American Stories:A History of the United States

Second Edition

Chapter

American Stories: A History of the United States, Second EditionBrands • Breen • Williams • Gross

Nation Building and Nationalism1815–1825

9

Election Day in Philadelphia (1815) An exuberant crowd celebrates in the square outside

Independence Hall in this painting by German American artist John Lewis Krimmel.

Building and Nationalism1815–1825

• Expansion and Migration• Transportation and the Market Economy• The Politics of Nation Building After the War of

1812

A Revolutionary War Hero Revisits America in 1824

• After War of 1812, surge of nation building, first stirrings of industrialization

• Priority of national over state, local interests

• Foreign policy meant to insulate America

• New nation of great power and wealth emerging

Expansion and Migration

Expansion and Migration

• American perspective shifted from Europe to West after 1815

• Rush-Bagot Agreement, 1817 U.S. recognized Canada as British; British

agreed not to invade U.S.

Expansion and Migration (cont’d)

• Anglo-American Convention of 1818 49th parallel boundary between U.S. and

Canada Joint occupation of Oregon

• Continent held in part by the English, Spanish, and Indians

Extending the Boundaries

• West Florida annexed, 1810–1812• Secretary of State John Quincy Adams’s

goal was reduction of Spanish holdings• First Seminole War, 1818

Andrew Jackson occupied east Florida

Extending the Boundaries (cont’d)

• Weakened Spain accepted Adams-Onis Treaty U.S. got all Florida U.S. paid $5 million in Spanish debts to

Americans

Extending the Boundaries (cont’d)

• John Jacob Astor and the American Fur Company in Oregon and St. Louis

• “Mountain men” like Kit Carson and Jim Beckwourth roamed through Plains and Rockies, fueling romantic myths

• Military expeditions created impression that Plains were “great American desert” unfit for settlement

Extending the Boundaries (cont’d)

• By 1840, over one-third of U.S. population lived west of the Appalachians

• Speculators sold land parcels to settlers on credit

• Squatters and Preemption• 1841—Congress approved permanent

right of preemption

North America, 1819 Treaties with Britain following the War of 1812 setting the border

between the United States and Canada (British North America) made this border the longest

unfortified boundary line in the world.

Native American Societies Under Pressure

• “Five Civilized Tribes” (60,000 strong) controlled much of South: Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole

• Different Native American groups reacted differently to white encroachment

• Cherokee largest of “Five Civilized Tribes”

Cherokee Literacy Sequoyah’s invention of the Cherokee alphabet enabled thousands of Cherokees to read and write primers and newspapers in their

own language.

Native American Societies Under Pressure (cont’d)

• Cherokee became plantation owners• Slavery against African Americans

resulted from this • Sequoyah created alphabet for

Cherokee language

Competing Land Claims View of the Great Treaty Held at Prairie du Chien (1825).

Representatives of eight Native American tribes met with government agents at Prairie du Chien,

Wisconsin, in 1825 to define the boundaries of their respective land claims. The United States claimed

the right to make “an amicable and final adjustment” of the claims. Within 25 years, most of

the tribes present at Prairie du Chien had ceded their land to the government.

Native American Societies Under Pressure (cont’d)

• Seminole smallest of “Five Civilized Tribes”

• Seminole slavery was more payment of tribute than ownership of humans

• Second Seminole War was example of Seminole resistance

Native American Societies Under Pressure (cont’d)

• Treaty of Moultrie Creek removed tribe from fertile land War described as “a negro and not an

Indian war” Federal government used deception,

threats, and bribery to get Native Americans to cede land

State governments claimed jurisdiction over lands given to Native Americans by treaty

Native American Societies Under Pressure (cont’d)

• Black Hawk’s War (1831–32) was last stand of Native Americans north of Ohio River and east of Mississippi River

• By 1830s, idea that Native Americans should be moved West even if they assimilated was dominant view

Transportation and the Market Economy

Transportation and the Market Economy

• After the War of 1812, political leaders recognized the need to improve the country’s transportation network

• National leaders like Madison and Calhoun called for “internal improvements”

• Actual federal role less than anticipated in those calls for internal improvements

Roads and Steamboats

• National Road from Cumberland, Maryland, eventually to Vandalia, Illinois

• Turnpikes—privately owned toll roads chartered by states

• Network of rivers encouraged economic development

• Steamboats transported upriver, reduced costs

River Transport The Clermont on the Hudson (1830–1835) by Charles Pensee. Although some

called his Clermont “Fulton’s Folly,” Robert Fulton reduced the cost and increased the speed of river

transport.

