5th PresidentJAMES MONROE

and the ERA OF GOOD

FEELINGS1817-1825

• Republican candidate James Monroe won the 1816 election by an overwhelming margin

• His presidency lasted two terms, from 1817 to 1825

• During this time, the U.S. economy grew, political differences diminished, and there was a spirit of nationalism across the country

• A Boston newspaper called these years “The Era of Good Feelings”

During the Monroe Presidency:

• After the War of 1812, the U.S. and Britain still had armed naval fleets in the Great Lakes

- In April 1817, the countries signed the Rush-Bagot Agreement, which limited naval power on the Great Lakes and demilitarized the border

• In February 1719, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and Spanish diplomat Luis de Onis signed the Adams-Onis Treaty, which settles border disputes between Spain and the U.S. and allowed Florida to become a U.S. territory (though not yet a state)

• While nationalism unified the country, a feeling of sectionalism between the North and the South threatened division

• By 1819, the U.S. had 22 states; 11 were slave-holding states, and 11 were free states

• The South wanted Missouri to be admitted to the Union as a slave state, but the North disagreed

• In March 1822, Kentucky representative Henry Clay convinced Congress to agree to the Missouri Compromise

• Under the Missouri Compromise, Missouri would enter the Union as a slave state, and Maine (at the time still part of Massachusetts) would join as a free state

• It also prohibited slavery in any new state formed in the Louisiana Territory north of Missouri’s southern border

• By 1822 the U.S. was becoming that European colonies would expand in the Americas

• President Monroe issued a statement which became known as the Monroe Doctrine

• It stated that, while the U.S. would not interfere with existing European colonies in the Americas, it would oppose any new ones

• In 1824, Henry Clay developed a plan he called the American System, which aimed to make the U.S. economically self-sufficient

• Under the American System:

- A protective tariff would be established

- The national bank would make trade easier by promoting a single currency

- The country’s transportation system would be improved using taxes

FYI:

FYI:

James Monroe died on July 4, 1831, thus becoming the third president to have died on Independence Day. His death came 55 years after the U.S. Declaration of Independence was proclaimed.