Jackson stated: “In time of peace we have need of no more ships of war than are requisite to the protection of our commerce.” The new president was signaling his intention to maintain a minimum naval force with a strictly defensive mission. Traditionally, this had been the navy’s role—fighting wars at sea and protecting U.S. commerce. From the navy’s establishment in the 1790s through the 1820s, this protection had included fighting corsairs, enforcing smuggling laws and the ban on the African slave trade, and maintaining an American presence in major ports and areas of commercial activity such as the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and the Caribbean. Over the course of Jackson’s presidency, however, commercial expansion forced him to broaden the navy’s mission. By the time he left office, Jackson had become a proponent of the navy: “The increase of our commerce and our position in regard to the other powers of the world will always make it our policy and interest to cherish the great naval resources of our country.” New commercial opportunities in the Pacific and the Far East prompted merchants to lobby the federal government for greater naval exploration and protection to support America’s growing economic interests in those regions. Because of the Academies and Aristocracy in Andrew Jackson’s America [ 103 ] country’s expanding commercial interests, the navy’s role in national affairs changed dramatically. In fact, the navy took the...