Roads and Steamboats (cont’d)

• Steamboats had luxury hotel atmosphere, but poor safety record

• Congressional effort to establish safety regulations

• Canals-economical way to ship farm produce

Roads and Steamboats (cont’d)

• Erie Canal, 1825, linked New York City to Great Lakes

• Great economic success, inspired numerous other canal projects

Emergence of a Market Economy

• Canals cut shipping expenses for western farmers and eastern manufacturers

• Steamboats on the rivers also reduced shipping costs and stimulated commercial agriculture

• Market stimulated specialization, North produced wheat

Emergence of a Market Economy (cont’d)

• Five factors made Deep South world’s greatest producer of cotton: Increased cotton demand from New

England textile factories Eli Whitney and the cotton gin New, fertile land available in old Southwest Slavery permitted large-scale operation The South’s splendid natural transportation

system

The Canal Boom Illustration of a lock on the Erie Canal at Lockport, New York, 1838. The canal

facilitated trade by linking the Great Lakes regions to the eastern seaports.

Early Industrialism

• Traditional methods but innovative financing through “putting out” system “Putting-out”—merchants delivered raw

materials for farm families; artisans processed these materials

Did not disrupt agricultural life patterns

Early Industrialism (cont’d)

• After 1815, increased demand stimulated mass production

• Textile industry in New England led development of factory system

Early Industrialism Lowell, Massachusetts, became America’s model industrial town in the first

half of the nineteenth century. In this painting of the town in 1814 (when it was still called East

Chelmsford), a multistory brick mill is prominent on the river. Textile mills sprang up throughout Lowell in the 1820s and 1830s, employing thousands of

workers, mostly women. Below, a photograph from c. 1848 shows a Lowell mill worker operating a

loom.

Early Industrialism Lowell, Massachusetts, became America’s model industrial town in the first

half of the nineteenth century. In this painting of the town in 1814 (when it was still called East

Chelmsford), a multistory brick mill is prominent on the river. Textile mills sprang up throughout Lowell in the 1820s and 1830s, employing thousands of

workers, mostly women. Below, a photograph from c. 1848 shows a Lowell mill worker operating a

loom.

The Politics of Nation Building After the War of 1812

The Politics of Nation Building After the War of 1812

• “Era of Good Feelings,” 1816–1824• Popular interest in national politics fell

Interest groups no longer took differences into the political arena; public interest in politics declined

• Common theme of public policy in this period: “awakening nationalism”

The Missouri Compromise

• 1817—Missouri applied for statehood as slave state

• Northerners believed South over-represented in House of Representatives, despite their own decisive majority

The Missouri Compromise (cont’d)

• Tallmadge Amendment—gradual elimination of slavery if Missouri admitted, passes House

• South wished to preserve balance of power between slave states and free states

The Missouri Compromise (cont’d)

• Missouri admitted as slave state• Maine separated from Massachusetts,

admitted as free state• Slavery banned elsewhere in Louisiana

Purchase above the latitude of 36o30’

The Missouri Compromise (cont’d)

• Missouri controversy exposed deep rift between North and South

• Jefferson called it “a fire bell in the night”

Map 9.1 The Missouri Compromise, 1820–1821 The Missouri Compromise kept the balance of power in the Senate by admitting Missouri as a

slave state and Maine as a free state. The agreement temporarily settled the argument over

slavery in the territories.

Postwar Nationalism and the Supreme Court

• John Marshall Chief Justice, 1801–1835—Most dominant chief justice ever

• Role of court to enable economic growth by protecting individuals and provide federal government more power. Key Cases: Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 1819

Postwar Nationalism and the Supreme Court (cont’d)

• Charters granted by states are eternal contracts

• McCulloch v. Maryland, 1819

Postwar Nationalism and the Supreme Court (cont’d)

• Power to tax is power to destroy• Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824

Postwar Nationalism and the Supreme Court (cont’d)

• Federal regulation of interstate commerce trumps state regulation

• The court’s actions exemplify trend: federal government should promote capitalist economy

Nationalism in Foreign Policy:The Monroe Doctrine

• U.S. sympathized with Latin American revolts, put U.S. on collision course with European powers

• “Grand Alliance” of Europe saw Latin American revolts as democratic challenges to authoritarianism

• Britain asked U.S. to oppose Grand Alliance

Nationalism in Foreign Policy:The Monroe Doctrine (cont’d)

• Monroe Doctrine, 1823• U.S. opposed European expansion and

would not interfere in European affairs• Signified America’s new sense of

independence and self-confidence

Conclusion: The End of the Era of Good Feeling

Conclusion: The End of the Era of Good Feeling

• Era of Good Feeling was passing phase• Settlement of West would continue but

differences over government’s role would endure

• Concept of nonpartisan, common purposes advanced by Monroe not viable in contentious and democratic era

Timeline