Kevin Moffatt
11/25/13 E
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Guiding Questions: Era of Good Feelings
The period of Monroe’s presidency is called the “Era of Good Feeling” because throughout
the nation a rising spirit of nationalism was spreading, the Republicans faced no serious
political threats, and the nation faced no drastic international threats. Overall, it was a
prosperous time, where Monroe attempted to use his office to realize the dream of a time
where partisan divisions and factional disputes would come to an end. In order to help
further this goal, Monroe made a goodwill tour throughout the country, the first President to
do so since Washington. This tour helped to create a “Presidential Jubilee”, especially in
New England, where the citizens were very discontent with Federalists. Monroe was easily
reelected and for all practical purposes, the Federalist Party had ceased to exist.
The Panic of 1819 was caused by high foreign demand for American farm goods, which
resulted in very high prices for farmers. The rising prices of farm goods had created a land
boom in the West. Then, as a result of speculative investments, land prices soared
incredibly. This availability of easy credit to settlers and speculators helped to make to fuel
this land boom. As a result, credit was tightened, calling in loans and foreclosing land,
creating a failure of state banks, causing a panic, especially in the West. The Panic caused
the National Bank’s existence to be the most burning political issue of the time. Six years of
depression followed the Panic, and some Americans saw the Panic as a sing that rapid
economic growth and territorial expansion would destroy the fragile economy. However, by
1820, all Americans encouraged growth, and the question became how to encourage and
control growth.
The Tallmadge Amendment was introduced to the house in order to prevent the further
introduction of slaves into Missouri and provide for the slow freeing of the slaves that were
already there. This Amendment provoked a controversy that would go on to rage over the
next two years.
The major elements of disagreement in the debate over the admission of Missouri into the
Union were that it would upset the balance of political power between the slave states and the
free slaves. At the time, there were 11 free states and 11 slave states, so the power was
equally distributed. If Missouri were added as a slave state, then the slave states would have
more power in the government than free slaves. However, the admission of Missouri as a
free state would result in a greater power of North over South, so of course, the question of
the admission of Missouri became a hot political topic.
The Missouri Compromise was helped because at the same time that Missouri was applying
to be a state, Maine applied for admission as a free state. Maine ultimately offered a way out
of the political lock, and the Senate agreed to combine the Maine and Missouri proposals into
a single bill. Maine would be admitted as a free state while Missouri would be added as a
slave state, which would maintain the political balance of slave vs. free and South vs. North.
In addition, Senator Jesse B. Thomas of Illinois proposed an amendment preventing slavery
in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase territory north of the southern boundary of Missouri.
This amendment was adopted, and with the help of Speaker Clay, the Maine-Missouri bill
was guided through the House.
The compromise worked short term, but failed to create a long-term solution to the problem
of slavery in the Western territories, because it only prevented it above the 36° 30’ parallel,
so below the southern border of Missouri, new slave states could still emerge. The
compromise revealed how the strong ideal of sectionalism was fighting against the rising
wave of nationalism. It created the problem for a north vs. south battle over slavery, later
resulting in the civil war, and also the political battle of sectionalism vs. nationalism, that
also helped to fuel the civil war.
7. The net effect of the opinions delivered by the Marshall court helped to shape the
Constitution, and to establish the Judiciary branch and make it an equal to the other branches,
and to confirm the implied powers of Congress by upholding the constitutionality of the
Bank of the United States. These opinions also helped in establishing federal primacy by
showing that the federal government had power over the sates in regulating the economy and
this opened the way for an increased federal role in economic growth, protecting corporations
and other private economic institutions from local government interference. These opinions
showed that John Marshall thought that the government should be strongly controlled
federally, and the federal government should regulate economics.
8. By invalidating the Georgia law that attempted to regulate access by US citizens to Cherokee
country, Marshall confirmed that Indian tribes would be dealt with the federal government.
Marshall established that the federal government had ultimate authority over tribal affairs,
even if the authority was limited by the government’s obligation to protect Indian welfare.
This showed that Marshall was strongly nationalistic, and believed in a strong federal
government which controlled almost all national and foreign affairs.
