NATIONALISM AND
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
1816-1848
PERIOD 4: 1800-1848 | AMSCO CHAPTER 8 OVERVIEW
THE ERA OF GOOD FEELINGS
• The Federalists would fade into obscurity as the D-Rs swept the country
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They would implement their policy in an era of nationalistic and unified spirit
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There were heated debates however, in relation to tariffs, banks, land, slavery and investment
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Would last primarily from 1816 to the Panic of 1819
• James Monroe was Revolutionary War veteran, would win overwhelmingly in 1816
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Would preside over an era of American nationalism
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Cultural nationalism: patriotic themes were injected into all aspects of American society from art to
schoolbooks
• Revolutionary heroes were enshrined in paintings and biographies were written
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Economic nationalism: government subsidizing of internal improvements (roads and canals)
• The protecting of US industry from foreign competition grew: Tariff of 1816, the first of many tariffs to come
• In the spirit of nationalism, this would be one of the most supported tariffs of the time
• Henry Clay’s American System: 1) protective tariffs 2) a national bank 3) internal development
• In 1816, the Second Bank of the US would be chartered (the first bank was left to expire in 1811)
• Both Madison and Monroe objected to spending federal money on roads (Constitution did not grant that power)
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This left the expansion of roads to states to fund (roads and canals would be expensive)
THE PANIC OF 1819
• Fractured the Era of Good Feelings as the first major economic panic since 1789
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Caused by the Second Bank of the US in an effort to control inflation, it shook many voters
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Many called for land reform and an end to debt prisons: the West was hardest hit
• Here, speculation drove huge investment, which would result in massive foreclosure
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The dying Federalist party would find its ideas split the D-R party, as the panic changed people’s opinions on
the role of government
• One Federalist continued to be influential: John Marshall
• Martin v. Hunter’s Lease (1816): SCOTUS has jurisdiction over state courts involving Constitutional rights
• McCulloch v. Maryland (1819): States cannot tax a federal institution bc “the power to tax is the power to
destroy”. Further, federal laws are supreme over state laws. Lastly, even though the Constitution does not grant
the federal government the right to create a national bank, it does imply it.
• Gibbons v. Ogden (1821): The federal government has broad control of interstate commerce (New York’s
attempted monopoly)
• Western settlement less than 10 years after War of 1812, the population west of the
Appalachians doubled
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Reasons for movement: 1) acquisition of native lands “won” in war 2) economic pressures of
Northeast life and seeking “new life” 3) improving transportation to the West 4) immigration
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Western representatives attracted movement by providing 1) low cost for land 2) investment in
transportation 3) “cheap money” through cheap loans for investment (speculation and crash)
THE SLAVE QUESTION AND THE WEST
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The balance of slave states and free states went back to Vermont and Kentucky (1791/2)
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The North’s population meant that in the House, they could dominate: Senate remained equal
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Missouri’s bid for statehood (as a slave state) meant the balance would be tipped
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Tallmadge (NY) Amendment: 1) prohibit further introduction of slaves to Missouri 2) emancipate children of Missouri slaves by age 25
– this would lead to the eventual end of slavery in Missouri if adopted
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Henry Clay’s proposals: 1) admit MO as a slave state 2) admit Maine as a free state 3) prohibit slavery in the remaining Louisiana
Territory north of the 36 degree 30’ line – the Missouri Compromise
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The South would see this defeated in the Senate and viewed it as a threat to end all slavery
The passing of this bill solidified the sectionalist divide in America
Foreign affairs: following War of 1812, the US became more aggressive (nationalism)
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Rush-Bagot Agreement 1817: GB and USA agree to limit naval activity in the Great Lakes
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This would extend west: the US/Canadian border to be the longest unmanned border in the world
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Treaty of 1818: improved GB/US relations 1) shared fishing rights off Newfoundland 2) joint occupation of
Oregon Territory at 49th parallel
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Florida: Spain removed troops to fight revolutions in South America, allowing Seminoles, runaway slaves,
and outlaws to raid the South and retreat to Spanish Florida
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Monroe sent General Andrew Jackson to deal with raids and pursue into Spanish territory if necessary 1817
