The Era of Good Feelings
1816-1840
What was the “Era of Good Feelings?”
• At the end of the
War of 1812, the
Federalist Party
died out because its
opposition to the
war was
unpopular. This
time period is
known as the Era
of Good Feelings
because there was
only one political
party.
The American System
• During the War of 1812 Americans
discovered that there were problems in
Hamilton’s financial plan. It was difficult to
move goods around the country when
there are no good roads!
• Result= people want the national
government to fix this problem and create
a better economic transportation
system.
• The champion of this integrated
(interconnected) American economy was
Henry Clay, the Speaker of the House
from Kentucky. His plan to improve the
United States by allowing each state
economy to work together was called the
American System.
It had three parts:
National
Transportation
System= moves
raw materials to
factories &
products to buyers
A. Roads called
“turnpikes”
B. Canals= Erie
Canal
C. Steam engines=
steamships &
eventually
railroads
National
Bank= better
control of $ &
provide more
loans to
businesses
High
Protective
Tariff=
protect
American
businesses
from foreign
competition
• Clay’s American System
is important because it
would help make the
United States more
economically
competitive with
Europe by creating an
inter-connected
economy and increase
movement to the west.
• One of the reasons why
Clay wanted the
American System to go
into effect was because
after the War of 1812,
the United States
started the Market
Revolution.
The Market Revolution
• 1. The embargo
before the War of
1812
• 2.Interchangeable
parts
• 3. Mass
production
• The growth of railroads
and canals helped the
growth of an industrial
economy and supported
the westward movement
of settlers.
• Most transportation
improvements were
located in the Northeast.
• Most canals and railroads
connected food farms in
the Midwest to factory
cities in the Northeast.
• The most famous canal,
completed in 1825 was
the Erie Canal, which
connected the Great
Lakes to New York City.
Eli Whitney’s Inventions
• In 1793 Eli Whitney invented the
Cotton Gin. It removed the seeds from
cotton blossoms faster, cheaper and
more efficiently which made cotton
more profitable. During the War of 1812
he also invented interchangeable
parts for rifles used by the American
Army.
• These interchangeable parts were used
to produce affordable machines that
could be used to make products in bulk,
which led to the development of
factories in New England. Combined
with better transportation, it became
both faster and cheaper to grow
cotton, transport it to New England and
use the textile mills or New England
to mass produce cloth.
Regional Economies
Basis of the North’s
Economy:
Main Elements of the North’s
Agriculture:
• Textile factories
• Subsistence farms
• Trade with Europe
• Food production
• Cheap labor
(women/immigrants)
Basis of the South’s Economy: Main Elements of the South’s
Agriculture:
• Plantations
• Subsistence farmers
• Cash crops (cotton)
• Trade with North &
Europe
• Slave labor
Factories & Lowell
In New England, there
quickly grew demand for
mass produced items from
factories. However, with the
economy there still based on
small-scale subsistence
farming, the question arose
over who would work in the
factories? Factory owners
quickly looked to young,
unmarried women.
Farmers started to send their
daughters to work in the
factories and send their
wages home to help support
their families.
Lowell System
Because these women
lived away from home,
the factories built
dormitories and
factory-towns for the
women. These factories
also had all parts of
production included
in one building. This is
called the “Lowell
System.”
Because their wages helped
to support their families,
women were paid less than
male factory workers who
were seen as needing more
money to support a family.
Women began to complain
about the low wages, long
hours and harsh working
conditions. They started
the first labor unions to
bargain as a group for better
work conditions. Women
also demanded the right to
vote because they were now
more independent from their
families. This led to the start
of the Women’s Suffrage
Movement in the 1840s.
“Old” Immigration (before Civil War)
• Due to a large influx of
immigrants from
Ireland escaping from
the Potato Famine,
women workers were
gradually phased out.
The Irish replaced
them because since
they were immigrants,
they were willing to
work for less money
than native born
Americans.
Irish
• Poor/lacked skills
Germans
• Middle class/trade skills
• Chain migration=
• Whole families
immigrated one person at immigrated
a time
• Educated
• Catholic
• Protestant
• LOTS of discrimination
• Less discrimination
• Lived in city slums
• Lived in Midwest
• Replaced women in
factories b/c worked for
lower wages
• Bought farms and grew
food
Sectionalism
• The Industrial Revolution
also let to the growth of
sectionalism= people
were more loyal to their
section of the country
than the nation as a
whole. This meant each
section of the country
developed its own
economy & interests.
Sections
The Business Cycle
• All of this economic expansion eventually led to the first
recession (Panic) in American history. It was caused by
over over-speculation in land and factories. In other
words, people borrowed too much money from the banks to
buy land or start a business, planning to sell it for more
money later. When they failed to make more money, and
banks demanded re-payment for the loans, people could not
pay off their mortgages and lost all of their money. The
economy collapsed and lots of people were bankrupt.
