Chapter 12
A New National Identity
Section 1- The Rise of Nationalism
• Nationalism is the idea that all people must come
together for the good of the country.
• After the War of 1812, people were beginning to
feel good about America.
• It was for many Americans:
– A time of peace
– A time to be proud of America
– A time to give America its own identity.
This time period in America became known as the Era of
Good Feelings.
James Monroe Becomes President
• In 1816, a Republican named James Monroe
was elected president. He was close friends
with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.
• Monroe ran unopposed in 1820 and won reelection. During his campaign
the United States resolved
several conflicts with foreign
powers.
The Rush-Bagot Agreement
• The Treaty of Ghent ended the war
with Britain but the United States
and Canada still disagreed about
who controlled the waterways
along the borders.
• Both countries wanted to keep
their navies and fishing rights on
the Great Lakes.
• In the spring of 1817, Secretary of
State Richard Rush and Sir Charles
Bagot negotiated a compromise
that limited the naval power of
both the United States and British
Canada.
The Convention of 1818
• This treaty, made after the Rush-Bagot Agreement, gave the United States
fishing rights off parts of the Newfoundland and Labrador coasts.
• It more importantly set the United States and Canadian border at the 49th
parallel.
• This border extended as far west as the Rocky Mountains.
• Both groups also agreed to share the fishing waters of the Pacific
Northwest.
Issues in Florida
• Many Americans wanted to settle in
Florida
• Seminole Indians were attacking U.S.
towns along the border between
Spanish Florida and the U.S.
• President Monroe sent General Andrew
Jackson to Florida to secure the border.
He invaded Florida, fought the
Seminoles, and overthrew the Spanish
governor. This began the First Seminole
War.
The Adams-Onis Treaty
• After Jackson’s success in
Florida, the Spanish agreed
to settle border disputes
with the U.S.
• In 1819, Spain gave east
Florida to the U.S. and gave
up its claims to West
Florida.
• In return, the U.S. gave up
its claims to what is now
Texas.
• The U.S. also agreed to pay
up to $5 million of U.S.
citizens’ claims against
Spain.
The Monroe Doctrine
• By the 1820’s most of the Central and South
American colonies had declared their
independence from Spain.
• This worried President Monroe because he
thought that other European countries might try
to take advantage of these young countries.
• On December 2, 1823, Monroe warned European
powers not to create new colonies in the North
and South Americas. The U.S. would view any
European interference with Latin American
government as a hostile act.
Section 2- Expansion and
Improvements
• In the early 1800’s, more Americans were moving west.
• Mount Pleasant, Ohio for instance grew from 7 families
to about 90 families in the span of 10 years.
• The question of course was how the U.S. was going to
govern these newly settled lands.
The Missouri Compromise
• A major conflict arose in 1819, when Congress
considered the acceptance of Missouri into the Union.
• Pro-slavery leaders of Missouri wanted the state to
enter as a slave state.
• At the time, the Union included 11 free states and 11
slave states.
• Since the free northern states had larger populations,
they controlled the House of Representatives.
• However, adding a new slave state would have tipped
the balance in the Senate in favor of the South.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_Slave_Free_17891861.gif
Settling the Dispute
• To settle this dispute, Kentucky representative Henry Clay
helped Congress reach a compromise.
• This agreement had three main conditions:
– Missouri would enter the Union as a slave state
– Maine would join the Union as a free state
– Slavery would be prohibited in any territories or states formed
north of 36*30’ latitude-Missouri’s southern border.
Continued
• Congress passes the Missouri Compromise in
1820.
• Maine became a state on March 15, 1820.
• Missouri became a state on August 10, 1821.
• Clay was given the nickname “the Great
Pacificator” or peacemaker for his efforts on
behalf of the compromise.
• However, the issue of slavery would continue
to divide the country.
Internal Improvements
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•
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•
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Some, like Henry Clay, wanted a strong national economy to help prevent regional
conflicts.
Clay proposed a tariff in order to accomplish this.
He thought that a tariff would encourage people to buy American products.
This would allow the revenue that was made to build roads, canals, and
waterways.
Clay’s plan became known as the American System.
New Roads
• In the early 1800’s moat roads were made of dirt making land travel
difficult.
• The Cumberland Road was the first road built by the federal government.
• It ran from Cumberland, Maryland to Wheeling, a town on the Ohio River
in present day West Virginia.
