The Panic Of 1819: The Era Of Good Feelings

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The panic of 1819 was the first major financial crisis in the United States. The primary causes of the misery seems to have been a change toward more conservative credit policies by the Second Bank of the United States. People reacted differently depending on where you lived. Northern Manufacturers thought future downturn could be prevented by enacting high tariffs that would protect them from competition. However, southerners resented the higher prices they had to pay for imports because of the tariff and began a long campaign against those duties. Westerners blamed the bankers and speculators. A sharp decline in the value of American export commodities, especially wheat, made the country as a whole much poorer, and exacerbated the monetary …show more content…

The financial disaster and depression provoked popular resentment against banking and business enterprise, and a general belief that federal government economic policy was fundamentally messed up. Americans became politically engaged to defend their local economic interests. The Era of Good Feelings marked a point in time in the political history of the United States that reflected a sense of national purpose and a desire for unity among Americans in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars. The era saw the collapse of the Federalist Party and an end to the bitter partisan disputes between it and the dominant Democratic Party during the First Party System. The Panic of 1819 marked the end of the Era of Good Feelings and the growth of Jacksonian nationalism. The United States and Great Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814, that ended the War of …show more content…

In 1819 the Second Bank decided to initiate a sharp contraction of credit by refusing to make loans. There were "bank runs" where depositors rushed in to banks to have their notes converted to coin. Lacking suitable reserves, many state banks failed. With the banks closing their doors, millions of dollars owed to the federal government for sale of public lands went uncollected. The Second Bank's action led to a severe depression, particularly in the West and South. Prices, such as on the product market for cotton, declined sharply. When the Bank tried returning to a monetary policy through deflation, prices dropped, home and land values plummeted, and overextended banks and homeowners went broke. This affected farming and manufacturing, which in turn caused unemployment. When U.S. cotton prices crashed in January 1819 after British investors switched to Indian cotton, land prices began losing value drastically and the panic began. Losing credit left many unable to repay their loans, leading to massive land foreclosures. Many sold their investments to pay off their assets, causing a collapse in the investment markets. The collapse soon spread to the cities, as businesses failed and millions of merchants, artisans, mechanics, and craftsmen were left without a job. The unemployment rate in Philadelphia reached 75%. Unemployed workers set up tent cities in Baltimore, and a

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