Chapter 10Nationalism and Sectionalism

Economic Nationalism An unexpected benefit of the War of 1812

Jefferson’s embargo forced Americans to look inward for the production of their finished goods. This led to the first American Industrial Revolution and a surge of economic growth.

The Bank of the United States The charter for the first Bank of the United States ended in 1811

and was not immediately renewed. Without the financial control the central bank, economic turmoil ensued. To stabilize the economy, a second bank was chartered, which would last for 20 years.

Economic Nationalism A protective tariff

To protect the fledgling American industrial sector from competing British imports, the Tariff of 1816 was enacted. The north, where most of the manufacturing base was located, was for it, and the south was against it. The agrarian economy of the south depended on shipping goods abroad to agents who sold them, purchased needed items, and shipped them back to America. Southerners were upset because they were forced to pay the import tax.

Internal improvements The War of 1812 revealed several shortcomings of the United States.

One of these was the transportation infrastructure. The first attempt to fix this problem was the construction of the Cumberland, or National, Road.

Economic Nationalism The American System

The internal improvements, the creation of an industrial infrastructure, and the stabilizing of the American economy after the War of 1812 has been the American System. It required a more active role of the federal government in the lives of the citizens. The first proponent of the American System was Henry Clay.

Good Feelings After the demise of the Federalist Party, the Democrat-Republicans

remained as the only viable party. This period of one-party rule is known as the Era of Good Feelings.

James Monroe Continuing the Virginia dynasty of early American presidents, Monroe followed

Madison in the White House. Monroe had served as secretary of state and secretary of war under Madison.

Relations with Britain After the conclusion of the War of 1812, the United States never fought another

war with Great Britain; in fact, the two nations formed closed diplomatic ties. One of the first steps in this process was the Rush-Bagot Treaty of 1817, which ended the naval arms race on the Great Lakes. Both sides agreed to limit the number of warships in the lakes. The next effort was the Convention of 1818, which settled the northern limit of the Louisiana Territory at the 49th parallel.

Good Feelings The extension of boundaries The United States now stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky

Mountains; only Spanish America kept it from straddling the continent. However, Spain still controlled the territory of Florida and a narrow bit of land from its panhandle to the Mississippi River. This area was a lawless zone where bandits and Indians set up headquarters because U.S. officials could not legally cross the border.

To combat hostile Seminoles on the Florida border, Jackson was dispatched with 2,000 troops. There he discovered two British spies, whom he summarily executed before continuing to pursue the Seminoles into Florida. At the same time, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams was negotiating with Spain to purchase the territory. He used Jackson’s exploits to strengthen his hand in obtaining Florida and establishing the western border of Louisiana.

Boundary Treaties, 1818–1819

Crises and Compromises The Panic of 1819

In 1819, Great Britain, still the chief importer of the South’s cotton, turned to its colony of India to obtain cheaper cotton. This revealed the fragility of the U.S. economic system. Although a depression did not occur, a panic most certainly did.

The Missouri Compromise After the Revolution, the United States followed an alternating

pattern when admitting states into the union: one slave then one free state. When Missouri requested admittance, there were twenty-two states—eleven free, eleven slave. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 had dictated that there were to be no slave states there, but no such policy existed for states formed from the Louisiana territory. Eventually, Missouri gained statehood and an agreement was reached that no more slave states would be allowed north of the 36 30’ line. ⁰

The Missouri Compromise, 1820

Judicial Nationalism John Marshall, chief justice

Chief Justice John Marshall extended the powers of the Supreme Court to provide a more nationalist role of the federal government in state affairs.

In the landmark case Dartmouth College v. Woodward, Marshall’s decision removed the power of the states to modify contracts on a whim.

Strengthening the federal government The relationship between the state and the federal government was forever

changed when Marshall delivered his ruling in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819). The case involved the right of the national government to create a bank because it was not specifically mentioned as a power given to Congress in the Constitution. Marshall ruled that a clause in Article I, section 8 was purposefully left vague to allow Congress to create “necessary and proper” entities for them.

In Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) , Marshall exerted the right of the nation to regulate state commerce.

Nationalist Diplomacy The Pacific Northwest

Continuing his diplomatic successes on land issues, John Quincy Adams completed a treaty with Russia in 1824 that defined the Oregon Territory’s southern boundary.

The Monroe Doctrine During the French Revolution, Spain had ignored its Latin American

colonies which had rebelled against their motherland. By 1823, when it became apparent that Europe was willing to go to war to retake these colonies, Monroe issued a statement, declaring that the New World was no longer open to colonization by Europe. The United States did not have the military power to back up the Monroe Doctrine, but Great Britain, who approved of the decision, did.

One-Party Politics Presidential nominations in 1824

In the election of 1824, with no political party to contend against, the Democrat Republicans turned on themselves and ran four candidates for the presidency. No candidate won an electoral majority, and the election was sent to the House of Representatives.

The corrupt bargain Each state got one vote, regardless of how its citizens voted. In the end,

John Quincy Adams won the presidency, though he had lost the popular vote and had come in second to Jackson in the electoral vote. He nominated his fellow candidate Henry Clay, the speaker of the house, to be his secretary of state. Because most past presidents had served as secretary of state, Jackson took this as a “corrupt bargain” struck by the two by which Clay would use his influence in the House to secure Adams the presidency and thus would be made heir apparent.

One-Party Politics John Quincy Adams

As president, Adams supported bold internal improvements. Such a program, coupled with the unusualness of the 1824 election, resulted in the end of the Era of Good Feelings and the emergence of a new party, the National Republicans.

The election of Andrew Jackson Almost from the moment the Adams was declared president, the

1828 campaign began. Jackson and his followers launched attacks on the character of Adams, which the president’s supporters returned with equally blistering assaults. In the end, Jackson was elected to the presidency.

The Election of 1828