Era of Good
Feelings
Essential Question: What did it mean
to be American in the early 1800s?
• Star Spangled banner 1812gave Americans a national
identity
• Alexis de Tocqueville “I do not know a country where the
love of money holds a larger place in the heart of man”
• There was a surge of patriotism Americans felt the
brightest days for America were ahead.
• Uncle Sam: Symbol born during this period.
– Legend has it that the name came from Sam Wilson, a
New Your Butcher who provided the army with meat
during the War of 1812.
– Initials were made up to match the U.S. Became a
popular nickname for the federal government.
Developing a Nation in a Land of
Differences
• Surge of patriotism after the War of 1812
• US in the early1800s
– Very different from today!
• 2/3 lived w/in 50 miles of the Atlantic, fewer than 1/10 lived west of the Appalachians
• Travel was difficult and slow nothing moved faster than a horse could run, news took
weeks to be delivered
• B/C of geographical differences distinct regional lifestyles developed led to stereotypes
• Symbols and Values-Needed to feel American!
– Meant Americans needed to share values, felt they were better than
Europeans
• Economic Nationalism
-Based on Capitalism-an economic system based on private ownership of farms
and businesses
• Judicial Nationalism– Strengthened the role of the Supreme Court and federal power over the
states.
– Encouraged the growth of capitalism—McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
Yankees
• “Enterprising,
thrifty, quick to
chase a dollar”
• Growing
Cities/Lots of
trade
Kentucky
• Henry Clay: Believed in
capitalism, high tariffs &
federal spending on
transportation
• American system-a
proposal to the
government that called for
taxes on imports, federally
funded transportation
project, and a new national
bank
• Projects  War Hawk
Rich Plantation Owners
• Gracious, Cultured and Lazy
South Carolina
• John C. Calhoun:
Resisted federal power
• Big supporter of states
rights
• Wanted to protect
slavery in the south
Frontiersmen
• Rugged, Hardy and
Crude
• In the west
Massachusetts
• Daniel Webster:
Opposed war of 1812
• Served in both House
and Senate
• “24 states are one
country”
Art: Folk Art
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•
•
•
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Made by ordinary people
Carvings, quilts
Thomas Cole (landscaping)
James Audubon (Birds)
Catlin (the west, Native
Americas)
Early American Art
• Thomas Cole-1829
James Audubon-Birds of
America
Music: Early church
• National Identity was
expressed through music
• 1800s: Classical dance in
the south  Spirituals,
square dancing
• Minstrel songs what
are they??
• Honored black music by
mimicking it.
• Samuel Francis Smith
1832- “My Country, ‘tis of
thee”
Literature
• Washington Irving, “Rip
Van Winkle”
• James Fennimore Cooper,
“The Last of the
Mohicans” Davy Crockett
• Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow “Paul Revere's
Ride”
• Patriotic Themes: Uncle
Sam