Download 1301.Nine.Growth of the Republic.Lecture

1301 Topic Nine: The Growth of the Republic 1816 to 1840
In the years following the War of 1812, nationalism flourished in the United States. The war had brought
a profound sense of pride and unity to the new nation. The war was not a positive affair for everyone
however. By 1830, the natives in the Northwest had been removed and the Spanish in the Southeast
had ceded their territory to the growing United States. In this lecture, we will talk about the continuing
expansion of the young United States, her fragile identity, and the harmonious years before sectional
conflicts pulled the country apart.
Expanding Into the Frontier
The overall theme of this lecture must be westward growth and territorial expansion. These are the
years when Americans moved into the western territories in large numbers (and by westward
territories, we mean those territories between the Appalachia Mts. and the Mississippi River). In 1810,
one in seven Americans lived in the West. By 1840, over one third of Americans lived there. The number
of states rose from the original thirteen to twenty-two by 1819. The price of land beyond the
Appalachians was also cheap, encouraging settlers to migrate there.
White settlers were able to move westward because the Native Americans in the Northwest were no
longer a threat. The purchase of Louisiana Territory had provided a tidy solution to the “Indian
Problem”. President Thomas Jefferson had wanted the natives to either be removed to reservations
located west of the Mississippi River or to be integrated into white society as farmers. Natives in the
Northwest Territory had other ideas. A major leader arose in the early 1800’s and united the tribes
there. Tecumseh refused the idea of adopting white culture and pushed Native American ideals and
beliefs. Not only did he rally the tribes of the Northwest, but he allied with the British in the War of
1812. Tecumseh was killed in 1813, during the War of 1812, and Native American resistance in the
Northwest died with him. The irony of Tecumseh is that he becomes a Native America "hero" to white
Americans, the ideal of the noble warrior defending his land. The Civil War General William Tecumseh
Sherman is named after him.
The Administration of James Monroe 1817-1825
The time period of the presidency of James Monroe, the fifth president (and the fourth from Virginia),
was sometimes called the Era of Good Feelings. Monroe went on a good will tour of the country soon
after his election and since there were no political parties, partisan bickering was absent from
government. Monroe was the last of the Revolutionary generation to be president.
Panic of 1819
In 1819 a financial crisis swept the country. Like all economic recessions, the Panic of 1819 had several
causes: falling cotton prices, the 2nd Bank of the U.S. calling in loans from state banks (they were
concerned with loose money practices) which tightened credit and worsened the economic situation,
and the federal government demanding payments for land sales in hard specie. In addition, Europe had
recovered from the Napoleonic Wars and demand for American exports had dropped. The recession
showed hints of the sectional split that would tear the country apart in a few decades as Southerners
abandoned support for the American System and national economic progress. The South and the West
blamed the recession on special interests, especially the Bank of the U.S. and manufacturers in the
Northeast, who lobbied for protective tariffs.
Missouri Compromise
In the middle of the financial crisis, Missouri Territory applied for statehood in 1819. Missouri was the
first territory from the Louisiana Purchase area to do so, and this posed a particular problem for
Congress (who ratified state constitutions). The U.S. Constitution made no mention of slavery in future
territories. Who then got to decide whether or not to allow slavery in future states? Representative
James Talmadge of New York proposed an amendment to the Missouri state constitution in which all
slave in the new state would be freed by the age of 25. Furthermore, the importation of new slaves into
Missouri would be illegal. Southerners in Congress were furious. They argued that no restrictions should
be put on the entrance of a state, and that it was up to the citizens of Missouri, not Congress, to decide
whether or not to allow slavery in their state. The Tallmadge Amendment passed in the House, but not
in the Senate. Eventually, after two years of acrimonious debate, a compromise was reached. Maine
would become a state (free) and Missouri would finally gain statehood (as a slave state). Also, slavery
would be prohibited in the Louisiana Purchase above the 36.30th parallel. Known as the Missouri
Compromise, it did not solve the question of slavery in the territories. It merely postponed the
inevitable showdown between the North and the South. The rancor over Missouri’s statehood did show
the sectional strife that would eventually tear the country apart.
Foreign Policy
The Treaty of Ghent in 1814 ended the last war that the United States would fight with Great Britain
(incidentally, it was also the first war that the new country declared on a foreign country). Since that
time, the United States has enjoyed a stable working relationship with her mother country. In 1818, the
Rush-Bagot Treaty demilitarized the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain. It created the longest nonmilitarized border in the world. The Convention of 1818 formed the border between Canada and the
United States at the 49th parallel (in the Louisiana Purchase Territory to the Rocky Mountains) and jointly
established control over Oregon Territory.
