NATIONAL GROWING PAINS

• Madison in Power – in 1808, Republicans won both houses of

Congress, and Madison won presidency – Non-Intercourse Act not only proved

difficult to enforce, but failed to prevent British from continuing to seize American ships

– Macon’s Bill No. 2 removed all restrictions on trade with Britain and France

– when Napoleon announced he would revoke his restrictions if Britain agreed to abandon its own restrictive policies, Madison reapplied the non-intercourse policy to Britain

– France continued to seize American ships – Britain refused to modify the Orders in

Council until French actually lifted theirs– Madison refused to admit that he had

been deceived by Napoleon and concluded that, unless Britain ended its restrictions, the United States must declare war

• Tecumseh and the Prophet– growing numbers of American settlers

steadily drove Indians out of the Ohio Valley

– Tecumseh, a Shawnee chief, attempted to unite all tribes east of Mississippi into a great confederation

– his brother, the Prophet, added force of a moral crusade; he argued that Indians must give up white ways and preserve their Indian culture

– in 1811, a military force led by General William Henry Harrison engaged Indians at Battle of Tippecanoe and destroyed the hopes of Tecumseh’s federation

• Depression and Land Hunger– some westerners attributed low prices

received for agricultural goods to loss of foreign markets and British depredations against American shipping

– American commercial restrictions and an inadequate transportation system actually contributed more significantly to agricultural depression

– Western expansionism fed war fever; westerners wanted Canada and Florida

– United States took western part of Florida without opposition from Spain

• Opponents of War– maritime interests in east feared war

against Britain– Napoleon posed genuine and serious

threat to United States, and going to war with Britain would aid Napoleon

– by 1812 conditions in England made change in British maritime policy likely

– growing effectiveness of Napoleon’s Continental System caused depression in Britain

– British manufacturers, who blamed

hard times on loss of American

markets, urged the repeal of Orders

in Council

– gradually, British government moved

to suspend Orders, but not until

Congress had declared war on Great

Britain in 1812

• The War of 1812– the War of 1812 was poorly planned

and managed– U.S. Navy could not challenge

Britain’s mastery of Atlantic– Canada appeared to be Britain’s weak

spot, but an American invasion failed because of poor leadership and unwillingness of some American militiamen to leave their own soil

– soon Americans were fighting to keep British from taking American territory

– Captain Oliver Hazard Perry defeated

British fleet and gained control of

Lake Erie

– this made British control of Detroit

untenable, and when they fell back,

Harrison defeated British at Thames

River

– British captured Fort Niagara and burned Buffalo

• Britain Assumes the Offensive– war against Napoleon occupied British

until 1814

– after Napoleon’s defeat, British put more effort into war with America

– British undertook a three-pronged attack

– central British force did take Washington and burn most public buildings

– they moved up the Chesapeake, American forces stopped them at Baltimore

• “The Star Spangled Banner”– an American civilian, Francis Scott Key,

observed bombardment of Fort McHenry from deck of a British ship, where he was being held prisoner

– when he saw American flag still flying over fort the next morning, he wrote the words to “Star-Spangled Banner,” which was later set to music and eventually became national anthem

– the burning of Washington shocked many Americans, and thousands came forward to enlist

• The Treaty of Ghent – in 1814, the British and Americans met

at Ghent to discuss terms for peace– British prolonged negotiations in the

hope that their offensive would give them upper hand

– news of British defeat at Plattsburg forced British to modify their demands

– they eventually agreed to American demands for the status quo ante bellum

– negotiators signed Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814

• The Hartford Convention – news of treaty had not yet reached

America when a group of New England Federalists met to protest the war and plan for a convention to revise Constitution

– their opposition to war made them unpopular in rest of country, which in turn encouraged extremists in New England to talk of secession

– moderate Federalists controlled Hartford Convention

– their resolutions argued that states had right to interpose their authority to protect themselves from violations of Constitution