• Construction began in 1815, and by 1818 the road reached Wheeling.
• The National Road was later built in 1833. It stretched from Columbus,
Ohio all the way to Illinois by 1850.
Water Transportation
• Water transportation was usually
quicker and cheaper than land
transportation.
• Some Americans tried to make
this process easier by building
canals.
• The Erie Canal, running from
Albany to Buffalo on the Hudson
River was one of the largest
projects.
• It began in 1817, and was
completed in 1825.
The Election of 1824
• The two main candidates were
Secretary of State John Quincy Adams
and a senator from Tennessee named
Andrew Jackson.
• Jackson won the popular vote but did
not have enough electoral votes to
win the election.
• Adams’ presidency was weakened by
controversy that he made corrupt
deals with Speaker of the House
Henry Clay to secure the presidency.
To make the controversy worse,
Adams chose Clay as his Secretary of
State after the House elected Adams
President.
Section 3- The Age of Jackson
• Many Americans viewed President Adams as a
reserved, cold member of the old upper class.
This gap with the people made it very difficult
for Adams to get re-elected.
• Andrew Jackson sparked a new vitality and
energy that Americans wanted in a new
president.
Jacksonian Democracy
• As western expansion began to take hold of
America in the early 1800’s, many Americans
began to get more voting rights.
• Nominating committees were formed by
political parties to publicly select that party’s
presidential and vice-presidential candidates.
• Because of these new voting rights, more
people began to get active in politics.
Historians began calling this new era of
democratic expansion Jacksonian Democracy
after Andrew Jackson.
The Democratic Party is formed
• Many Americans believed that Adams
stole the presidency from Jackson in
the election of 1824.
• These people got together to make
sure that Jackson would not loose
again.
• They began to call themselves
Democrats and formed the Democratic
Party.
• Jackson chose John C. Calhoun of
South Carolina as his Vice-Presidential
running mate.
• People who sided with Adams formed
the National Republican Party
Jackson’s Victory
• Jackson appealed to people for several reasons:
– He was a war hero
– He was born poor and worked his way up. This
appealed to farmers and hard working people.
Adams was contrasted to Jackson by being described as
an upper class Harvard graduate who didn’t have
anything in common with Americans.
Jackson celebrated his victory with a dinner on the
White House lawn for anyone who wanted to come.
This party caused a great deal of damage to the White
House and Jackson was criticized for it.
Jackson’s cabinet
• Jackson rewarded some of his
supporters with government
jobs. This practice became
known as the spoils system.
• Secretary of State Martin Van
Buren proved to be one of
Jackson’s strongest allies.
• Jackson also relied heavily on a
group of trusted advisors that
was nicknamed the “kitchen
cabinet” because it sometimes
met in the White House kitchen
to discuss important things.
Conflict over tariffs
• Many northern business wanted high tariffs on
British goods to help protect their business here
in America.
• Southern people, having an economy built on
agriculture, wanted low tariffs because most of
their manufactured goods were imported.
• In 1828, under strong pressure from northern
manufacturers, Congress passed a tariff with very
high rates.
• Angry southerners called the law the Tariff of
Abomination.
The Nullification Crisis
• Vice President John C. Calhoun led the
opposition to the tariff.
• He wrote a statement in support of states’
rights. People who favor states rights
believe that the federal government’s
authority is strictly limited by the
Constitution.
• Calhoun’s statement said that states had
the right to nullify, or cancel, any federal law
they considered unconstitutional.
• This dispute between the states and the
federal government became known as the
nullification crisis.
• Calhoun warned that the states had the
right to rebel if their rights were violated.
• Daniel Webster, a Senator from
Massachusetts disagreed. He vowed,
“Liberty and Union, now and forever, one
and inseparable!”
Conflict over Nullification
• South Carolina was the first to push this issue.
South Carolina passed a resolution in 1832 that
said that the tariffs passed in 1828 and 1832
were null and void in South Carolina.
• Calhoun resigned from the Vice President in
support of his home state.
• Jackson however strongly opposed nullification
and told South Carolina that he would send
troops to their state to enforce the tariffs if
necessary.
• South Carolina reached a compromise with the
federal government that kept a conflict from
escalating.
The Second Bank of the U.S.
• In 1816, Congress opened a second federal bank.
• Jackson opposed this bank as well as several states.