In 1818, General Andrew Jackson invaded Spanish Florida in what became known as the First Seminole
War. Not only were the Seminole Natives attacking settlements in Georgia, but escaped slaves were
fleeing to the Seminoles in the Florida swamps. Gen. Jackson not only took his troops into Florida, but he
also executed two British subjects that he deemed spies. Although both Britain and Spain protested the
actions of the United States and Jackson, neither was in a position to do much. Britain relied on
American trade and Spain’s American colonies were in full rebellion against their mother country.
Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, took this opportunity to press Spain to cede all of Florida to the
United States. Spain really had no choice. In 1819, the Adams-Onis Treaty gave Florida to the United
States. In addition, the treaty gave the U.S. Spain’s claim to Oregon Territory (the British also claimed it).
And what of the Spanish colonies that were fighting for independence? In Mexico, the battle for
independence started in 1810, by disaffected criollos (Creoles), but eventually, the mestizos and
Amerindians would join the fight. In 1821, Mexico had gained its independence from Spain. In South
American, a charismatic leader by the name of Simon Bolivar led the fight for freedom against Spanish
rule. Under his military leadership, Bolivia (named after him, of course), Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and
Columbia gained their independence. At first, the United States did nothing about these fledgling
countries. After the Adams-Onis Treaty however, the United States grew concerned that other European
countries might interfere and even re-colonize these new nations. Great Britain shared the United States
concern. The British government urged the U.S. to make a statement concerning the new American
countries. In 1823, President Monroe made a speech, which came to be known as the Monroe Doctrine.
Essentially, the Monroe Doctrine stated that the Western Hemisphere was closed to European
colonization and that the United States would not tolerate further expansion in the colonies that still
existed. In return, the United States would not interfere in European affairs (Isolationism again). Of
course, the United States had no power to enforce the Monroe Doctrine; however, the British Navy did,
and there was a tacit agreement between the two countries that the United States would issue the
warning and the British Navy would execute the Monroe Doctrine. In some ways, this is the beginning of
the special relationship that the United States and Great Britain would share to this very day.
The American System
The population growth in the western territories (and soon to be states) greatly changed the political,
economic and even topographical landscape of the country. The name given to most of these changes is
the American System, where Jeffersonian ideas of limited government, states’ rights and a nation based
on agrarian farming had to give way to more Hamiltonian policies, especially using federal power to
promote national growth.
The largest group that promoted these new national policies was the western politicians from the new
states of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee and so on. Combined with their like-minded cohorts from the
seaboard states, this younger generation of Congressmen enacted legislation to try and create not only
a unified country, but also a unified people. Why their endeavor failed should be one of the critical
questions of this lecture.
Transportation Revolution
One of the major accomplishments of the American System was building a transportation network that
connected the United States. Historians sometimes call this the Transportation Revolution. Before 1816,
any infrastructure was built by states and private companies, which meant that roads were intrastate.
The cost of roads also had to be financed by making them toll roads, which meant that either very few
were built, or not very many people used them. The Transportation Revolution shifted the burden of
infrastructure to the federal government, most especially the cost of building and maintaining these
new transportation systems. Now the precedent had been set for a federally built and sustained
transportation system.
Road systems are built which connect the east and west of the country. The names of the road systems
also provide for a sense of connectivity (the National Road, the Union Road). Farmers not only have a
way to pack up and move west, but they also have a way to get their produce to market.
Not only were roads built during the transportation revolution. Canals were built at a furious rate during
this time period. Canals connected major waterways, and had to be dredged by hand (no earthmovers
or bulldozers or dump trucks yet). The most successful of the canals to be built during this time was the
Erie Canal, which connected Buffalo, NY on Lake Erie to Albany, NY on the Hudson River. From Albany,
goods were shipped south to New York City. It is because of the Erie Canal that New York City is the
financial capital of the United States today.
The third part of the transportation revolution was steamboats. Robert Fulton engineered the first
working steamboat, the Clermont in 1807. These new steamboats, equipped with their steam engines
(the technology also stolen from England), paddled up and down the major river systems. During the
early years, it was a risk to travel on a steamboat: the engines had a tendency to blow up, river debris
would damage ships and boats would get stuck on sandbars. The steamboat lowered the cost of
shipping agricultural goods to market however, and it lowered the price of manufactured items for
settlers living on the frontier.
The results of this revolution (globally we ARE in the Age of Revolutions, revolutions of all kinds) are
staggering. The transportation revolution was essential in both uniting the country and developing the
United States agriculturally, industrially and technologically. In addition, the increase of federal power
increased the growth of nationalism. A key feature of the transportation revolution is that it occurred
mostly in the North. The South continued to rely on its natural river systems for transport. The result of
this is that little technology and science was developed in the South.
