Era of Good FeelingsThe "Era of Good Feelings" was not always peaceful as it's name implies. It was full of tension regarding tariffs, slavery, and political power within the Republican party. There was little political opposition-- atleast on the surface. It was a time of much change.
Changes
Tariff of 1816The Tariff of 1816 imposed a 20 percent tax on all imported goods. It was the first "protective tariff" in American history. However, the tariff did not work in favor of the United States.
The Tariff of 1816 backfired. It caused other countries to raise their prices. It also caused a sectional crises within the U.S. The South, North, and American mill and iron industries argued in favor or against the tariff. The American System/Henry ClayPanic of 1819The Panic of 1819 was caused when the Second Bank of the United States caused a financial crisis by overspeculated on land in the west and tries to curb inflation by pulling back on credit for state banks. The U.S. economy was also hit hard when there was a drop in demand for American goods abroad and a widening trade deficit with Britain. It led banks to foreclose famers who couldn't pay back their debt.
Tallmadge AmendmentThe Tallmadge Amendment, proposed by James Tallmadge, would not allowed any more slaves to be brought into the state and would have provided for the emancipation of children of Missouri slaves at the age of 25 years.
Southerners were enraged by the amendment. They believed in was an attempt by the North to abolish slavery. Southerns crushed the amendment in the Senate. |
President James Monroe
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Missouri Compromise/36º 30º Line
The Senate wanted to maintain an equilibrium between slave states and free states. The Missouri Compromise was the admission of Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. In addition, slavery was not permitted in states above the 36º 30º line (with the exception of Missouri which layer above the line.) The compromised was accepted by the North and South.
Rush-Bagot TreatyThe Rush-Bagot Treaty, signed in 1817, provided for the demilitarization of the Great Lakes and frontier borders and created the longest unfortified border in the world between the United States and British North America.
Adams-Onis TreatyThe Adams-Onis Treaty is the United State's purchase of Florida from Spain in 1819.
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Monroe DoctrineThe Monroe Doctrine, penned by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, warned European powers to stay out of the Western Hemisphere. Many European countries were both amused and irritated by its contents and did not take it seriously.
It quickly became a the basis of US. foreign policy from the point on. |