Nationalism
And
Sectionalism
Westward Expansion
1810
1820
1830
The American System
The plan rested on three Pillars:
A new national bank
A tariff on imported manufactured goods
Federally financed internal
improvements
Advocates of the
American System
1. Capitalists - sought financial stability they
envisioned would be provided by a
reconstructed, rechartered, revitalized and
honest Bank of the United States.
2. Manufacturers - sought to use protective
tariffs to block competition.
3. Westerners – sought internal improvements
such as roads, canals and dredged rivers at
the expense of (other) taxpayers
Bank of the
United States
First Bank had expired in 1811
Financial Confusion
Difficult to fund war
Now easy way to transfer funds
Suspect notes issued by State banks
Second Bank chartered in 1816
Chartered for 20 years
Republicans hit by reality in 1812
Debate set tone and pattern for the future
Republicans vs. Federalists
East vs. West
Bank of the
United States
Supported by capitalists
Opposed by states rights proponents
States sought to oust the bank from their borders
Indiana – only banks chartered by the state could
establish branches within the state
Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky &
Ohio – levied taxes on out of state banks
Pennsylvania – state legislature proposed a
constitutional amendment prohibiting Congress
from chartering a bank to operate outside DC
The Bank and the
Supreme Court
Three landmark decisions of
M’Culloch v. Maryland:
Constitutionality of the Bank upheld by
loose construction
Power to tax involves the power to destroy,
therefore a state could not destroy
something legitimately created by the
federal Congress – the Bank
Government “of the people” as a whole
STATES RIGHTS
Evolution of the Constitutional Argument:
Originally – Constitution created by people of
individual states acting as people of discrete
political societies
Madison – Virginian Resolution claimed the
Constitution had been created by the states
acting as states
Marshall – M’Culloch v. Maryland denied
states any role in the framing of the
Constitution claiming it was created by the
people as a whole
Impact of M’Culloch
States Rights proponents would hereafter
adhere to Madison’s position that the states,
not the people acting as discrete political
societies, had created the Constitution.
Nationalists would adhere to Marshall’s idea
that the people as a whole had framed the
Constitution.
The original concept and understanding would
be, for all practical purposes, lost.
Tariff Politics
Supporters:
Manufacturers
Economic nationalists
Opponents:
Shippers
Southern farmers
Strict constructionists
Tariffs:
Raise prices on the goods taxed
Discourage trade
Encourage local production
Generate revenue for government
Internal
Improvements
Journey of the New Orleans – 1811
The Enterprise travels up-river from
New Orleans to Louisville – 1814
James
Monroe
(1816-1824)
Convention of 1818
Boundary agreement between the U.S. and Britain
Established northern boundary of the Louisiana
Purchase at 49th parallel (from Great lakes to the Rockies)
Established joint occupation of Oregon territory
Established modern boundary of Maine
Reconfirmed American fishing rights at Newfoundland
Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819
(a.k.a. Trans-continental Treaty of 1821)
Boundary treaty between the U.S. and Spain
Spain ceded Florida to United States
Established the western boundary of the Louisiana
Purchase
Extended boundary to Pacific Ocean at 42nd parallel
Panic of 1819
Origins and Problems
• Originated in Europe and Spread to the US
• Drop in Cotton prices sparked a decline in other
American products
• Farmers –
º Had speculated in land because of easy credit
º Unable to pay mortgages became destitute as bankers
foreclosed hoping to ease their own problems
Panic of 1819
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US Bank
Had been involved in credit problems
New president of the bank restored sound basis, but at
great cost
Applied pressure on state banks
State banks applied pressure on debtors
Engendered a great deal of resentment toward the bank in
South and West
Many regarded the Bank as being responsible for the
Panic
Panic of 1819
Consequences
• The Panic fostered widespread hostility to the privileges of
the economic elites.
• Further spurred the American love for equality and the
hatred of anything that threatened equality.
• Privileges became the antithesis of equality and therefore
privilege became intolerable for many Americans.
• States, during the 1820’s, began to replace banknotes with
hard money controlled by the state rather than private
banks.
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Missouri Compromise
• Population growth in the free states had been greater
than the growth rate in slave states
• The House of Representatives was dominated by
representatives from nonslave states 105 to 80
• Senate was far more evenly divided
◦ Eleven free states and ten slave states (Alabama, 1819)
◦ Illinois had a system of black apprentice labor that
amounted to quasi-slavery
• Southerners also narrowly defeated a northern effort
to prohibit slavery in the Arkansas Territory
The Missouri Compromise
(1820)
The Compromise
Maintained slave/free balance in Senate
Missouri admitted as a slave state – March 6, 1820
Maine admitted as a non-slave state March 15, 1820
Slavery prohibited above 36º 30’
(Southern border of Missouri)
Seemed to settle slave issue for foreseeable future
Two free states likely in Michigan Territory
Two or three slave states likely
Florida
Arkansas Territory (probably two states)
Balance of Louisiana Purchase believed uninhabitable
The Missouri Compromise
Missouri Compromise
Realities:
Proposed Missouri Constitution prohibited blacks
for any cause whatsoever.
Senate debates race and slavery in US (freedom)
Could blacks be US citizens
Consent does not mean endorsement
Missouri Legislature refuses to add
consent/endorsement clause
President Monroe declares Missouri a state 10
August 1821
Missouri Compromise
Implications
 In actuality the only thing the Missouri Compromise did was to move
slavery to the back burner: both sides agreed – though not formally and
publicly – to ignore the subject in public for the foreseeable future
 Neither Southern nor Northern majorities endorsed the key elements
 Southerners turned from the possibility of eventually accepting the
demise of slavery to a whole-hearted defense – it was good for the
slaves
 Northern resentment grew over the 3/5 clause in the US constitution
 Southerners may have voted in favor simply to get a slave state west of
the Mississippi River – Florida only possible expansion left in the east
 Eventually led to problems with Texas annexation
 Problems resurfaces in Dred Scott and Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854.
Oregon
Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine
(1823)
Four major points:
 Declared American continents off limits to further European
colonization
 Any European attempt would be viewed as a threat to U.S.
security
 U.S. would not interfere in existing colonies
 U.S. would keep out of Europe’s internal affairs
The Election of 1824
Four candidates emerged in the 1824 election
William Crawford (Secretary of the Treasury)
John Q. Adams (Secretary of State)
Henry Clay (Speaker of the House)
Andrew Jackson
All were Republicans, no Federalist candidate