Dbq Era Of Good Feelings

AP United States History
Document-Based Question

After its victory over Britain in the War of 1812, the United States of America became immersed in national pride which led to Era of Good Feelings, a period of unprecedented political unity. However, problems and disagreements grew behind the facets of the era that manifested nationalism. Sectionalism began to form as the dissent between the north and the south and different political figures intensified. Divergence among politicians was one of the factors that made the nationalism of Era of Good Feelings break apart. After the Federalist Party was virtually spelled to end after Hartford Convention, which accused the party and appointed Monroe as the president during elections of
1816 and 1820(I). Even though Monroe did not have to deal with the diverging policies of different parties, the dissent within the Republican Party at the time planted seeds for sectionalism. An example is John Marshall, as shown in document (D). Although the Federalist Party died out, Marshall predominated the judiciary system and made decisions that advocated Federalist beliefs and thus halted the unification. He made decisions for controversial issues such as McCulloch versus Maryland case and Dartmouth versus Woodward case; his judgments included not allowing the states to tax governmental institutions and making states subject to contracts, by which he manifested his Federalist interpretation of the government and the internal split that existed within the superficial “good feelings.” Also, new political adversities were created. In 1824 the presidential votes were split among four different candidates, as opposed to the almost unanimous election in 1820.(I) This was due to higher competition among the candidates and the “corrupt bargain,” in which Henry Clay advocated Adams as the president in order to become secretary of state and created adversities among politicians. This again proved that the advent of new political parties was imminent. Disagreements and controversies over economic concerns also affirmed that sectionalism was emerging. Tariffs caused by Hamilton’s economic policies and Thomas Jefferson’s Embargo Act enraged the South as they thought the policies were to benefit only the North in the expense of the South, as in document (A), which reflects the perspective of the Southerners. The American plan set by Henry Clay served as a divider in a similar way; benefiting the North with tariffs, West with infrastructures and South with market connections only ended up spurring anger among the Southerners. Along with the tariffs and American plan was the Bank of the United States, which John Quincy Adams and Monroe supported. Though the bank was sometimes proven effective, the five-year gap between the first and second Bank of the United States plagued the economy by causing the Panic of 1819. Such economic measure upset the Southern farmers who believed that the bank was only benefiting the rich merchants and traders in the North, and caused internal dissents between the federal government and states as shown in (D), ultimately leading to sectionalism. Moreover, different attitudes of the South and the North towards slavery, too, thwarted the firm establishment of nationalism during the Era of Good Feelings.

The difference in the nature of industries in the North and the South yielded another controversy around slavery.
The North predominantly relied on trade and mercantilist profit making, whereas the South depended on labor-intense plantation industries that mostly required use of slavery. As the borderline states became the hotbed of slavery debate, the North and the South attempted to reach consent by Missouri Compromise, which is quintessential evidence that depicts the conflict on the practice of slavery. After Missouri was denied from joining the union because of its headstrong persistence on keeping slavery, the North and the South were able to reach a compromise that first accepted Maine to the union as a free state and then accepting Missouri as a slave state. The compromise not only ended up with a geographical line of 33'30'' that dissected the union but also signified the intensifying sectionalism ((F)). Even if Missouri Compromise was able to bring forth a temporary loosening of tension, it was rather an evanescent remedy of sectionalism that only foreshadowed the worsening conflict between the two parts of the
country. Nonetheless, it is hard to neglect the sense of nationalism that developed during the Era of Good Feelings.
The triumph in the War of 1812 and the successful attempt to force the Spanish retreat from and give up Florida had opened the door of hegemony to the United States. The Monroe Doctrine emphasizes that the United States of America is no longer subordinate to Britain, and that it would serve as the protector of democracy in the Western hemisphere by claiming national "self-determination" and banning any further colonization or invasion at the region, thus solidifying the nation's position as one of the strongest in the world ((H)). Such elevation of country's status planted nationalistic pride in people's heart and unified them under the identity of one nation. The painting "Fourth of July Celebration"((C)) shows how the citizens manifested their heightened sense of national pride. However, the nationalism that led on to the Era of Good Feelings was only fleeting; the idea of national pride under one unified nation faded away as further complications on the issues of politics, economics and slavery exacerbated and as different views clashed on these
concerns. The United States' heightened status in the global society did evoke nationalism that paved the road for the Era of Good Feelings. Nevertheless, as the new partisans within the Republican Party were emerging, and as the North and the South clashed upon the issues of economic policies and slavery, the implicit sectionalism that was lingering gained power while nationalism fleeted away.