Unity and Sectionalism

1. Unity and Sectionalism Chapter 10, section 3

2. Era of Good Feelings • James Monroe won the election of 1816 • This time was called the Era of Good Feelings because political divisions seemed to fade away • Monroe toured the nation, visiting the people • In 1820, Monroe won reelection, winning all but one electoral vote

3. Sectionalism Grows • The nation became divided between North and South • The southerners felt that slavery was a right they had to property while northerners opposed it • Southerners felt that states’ rights needed to be defended against the federal government • John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster, and Henry Clay began to emerge in Congress

4. John C. Calhoun/Henry Clay • Calhoun supported internal improvements and developing industries and he backed the national bank • Calhoun later changed his mind and became a supporter of state sovereignty • Clay supported the interests of the Western states • He became known as the national leader who solved sectional disputes through compromise

5. Daniel Webster • Webster began his political career as a supporter of free trade and the shipping interests of New England • In time, he came to favor the Tariff of 1816 • He became known as one of the greatest orators of his day • “Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!”

6. The Missouri Compromise • The South wanted Missouri to be entered as a slave state • The North wanted Missouri to be entered as a free state • Henry Clay worked out the compromise • 1. Missouri would be a slave state • 2. Maine would enter as a free state • 3. Slavery was banned North of the 36-30 North parallel, in the Louisiana Territory

7. The American System • Henry Clay came up with it • 1. A protective tariff- to protect American industry • 2. A program of internal improvements- to stimulate trade • 3. A national bank- to control inflation and to lend money to build developing industries • Thomas Jefferson and many people in the South opposed the program because they felt it favored the wealthy

8. McCullough v. Maryland • Maryland tried to impose a tax on the National Bank • Marshall ruled that Maryland had no right to tax the bank because it was a federal institution • Those who opposed argued that it was a “loose construction” of the Constitution • The Constitutional Convention voted not to give the federal government authority to charter corporations

9. Gibbons v. Ogden • Established that states could not enact legislation that would interfere with Congressional power over interstate commerce • It strengthened the Supreme Court’s power • People who supported states’ rights believed that the decisions increased federal power at the expense of state power

10. Relations with Britain • The Rush-Bagot Treaty provided for the disarmament along the Great Lakes • The Convention of 1818 set the boundary of the Louisiana Territory between the United States and Canada at the 49th parallel

11. Relations with Spain • Americans felt they had purchased West Florida in the Louisiana Purchase • Andrew Jackson led a violent raid in Florida, killing Seminole tribesmen, Spanish settlers, and British tourists • Luis de Onis, the Spanish minister to the US, demanded Jackson and his officers be punished

12. Adams-Onis Treaty • The raid had demonstrated to the Spanish the military strength of the US • The Adams-Onis Treaty gave Florida to the US and the US gave up claims to Spanish Texas • The two agreed that the border would extend northwest from the Gulf of Mexico to the 42nd parallel and then west to the Pacific

13. The Monroe Doctrine • Spain had asked France, Austria, Russia, and Prussia to assist in their fight in South America • The possibility of increased European involvement in North America forced Monroe to take action • On December 2, 1823, the Monroe Doctrine said that all of the Americas were hereby closed off from further European colonization, but that we would not disturb any existing colonies.