The War of 1812 Brought an Upsurge of Nationalism- the Spirit of Nation-Consciousness Or

Chapter 13

Nationalism

The War of 1812 brought an upsurge of nationalism- the spirit of nation-consciousness or national oneness (patriotism). There was so much nationalism that even President Madison, who made many mistakes, left office more popular than when he arrived.

There was nationalism before, but not the same as current nationalism, which resulted from recent victories (New Orleans), setbacks of Federalist sectionalism and states’ rights, lessening of dependence on England, and growing confidence of the future. More citizens, still not the majority, saw themselves as Americans first, before citizens of their states.

Distinct American literature developed too. In the 1820s, Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper were recognized as the first important writers to use American scenes and themes. Textbooks, formerly British, were now being written by Americans. The North American Review magazine started in 1815. American painters drew American scenes.

A new national capital was being built (after destruction), the army expanded to 10,000, the navy defeated North American pirates in 1815, and War of 1812 and North African naval hero Stephen Decatur celebrated “Our country!”

The Bank of the United States expired in 1811, just before the War of 1812, leaving weak state banks to issue depreciated money, hurting the war effort. BUS was renewed as the second Bank of the United States in 1816 with a total capital of $35 million. Jeffersonian Republicans supported the renewal, using old Federalist arguments, while Federalist opposed the “moneyed monster” using old Republican arguments. A national bank increased nationalism.

Tariff of 1816 and American System

Tariff of 1816

The American embargoes forced America to become more independent and industrial. Britain attempted to strangle young American companies by flooding America with its excess goods. In response to cries for protection, Congress passed the Tariff of 1816 the first primarily protective American tariff. Its rate of 20-25% on imports was not enough for complete protection, but was a good start. This began more demands for further protection.

John C. Calhoun: From supporter to foe

John C. Calhoun (S. Carolina Rep) was a former war hawk, nationalist, and debater of the tariff. He originally supported the tariff. Why? Because in 1816 it looked like the South had a future in manufacturing and cotton cultivation, which would need protection. However, after a few years he turned against the tariff. Why? He concluded that it only enriched a few manufacturers rather than help the nation.

Daniel Webster: From foe to supporter

Daniel Webster (citizen New Hampshire) was the same age (34) as Calhoun. He was originally against the tariff. Why? New England hadn’t completely switched from shipping (which might be harmed by a tariff) to manufacturing (which needs a tariff) yet. But he later was a supporter of nationalism and high protection. Why? Because New England was gradually trading ‘the mainsail for the loom.’

Henry Clay: The American System

Henry Clay was still a war hawk with a lot of nationalism. He supported the 1824 plan known as the American System. This system would create a tariff. A tariff would mean protection. Protection would mean flourishing manufacturing industries. A tariff also means revenue. This revenue would go to build roads and canals. These roads and canals would help transport raw goods from the South and West to the North and East in exchange for manufactured goods.

Improvement of transportation systems was important, as the lack of efficient systems hurt the Americans during the war.

Calhoun: Bonus Bill of 1817

New Englanders did not like improvements of transportation systems for one simple reason: people could move to the west easier, create newer states faster, and therefore dilute eastern power quicker. Republicans were advocated power for states and therefore agreed. Calhoun proposed his Bonus Bill of 1817, which would give $1.5 million to states for internal improvements. This passed through Congress, only to be vetoed by Monroe (Republican) as unconstitutional. His successor, James Monroe (Republican), also was against this. Therefore, states were on their own, and New York independently completed the Erie Canal in 1825.

Election of 1816: Madison to Monroe

Election

James Monroe ran for the Republican party in 1816 and won against the last Federalist candidate. He was from Virginia, just like Washington, Jefferson, and Madison, and therefore continued the Virginia dynasty. He won 183 to 34.

Death of Federalists

The Federalist Party died because of its disgraceful war record, inability to stop the new nationalist programs, and the loss of its ideas to the Republicans. Some Federalists followed their principles and became Republicans, others stopped doing politics. Original Hamiltonians were very nationalistic, but later opposed nationalism.

James Monroe

Monroe was the last president to wear an old-style cocked hat, and he reflected two generations: 1.) the Founding Fathers, and 2.) the emergent age of nationalism. He was never brilliant and not great, and in regards to intellect and personal force he was the least distinguished of the first eight presidents (sad huh?). However, he was good for his period, and he knew how to sense popular feelings.

Era of Good Feeling

Monroe took a goodwill tour in 1817, north into New England and west to Detroit. He was welcomed even in Federalist New England. A Boston newspaper announced an Era of Good Feeling, which is commonly used to describe Monroe’s administration. According to the book: The Era of Good Feeling was a time of “considerable tranquility and prosperity”, yet “troubled” with issues of the tariff, the bank, internal improvements, sale of public lands, sectionalism and slavery.

