Ch 12 NotesName: ______
APUSMr. Cruz
I.) "The American System"
Congress instituted the 1st protective tariff, the Tariff of 1816, primarily for protection. British companies were trying to make American factories die off by selling their British goods for much less than the American factories. The tariff placed a 20-25% tax on the value of dutiable imports. Over time, the tax price continued to rise, creating problems of no competition between companies.
Due to nationalism, Henry Clay developed a plan for a profitable home market. It was called the American System.
It had 3 main parts:
a.) A strong banking system, to provide easy and abundant credit.
b.) A protective tariff, behind which eastern manufacturing would flourish.
c.) A network of roads and canals.
President Madison vetoed the bill to give states aid for infrastructure, deeming it unconstitutional. The Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans were strongly opposed to building federally-funded roads because they felt that such outlets would further drain away population and create competing states beyond the mountains.
II.) The So-Called “Era of Good Feelings”
- Monroe’s First Term: James Monroe defeated his Federalist opponent 183 to 34, and ushered in a short period of one-party rule.The Federalists ran a candidate for the presidency for the last time in 1816.
- He straddled the generations of the Founding Fathers and the new Age of Nationalism.
- Early in 1817, Monroe took a goodwill tour venturing deep into New England, where he received heartwarming welcomes.The time during the administrations of President Monroe was known as the "Era of Good Feelings" because the 2 political parties were getting along.
- However, seeds of sectional troubles were planted. Notably, the South did not like the tariff saying it only benefited the North and made the South pay higher prices. And, the South disliked the internal improvements linking the North and West—the South didn’t see any benefits in paying taxes for roads and canals in other states.
III.) The Panic of 1819 and the Curse of Hard Times
The Panic of 1819 was the first financial panic since President Washington took office. The main cause was the over-speculation in frontier lands.
The Bank of the United States became a financial devil to western farmers because it foreclosed many farms.
Oddly, this started an almost predictable chain of panics or recessions. An economic panic occurred every 20 years during the 1800s (panics occurred during 1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, 1893).
IV.) Growing Pains of the West
Between 1791 and 1819, 9 states from the West had joined the United States. People moved out west because of cheap land.
This explosive expansion of the west was due in part to the cheap land, the elimination of the Indian menace, the “Ohio Fever,” and the need for land by the tobacco farmers, who exhausted their lands.
The Cumberland Road, begun in 1811 and ran ultimately from western Maryland to Illinois. And, the first steamboat on western waters appeared in 1811.
The West, still not populous and politically weak, was forced to ally itself with other sections, and demanded cheap acreage.
The Land Act of 1820 authorized a buyer to purchase 80 virgin acres at a minimum of $1.25 an acre. The West also demanded cheap transportation and cheap money.
V.) Slavery and the Sectional Balance
Sectional tensions between the North and the South came to a boil when Missouri wanted to become a slave state.
The House of Representatives slowed the plans of the Missourians of becoming a state by passing the Tallmadge Amendment. It called for no more slaves to be brought into Missouri and called for the gradual emancipation of children born to slave parents already there. The amendment was later defeated by the slave states in Congress.
Angry Southerners saw this as a threat figuring that if the Northerners could wipe out slavery in Missouri, they might try to do so in all of the rest of the slave states.
Plus, the North was starting to get more prosperous and populous than the South.
VI.) The Uneasy Missouri Compromise
Henry Clay introduced the compromise that decided whether or not Missouri would be admitted as a slave state.
a.)Congress decided to admit Missouri as a slave state in 1820.
b.)But, Maine, which was apart of Massachusetts, was to be admitted as a separate, free state. Therefore, there were 12 slave states and 12 free states.
c.)The Missouri Compromise by Congress forbade slavery in the remaining territories in the LouisianaTerritory north of the line of 36° 30', except for Missouri.
James Monroe was elected again as President in 1820.
Monroe should have been doomed after the 1819 panic and the Missouri problem, but he was so popular, and the Federalist Party so weak, that he won in 1820 by all but one vote (unanimity was reserved for Washington).