• It took a long time for the economy to recover because the
philosophy of the government towards the economy was
called “laissez-faire.” In French this means, “leave it
alone.” So the government refused to step in and help the
economy to improve. Eventually, the invention of better
machines kicked off the economy again. This cycle of
economic booms and busts (expansions and depressions) is
known as the Panic of 1819.
Business Cycle
The Missouri Compromise (1820)
As people moved west, eventually
territories gained the population
required by the Constitution to
apply for statehood. Out of the
land gained in the Louisiana
Purchase, Missouri was the first
territory to become eligible. The
problem was Missouri wanted to
become a slave state. At that
time, there was a balance of slave
and free states. To allow Missouri
to enter the union as a slave state
would upset this congressional
balance and give more power to
the South. The result was a
deadlock in Congress. In 1820,
Henry Clay came up with a
solution known as the Missouri
Compromise.
• In this
compromise, he
proposed 3 things
to happen:
• 1. Missouri
enters as a slave
state
• 2. Maine enters
as a free state
• 3. A line was
drawn at 36’30.
All land N of the
line= free. All
land S of the
line= slave.
Monroe Doctrine
By the 1820s, Spain’s colonies in
Latin America successfully won
their independence and gained
independence. Most Americans
saw these revolutions as
extensions of our own and
supported them after the
revolutionaries created
democratic governments in
their new countries. Because
many of these new nations were
small and weak, Americans
worried that the Europeans
might decide to take them over as
colonies after Spain left. We
also were afraid the Europeans,
with new colonies in the Western
Hemisphere might decide to
attack us again.
Result
Result: To protect ourselves as well as the
Latin American countries from European
takeover, in 1823 James Monroe made
the biggest bluff in American history. His
“Monroe Doctrine” said 3 things:
• 1. Europe should stay out of the
Western Hemisphere– no
colonization
• 2. The US would stay out of Europe
• 3. The US would use our military to
enforce this & fight violators
This was a bluff because the United States
was still weak after the War of 1812 and we
did not have a navy strong enough to
enforce the Monroe Doctrine. He hoped the
Europeans would believe our bluff and stay
out of our affairs. This was a very bold
statement to make, and shows that due to
nationalism, we believed ourselves to be
more powerful than we really were!
1824 Election
During the 1820s, voting in the United States
began to change. Although in the East, voting
rights were still restricted to people meeting 4
qualifications:
• 1. white
• 2. male
• 3. 21 or over
• 4.own land
In the new frontier states, everyone
who was both white and male over
the age of 21 could vote. This
expansion of “suffrage” (voting)
made the election of 1824 very
interesting. Jackson actually received
more votes than Adams, but neither
won the majority in the Electoral
College. To break the deadlock, the
election had to be decided by the
House of Representatives.
Because Henry Clay, the Speaker of
the House hated Jackson, he
convinced people to vote for Adams.
Jackson ended up losing the election.
Jackson’s supporters blocked all
actions of Adams. They called the
election of 1824 the “Corrupt
Bargain” claiming Adams cheated.
This caused Jackson to win in 1828.
Jackson as President
The changing character of American
politics in “the age of the common
man” was characterized by
• heightened emphasis on equality in
the political process for adult white
males
• the rise of interest group politics
and sectional issues
• a changing style of campaigning
• increased voter participation.
Andrew Jackson personified the
“democratic spirit” of the age by
challenging the economic elite and
rewarding campaign supporters with
public office this is called the Spoils
System.
The Nullification Crisis
South Carolinians (led by
Vice President John C.
Calhoun) argued that sovereign
states could nullify the Tariff
of 1832 and other acts of
Congress. A union that allowed
state governments to invalidate
acts of the national legislature
could be dissolved by states
seceding from the Union in
defense of slavery. This is called
the Nullification Crisis.
President Jackson threatened
to send federal troops to collect
the tariff money.
Manifest Destiny
During this period of
westward migration, the
American Indians were
repeatedly defeated in
violent conflicts with settlers
and soldiers and forcibly
removed from their
ancestral homelands. This is
because Americans
(including Andrew Jackson)
believed in Manifest
Destiny: belief that it
was America’s “Manifest
Destiny” & God’s will to
stretch from Atlantic to
Pacific, which provided
political support for
territorial expansion.
Indian Removal
Jackson wanted to remove
all Indians living East of
the Mississippi River to
unwanted land West of the
river so that the land could
be given to “Common
Man” farmers who voted
for him. In 1832 Congress
passed the Indian
Removal Act:
Swapped Indian land
East of the Mississippi
River for land on
reservations in
Oklahoma
Trail of Tears
This affected the Cherokee tribe living in Georgia
the most. They were either forced to march far
away from their homes (the “Trail of Tears,”
when several tribes were relocated from Atlantic
Coast states to Oklahoma) or confined to
reservations.