Era of Good Feelings

Essential Question: What did it mean to be American in the early 1800s?

• Star Spangled banner 1812gave Americans a national identity

• Alexis de Tocqueville “I do not know a country where the love of money holds a larger place in the heart of man”

• There was a surge of patriotism Americans felt the brightest days for America were ahead.

• Uncle Sam: Symbol born during this period. – Legend has it that the name came from Sam Wilson, a

New Your Butcher who provided the army with meat during the War of 1812.

– Initials were made up to match the U.S. Became a popular nickname for the federal government.

Developing a Nation in a Land of Differences

• Surge of patriotism after the War of 1812• US in the early1800s

– Very different from today! • 2/3 lived w/in 50 miles of the Atlantic, fewer than 1/10 lived west of the Appalachians• Travel was difficult and slow nothing moved faster than a horse could run, news took weeks

to be delivered• B/C of geographical differences distinct regional lifestyles developed led to stereotypes

• Symbols and Values-Needed to feel American! – Meant Americans needed to share values, felt they were better than Europeans

• Economic Nationalism-Based on Capitalism-an economic system based on private ownership of farms and

businesses• Judicial Nationalism-

– Strengthened the role of the Supreme Court and federal power over the states. – Encouraged the growth of capitalism—McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Yankees

• “Enterprising, thrifty, quick to chase a dollar”

• Growing Cities/Lots of trade

Kentucky

• Henry Clay: Believed in capitalism, high tariffs & federal spending on transportation

• American system-a proposal to the government that called for taxes on imports, federally funded transportation project, and a new national bank

• Projects War Hawk

Rich Plantation Owners

• Gracious, Cultured and Lazy

South Carolina

• John C. Calhoun: Resisted federal power

• Big supporter of states rights

• Wanted to protect slavery in the south

Frontiersmen

• Rugged, Hardy and Crude

• In the west

Massachusetts

• Daniel Webster: Opposed war of 1812

• Served in both House and Senate

• “24 states are one country”

Art: Folk Art • Made by ordinary people• Carvings, quilts• Thomas Cole (landscaping)• James Audubon (Birds)• Catlin (the west, Native

Americas)

• Thomas Cole-1829

Early American Art

James Audubon-Birds of America

Music: Early church

• National Identity was expressed through music

• 1800s: Classical dance in the south Spirituals, square dancing

• Minstrel songs what are they??

• Honored black music by mimicking it.

• Samuel Francis Smith 1832- “My Country, ‘tis of thee”

Literature

• Washington Irving, “Rip Van Winkle”

• James Fennimore Cooper, “The Last of the Mohicans” Davy Crockett

• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow “Paul Revere's Ride”

• Patriotic Themes: Uncle Sam