“The Era of Good Feelings”, is marked by the beginning of James Monroe’s first term as president and is said coincide with his presidency. With the end of the War of 1812, the people of America began to feel optimistic and for the first time unified as a nation. With America’s continued to growth and development, we see an increase in nationalism among the people that defines this time as “The Era of Good Feelings”. These years can also be seen as a time of political cooperation and as Charles S. Sydnor describes it, “a single-party situation… when the Federalist organization disintegrated after the War of 1812”(439). However, this nationalism that unified the country, also blinded them from the problems and debates that were occurring during a time of what most believed to be a time of peace and harmony. The term “The Era of Good Feelings”, can therefor be misleading when looking at the actual events of this time period.
The Federalist party is said to have been dissolved during the time of James Monroe’s Presidency. Many believe that this was mostly the fault of Hartford Convention, where the federalist voiced their opposition of the War of 1812 and urged for money on behalf of their loses from the war. These actions, made the Federalists look like spoiled brats in the eyes of the american people, causing them to loose most of their support. Members of this party soon realized that they did not have any reasons left to fight for their party, “…since the Republicans had taken over all (as they saw it) that was of permanent value in the Federalist program”(Ammon, 388). The Presidential election of 1816 confirmed the collapse of the Federalist party as James Monroe easily won the election against Rufus King. With the Republicans o...
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...can History”. Oxford University Press. April 1946. JSOR. November 7, 2013. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1840108?&Search=yes&searchText=history&searchText=american&searchText=one-party&searchText=period&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DThe%2Bone-party%2Bperiod%2Bof%2Bamerican%2Bhistory%26Search%3DSearch%26gw%3Djtx%26prq%3DThe%2BEra%2Bof%2BGood%2BFeelings%2Bby%2BGeorge%2BDangerfield%26hp%3D25%26acc%3Don%26aori%3Da%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff&prevSearch=&item=2&ttl=17827&returnArticleService=showFullText
“The Era of Good Feelings”. The Regents of the University of California and Monterey Institute for Technology and Education. 2007. Web. November 10, 2013.
Reynolds, David. “Panic of 1819: The First Major U.S. Depression”. The Globalist. February 10, 2009. WEB. November 9, 2013. http://www.theglobalist.com/panic-of-1819-the-first-major-u-s-depression//
After the war of 1812, there was a strong sense of nationalism since the young United States had won a war against the powerful British Army. However, the loss of thousands of southern slaves and the British embargo led both the north and the south to lament over the cost of the war. The time period from 1815 – 1825 that some historians call the era of good feelings was not as positive a time period as the title implies; factions ran rampant on the verge of causing an implosion for our country’s political system.
Based on the following doctrines, I believe the extent of characterization of the two parties was not completely accurate during the presidencies of Madison and Jefferson, because of key pieces of evidence that proves inconsistencies during the period between 1801 and 1817. In the following essay, I will provide information supporting my thesis, which describes the changing feelings by each party and the reasoning behind such changes.
During the early 1800s, two parties were developed having different perspectives on government and the Constitution. The Democratic Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, were always characterized by following the strict construction of the constitution. The Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, were characterized by following the broad construction of the constitution. The presidencies of Jefferson and Madison proved this characterization to be somewhat accurate. Although the Democratic Republicans and the Federalists did support their own ideas and views, they also did many things that contradicted them.
Since the beginning of time, war has been the go to method for a conflict resolution. War itself has sparked turmoil. Yet no matter how many protest, war will most likely remain the best way to solve a global issue until the day peace has been unanimously settled. The war of 1812 lasted about 3 years. Britain's efforts in restriction the U.S. trade lead to this war. America had taken numerous devastating losses, such as the capture of Washington D.C. The ratification of the Treaty of Ghent on February 17, 1815, ended the war. The war of 1812 was known as second war of independence and was called the beginning an era of partisan agreement and national pride, or the “Era of good feelings”. “The Era of good feelings” was an inaccurate label for
The Republicans were not only enraged by the signing of the Alien and Sedition Acts, in the Republican’s response, they created the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions that “challenged the legitimacy of federal authority over the states” ( “John Adams: Life in Brief”). It argued that the acts were unconstitutional (Magill 48). In 1800, Adams’ signed the peace treaty with France, which enraged his own party, the Federalists, who were anti-French (Smith 20). In 1800, Adams’ second reelection was difficult for him because his party: the Federalists were divided over his foreign policy (“John Adams: Campaigns and Elections”). Though Adams came close to winning, the victory went to Thomas Jefferson.