Era of Inflamed Feelings

Now that there was only one party (Republican), this one party starts to split itself into factions. The early 1820s saw the Era of Inflamed Feelings during which important people (like Clay, Calhoun, Jackson, and JQA) fought for power and their sections.

Panic of 1819 and Land Act of 1820

Panic of 1819

There was an economic panic in 1819 that brought deflation, depression, bankruptcies, bank failures, unemployment, soup kitchens, and debtors’ prisons. This was the first national financial crisis since Washington took office and it was followed by a new one every twenty years. What caused this? Many people want the American dream, many people buy land on loans from banks, many people aren’t able to pay back loans, and therefore you have a crisis. This increased sectionalism as different sections tried to save themselves. The BUS, with sounder currency, had more customers, pushed the “wildcat” banks aside, and strictly enforced payments, which many couldn’t pay. Hatred for the BUS grew. The panic hit the poorer classes hardest, with some mothers taken from their children for owing a few dollars. People hated debtors’ prisons.

Land Act of 1820

Under the Land Act of 1800 (amended in 1804), a pioneer could buy a minimum of 160 acres at $2 an acre and pay back over four years with an $80 down payment. This meant that when hard times hit, entire communities wouldn’t be able to pay because they had to sign their names to so many acres. The improved Land Act of 1820 made things easier: 80 acres, $1.25 an acre, $100 total. Less acre meant less commitment, less chance of failure.

The West

The West was by far the most nationalistic section, because its’ states were newer or non-existent and it learned to depend on the national government, which gave it its land. Also, people from many different states created the West.

Nine new states joined the union between 1791 and 1819. They were admitted alternately, slave or free.

The explosive movement westward was partly the usual movement and partly the new “Ohio fever” feeling, in which European immigrants came in search of cheap land. Also, people moved west after suffering setbacks from the embargo. The defeat of the Indians by Harrison and Jackson made the west safer. New highways and roads improved transportation, notably the Cumberland Road from western Maryland to Illinois. Also, 1811 saw the use of steamboats for travel upstream.

The Westerns had a soft voice, because of their small population and influence. They had to ally with other sections and had several demands. They wanted cheap land, partly achieved by the Land Act of 1820. They wanted cheap transportation, party achieved, but held back by presidents and New Englanders (see Calhoun: Bonus Bill of 1817). They wanted cheap money, hindered by the BUS.

Missouri Debate and Compromise

Problem: Tallmadge Amendment

Missouri, after reaching the population requirement, asked to become a slave state, since its soil and climate were good for slave labor. The House passed the Tallmadge Amendment, which stated that no more slaves could be brought into Missouri, and slaves already in Missouri would be gradually emancipated. Slaveholding southerners, pioneers, and Federalists were against this.

Northern states were growing in prosperity and population much faster than Southern states since 1788. This meant the North would have more representation in the House. The South therefore relied on the Senate. In order to keep its representation in the Senate, it needed to maintain as many slave states as free states. Currently, there were eleven to eleven.

Also, Missouri was the first state carved completely west of the Mississippi, and southerners feared for the future of Louisiana Purchase states and older southern states along with their peculiar institution of slavery. The North also started morally opposing slavery.

Compromise: Missouri Compromise

Henry Clay of Kentucky played a leading role in creating and passing the Missouri Compromise. This compromise had three parts, 1.) Missouri would become a slave state, 2.) Maine would cede from Massachusetts and become an independent free state to keep the balance, and 3.) slavery would be prohibited in the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase north of the southern boundary of Missouri.

Although the North won the right to forbid slavery in the Louisiana Purchase, the land wasn’t good for slave labor anyway. Neither side was completely happy, neither side was completely sad.

The Missouri Compromise lasted for 34 years and preserved the nation until the issue of slavery needed a war to resolve it. However, the compromise bought time for the North to grow more prosperous and increase its chances of defeating the South.

The South developed its own sectional nationalism and allied the West.

Compromise was necessary to create the nation. When there was no compromise, war broke out.

Election of 1820: Monroe Reelection

The Missouri Compromise and the panic of 1819 should have hurt Monroe’s popularity. But he was so popular, and Federalist opposition was so weak that he won re-election in 1820 with every electoral vote but one. He was the only president to be re-elected after a financial panic.