– they also proposed a series of amendments to Constitution

– news of the Treaty of Ghent discredited Federalists, who had predicted a British victory

• The Battle of New Orleans

– news of the Treaty of Ghent failed to

arrive in time to prevent Battle of New

Orleans

– Americans, commanded by General

Andrew Jackson, successfully withstood

British assault and inflicted heavy

casualties on British while suffering

only minor losses themselves

• Victory Weakens the Federalists– America’s ability to hold off British

convinced European powers that the United States and its republican form of government were there to stay

– the war cost United States relatively few casualties and little economic loss

– among the big losers were Native Americans and the Federalist party

– as Europe settled down to what would be a century of relative peace, major foreign threats to United States ended, and commerce revived and European immigration to America resumed

• Anglo-American Rapprochement – American trade had become more

important to British economy, and in 1815 the two countries signed a commercial agreement ending discriminatory duties and making other adjustments favorable to trade

– in 1817, in Rush-Bagot Agreement, the two countries agreed to demilitarize Great Lakes

– in 1818, a joint Anglo-American

commission settled disputed

boundary between U.S. and Canada

by designating 49th parallel as

northern boundary of Louisiana

Territory from Lake of the Woods to

Rocky Mountains

– they also agreed to joint control of

Oregon country for ten years

• The Transcontinental Treaty– Jackson’s pursuit of Indians into

Spanish Florida and his capture of two Spanish forts raised Spanish fears that America would eventually seize all of Florida

– Spain was even more concerned about security of its holdings in northern Mexico and was ready to give up Florida in exchange for an agreement protecting its Mexican empire

– Spain had to accept a boundary to Louisiana Territory that followed Sabine, Red, and Arkansas rivers to Continental Divide and 42nd parallel to Pacific

– the U.S. obtained Florida for $5 million, to be paid to Americans with claims against Spain

• The Monroe Doctrine – fears of Russian expansion in the

Western Hemisphere prompted Monroe and secretary of state, John Quincy Adams, to warn: “The American continents are no longer subjects for any new European colonial establishments”

– Russia agreed to abandon territorial claims south of 54 degrees, 40 minutes and to remove restrictions on foreign shipping

– a greater threat came when several European powers decided to try to restore Spain’s empire

– neither British nor Americans wanted to see a restoration of Spanish empire

– Britain had no desire to recognize new revolutionary republics in South America

– America had already recognized them

– Monroe rejected a British proposal for a joint declaration and included a statement of American policy in his message to Congress in 1823

– U.S. would not interfere with existing European colonies in North or South America and would avoid involvement in European affairs

– any attempt to extend European control to countries that had won their independence would be considered hostile to U.S.

– Monroe Doctrine may be seen as final stage of American independence

• The Era of Good Feelings – political factionalism diminished during

Monroe’s presidency, known as “Era of Good Feelings”

– Jeffersonians had come to accept most of Hamilton’s economic policies

– Jeffersonian balance between individual liberty and responsible government had survived both bad management and war

– when political divisions reappeared, they were about new issues emerging out of the growth of the country

• New Sectional Issues: Protection, Western Lands, Banking, Slavery– War of 1812 and depression that struck

country in 1819 shaped many of controversies of Era of Good Feelings

– the panic of 1819 strengthened position of protectionists, who argued that American industry needed protection from foreign competition

– with exception of shipping interests, north favored protectionism and the South initially favored protectionism to foster national economic self-sufficiency

– eventually South rejected protectionism on ground that tariffs increased price of imports and hampered export of cotton and tobacco

– charter of First Bank of U.S. was not renewed when it expired in 1811

– many new state banks were created after 1811, and most recklessly overextended credit

– after the British raid on Washington created a panic, all banks outside New England suspended specie payments

– a second Bank of the U.S. was established in 1816, but it was poorly managed and irresponsibly created credit

– easy credit policies of the banks led to a boom in land sales

– agricultural expansion in America and resumption of agricultural production in Europe after Napoleonic Wars resulted in falling prices

