Nationalism & Sectionalism
• Nationalism
– Events and
actions that form
a sense of
national identity;
unite the country
in a social,
political or
economic way.
• Sectionalism
– Events or actions
that divide the
nation along
regional or cultural
lines; provide for
the development of
the nation in
different or polar
directions.
Economy
• Embargo of 1807 and War
of 1812 stimulate
industrial growth in
America
• Samuel Slater
– English immigrant living in
Pawtucket, R.I.
– Brought “secrets” of
industry from England
• Francis Cabot Lowell
– Invented a better power
loom
– Waltham, Massachusetts
Economy
• First Bank of the United States ends in
1811
• Congress creates the 2nd BUS in 1816
– Same as Hamilton’s bank except had more
capital
– State banks still able to issue own currency,
but national bank dominated them
• Tariff of 1816
– Protect American industry from British imports
Transportation
James Madison
John C.
(C is for Creepy
Looking)
Calhoun
• Should the federal government
finance roads and other “internal
improvements”?
• 1815 – Madison calls for an
amendment to clarify national roads
and canals
• 1817 – John C. Calhoun proposes a
bill to create a road and canal system
– Passes in Congress, vetoed by Madison
• Example of continued debate over
“strict” and “loose” construction
Transportation
• Steam Boat
– Robert Fulton’s the Clermont
– Steam ships could power
upstream
• Canals
– Waterways were easiest way
to carry goods
– Erie Canal
• 363 mile long from Lake Erie
to the Hudson River
• Connected the Great Lakes
with the Atlantic Ocean
• Cumberland Road (National Road)
– Permanent road financed by the
government
– Connected Maryland to Columbus
Ohio
– U.S. Route 40 today
• Turnpikes
– Most roads were privately built
– Collected tolls to use
• Railroads
– Steam locomotive adapted from
England
– Baltimore and Ohio line (B & O) first
in America (1823)
– By 1840, U.S. had over 3,300 miles,
most in the world
Moving Westward
• Great Migration
– 1810 = 1 in 7 Americans live west of the
Appalachians
– 1820 = 1 in 4
– Growing population (natural and immigration)
– Improving transportation
– More available land
• Old Northwest – single family farms, mobile
• Far West – trappers, Oregon, trade with Mexico
Old South
• Eli Whitney
– The Cotton Gin
• Cotton drives movement into
the Mississippi Territory
• Started with individual
farmers followed by large
planters
• Plantation owners dominate
life
Era of Good Feelings
• Image of America after the War
of 1812
– Economy, expansion, trade, new
states, nationalism
• End of the “First Party System”
– Virginia Dynasty
• Jefferson
• Madison
• Monroe
Florida
• John Quincy Adams
– Son of John Adams, career
politician and diplomat,
nationalist
– Wanted to claim all of Florida to
expand the U.S., 1817 began
negotiating with Luis de Onis of
Spain
• Andrew Jackson
– On border to stop Seminole
raids
– 1818 seized Spanish forts for
supplying Indians
• Adams – Onis Treaty (1819)
– U.S. gives up claims to Texas
– Spain gives up Florida and
claims to Oregon
Panic of 1819
• Panic = economic depression
• Land boom
– Easy credit and European need for food sparked land
boom in the west
• Land Acts of 1800 & 1804
– Speculation leads to higher land prices
• National Bank
– Tightened credit, called in loans
– State and wildcat banks failed launching panic
• 6 year depression ends “Era of Good Feelings”
– Land law of 1820, Relief Act of 1821, Tariff of 1824
– Americans blame the Bank of the U.S.
Missouri Compromise
(Compromise of 1820)
• Missouri applies for statehood
as a slave state
• Northern congressmen worried,
why?
• Henry Clay comes up with the
Missouri Compromise
– Missouri admitted as a slave state
– Maine admitted as a free state
– 36 30 line established as the
northern border of slavery in the
U.S. territories
• Sectionalism competing with
nationalism
Monroe Doctrine
• Latin American revolutions give
opportunity for U.S. to dominate
Western Hemisphere
• Monroe Doctrine
– Written mostly by J.Q. Adams
– European nations were not to
threaten Latin American nations
and no further colonization
– America would stay out of
European affairs
• Expression of nationalism