In conclusion, political parties had different views and different goals. While the Republicans had showed that they were competent and governed the country effectively, the Federalists were quite behind with their principles and the way they handled the country’s affairs. That explains the downfall of the Federalist Party which eventually led to its dead in the late 1820s. Nonetheless, they all shared the same ultimate goal: to find a way to properly govern and strengthen their country.
The first political parties in America began to form at the end of the 18th century. "The conflict that took shape in the 1790s between the Federalists and the Antifederalists exercised a profound impact on American history." The two primary influences, Thomas Jefferson a...
Mortgages had foreclosed and agricultural prices fell by almost one half. Investments collapsed and price in land dropped. The drop lead to land speculation and the expansion of banks and the Second Bank of the United States. Export of agricultural goods and Import of manufactured goods increased. Their was widespread foreclosures and bank failures. All of these events ultimately lead to The Panic of 1819.
The differing opinions on how the government in the post-Revolutionary war period should be run ultimately created the first rise in political parties. The Federalist belief in a government run by wealthy men and opposing Republican support for and agrarian society split the nations people in support of a government most beneficial to them. Differing reactions to the French Revolution showed the distinct difference in Federalist and Republican belief of who the government should be run under. The National Bank and the excise tax on liquor revealed differing views on how strictly the Constitution should be interpreted and the Alien and Sedition Acts reveal an attempt of one party to dissolve another. The contrasting views of Hamilton's Federalism and Jefferson's Republicanism were the ultimate contributors to splitting the nation on views and establishing the first political parties.
During the period 1800-1817, the Jeffersonians to a great extent compromised their political principles and essentially “out Federalized the Federalists”. While traditional Jeffersonian Republicanism advocated a strict interpretation of the Constitution and an emphasis on an agrarian economic system, the actual policies of Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were markedly different from their theoretical principles. This obvious compromise of Jeffersonian principles is evident in the Federal government’s assumption of broad-based political powers and institution of capitalistic Hamiltonian economic reforms, both of which stemmed from Jefferson and Madison’s adoption of broad constructionist policies.
As the country grows and matures into a great nation, people realize that change is inevitable and sometimes even needed. Within the time period of 1802 to 1817, many Jeffersonian Republicans realized that their ideals and principles weren’t always best for the nation. That is why they adopted some of the ideals of the old Federalist Party. Also, during this time, the Federalists died out. As realized after the Hartford Convention, the nation did not need nor want the Federalists anymore if the Democratic Republicans could get the job done. Although people changed a great deal during this time, it seemed to be beneficial to the nation. If people had not grown and never continued to learn and aspire to what is needed, then we may have never gotten to this great nation that the United States of America is today.
In fact during this time the economy was not at its greatest. The Panic of 1819 was an economic depression caused by over speculation in the western lands.
1817 to 1825—a period of time that oversaw the presidency of the 5th U.S. president, James Monroe, whose term in office later became known as the Era of Good Feelings. The end of the War of 1812 and the "Era of Good Feelings" are often viewed as a time of cultural, economic and political nationalism; however during the era, the tension between nationalism and sectionalism began to rise. Issues about the tariff and the bank were constantly being fought over, inevitably dividing society. Not only had that split society, but the conflicts of slavery began to greatly rise, which created the problem of sectionalism, which led to Henry Clay’s Missouri Compromise in 1820. Many areas had differing views on slavery and voting, which only strengthened the belief that sectionalism was taking over the smidgeon of nationalism that lingered.
John Adams was the last Federalist president which led to the next 16 years of Thomas Jefferson as president for two terms and James Madison as president for two terms. Jefferson and Madison were members of the Republican Party, which had principles and philosophies that were very different than the views of the Federalists. Jefferson and Madison each abandoned the Republican philosophies for Federalism. Jefferson and Madison took on Federalist views while being President of the United States.
"Great Depression in the United States." Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2001. CD-ROM. 2001 ed. Microsoft Corporation. 2001