After War of 1812…How Bad Could Things
Really Be?
• 1815
• U.S. manages to keep nationhood after the potentially
disastrous War of 1812
– We’re feeling pretty good about ourselves
• U.S. entered a period of growth and prosperity
– Monroe wins 1816 election easily
Postwar Boom and Panic
Chapter 6, Section 5
Growth and Prosperity
• After the war, Americans began
moving westward at an incredible
rate.
• Trade with Europe boomed, and
banks lent an abundant amount
of credit.
• James Monroe and the
Republican Party dominated
American politics, as the
Federalists faded out of
existence.
What the War Taught Us…
• 1811-1st Bank of the United States expires
• 1812-War starts
• 1812- U.S. realizes they had no way to fund the
war…since there is no bank…
• 1814- U.S. somehow escapes the war with nationhood
intact
• 1816-U.S. promptly creates 2nd Bank of the United
States
– Credit from the bank funds westward movement
– Also, with Jefferson and Madison gone, New
England shipping was back on track
But, What Goes Up…
The Panic of 1819
• In 1819, America experienced its first depression, or severe
economic downturn.
– The depression, known as the Panic of 1819
• began when London banks demanded that banks in
the United States pay money owed to them.
– United States banks in turn demanded the money
that they had loaned to the American public.
• Many Americans who had borrowed too much money in
previous years were financially ruined.
The Missouri Compromise
Chapter 6, Section 5
•
•
In 1819, Congress began debating the admission of the state of
Missouri to the United States.
– The basic issue at stake was slavery.
• Many northern politicians wanted to phase out slavery,
starting with Missouri
• Argument over property rights
• South believed the federal government had no right to tell
the states what they could and could not do
Several members of Congress from the North objected to
Missouri’s admission as a slave state
– fearing that this would upset the balance of free and slave
states in the South’s favor.
• A compromise known as the Missouri Compromise,
engineered by Henry Clay, resolved the issue.
– Under the Missouri Compromise, Missouri would enter
the United States as a slave state
• Maine would enter as a free state
– all new states created above 360 30' N latitude
(the southern border of Missouri) would have to
be free states.
• The economy soon improved, and politicians agreed to
avoid the difficult issue of slavery.
– However, the questions raised by these issues would
soon be impossible to ignore.
Growth of Nationalism
• Prior to the 1820s
– People were more likely to see themselves as
citizens of their community or state
– By 1820s
• National citizenship was becoming important
• A new generation of politicians sought to use
the power of the federal government to unite the
country
• President Monroe
– Toured the nation in 1817
– Encouraged Americans to think in nationalist
terms
– Encouraged people to put aside sectional
differences and form a “more perfect union”
Nationalism at Home
•Chapter 8, Section 4
•Many Americans came to think of President James Monroe’s two terms in office (1817
1826) as the Era of Good Feeling. During Monroe’s terms, the Supreme Court, under
Chief Justice John Marshall, made several important decisions that
strengthened the federal government’s role in the national economy.
•Protecting Contracts
•In Dartmouth College v.
Woodward, the Marshall
Court ruled that states
cannot interfere with
private contracts. This
ruling later came to
protect businesses from
regulation, stabilizing the
national economy.
•Supporting the National
Bank
•In McCulloch v. Maryland,
Marshall ruled that
Congress had the right to
charter the Bank of the
United States even though
the Constitution did not
specifically mention it.
Marshall based his
argument on the
“necessary and proper”
clause in the Constitution.
•Regulating Commerce
•In Gibbons v. Ogden, the
Court declared that
states could not interfere
with Congress’s right to
regulate business on
interstate waterways.
This ruling increased
steamboat competition,
helping open up the
American West for
settlement.
Nationalism Abroad
•Chapter 8, Section 4
•
•
•
•
President Monroe, together with Secretary of State John Quincy
Adams, began a new approach to American foreign policy.
One of Monroe’s main goals was to ease tensions with Great
Britain, which remained high after the War of 1812.
In 1817, the United States and Great Britain signed the RushBagot Agreement, which called on both nations to reduce the
number of warships in the Great Lakes region. The following year,
the two countries set the northern border of the United States at
49˚ North latitude.
Monroe was also concerned that other European countries,
recovering from several years of warfare, would resume their
efforts to colonize the Western Hemisphere.
The Monroe Doctrine
•Chapter 8, Section 4
•In a speech on December 2, 1823, President Monroe established a policy that every
President has since followed to some degree. The Monroe Doctrine had four main
parts:
•The United States •The United States
would not become
recognized the
involved in the
existing colonies and
internal affairs of states in the Western
European nations,
Hemisphere and
nor would it take
would not interfere
sides in wars
with them.
among them.
•The United
States would not
permit any
further
colonization of
the Western
Hemisphere.
•Any attempt by a
European power to
take control of any
nation in the
Western
Hemisphere would
be viewed as a
hostile action
toward the United
States.