Chapter 10

Era of Good Feelings

A Promising Beginning

• James Monroe-several leaders petitioned Monroe to run for President. He eventually agreed after distancing himself from a specific party and from campaigning as well

• Despite a lack of campaigning, Monroe won two terms as President. This time came to be known as the Era of Good Feelings because of the lack of political fighting

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5th President of the US

Most of the responsibility for choosing leaders belonged to the caucus, a closed meeting of party leaders

• The incumbent or current officeholder was usually the one nominated during this time

• Monroe continued to apply his principle of not being tied to a single party by choosing John Quincy Adams as his secretary of state and the war hawk John C. Calhoun as his secretary of war

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Trouble in Florida

• Florida was under the control of Spain during this time.

• Smugglers of European goods were hiding in Florida and slaves frequently fled to Florida as well

• John Quincy Adams told the Spanish that the US would invade if they didn’t take control of the situation

• Andrew Jackson was sent to just stop the smugglers but he decided to invade Florida as well

Invasion of Florida

• Spain asked for the US to pay them for damages and also for Jackson to be punished

• Monroe ignored these requests and Spain was forced to sell its land for $5 million

• The Adams-Onis Treaty gave the US control of all of Florida and gave them a border from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean

Revolutions in Latin America

• Spain began to lose control of territories in Central and South America as well.

• After Mexico gained independence in 1821, other countries in Central and then South America followed suit

• These new countries modeled their government on the US but poor economies, high illiteracy, autocracy (rule by one powerful ruler) and the power of the Catholic Church weakened the republics

Monroe Doctrine

• Due to the weakness of the new Latin American countries, foreign powers looked to become involved

• Monroe becomes worried about these countries being close by and meets with Jefferson, Madison and John Quincy Adams to decide what to do

• The Monroe Doctrine was the result of this meeting– This stated that European nations should stay out of the

Western Hemisphere. In turn, America would stay out of the events going on in Europe

Domestic Affairs

• Panic of 1819-collapse of the economy caused by state banks issuing loans without the money to back the loans up

• National banks were not well liked so state bank began to tax them.

• This led to the Supreme Court case of McCulloch vs. Maryland, which came up with the decision that a state could not tax the federal government

• Another Supreme Court case (Gibbons vs. Ogden) gave the federal government power to regulate interstate commerce (selling and transporting of goods from one state to another)

Missouri Compromise

• The US had an equal balance of slave and free states before Missouri applied to become a state.

• After this, the government had to figure out how to maintain the balance and admit Missouri

• The issue was solved when Maine applied for statehood as well. Maine was admitted as a free state and Missouri was admitted as a slave state.

• Slavery north of Missouri became illegal and south of it remained legal

Presidency of John Quincy Adams

• Adams followed the advice of Henry Clay in an attempt to improve the national economy. Adams adopted Clay’s American System which was a high tariff package rewarding all sections of the nation with projects paid for out of the funds raised.

• Southern states called this system the “tariff of abominations” and threatened to leave the Union

Election of 1828

• America had again organized into two parties. Adams represented the National Republican Party and Andrew Jackson represented the group of old Democratic-Republicans which called itself the Democratic Party

• The election brought out the worst in the candidates and included mudslinging (making negative comments about opponents)

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