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Jackson went well beyond orders: burning Seminole towns, hanging two chiefs, driving out Spanish governor, and hanging two British
traders he saw as aiding Seminoles (the British decided not to intervene)
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Florida purchase treaty 1819: Spain, busy with revolutions, decided to take the cash for Florida and run ($5 dollars and a US promise to
stay out of Texas)
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This last part would be ignored and violated by the United States
DAY 2
CHAPTER 8
THE MONROE DOCTRINE
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• America’s new sense of nationalism and expansionism was global
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Sought to end European intervention in the Western Hemisphere, which it saw as “theirs”
The Congress of Vienna 1815 (end of Napoleon) sought to strengthen monarchs and end republican
revolutions (Europe considered assisting in Spain’s revolutions)
Britain used its navy and American interest to benefit from keeping Europe out
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Proposed to US an Anglo-American domination of the Western Hemisphere
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John Quincy Adams refused bc 1) Britain could not be trusted to support US-policy 2) no European power
would risk war in S America and if they did, GB’s navy could defeat them
• Instead, the Monroe Doctrine was passed 1823 that set the USA as the sole “defender” of the Western Hem
• This meant that Britain, too, was warned to stay out
• GB was annoyed, but enforced the policy anyway: 1) the US could not 2) GB gained from EUR containment
• The US will militarily intervene in LA 56 times through the modern day: Polk would begin, citing the MD
A NATIONAL ECONOMY
• The world of TJ’s small farming America would be changed with the Industrial
Revolution
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Population growth was rapid: 1800-1825, pop doubled; 1825-1850, pop doubled again
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Transportation was critical to development westward
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Roads: connected major cities to facilitate easy movement westward, tolls to help maintain
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Canals: connected rivers to lakes that merged the markets of the West to the cities of the East
• Steamboats would make transport on these routes more efficient
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Railroads: became rapid, reliable means of long-distance travel to hubs like Cinci/Chicago/Detroit
Growth of US industry would make the US the world’s leader in manufacturing by 1900
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Mechanical inventions flourished under patent laws, as inventors sought to get their product used
• Eli Whitney’s cotton gin and concept of interchangeable parts during War of 1812
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In 1811, NY passed a law that made it easier for businesses to incorporate and sell stock for capital
• Business owners could now raise money faster and would only lose their initial investment
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Factory system: Samuel Slater emigrated from Britain, bringing the secrets of cotton-spinning tech
• He would establish America’s first factory in 1791: this would expand greatly with tariffs
BYPRODUCTS OF DEVELOPMENT
• As the factory system expanded, financial institutions, insurance, and legislation would
grow alongside it
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Labor was short at first (cheap land was more appealing)
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The Lowell System (factory, housing, and life within the “system”)
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Factories employed women and children (sometimes extensively)
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Immigrants led to a surplus of cheap labor over the decades
Unions (trade, from those who were formerly craftsman) couldn’t compete with cheap
factory goods (Wal-Mart analogy)
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Had to join the factory, but hated the low pay, dangerous working conditions, and long hours
• Difficulties: immigrants would work, state laws outlawed unions, frequent depressions and unemployment
meant workers could not afford to not work
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Commercial agriculture: cheap land and easy credit led to a boom in the West
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Cotton boom: the cotton gin’s unfortunate reality – cotton now more profitable
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British textile factories as primary buyer of Southern cotton
EFFECTS OF THE MARKET REVOLUTION
• The development of modern capitalism facilitated the spread of America westward, the
growth of cities exacerbated this, and industrialization was the driving force
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This, was the Market Revolution
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An end to household self-sufficiency and a growing interdependence of people
• Farmers would feed the growing working class, who provided farmers with new goods
• Women could now have less kids or hold a factory job, but they could not vote
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While the real wages of most urban workers increased, the gap between rich and poor grew greatly
• Opportunities were still greater than the rest of the world due to expansion, but “rags to riches” stories were
very rare, and the very rich grew much richer than the rest of society
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Slavery continued to exist, despite Western Europe abandoning it