VII.) John Marshall and Judicial Nationalism
Chief Justice John Marshall helped to bolster the power of the government at the expense of the states. Marshall’s rulings gave the Supreme Court its powers and greatly strengthened the federal government, giving it power to overrule state governments sometimes.
McCulloch vs. Maryland (1819) involved an attempt by the state of Maryland to destroy a branch of the Bank of the United States by imposing a tax on the Bank's notes. John Marshall declared the U.S. Bank constitutional by invoking the Hamiltonian doctrine of implied powers. He strengthened federal authority and slapped at state infringements when he denied the right of Maryland to tax the Bank.
Cohens vs. Virginia (1821) involved the Cohens appealing to the Supreme Court for being found guilty of illegally selling lottery tickets by the state of Virginia.Virginia won and the conviction was withheld.
Gibbons vs. Ogden (1824) grew out of an attempt by the state of New York to grant to a private concern a monopoly of waterborne commerce between New York and New Jersey. (Meaning that no other company could use the waterway.)New York lost.
VIII.) Judicial Dikes Against Democratic Excesses
Fletcher vs. Peck (1810) Georgia legislature granted 35 million acres to private speculators; the next legislature cancelled the bribery-induced transaction. John Marshall let the state give the acres to the private speculators calling it a contract and constitutional. The decision protected property rights against popular pressures.
DartmouthCollege vs. Woodward (1819) DartmouthCollege was given a charter by King George III but New Hampshire wanted to take it away. John Marshall ruled in favor of the college.
Daniel Webster- "Expounding Father"; served in both the House and Senate.
IX.) Sharing Oregon and Acquiring Florida
John Quincy Adams- Secretary of State to James Monroe.
The Treaty of 1818 permitted the Americans to share the Newfoundland fisheries with the Canadians and provided for a 10-year joint occupation of the Oregon Country without a surrender of the rights or claims of either America or Britain.
With the many revolutions taking place in South America, Spain was forced to take many of its troops out of Florida.
General Andrew Jackson went into Florida saying he would punish the Indians and recapture the runaway slaves who were hiding away in Spanish Florida. He did this, but captured St. Marks and Pensacola, the 2 most important Spanish posts in the area.
The Florida Purchase Treaty of 1819, Spain ceded Florida, as well as Spanish claims to Oregon in exchange for America's abandonment of claims to Texas.
In the Russo-American Treaty of 1824, the Russian tsar fixed the southern boundary of his Alaskan territory at 54°40’ and it stayed at that.
X.) The Menace of Monarchy in America
After Napoleon's fall from power in 1815, the Europeans wanted to completely eliminate democracy.
George Canning- British foreign secretary; asked the American minister in London if the United States would band together with the British in a joint declaration renouncing any interest in acquiring Latin American territory, and specifically warning the European dictators to keep their harsh hands off the Latin American republics.
XI.) Monroe and His Doctrine
Secretary Adams thought the British feared that the Americans would one day seize Spanish territory in the Americas; jeopardizing Britain's possessions in the Caribbean.
Monroe Doctrine (1823) - President Monroe, in his annual address to Congress, stated a stern warning to the European powers.
- Its two basic features were non-colonization and nonintervention.
- Monroe stated that the era of colonization in the Americas was over.
Monroe also warned against foreign intervention. He warned Britain to stay out of the Western Hemisphere, and stated that the United States would not intervene in foreign wars. Ex. = the U.S. would not interfere in the Greek democratic revolt against Turkey.
XII.) Monroe's Doctrine Appraised
- The Europeans powers were offended by the Monroe Doctrine; in a big part because of America's soft military strength.The monarchs of Europe were angered, but couldn’t do anything about it, since the British navy would be there to stop them, further frustrating them.
- President Monroe was more concerned with the security of America when he issued the Monroe Doctrine. He had basically warned the Old World power to stay away.
- The doctrine has never been law, a pledge, or an agreement.
- It was mostly an expression of post-1812 U.S. nationalism, gave a voice of patriotism, and added to the illusion of isolationism.
- Many Americans falsely concluded that the Republic was in fact insulated from European dangers simply because it wanted to be.