Balancing Nationalism and Sectionalism

7.2 Nationalism at Center Stage

7.2 - Nationalism at Center Stage

Main Idea Essential Question

What does it mean to be nationalistic? Is there a

limit to how nationalistic you can be?

Objectives

Discuss how the Federal

Government asserted its

jurisdiction over state governments

Explain how foreign affairs

were guided by national self

interest

Summarize the issues that divided the

country as the US expanded its

borders

Nationalism Dominates America

The most impressive by-product of the War of 1812 was a heightened sense of nationalism. America didn’t fight the war as one nation, but they emerged as one American authors began to talk about exceptionalism, painters celebrated

national landscapes Manufacturers wanted to expand American industry, consumers wanted to

“buy American” Politicians revived the national bank and used federal funding to create large

scale infrastructure projects

Nationalism –

The election of 1816 marked the last time that the Federalists would run a Presidential candidate. The party was on life support, allowing the triumphant Democratic-Republicans to control the government as a single party

Era of Good Feelings James Monroe –

Monroe embarked on a goodwill tour of the nation to encourage growth and unity. This helped fuel the message that Americans were to come together under his administration

Era of Good Feelings (1816-1824) –

Under the surface of “Good Feelings,” trouble brewed over economic tensions associated with the sale of public land, as well as sectarian tensions over the issue of slavery

1. Never brilliant, and perhaps not great in any way, the serene Virginian was sober, experienced, level headed, and had a talent for interpreting the will of the people

2. Cruised to two electoral college victories. He received every delegate’s vote except one in the election of 1820,

to retain the symbolism of Washington being the only unanimous President

3. Straddled two generations as the last of the Founding Fathers and the caretaker of the new age of nationalism.

Presidential Profile: Monroe

Electoral Maps 1816 and 1820

Growing Pains of the West Panic of 1819 –

Panic brought depression, bankruptcies, inflation, unemployment and overcrowded debtors prisons. Financial paralysis was a rude setback to the nationalistic fervor. The West was especially hit hard.

Nine frontier states had joined the Union in-between 1791 and 1819. With an eye to preserving the North-South balance, most of these states had been admitted alternatively free or slave.

Expansion continued uninterrupted as poor Americans traveled West in search of cheap, virgin planting soil. The Land Act of 1820 kept the price of land artificially low, costing $1.25 and acre for plots averaging 80 acres.

Slavery and the Sectional Balance

Sectional tensions between the slave South and the free North over control of the virgin West were revealed in 1819. In 1788, North and South ran neck and neck in terms of wealth and population.

But with each passing decade, the North (harnessing industrialization) was becoming more wealthy and more thickly settled. This advantage was reflected in the increasing Northern advantage in the House of Representatives.

In the Senate, each state had 2 votes regardless of population. This provided the South an effective veto to prevent any interference in the expansion of slavery

Already knotted at 11 free and 11 slave states, panic erupts when Missouri petitions to be admitted as a slave state, which would throw off the balance

Tallmadge Amendment – failed addition to the bill to add Missouri as the 23rd state. Stipulated that no more slaves should be brought into Missouri and that children born to slave parents already there should be gradually emancipated. Demonstrates the growing Northern resistance to the institution of slavery

The Uneasy Missouri Compromise

Henry Clay –

The Missouri Compromise – Balance was maintained at 12 to 12 for the next 15 years. This

agreement temporarily calms growing concerns of a civil war

Neither North or South was acutely displeased, not completely happy. The Missouri Compromise lasted 34 years, which proved a vital formative period in the life of the young republic. Ever after, the morality of slavery was an issue that could no longer be swept under the rug.

“The Missouri question, like a

fireball in the night, awakened me with terror. With slavery we have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him nor

safely let him go ”

Thomas Jefferson

Missouri Compromise

Supreme Court Boosts National Power The surging nationalism of the post War of 1812 years, despite setbacks

concerning slavery, was further reflected and reinforced by the Supreme Court. The high court was dominated by the personality and federalist leanings of Chief Justice John Marshall.

Marshall Court – In the Cohens v. Virginia case, the Supreme Court granted itself the right to review

decisions of the state Supreme Courts in all questions involving powers of the federal government

In the Gibbons v. Ogden case, the Supreme Court ruled that all matters of interstate commerce would be jurisdiction of the federal government

The Marshall Court protected national interests at a time where the Federalist Party was unable to provide other resistance to Democratic Republican one-party rule.

Supreme Court Boosts National Power Maryland imposed tax on withdrawing money from banks not chartered in

Maryland, including the Bank of US. Seeking to protect federal government influence over the economy, the Marshall Court declared the Bank of the US constitutional and therefore above state taxation using implied powers.

McCulloch v. Maryland –

By invoking the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution, the Supreme Court made use of implied powers constitutional. As long as the implied power was seen as vital to carrying out the duties of an expressed power, it cleared the Constitutional hurdle.

Marshall Court Extends Federal Influence

State Courts

Interstate Commerce

Interpretation of the Constitution

“The Constitution was intended to

endure for ages to come and,

consequently, to be adapted to the

various crises of human affairs .”

John Marshall

Secretary Adams Nationalism was likewise reflected in the shaping of foreign policy. To this end,

Monroe teamed with his nationalistic Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, who was cut from the same cold and scholarly cloth as his ex-president father. Quincy Adams rose above the Federalist sectionalism of his native New England

and proved to be one of the greatest Secretaries of State in US History

John Quincy Adams –

Convention of 1818 - Peacefully extends US borders to Rocky Mountains. Britain and US agree to jointly share Oregon. The US-Canadian border is demilitarized, and has remained that way to the present day.

Meanwhile, the chaos of the Napoleonic Wars led Central and South American countries to rebel from their distracted Spanish mother country. Dealing with multiple simultaneous uprisings, Spanish troops in Florida are distributed elsewhere

Spain in Crisis Spain proves unable to restrain pirates, smugglers and hostile Natives in

Florida with a reduced military presence. Chaos bled into Southern border of Georgia. General Andrew Jackson is commissioned to restore order, but goes above his directive by crossing the border into Florida, hanging British soldiers who were aiding Natives, and seizing two Spanish forts. Monroe considers disciplining Jackson and all in the cabinet concur.

Only Quincy Adams holds out, insisting that Jackson can be used to bully the Spanish and raise Monroe’s popularity at home.

Adams-Onis Treaty –

Mexico gains self-government after defeating colonial masters, Spain. Mexico models themselves after US, seeking a trade relationship

US Solidifies Borders

The Monroe Doctrine After the Napoleonic nightmare, the rethroned autocrats of the Continental Europe

banded together to restore to old world order and stamp out democratic revolts. Spain and Portugal want to regain Latin America colonies. Russia sought to expand their

territorial holdings from Alaska, down into Oregon territory. Only Britain resisted. They benefited financially from South American ports being open to commerce, free from Spanish monopoly. Britain sought to ally with the US to keep those those ports open

Quincy Adams convinces Monroe not to enter a joint declaration with Britain. He gambled that an invasion of the US was not forthcoming, and America would project strength by taking a defiant, nationalistic tone to all of Europe.

Monroe Doctrine – The Doctrine was never a law, and had little immediate impact. European monarch were

annoyed, but could do nothing about it. The Doctrine has gained importance as America has grown into a powerful, nationalistic country.

Monroe Doctrine Cartoon

“In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to

themselves we have never taken any part, not does it comport with our policy so to do. It is only

when our rights are invaded or seriously

menaced that we resent injuries or make

preparation for our defense.”

James Monroe