The Era of Good Feelings Explained


Mr. Beat


Era Of Good Feelings,James Monroe (US President),War Of 1812 (Military Conflict),James Madison (US President),Andrew Jackson (US President),John Quincy Adams (US President),Panic of 1819,Missouri Compromise (Literature Subject),Second Bank Of The United States (Building),McCulloch V. Maryland (Legal Case),Federalist Party (Political Party),Hartford Convention,history for kids

good morning good afternoon good evening and good night my name is mr. beat and I'm feeling pretty good how are you you know supposedly there was a time when much of the United States was feeling pretty good so good in fact they called it the era of good feelings once upon a time the United States fought a war with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called the war of 1812 surprisingly this war began in the year 1812 however it dragged on into the early part of 1815 while most British citizens today don't even remember the war of 1812 as the napoleonic wars with France were a much bigger deal at the time it's legacy is still felt by most Canadians and Americans today while this war was winding down in December 1814 New England Federalists members of the Federalist political party had several meetings to talk trash about the stuff they didn't like about the war democratic-republicans slavery and the rising power of the federal government no that sounds strange they were Federalist after all at these meetings there were even some Federalists who openly talked about seceding from the United States because they were so upset needless to say this didn't happen and a peace treaty was soon signed with Great Britain around the same time of these meetings which became known as the Hartford Convention Andrew Jackson led a ragtag group of soldiers to decisively beat the British in the battle Orleans yeah they hadn't heard about the peace treaty yet anyway this was an incredibly impressive victory for Jackson and his soldiers though they outnumber the Americans more than two to one the British had more than seven times the casualties simply put the Americans kicked but this victory really made the Federalists look bad their popularity was already on the decline anyway in fact within a couple years the Federalist Party barely existed it was the first major political party to fall this left one major political party the Democratic Republican Party James Madison a Democratic Republican who was the president during the War of 1812 now was just as popular as ever though the United States really didn't win the war they were at least able to defend themselves in the Battle of New Orleans and the Battle of Baltimore were two victories that greatly increased national pride throughout the country in fact Francis Scott Key wrote the poem which later became the lyrics for the star-spangled banner the national anthem of the United States after watching the Battle of Baltimore yep the United States felt pretty darn good about themselves after holding up the world's most powerful military and they were war United than they had ever been since first becoming a country not only that but after the war the US economy was doing very well however this was mostly because banks loaned out money to pretty much anybody and people were buying and investing like crazy and to top it off former Federalists weren't so upset that their old political party barely existed anymore because the Democratic Republicans were acting more and more like Federalists Democratic Republican leaders caused the federal government to become much more involved with the economy they passed protective tariffs or taxes on imports and exports to protect American businesses and they spent federal money on big infrastructure improvements in 1816 James Madison chartered the second bank of the United States with democratic-republicans acting so much like Federalists James Montreux easily won when he ran for president later that year winning over 80% of the electoral vote Monroe had a major goal of getting rid of former political divisions he never attacked the Federalist Party and echoed George Washington when he said political parties in general did more harm than good like Washington he attempted to make balanced choices for his cabinet also like Washington he began his presidency by going on a nationwide goodwill tour his trip through the northern states took 15 weeks in fact more Americans had seen him than they had any other sitting president up to that point even in New England the last Federalist stronghold he was treated kind of like a rock star the ladies certainly loved him for sure journalist Benjamin Russell described Monroe's reception in Boston as the beginning of a new quote era of good feelings for the nation the name stuck and today when historians mentioned the era of good feelings they are mostly talking about James Monroe's presidency Monroe later made two similar tours one of the Chesapeake Bay Area in 1818 and one of the south and west and 1819 everywhere he went people seemed to love him when he ran for re-election in 1820 he virtually ran unopposed in fact the only other president in American history to win an election so easily was you guessed it George Washington despite Monroe's popularity the year before his re-election the so-called era of good feelings began to unravel because the second bank of the United States printed a lot of currency inflation became a little bit out of control in response the bank made it harder to loan money out and state chartered banks began foreclosing on the heavily mortgaged farms and business properties they had financed in addition other countries stopped buying as much American materials and goods this led to high unemployment and widespread bankruptcies this financial crisis became known as the panic of 1819 and it caused many Americans to pay attention to politics for the first time because they were losing all their money in 1819 the country further divided over the fact that Missouri wanted to enter the union as a slave state which would upset the balance of slave states and free states northerners and southerners in Congress hotly debated the issue of the expansion of slavery but the Missouri Compromise helped at least temporarily ease tensions admitting Missouri as a slave state but admitting Maine as a free state and prohibiting slavery north of a line of latitude west of Missouri also in 1819 and McCulloch B Maryland the Supreme Court said it was okay for Congress to create a National Bank that was free from state interference this reignited the debate between those who wanted a strong federal government versus those who wanted strong state governments but many historians say the era of good feelings officially came to an end with the presidential election of 1824 three of montrose cabinet members John Quincy Adams John Calhoun and William Crawford all ran against each other for president in addition Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson were major candidates after Calhoun withdrew the other four ran a close race Jackson ended up with the most electoral votes and the majority of the popular vote but he failed to get the majority of electoral votes therefore the House of Representatives had to decide who would be President they chose John Quincy Adams mostly because Henry Clay had to withdraw from the race and threw his support to him suspiciously Adams turned around and selected him as Secretary of State Jackson not surprisingly was very angry at this his supporters called it a quote corrupt bargain throughout the presidency of John Quincy Adams Jackson's supporters said some pretty nasty things about him and even created a new political party the Democratic Party once again the nation was divided the era of the feelings was a unique period in American history rarely has there been a time when the tree has not been divided politically today it serves as a reminder that it is actually possible for our leaders and government to get along hopefully the era of good feelings someday won't be just an era but the norm [Music] see [Music] [Music]