Era of Good Feelings

• Following the War of 1812, Americans gained pride and faith in the United States.
• President James Monroe declared this proud nationalism in his Inaugural Address on March 4, 1817.

No Opposition

• James Monroe, as the Republican candidate, experienced virtually no opposition in the 1816 election.
• The War of 1812's aftermath saw the decrease of political divides fostering national unity.
• The Federalist Party became a weak entity due to loyalty questions during the War of 1812.
• Monroe won the election by a landslide.

Era of Good Feelings

• President James Madison endorsed protective tariffs, a national bank, and other initiatives.
• Although programs of the Federalist Party gained support with the party's near disappearance.
• Political differences diminished, leading a Boston newspaper to dub this period the Era of Good Feelings.
• Monroe also became the symbol of this era.
• Monroe toured the nation early into his presidency, a feat not done since George Washington.
• Monroe was a figure in national politics since the American Revolution.
• Monroe symbolized a united America, free of political division.
• Monroe covered his own travel costs and traveled without an official escort, and local officials welcomed and celebrated his visits everywhere he went.
• He traveled from Boston to Detroit spanning as far south as Savannah.
• President Monroe won reelection in 1820, losing all but one electoral vote

Sectionalism

• The Era of Good Feelings was short-lived.
• Regional differences arose, ending national harmony.
• Most Americans had allegiance to their region.
• Sectionalism, or loyalty to a region, intensified alongside disagreements on national policies.
• Slavery had always been a conflict.
• White Southerners felt slavery was important and necessary.
• Northerners were increasingly against slavery.
• Disagreements arose regarding tariffs, a national bank, and internal improvements.
• During the early 1800s, John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster, and Henry Clay became spokespersons for their regions in Congress.

John C. Calhoun

• John C. Calhoun, a South Carolina planter and War Hawk, called for war with Great Britain in 1812.
• Calhoun remained a nationalist for some time after the war; he promoted internal improvements, developing industries, and backing a national bank, believing these programs would benefit the South.
• In the 1820s, Calhoun shifted his views, became a supporter of state sovereignty (states' autonomous power), and argued against nationalist programs like high tariffs.
• Calhoun and other Southerners argued that tariffs increased prices for manufactured goods and protected inefficient manufacturers.

Daniel Webster

• First elected to Congress in 1812, Daniel Webster initially represented his native New Hampshire, then both Massachusetts houses.
• Webster started as a supporter of free trade and New England's shipping interests.
• Eventually, Webster favored the Tariff of 1816, which protected American industries from foreign competition, and supported policies for national strength and Northern benefit.
• As a U.S. senator, he defended the nation against sectional interests.

Henry Clay

• Henry Clay of Kentucky, another War Hawk, was Speaker of the House in 1811, he represented the Western states' interests.
• Henry Clay was a member of the delegation that negotiated the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812.
• He was a national leader known for resolving sectional disputes with compromise.

The Missouri Compromise

• Sectional tension spiked in 1820 over admitting new states to the Union due to the issue of slavery.
• Southern states wanted Missouri, part of the Louisiana Purchase, to be admitted as a slave state, opposed by Northerners who wanted it free.
• The issue became hotly debated nationally, exposing divisions that would plague politics for decades.
• Maine applied for statehood while Congress considered the Missouri question.
• Henry Clay helped create a compromise that would preserve the balance between the North and South.

The American System

• Clay’s American System featured a protective tariff, internal improvements (roads, canals), a national bank to control inflation, and lending to developing industries.
• Henry Clay believed his policies would benefit all sections of the nation.
• Clay called his program the “American System” in an 1824 speech.
• Clay believed his plan would have parts that worked together.
• Tariffs would fund roads and canals.
• Healthy businesses could buy the South’s agricultural goods, then ship these goods northward.
• Jefferson believed the American System favored wealthy New England manufacturing classes, with many Southerners in agreement.
• Those in agreement saw no advantages for the South from tariffs or internal improvements.
• Congress adopted some internal improvements, but Clay's hopes for scale were unfulfilled.
• Congress created the Second National Bank in 1816, but it remained controversial.

McCulloch v. Maryland

• Maryland taxed the Baltimore branch of the Second Bank of the United States, a federal entity.
• The Bank refused to pay, and the case, McCulloch v. Maryland, reached the Court in 1819.

Gibbons v. Ogden

• Another Supreme Court case, Gibbons v. Ogden, established states could not enact legislation interfering with Congressional power over interstate commerce.
• States' rights supporters thought the decisions increased federal power at their expense.
• Strong nationalists supported the rulings due to the backing it gave national power.