– as prices fell, many western debtors faced ruin

– although slavery became the most divisive sectional issue, it caused remarkably little conflict in national politics before 1819

– Congress abolished African slave trade in 1808 with little controversy

– new free and slave states were added to Union in equal numbers, thus maintaining balance in Senate

– cotton boom led southerners to defend slavery more aggressively

– West tended to support the South’s position

– Southwestern slave states naturally supported slavery; northwest was also sympathetic, partly because it sold much of its produce to southern plantations

• Northern Leaders– John Quincy Adams emerged as the

best-known northern leader of early 1820s

– began career as Federalist but became a Republican

– nationalist, supported Louisiana Purchase, internal improvements and he was opposed to slavery

– Daniel Webster, nationalist, reflected the interests of his native New England

– opposed Embargo Act, War of 1812, high tariff of 1816, cheap land, internal improvements, and initially opposed Second Bank (largely on partisan grounds)

– Martin Van Buren avoided taking positions

– expressed no clear opinions on such major issues as slavery or the tariff

• Southern Leaders – most prominent southern leader,

William H. Crawford of Georgia, was one of the first politicians to try to build a national machine

– he supported states’ rights, he favored the imposition of a moderate tariff

– John C. Calhoun of South Carolina took a strong nationalist position on all issues; devoted to South and its institutions

• Western Leaders– Henry Clay’s “American System”

reflected his gift for seeing national needs from a broad perspective

– advocated federal support for internal improvements and a protective tariff

– although a slave owner, he opposed slavery on principle and favored colonization

– Thomas Hart Benton championed the small western farmer

– William Henry Harrison made his reputation as soldier before entering politics; had little impact on developing political alignments of 1820s

– Andrew Jackson resembled Harrison in many ways

– his chief assets were his reputation as a military hero and his forceful personality

– no one knew his views on important issues, but this did not stop enthusiastic supporters from backing him for president

• The Missouri Compromise– Missouri’s request for admission as a slave

state touched off a serious political controversy

– voting that split along sectional lines, House

added Tallmadge Amendment to Missouri

– Enabling Act Tallmadge Amendment prohibited further introduction of slavery into Missouri and provided that all slaves born in Missouri after statehood should be freed at age twenty-five

– Senate defeated the amendment– debate did not turn on morality of slavery

– Northerners objected to adding new slave states because these states would be overrepresented in Congress under Three-fifths Compromise

– Missouri entered as a slave state, and its admission was balanced by admission of Maine as a free state

– to prevent further conflict, Congress adopted a proposal to prohibit slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of 36 degrees 30 minutes

• The Election of 1824– politics continued to divide along

sectional lines, no issue divided country so deeply as slavery

– by 1824, Federalists had disappeared as a national party, and factional disputes plagued the Jeffersonians

– no candidate won a majority of the electoral college in a bitter contest

– in the House of Representatives, Clay threw his support to John Quincy Adams, who became the next president

• John Quincy Adams as President– Adams took a Hamiltonian view and

sought to promote projects beneficial to national interest

– he proposed a vast program of internal improvements as well as aid to manufacturing and agriculture

– a Jeffersonian nationalist would have had difficulty gaining acceptance of these proposals; with his Federalist background, Adams had no chance

– Adams’s inability to garner popular support and his refusal to use power of appointments to win political support impeded his administration

• Calhoun’s Exposition and Protest – a new tariff in 1828 set high duties on

manufactured goods and agricultural products

– Calhoun believed that tariff would impoverish the South

– in response, he wrote the “South Carolina Exposition and Protest,” an essay repudiating the nationalist philosophy he had previously espoused and defending the right of a state to nullify an act of Congress

• The Meaning of Sectionalism – the sectional issues that strained ties

between people of different regions were products of powerful forces, such as growth and prosperity, that actually bound the sections together

– other forces unifying the nation were patriotism and commitment to the American experiment in government