• Maryland took action against this bank by taxing
certain branches of it.
• The bank’s cashier James McCulloch refused to pay
these taxes and Maryland took him to court.
• In the case of McCulloch vs. Maryland, chief justice
John Marshall made to important decisions:
– Marshall said that the elastic clause in the Constitution
supported the fact that Congress had the power to open
this bank.
– Marshall also said that federal law was superior to state
law. This meant that Maryland could not tax the bank as it
was doing.
Jackson’s other victories
• Jackson also opposed the renewing of the
bank’s charter that was due to expire in 1832.
• Jackson vetoed the legislation that was passed
in Congress to renew the charter.
• Congress could not get the 2/3rds majority to
override so the bank closed.
• Jackson also lowered the national debt during
ndso9k,
Van Buren’s Presidency
• After Jackson’s second term was
over, many in Congress were still
upset with him because they
thought he abused his power.
• These opponents formed the Whig
Party.
• The Whig party supported a weak
president and a strong Legislature.
• The Whig’s chose 4 different
candidates to run against the
Democratic Martin Van Buren,
Jackson’s Vice President.
• In the election of 1839, Van Buren
won.
The Panic of 1837
• People didn’t like Van Buren the way they
liked Jackson.
• Shortly after taking office, the country
experienced a financial crisis.
• The Panic of 1837 led to a severe economic
depression.
• This damaged Van Buren’s reputation badly
even though Jackson’s previous policies were
much to blame.
The election of 1840
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The Whigs ran William Henry Harrison,
a general from the Battle of
Tippecanoe. The chose John Tyler to be
his running mate.
They run under the popular campaign
slogan, “Tippecanoe and Tyler too!”
The Whigs called Van Buren a friend of
the rich while at the same time
emphasizing the common upbringing of
Harrison. Harrison grew up in a log
cabin and had a strong military career.
This gave Harrison the landslide victory
over Van Buren. Harrison won 234
electoral votes to Van Buren’s 60.
A popular campaign song also came
from this election:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tippecano
e_and_Tyler_too
Section 4: Indian Removal
• As American settlers moved west,
American Indian leaders talked about
the best way to deal with them.
• Keokuk, a Sauk leader from Illinois,
wanted to compromise and avoid a
war.
• Another Sauk leader, Black Hawk,
disagreed.
• Black Hawk believed that U.S. officials
had bribed Keokuk and other Indian
leaders to gain their support.
• Black Hawk began to firmly resist all
attempts to take American Indian land.
The Black Hawk War
• In 1827 the federal
government decided to end
years of conflict between
American Indians and U.S.
settlers in Illinois.
• Officials ordered the removal
of all Indians from the state.
• Black Hawk and his followers
ignored the order.
Outline of the battle
• When the Sauk returned from their winter
hunt in 1830, they found that white settlers
had moved into their village.
• Black Hawk refused to be pushed out.
• He came into the village under a white flag,
but U.S. troops fired upon them anyway.
• Black Hawk then decided to fight.
• Black Hawk began raiding American
settlements and attack U.S. troops wherever
they could find them.
• By August 1832, the Sauk forces were running
out of food and supplies.
• Black Hawk surrendered to the U.S. and his
leadership of the Sauk.
• The U.S. army began to remove Indians in the
old Northwest Territory, and by 1850 they
were all gone.
The Indian Removal Act
• Indian removal had also became
an issue in the southeast.
• Under pressure from President
Jackson to remove these
Indians, Congress passed the
Indian Removal Act in 1830.
• This act authorized the removal
by force if necessary all Indians
in the southeast.
• Congress also established Indian
Territory as a new Indian
homeland. This area contained
most of what is now Oklahoma.
• Congress also approved the
creation of the Bureau of Indian
Affairs to oversee federal policy
toward American Indians.
The Indian Territory
• The Choctaw were the first Indians sent to the Indian Territory.
• The Choctaw signed the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek that gave
7.5 million acres of their land to the state of Mississippi.
• During the winter of 1831-32, the Choctaw journeyed to the Indian
Territory. The trip was disastrous.
• Federal officials in charge of the trip did not provide enough
supplies. As a result ¼ of the Choctaw died from cold, disease, and
starvation.
• This led many other Indian groups to resist removal when they
heard the news about the Choctaw.
