The Era Of Good Feelings During The Civil War

The Era of Good Feelings was the period in American history that began right after the War of 1812 and lasted until 1825. During this time, an industrial revolution had erupted in the north that saw transportation improvements and the implication of the American System proposed by Henry Clay. With this came a strengthened economy and a strengthened status. Furthermore, the time was dominated by one political party, the Democratic Republican Party and corresponded the term of James Monroe, who was elected twice with very little competition. As a result of a single party political domination, the country had little political strife; however, there was still tension amongst the people with the rising issue of slavery. Nonetheless, the unifying
During the Era of Good Feelings, cotton plantations were rising in the south. This rise saw a need for extensive labor to keep up with the cash crop; therefore, slaves were depended upon in the south. With slaves of course came controversy. It's morality was opposed by the northern states who lived very different lives, relying more on factory work rather than plantations, and separation over the matter of slavery would exist in America from this time through the Civil War, dividing the country into slave states and free states. As a result of sectionalism, new policies were issued in order to keep a positive atmosphere in the country, one of which being the Missouri Compromise. Tensions between the north and the south came to a head after Missouri’s 1819 request for admission to the Union as a slave state, which threatened to upset the balance between slave states and free states. To keep the peace, Congress organized a two-part compromise in 1820 called the Missouri Compromise. This compromise granted Missouri’s request but also admitted Maine as a free state. It also passed an amendment that drew an imaginary line across the former Louisiana Territory, establishing a boundary between free and slave states that remained the law of the land until it was negated by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. This policy promoted sectionalism as it continued the separation of states but for the time being, put the argument over slavery at ease. As stated by John Quincy Adams, “I have favored this Missouri Compromise….If the union is to be dissolved, slavery is precisely the question upon which it ought to break. For the present, however, this contest is laid to sleep” ( ). Apart from politics, sectionalism can be seen in southern ideals. According to a graph titled “Vote on the Tariff of 1816 in the U.S. House of Representatives,” the southern states were the only states that predominantly were against