John Marshall

Chief Justice John Marshall was a “deathbed” Federalist appointee of John Adam’s lame duck period. As the Federalist party died and no longer held office, Marshall, who would serve for life, still remained and maintained Federalist sentiments. He served at Valley Forge and felt the pain of a weak national authority, asserted the judicial branch’s authority in the case of Marbury v. Madison, served for thirty-four years, only had six weeks of legal schooling, had the support of newly nationalistic Republicans in appointed to the Supreme Court, was Jefferson’s cousin, liked the wealthy, and disliked the “unwashed masses.”

Marshall v. States’ Rights

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Cause: Maryland attempted to destroy a branch of the BUS by taxing its notes.

Ruling: Marshall re-asserted the right of the BUS to exist and denied Maryland the right to tax it. He reasoned that the US has the right to create what the nation needs. It also has the right to preserve what it creates. Having the power to tax means having the power to destroy. Therefore the states do not have the power to destroy what the nation is responsible for preserving.

What this means: strengthened federal authority, slap at state infringements; strong example of “loose construction”

Cohens v. Virginia (1821)

Cause: The Virginia courts found the Cohens guilty of illegally selling lottery tickets, and they appealed.

Ruling: The Cohens were convicted, but Marshall asserted the Supreme Court’s right to rule over state supreme court decisions regarding concerning federal powers.

What this means: slap at states’ rights, assertion of federal rights

Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)

Cause: New York attempted to give a company a monopoly on sea trade between New York and New Jersey.

Ruling: Marshall reminded New York that Congress has control over interstate commerce.

What this means: slap at states’ rights, assertion of federal rights

Marshall v. Democratic Excesses

Fletcher v. Peck (1810)

Cause: The George legislature was bribed into granting 35 million acres of Mississippi country land to private speculators. The next legislature, responding to public anger, canceled the transaction.

Ruling: The Supreme Court declared that the Constitution forbids state laws from violating contracts and that the legislative grant was a contract.

What this means: protected property rights against popular pressures, early assertion of Supreme Court right to invalidate state laws conflicting with federal Constitution

Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819)

Cause: Dartmouth College was given a charter by King George III in 1769, but the New Hampshire state legislature wanted to change it. Alumni Daniel Webster defended the college.

Ruling: Marshall decided that the charter was a contract and the state couldn’t violate the contract.

What this means: businesses protected from domination by states (good), chartered corporations more able to escape public control (bad)

Webster, Marshall, and J. Q. Adams

Webster constantly left his seat in the Senate to speak before the Supreme Court. Webster often agreed with Marshall. Marshall increased nationalism, supported the federal Union, and created a stable, uniform environment for business. Monroe’s secretary of state, John Quincy Adams, son of John Adams, proved to be one of the greatest secretaries of state.

Treaty of 1818

Monroe’s administration negotiated the Treaty of 1818 with Britain, which 1.) permitted Americans to share the Newfoundland fisheries with Canada, 2.) fixed the northern limits of Louisiana at the 49th parallel, and 3.) provided for a 10-year joint occupation of the Oregon country between America and Britain

Florida

Earlier Information

Uninvited American settlers claimed West Florida against Spain in 1810. Congress ratified this grab in 1812, and in the War of 1812, during which Spain was allied to Britain, a small American army seized the Mobile region of Florida, which currently forms part of Mississippi and Alabama. The rest of Florida remained under Spanish control.

America’s Opportunity

Revolutions broke out all over South America against Spain (Argentina 1816, Venezuela 1817, Chile 1818, and more). Spain was forced to divert forces from Florida to suppress them. Indians, runaway slaves, and white outcasts from Florida took advantage of the decrease in authority and poured over the border, burning and scalping before running back across the border.

In 1817, the US responded by reviving General Andrew Jackson to punish the Spanish outlaws and pursue them into Spanish territory if necessary, but to respect all Spanish posts. Jackson swept through Florida, hanged two Indian chiefs, executed two British subjects for assisting Indians, seized the two most important Spanish posts in the area (St. Marks and Pensacola), and overthrew a Spanish governor.

Jackson had disobeyed instructions to respect Spanish posts. Monroe and his cabinet generally agreed to avowing or disciplining Jackson, except for the patriot and nationalist John Quincy Adams, who had a milestone suggestion. He declared that Spain violated the Spanish American Treaty of 1795 by not suppressing its outlaws, and gave Spain two options, 1.) control its people (nearly impossible for Spain), 2.) cede Florida to the United States).

Adams-Onís Treaty

Spain decided to get rid of Florida, which Spain thought it would lose anyway, while it could still gain something for it. The Adams-Onís Treaty, informally named the Florida Purchase Treaty of 1819, had three points: 1.) Spain cedes Florida, 2.) Spain cedes shadowy claims to Oregon, 3.) America abandons shadowy claims to Texas land, later part of Mexico. The western boundary of Louisiana would run zigzag along the Rockies and then along the 42nd parallel.