Second Bank of the United States
Another part of the American System was the chartering of a Second Bank of the United States in 1816.
The War of 1812 showed the federal government the difficulties of running the country (especially
during wartime) without a central fiscal agency. In addition, there was a huge expansion of the banking
system in the United States. Since there was no oversight of the credit system, private banks were not
required to keep cash reserve. Private banks also printed their own bank notes, leading to inflation. To
compound the problem, private banks were not required to keep hard currency in reserve. After the
War of 1812, many private banks refused to redeem their notes for gold or silver. The new Bank of the
United States, like the first, would serve as the depository of government funds and would issue a
uniform currency.
Tariff of 1816
Congress also raised the tariff rate to protectionist’s levels (15% to 30% depending on the product).
During the War of 1812, industry had grown at a rapid pace since Americans were cut off from British
goods, especially textiles. After the war concluded, the British were alarmed at the growth of American
manufacturing. Parliament undertook a policy to glut the American market with cheap British goods, at
a price that was below the cost to actually manufacture these goods. The British argued that for a year
or two, the British economy would suffer, but it would kill American industry. In response, Congress
raised tariff rates to protectionist levels. American industry survived.
Industrial Growth/Agricultural Growth (First Industrial Revolution)
In 1813 Francis Lowell "appropriated" the plans for a British textile machine and returned to the United
States. Lowell built the first textile factory in the United States. Soon textile factories were appearing all
over the Northeast, concentrated in Massachusetts. These new factories led to specialization of labor.
Before Lowell, women could earn money making cloth through the "putting out" system. Owners of
textile businesses would leave bags of wool or cotton at the house of their "employee", who would go
through the process of turning it into the cloth (combing, spinning, weaving, and sometime even sewing
the cloth into a specialized product). At the new textile factories, female employees concentrated on
one job only, and the whole process was done at the factory instead of at home.
In the north and west, subsistence farming gave way to commercial farming. In subsistence farming,
husbands and wives each had different duties on the farm, each doing chores to ensure the survival of
the family. By 1820, a market economy appeared in the United States. Farm families would grow crops
and produce goods for the marketplace. Profits from farming were used to buy manufactured goods,
such as cloth, soap, candles, etc. The new transportation system linking the country meant that the cost
of getting these manufactured goods to market was much cheaper than before.
It must be emphasized that this shift in economic and work practices was mainly confined to the
Northeast (and marginally in the West). This industrial awakening applied to only a small portion of the
population. Most Americans still earned their living as yeoman farmers. The seeds of sectional discord,
however, had been sown.
The Marshall Court
During the 34 years that John Marshall was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, national power was
cemented through the court system. Furthermore, the Supreme Court also increased its own power
during the Marshall years, becoming a fully equal branch of government alongside the legislative and
executive domains.
We have already discussed Marbury v. Madison. Below is a list of important Supreme Court decisions
(this is not a complete list of all the cases heard before the Marshall Court) that increased the power of
the federal government. More importantly, these cases established the supremacy of the federal
government over the state governments’ and their judiciary systems.
Fletcher v. Peck (1810): The Supreme Court has the power to nullify (declare unconstitutional) state
laws.
McCullock v. Maryland (1819): Next to Marbury v. Maryland, this Supreme Course case had sweeping
implications, and was/is one of the most important judicial decisions of the high court. The background
of the case is that the state of Maryland tried to levy a tax on the Baltimore branch of the Bank of the
United States. Chief Justice Marshall himself wrote the opinion. First, the court declared that the Bank of
the United States was constitutional. Marshall stated that “the United States was not created by the
states, but by the people”. Second, the court ruled that Maryland had no power to levy a tax on the
Bank of the United States; indeed, that no state had any power over any federal institution. Marshall
wrote that “the power to tax involves the power to destroy”, and that states cannot check the power of
the federal government. Again, the Marshall court asserted the power of the federal government over
the states.
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824): While this case might seem minor, its repercussions carry on to this day. The
case involved ferry traffic on the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey. The state of New
York had given had given Aaron Ogden a monopoly on ferry traffic between New York and New Jersey.
