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Era Of Good Feelings Dbq

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The Era of Good Feelings, which is the term used to describe James Monroe’s two terms in office, led to the growth of the United States. Under James Madison’s presidency, the war of 1812 occurred, which led to an era of increased nationalism and progress as seen by many historians, and it was to a large degree. But at the same time, the issues of slavery arose and sectionalism increased, which also played a significant role during the Era of Good Feelings. Both nationalism and sectionalism affected the United States economically, for needs such as internal improvements and politically, for the growth of the democratic-republicans. However, out of the two, nationalism was of greater importance, during this era because it was the growing factor …show more content…

Politically, the power of the Democratic-Republican with support of the people strengthened nationalism by the American Expansion westward. The Westward Expansion was the a major source of nationalism in the Era of Good Feelings because the United States gained more land west that was previously owned by other nations such as France. Also the Monroe Doctrine increased nationalistic pride because it effectively told European powers that they can’t colonize further in the Western Hemisphere without intervention form the United States, which in turn established the power of the United States. Through Economics, Congressman Henry Clay spoke to congress to motivate them for economic improvements within the country, such as levying a protective tariff to protect America’s industries from foreign competition and for internal improvements to be funded by the federal government. These proposed reforms expressed nationalistic pride and motivated Henry Clay to propose the American System to promote growth in all sections of the country with a protective tariff, national bank, and internal improvements. Historically, the reason for Clay’s plan for economic improvements was the War of 1812 because during this time, the war allowed for growth of the American industry due to foreign policies such as the Embargo Act of 1807 and Nonintercourse Act of 1809 (Document 4). …show more content…

The Northern and Southern states began to feel divided because of their regional differences. The main reason for their regional differences was of slavery. When Missouri requested for statehood in 1820 as a slave state, it caused trouble between the north and south because it would it tip the balance of the senate in the South’s favor because there was eleven free states and eleven slave states in the senate. As a compromise, Henry Clay proposed that Missouri enter as a slave state, Maine enters as a free state, and prohibit slavery in the Louisiana Territory above the 36˚30’. The Missouri Compromise greatly increased sectionalism in the South. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams supported the compromise, but he expressed that it only fixed the issue temporarily because slavery isn’t a resolvable issue unless the whole union is free of slavery. Adams implies to himself in his diary that he knows in the future that slavery would further separate the north and south but for now it maintained peace in the union (Document 5). Document 6 agrees with Document 5 because Thomas Jefferson says that increased compromise and putting off the issue of slavery will only increase sectionalism because it will lead to deeper hatred between the North and South. But the document shows bias as well because Jefferson is a slave owner himself and knows slavery is wrong but he

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