9. The US sided with revolutions that fought for their independence from France and Spain
because many believed that the success of the revolution would help to further America’s
already super strong economic position in the Latin American region. At first, the US
remained neutral, but then began to ship supplies and food to the insurgents, showing they
truly supported the rebellions. In 1822, Monroe established diplomatic relations with five
new nations – La Plata (Argentina), Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico – making the US the
first country to recognize these new nations. In 1823, Monroe established a policy that
would later be known as the “Monroe Doctrine” (even though it was primarily the work of
John Quincy Adams), which sated that “The American continents are henceforth not to be
considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers”. This meant that the
US would consider any foreign challenge to eth sovereignty of the newly existing American
nations as an unfriendly act. This act came out of the fear of European powers taking over
the small emerging nations in America, and the fear that Great Britain would try to take
Cuba. It helped to support the growth of nationalism in the US in the 1820s and served to
establish the US as the dominant power in the Western Hemisphere.
10. The caucus system was viewed with such disdain before the election of 1824 because it
forced a political rift in the politics of the country, and without the Federalist Party, the
Republicans had no opposition with the caucus system. The caucus system limited that could
run for President, and therefore drew much disdain from the American public.
11. The candidates in the 1824 presidential election were William H. Crawford of Georgia (the
secretary of the treasury – nominated by caucuses), Secretary of State John Quincy Adams,
and Henry Clay, the Speaker of the House, and Andrew Jackson, who was a military hero.
The problem that arose during this time was that Jackson received more popular and electoral
votes than any other candidate, but not a majority. The Twelfth Amendment to the
Constitution required the House of Representatives to choose among the three candidates
with the largest numbers of electoral votes. The House choose Adams, for Crawford was ill
and Clay was out of the running, and Adams named Clay his secretary of state, which
convinced the House to elect Adams as the new Presidency. The outraged Jacksonians
expressed a “corrupt bargain”, which affected Adams throughout his presidency, and this
anger ended the “Era of Good Feelings”, and rivaling political parties again arose in
America.
12. John Quincy Adams planned create a nationalist program and to create diplomatic relations
with other countries. His nationalist program was reminiscent of Clay’s American system,
but Jacksonians in Congress blocked this plan. Adams also experienced diplomatic
frustrations, Congress delayed approving the Panama mission so long that the American
delegation did not arrive until after the conference was over. Adams also lost a case with the
state of Georgia, which wished to remove the remaining Creek and Cherokee Indians from
the state to gain additional soil for cotton planters. Adams opposed the treaty, and set up a
direct conflict between the President and the State, and the government defied Adams, while
Adams found no way to stop him.
13. New England wool manufacturers wanted a new tariff on imported goods in 1828 because
they complained that the British were dumping textiles on the American market at artificially
low prices. The South called it the “Tariff of Abomination” because they had to pay for raw
materials, and this negatively affected the Southern economy.
14. The National Republicans were the side that supported John Quincy Adams, and advocated
for a stronger national economy with a strong nationalistic program. The National
Republicans drew their power from the North. Meanwhile, the Democratic Republicans
were the followers of Andrew Jackson, who called for an assault on privilege and a widening
of opportunity. Jackson appealed to abroad coalition that opposed the “economic
aristocracy.” The Jacksonians were often from the South and the mid-South.
15. The issues in the 1828 presidential election barely counted for little in the end, as the
campaign was mostly a war of personal invective. The Jacksonians charged that Adams had
been guilty of gross waste and extravagance and had used public funds ot buy gambling
devices (a chess set and a billiard table) for the White House. On the other side, Adam’s
supporters called Jackson a murder and a “coffin handbill” which listed coffin-shaped
outlines, the names of militiamen whom Jackson was said to have shot in cold blood during
the War of 1812. They also called his wife a bigamist (she married Jackson after she thought
she divorced her husband, but she never actually finalized the paperwork), and she later died
after the election. Jackson blamed this death on his opponents. Overall, the election was the
dirtiest in the 19th century because it attacked the person running for president rather than
their views.