However, the U.S. Congress had given Thomas Gibbons the same rights of monopoly. Ogden sued
Gibbons in the New York courts and won, but Gibbons took his case to the Supreme Court. There, the
Marshall Court ruled in favor of Gibbons. In a very broad ruling, the court invoked the Interstate
Commerce Clause, and wrote that it not only applied to goods, but also to navigation. Since the ferry
business was conducted between two states, Gibbons’ monopoly took precedence over Ogden’s. There
was a greater implication to Gibbons v. Ogden however. Since the high court ruled that the commerce
clause applied to navigation, the federal government now had the power to build infrastructure, most
especially roads that would cross state lines. Eventually, it would be railroads, bridges, etc. It was the
Gibbons v. Ogden ruling that would put the development of the United States’ transportation system in
the hands of the federal government. After this Supreme Court ruling, Congress passed the River and
Harbors Act (1824), in which the Army Corp.of Engineers was authorized to inspect the major river
systems, and then to remove debris and dredge the major systems to make water transportation safe
for river traffic. The bill was renewed in 1826.
During the Marshall years, the Supreme Court established itself as the ultimate authority of the
constitutionality of federal and state laws. It also established the premise that the federal government
was supreme over the states, and that the states had little power to check the power of the central
government.
Administration of John Quincy Adams 1825-1829
The Election of 1824 was a bit unusual in that the state legislatures chose presidential candidates, due to
the fact that there were no political real political parties in existence. The three main candidates were
John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, Andrew Jackson of Tennessee and Henry Clay of Kentucky.
Jackson received the majority of popular votes, but the required majority of electoral votes. The election
turned into a run-off between Adams and Jackson, with the House of Representatives voting to decide
the winner. In the final vote, Henry Clay, who despised Andrew Jackson, persuaded legislators from
Kentucky to vote for Adams. Thus, John Quincy Adams was elected the 6th president of the United States
(and the first president since his father that was not from Virginia). When Adams named Henry Clay his
Secretary of State, both men were accused of making a “corrupt bargain”, in which Clay would make
Adams president first, and then Clay would become president after. Consider the precedent that had
been set:
Thomas Jefferson: Secretary of State for George Washington
James Madison: Secretary of State for Thomas Jefferson
James Monroe: Secretary of State for James Madison
John Quincy Adams: Secretary of State for James Monroe
There was no evidence of a corrupt bargain, but the scandal stuck. Washington politics divided itself into
two camps: the Adams/Clay supporters and the Jackson faction.
The son of second president John Adams and Abigail Adams, John Quincy Adams had been exposed to
politics from birth. As a diplomat and Secretary of State he was brilliant. He learned diplomacy early; he
served as his father’s secretary when John Adams was Ambassador to Britain. Quincy, as he was called,
was fourteen years old. He had served as Ambassador to almost all the European nations, negotiated
the Treaty of Ghent, arranged the transfer of Florida and wrote the Monroe Doctrine. Honest, brilliant,
dedicated, eloquent, Adams should have been one of the top ten presidents of the United States.
Adams was a firm believer in nationalism and continuing the American System. By this time, however,
Southerners had abandoned Hamiltonian policies. In addition, Vice President Calhoun of South Carolina
had also switched positions to a more southern approach and worked actively against Adams. The real
problem that hindered Adams, however, was the Jacksonian supporters in Congress who worked
actively to defeat the measures and policies that Adams wanted to implement: a National University,
federal support for education, science, and arts, more building of infrastructure, and a high tariff to
protect American industries. He was able to convince Congress to adopt a uniform weights and
measures system.
It was during Adams’ Administration that the Revolutionary generation passed into history. On July 4,
1826, the 50th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, both the president’s
father, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, died. The two men, who had once been bitter adversaries,
reconciled later in life, and then died within hours of each other, John Adams at Quincy, Thomas
Jefferson at Monticello. The generation that had fought and won the Revolution, that had founded a
Republic based on Enlightenment principles, was no more.
Adams lost the Election of 1828 to Andrew Jackson. President Adams did not retire from public life
however. He went on to a very distinguished career as a Senator from Massachusetts, in which he
served in that capacity for 17 years. An ardent opponent of slavery, it was Adams who defended the
slaves who had mutinied and captured the slave ship the Amistad. So great was his devotion to public
life that Adams collapsed on the Senate floor in 1848 and died two days later.
Expanding Democracy
As more western states joined the Union, the qualifications for voting were eased. Universal suffrage
(white males only) was written into state constitutions. Religious qualifications were removed also.
Population was counted by person, not by taxpayers. Presidential electors were transferred to the
people, instead of state legislatures.
Although there was wealth inequality in the country, it was important to maintain the appearance of
equality. James Monroe was the last president to dress in the 18th century style (powdered wig, knee
breeches, satin stockings, buckled shoes). The new style of dress consisted of trousers and a coat,
formerly the outfit of the working man. In inns, there were no more private rooms for the wealthy.
Everyone ate in the new common room, the restaurant. Americans set great store in trying to maintain
the idea that everyone was equal.