How did America change after the War of 1812? This essay describes the economic and political changes after the War of 1812, including the effects of the cotton gin and Sectionalism.

James Monroe, Eli Whitney, Panic of 1819

Change occurs in every time period. Today Americans work and communicate faster through home computers and cell phones than they did thirty years earlier. Change also occurred early in the nineteenth century. After General Andrew Jackson led the United States victory at New Orleans, nationalism increased and Americans looked forward with confidence to a future filled with changes. They would not be disappointed. The years after the War of 1812 produced great economic and political changes.

The economic changes of the years following the War of 1812 varied from new innovations to government policies. Eli Whitney's greatest inventions, the cotton gin and system of interchangeable parts, both helped spur the growing American economy and industrial revolution. The cotton gin improved the output of workers by a thousand percent and in ten years, the production of cotton in the country rose from 5 million pounds to 63 million pounds, thus making the South the leading cotton producer, shipping it to Britain and New England. Unfortunately, the cotton gin also caused a higher demand for slave labor, and by 1860, approximately 33% of Southerners were slaves. The system of interchangeable parts introduced Americans to mass production. When Eli Whitney took the government order of 10,000 muskets, he showed that the majority of goods could be mass-produced. Both the cotton gin and mass production method would revolutionize the United States. In addition, tariffs helped protect American trade. The British stored goods during the war and flooded them on America when peace was achieved. To combat the inundation of imports, the national government issued a tariff to encourage people to buy American products and stimulate the growth of the economy. Moreover, the tariff assisted in rebuilding the federal treasury. After a growth in trade, the Panic of 1819, the country's first major economic setback, hit. Europeans demanded American grain, meat, tobacco and cotton; farm products...
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