• The Creek decided to stay in Alabama, but in 1836 federal troops
led 14,500 captured Creek, many in chains, to the Indian Territory.
• The Chickasaw, mostly from Mississippi, were moved west in the
winter of 1837-38. They were promised better moving supplies but
even then many Chickasaw last their lives.
The Cherokee Nation
• Many Indians believed they could avoid
removal by adopting the culture of white
people.
• Missionary societies set up schools in
Indian villages and taught Indians how to
read and write English.
• Sequoya developed a writing system that
used 86 characters to represent
Cherokee symbols.
• In 1828 the Cherokee began publishing a
newspaper, The Cherokee Phoenix.
• The Cherokee also created a government
inspired by the Constitution including; an
election system, a bicameral council, and
a court system.
Problems in Cherokee Country
• After gold was discovered in Georgia, their
treaty rights were ignored by many.
• When the Cherokee refused to move, the
Georgia militia began attacking towns.
• In response, the Cherokee sued Georgia saying
that Georgia had no legal power within
Cherokee territory.
Worcester v. Georgia
• In 1832 the Supreme Court, under the
leadership of Chief Justice John Marshall,
sided with the Cherokee.
• The Court ruled that the Cherokee nation is a
distinct community, occupying their own
territory…in which the laws of Georgia can
have no force.
• The Court went on to say that only the federal
government, not the states, had the authority
over the Cherokee.
President Jackson’s response
• After the Supreme Court ruled Georgia’s
action illegal, Georgia ignored Marshall’s
ruling.
• Jackson took no action.
• “John Marshall has made his decision; now let
him enforce it.” Jackson stated.
• Most Americans accepted Jackson’s position.
The Trail of Tears
• After the Cherokee were left with no
hope, U.S. troops began to remove
them in the spring of 1838.
• Although some managed to escape
in the mountains, most had to
endure a 800 mile forced march
which lasted from 1838-1839.
• Almost ¼ of the 18,000 Cherokee
died during the march.
• Video Fragment:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tr
ail_of_Tears
The Second Seminole War
• The Seminole used armed resistance in
able to keep their lands.
• Seminole leader, Osceola, called upon the
Seminole to resist.
• At first the Seminole won many battles.
• Then in 1837, the U.S. captured Osceola,
who soon died in prison.
• In 1842, the U.S. Army had captured and
removed some 4,000 Seminole and killed
hundreds.
• In the Process, some 1,500 U.S. soldiers
lost their lives.
• After spending millions of dollars, U.S.
officials decided to give up fighting.
• The Seminole resisted removal and many
still live in Florida today.
Section 5- American Culture
• One of the first American writers to gain
international fame was Washington
Irving.
• Much of his writing often dealt with
American history.
• He often used satire, a humorous style
of writing, to help Americans to learn
from the past.
• Some of his most famous short stories
include
– Rip Van Winkle; a story about a man who
falls asleep during the Revolutionary
War, and wakes 20 years later in a world
he doesn’t recognize.
– The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; a story
about a superstitious school teacher,
Ichabod Crane, who is hunted by the
Headless Horseman.
James Fennimore Cooper
• Cooper was fascinated as a boy
about stories of the West and the
American Indians.
• Cooper’s first book was titled The
Pioneers, a five book series about
the heroic character Natty
Bumppo. These series of books
was called the Leatherstocking
Tales.
• Some of Cooper’s books also
included historical events.
• In The Last of the Mohicans, the
fictional story that takes place
during the factual French and
Indian War, Cooper was able to
popularize a type of writing called
historical fiction.
Catharine Maria Sedgwick
• Sedgwick tired to write literature that
included more interesting heroines.
• In her book A New England’s Tale, she
illustrated the landscape and culture of
New England life.
• Another popular book, Hope Leslie,
brought elements of the Pilgrims and
the Mohawk Indians that lived in
Massachusetts. It received some
criticism for its portrayal of the Pilgrims.
• In another popular book, Married or
Single, Sedgwick challenged the stigma
that women had to get married.
A New Style of Art
• Irving and Cooper inspired
painters to paint landscapes
that showed the history of
America and its beauty.
• The Hudson River school
emerged to teach painters
how to paint landscapes.
Most on the inspiration
came from the landscape of
the Hudson River Valley.
• Thomas Cole was the most
famous landscape painter.
• George Caleb Bingham tried
to show a more rugged side
of America by painting the
west.