NationalismNationalismAndAnd

SectionalismSectionalism

Westward Expansion

1810 1820 1830

The American System

The plan rested on three Pillars:A new national bank

A tariff on imported manufactured goods

Federally financed internal improvements

Advocates of the American System

1. Capitalists - sought financial stability they envisioned would be provided by a reconstructed, rechartered, revitalized and honest Bank of the United States.

2. Manufacturers - sought to use protective tariffs to block competition.

3. Westerners – sought internal improvements such as roads, canals and dredged rivers at the expense of (other) taxpayers

Bank of theUnited States

First Bank had expired in 1811Financial Confusion

Difficult to fund warNow easy way to transfer fundsSuspect notes issued by State banks

Second Bank chartered in 1816Chartered for 20 yearsRepublicans hit by reality in 1812Debate set tone and pattern for the future

Republicans vs. FederalistsEast vs. West

Bank of theUnited States

Supported by capitalists

Opposed by states rights proponents

States sought to oust the bank from their bordersIndiana – only banks chartered by the state could

establish branches within the state

Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky & Ohio – levied taxes on out of state banks

Pennsylvania – state legislature proposed a constitutional amendment prohibiting Congress from chartering a bank to operate outside DC

The Bank and the Supreme CourtThe Bank and the Supreme Court

Three landmark decisions ofM’Culloch v. Maryland:

Constitutionality of the Bank upheld by loose constructionPower to tax involves the power to destroy, therefore a state could not destroy something legitimately created by the federal Congress – the BankGovernment “of the people” as a whole

STATES RIGHTSEvolution of the Constitutional Argument: Originally – Constitution created by people of

individual states acting as people of discrete political societies

Madison – Virginian Resolution claimed the Constitution had been created by the states acting as states

Marshall – M’Culloch v. Maryland denied states any role in the framing of the Constitution claiming it was created by the people as a whole

Impact of M’Culloch

States Rights proponents would hereafter adhere to Madison’s position that the states, not the people acting as discrete political societies, had created the Constitution.

Nationalists would adhere to Marshall’s idea that the people as a whole had framed the Constitution.

The original concept and understanding would be, for all practical purposes, lost.

Tariff Politics

Supporters:ManufacturersEconomic nationalists

Opponents:ShippersSouthern farmersStrict constructionists

Tariffs:Raise prices on the goods taxedDiscourage tradeEncourage local productionGenerate revenue for government

Internal Improvements

Journey of the New Orleans – 1811The Enterprise travels up-river from New Orleans to Louisville – 1814

James Monroe(1816-1824)

Convention of 1818

Boundary agreement between the U.S. and Britain

Established northern boundary of the Louisiana Purchase at 49th parallel (from Great lakes to the Rockies)

Established joint occupation of Oregon territoryEstablished modern boundary of MaineReconfirmed American fishing rights at

Newfoundland

Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819 (a.k.a. Trans-continental Treaty of 1821)

Boundary treaty between the U.S. and Spain

Spain ceded Florida to United StatesEstablished the western boundary of the

Louisiana PurchaseExtended boundary to Pacific Ocean at 42nd

parallel

Panic of 1819

Origins and Problems

• Originated in Europe and Spread to the US

• Drop in Cotton prices sparked a decline in other American products

• Farmers –º Had speculated in land because of easy creditº Unable to pay mortgages became destitute as bankers

foreclosed hoping to ease their own problems

Panic of 1819

US Bank• Had been involved in credit problems• New president of the bank restored sound basis, but at

great cost• Applied pressure on state banks• State banks applied pressure on debtors• Engendered a great deal of resentment toward the bank in

South and West• Many regarded the Bank as being responsible for the

Panic

Panic of 1819Consequences

• The Panic fostered widespread hostility to the privileges of the economic elites.

• Further spurred the American love for equality and the hatred of anything that threatened equality.

• Privileges became the antithesis of equality and therefore privilege became intolerable for many Americans.

• States, during the 1820’s, began to replace banknotes with hard money controlled by the state rather than private banks.

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Missouri Compromise

• Population growth in the free states had been greater than the growth rate in slave states

• The House of Representatives was dominated by representatives from nonslave states 105 to 80

• Senate was far more evenly divided◦ Eleven free states and ten slave states (Alabama, 1819)

◦ Illinois had a system of black apprentice labor that amounted to quasi-slavery

• Southerners also narrowly defeated a northern effort to prohibit slavery in the Arkansas Territory

The Missouri Compromise(1820)

The CompromiseMaintained slave/free balance in Senate

Missouri admitted as a slave state – March 6, 1820Maine admitted as a non-slave state March 15, 1820

Slavery prohibited above 36º 30’ (Southern border of Missouri)

Seemed to settle slave issue for foreseeable futureTwo free states likely in Michigan TerritoryTwo or three slave states likely

FloridaArkansas Territory (probably two states)

Balance of Louisiana Purchase believed uninhabitable

The Missouri Compromise

Missouri Compromise

Realities:Proposed Missouri Constitution prohibited blacks

for any cause whatsoever.Senate debates race and slavery in US (freedom)Could blacks be US citizensConsent does not mean endorsementMissouri Legislature refuses to add

consent/endorsement clausePresident Monroe declares Missouri a state 10

August 1821

Missouri CompromiseImplications

In actuality the only thing the Missouri Compromise did was to move slavery to the back burner: both sides agreed – though not formally and publicly – to ignore the subject in public for the foreseeable future

Neither Southern nor Northern majorities endorsed the key elements Southerners turned from the possibility of eventually accepting the

demise of slavery to a whole-hearted defense – it was good for the slaves

Northern resentment grew over the 3/5 clause in the US constitution Southerners may have voted in favor simply to get a slave state west of

the Mississippi River – Florida only possible expansion left in the east Eventually led to problems with Texas annexation Problems resurfaces in Dred Scott and Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854.

Oregon

Monroe Doctrine

The Monroe Doctrine(1823)

Four major points: Declared American continents off limits to further European

colonization Any European attempt would be viewed as a threat to U.S.

security

U.S. would not interfere in existing colonies

U.S. would keep out of Europe’s internal affairs

The Election of 1824

Four candidates emerged in the 1824 electionWilliam Crawford (Secretary of the Treasury)

John Q. Adams (Secretary of State)

Henry Clay (Speaker of the House)

Andrew Jackson

All were Republicans, no Federalist candidate