NATION BUILDING
AND
NATIONIONALISM
America: Past and Present
Chapter 9
Expansion and Migration
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American perspective shifts from Europe to West
after 1815
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Land perceived as rich, unsettled
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Continent held in part by the English, Spanish,
and Indians
Extending the Boundaries
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John Quincy Adams--expansionist secretary
of state from 1816 to 1824
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Florida 1st focus of post war expansionists
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Rush-Bagot, Convention of 1818
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Andrew Jackson and 1st Seminole War

Adams-Onis Treaty secures
all Florida, U.S. boundary to
Pacific

Settled "West" still mostly
east of Mississippi River

John Jacob Astor, fur trade
and backwoodsman
American Fur Company
Settlement to the Mississippi: Indian Removal

Indian Removal policy begins after 1815

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Some Indians retain tribal homelands
(Cherokee largest of Five Civilized Tribes)
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Some Southern states claim jurisdiction over the Indians in their borders

Former Indian land
sold to speculators

Trail of Tears

Black Hawk War of 1832
Last resistance in old
Northwest
Settlement to the Mississippi:
Settlers Move In
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By 1840 over 1/3 of U.S. population lives
west of the Appalachians
Speculators sell land parcels to settlers on
credit
Settlers immediately enter commercial
farming to pay off debt
Access to markets gained by network of
market towns, regional centers
The People and Culture of the
Frontier
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West settled to escape overpopulation,
rising land prices, worn-out soil
Settlers bring culture with them
Cooperation, strong community necessary
for survival
Land values rise rapidly in a few years
Price rise encourages rootlessness as
many sell out and move on
A Revolution in
Transportation

Primitive land transportation in the East was
offset by shipping via the coastal waterways

After the War of 1812 political leaders
recognized the need the need to improve the
country’s transportation network

President Madison referred to as “internal
improvements”
Roads

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National Road from Cumberland, Maryland to
Wheeling, Virginia
1st great federal transportation project
Private turnpikes built by entrepreneurs
Roads useful but unprofitable
Steamboats

Network of rivers encourage economic developmen

Flatboats transport down river early

Steamboats transport upriver after 1811

Upriver capabilities reduce costs
Steamboat traffic
stimulates Congress to
establish safety regulations

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Robert Fulton
The Canal Boom

Erie Canal first transportation link between East and West, 1825
(Albany to Buffalo)

Most spectacular engineering achievement of young nation

Canal cuts East-West transportation costs dramatically

Canal stimulates commercial growth of New York City
• Great canal building
boom of 1820’s and
30’s ends because
prove not to be
profitable
Emergence of a Market Economy

Great national transportation
system created by nation’s
river network

Canals cut shipping
expenses for western
farmers and eastern
manufacturers

Steamboats on the rivers
also reduced shipping
costs and stimulated
commercial agriculture

Economic revolution between
1810 and 1840 one of distribution rather than production
The Beginning of Commercial Agriculture

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Lower transportation costs mean greater income for the
farmer
Sale to distant markets involves farmers in a complex
system of credit
Market stimulates specialization
 Ohio Valley produces wheat
Lower South produces cotton
(slavery, land, cotton gin, demand due to textile industry)

Commerce and Banking

Commercial farming stimulates new
system of marketing

Extension of credit crucial to development
of agricultural marketing system

Farmers borrow on future crops

Farm subsidies due to demand for credit
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Use of credit stimulates banking

State banks increase after 1812

1816--Second Bank of the United States
created to check state banks
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Bank’s easy credit sparks Panic of 1819
1819 political cartoon
• State banking systems and
easy credit lead to frequent
currency depreciations
Early Industrialism

Rise in manufacturing after 1812
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Traditional methods but innovative financing through “putting out”
system
 “putting-out”--merchants deliver raw materials for farm families,
artisans to process

Textile industry leads development
of factory system, removal of
production from home to factory

Young single women primary
labor source in textile mills

Lowell, Massachusetts great showplace
The Politics of Nation
Building After the War of 1812
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Politics a one-party system after 1812
Interest groups no longer take differences
into the political arena
Federal executive, legislature largely
irrelevant to domestic economy
Supreme Court exerts influence on
economy by deciding crucial cases
The Republicans in Power

Republicans begin adopting Federalist measures after War
of 1812
 1815: establish high tariffs
 1816: charter a national bank
 federal aid for internal improvements

Federal efforts to stimulate economy falter
 Madison, Monroe see Constitutional conflicts
 Efforts provoke sectional conflict
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Henry Clay leading advocate for American System
Monroe as President

James Monroe elected President in 1816,
reelected in 1820
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Monroe seeks national harmony
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Takes no action in Panic of 1819,
believes president above such
matters
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Provides no leadership controversy over
Missouri
The Missouri Compromise:
The Issues
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1817--Missouri applies for statehood as
slave state
Northerners believe South overrepresented in House of Representatives
House rejects unless slavery abolished
South wishes to preserve balance between
slave states and free states
The Missouri Compromise:
The Solution
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Missouri admitted as slave state
Maine admitted as free state
Slavery banned elsewhere in Louisiana
Purchase above the latitude of 36E30'
Missouri controversy exposed deep rift
between North and South
The Missouri Compromise,
1820-1821
Postwar Nationalism and the
Supreme Court

John Marshall chief justice 1801-1835
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Marshall uses position to encourage national growth
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Believes Constitution exists to protect the industrious

Protects individual property rights against government
interference

Marshall uses court decisions to limit powers of the states
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McCulloch v. Maryland – state can’t tax national bank

Gibbons v. Ogden – federal regulation of interstate
commerce
Nationalism in Foreign Policy:
The Monroe Doctrine

Main diplomatic challenge –
dealing with Latin American
colonial revolts

When Latin American nations
revolt, U.S. supports new
republics

European ruling classes fear
rebellion might prove contagious

France was encouraged to
squelch Spain's rebellious
colonies

Great Britain asks U.S. to
cooperate against French in Latin
America
Nationalism in Foreign Policy:
Monroe Doctrine (2)

Monroe persuaded that U.S.
alone must protect Latin
American independence

1823--Monroe Doctrine warns
European nations out of the
Western Hemisphere

Doctrine also promises U.S. will
not interfere in European affairs

Refocuses U.S. from worldwide
struggles against tyranny to
national development
The Troubled Presidency of
John Quincey Adams

James Monroe supports John Quincy Adams to succeed him
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Adams intelligent, keen interest in progress, loyal to nation, not sectional
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Nearly loses election of 1824
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A "gentleman" in an age of rising democracy
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Term of office fails because of fiercely contending sectional interests
The End of the “Era of Good
Feelings”
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There were sharp divisions over how to
achieve national greatness
Elite nonpartisan statesmanship would
soon give way to a more contentious
democratic process