The Era of “Good Feelings”
What accounted for the rise in
American nationalism
during the early 1800s?
I. Henry Clay’s
American System
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Strong banking
system
 Second bank of
the United States
Protective tariffs
 Tariff of 1816
Internal
improvements
 Funding for
roads, canals
(Republicans adopt
many positions of
Federalists)
II. “Era of Good Feelings”
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one-party government (Republicans)
growing sectionalism
Westward expansion – “Ohio fever,” Indian
wars, Cumberland road, canals, steamboat,
Land Act of 1820
Panic of 1819 – deflation, bankruptcies, bank
failures, unemployment, debtor’s prisons,
mortgage foreclosures

Caused by overspeculation of frontier lands –
National Bank
III. Diplomacy under Monroe and J.Q. Adams
Rush-Bagot Agreement (1817) – disarmed Great Lakes
Treaty of 1818 w/ Britain
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share Newfoundland fisheries,
Oregon Territory jointly occupied by US and GB
Acquisition of Florida
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Monroe sent Jackson to secure southern border
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Adams urges Monroe to defend Jackson
Adams-Onis Treaty (1819) – sets boundary b/w US and Spanish
territory; US gets Florida
Monroe Doctrine
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Jackson exceeded his instructions
Reaffirmed American neutrality
U.S. wouldn’t interfere with existing colonies in Western
Hemisphere but wouldn’t permit further colonization
Any attempt by a European nation to colonize any area of the
Western Hemisphere would be perceived as an act of aggression
against the United States
Russo-American Treaty, 1824