Download Presidency Chart – James Madison (1809

Presidency Chart – James Monroe (1817 - 1825)
Election of 1816:
Issue: Nationalism
Election of 1820:
Issue: Nationalism
Candidates: Monroe (D-R);
Rufus King (Federalist)
Major figures in his administration:
 Secretary of State = JQAdams
 Sec. of Treasury = Wm. Crawford
 Sec. of War = John C. Calhoun
Candidates: Monroe only!!!!!!!!! Nobody ran
against him! WOW!
Era of Good Feelings:
When is it? 1816-1826/28
Why is it called the Era of Good Feelings?
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1. One political party = D-R = no party fights 
2. No foreign problems with Britain or France; feel like we won
War of 1812 
 3. Extreme nationalism = pride in being American citizens (not just
state citizens) 
 4. expansion & optimism about great future 
Is it really all “good feelings?” NO!!!!!!!!!
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1. D-R begin to spilt into two parties: supporters of Clay (B.I.T.)
supporters of Jackson (states’ rights)
 2. Domestic problems: SLAVERY tearing country apart = Sectional
Issues = states rights v. federal
 3. Panic of 1819
Foreign Affairs:
Rush-Bagot Agreement (1817-18):
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A treaty between the United States and the Britain that provided for the demilitarization of the Great Lakes, where many British naval
armaments and forts still remained from War of 1812.
 The treaty laid the basis for a demilitarized boundary between the U.S. and British Canada. This agreement was indicative of improving
relations between the United States and Great Britain in the period following the War of 1812. It eventually led to the Treaty of Washington
of 1871, which completed disarmament.
The Convention of 1818:
 The United States signed the Convention of 1818 with Great Britain in order to settle some issues left open by the Treaty of Ghent, which
four years earlier had ended the War of 1812.
 The new treaty stated that Britain and the United States would jointly occupy Oregon Territory for 10 years (an arrangement that lasted
until 1846)
It stated the 49th parallel would be the northern border of the Louisiana Purchase to the Rocky Mtns. This land acquired by the United
States in the treaty, known as the Red River Basin, would ultimately become part of the states of Minnesota and North Dakota.
 US got fishing rights in Newfoundland & Labrador
 Britain agreed to return or compensate for slaves taken during War of 1812.
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First Seminole War (1817-18):
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It began when American settlers attacked Florida Indians (Seminoles) because they harbored and protected runaway slaves. The Indians
retaliated by raiding isolated Georgia homesteads. Americans believed Spain had incited the Seminoles against the white settlers.
 Gen. Andrew Jackson invaded Florida in 1818. In pursuit of hostile Indians, Jackson seized the posts of St. Marks and Pensacola, acts that
many regarded as violations of congressional war powers. In the cabinet, JQAdams, an expansionist, urged Jackson's complete vindication,
while Crawford and Calhoun demanded that he be reprimanded for exceeding his instructions.
 In the course of his campaign, Jackson seized two British traders, Alexander Arbuthnot and Robert Ambrister. He accused them of aiding
the enemy and had the former hanged and the latter shot. There was a great outcry in England and considerable criticism in Washington.
 Nevertheless, popular opinion approved the campaign, which brought East Florida under American control and resulted in its cession to the
U.S. by Spain in 1819.
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Adams-Onis (or Transcontinental) Treaty (1819):
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Treaty between the US and Spain that settled the border dispute. The treaty was the result of increasing tensions between the U.S. and
Spain regarding territorial rights at a time of weakened Spanish power in the New World.
 The treaty was negotiated by John Quincy Adams, the Secretary of State.
 U.S. got Florida in exchange for the U.S. paying residents' claims against the Spanish government up to a total of $5,000,000 and
relinquishing its own claims on parts of Texas west of the Sabine River and other Spanish areas.
 It set the US border at the Sabine & Red Rivers in Texas and firmly established the 42 nd parallel as the boundary of U.S. territory from the
Rocky Mountains tothe Pacific Ocean.
Monroe Doctrine (1823):
What did it do?
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1. Asserted American independence in foreign policy
2. U.S. foreign policy = isolationalism
3. Told the rest of the world they couldn’t make any new colonies in North or South America b/c it was our area.
4. Promised the rest of the world we wouldn’t colonize in their area either.
Why was the Monroe Doctrine issued?
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Spain’s American colonies were rebelling and gaining their independence. The US sympathized with these new countries and didn’t want
anyone taking over them and making them new colinies while they were weak.
Monroe, however, held back recognition of these newly independent countries, in spite of congressional pressure exerted by Henry Clay
until 1822, after Spain had ratified the Adams-Onís Treaty.
Britain, prospering from newly opened Latin American trade, didn’t want the newly independent S. American countries to be colonized
either. In 1823, Britain proposed that the two nations jointly express their hostility to intervention. Monroe consulted Jefferson and
Madison, who favored acceptance. The cabinet was divided, with only Adams strongly opposed.
Anxious to assert American independence in foreign policy, Monroe rejected the British offer, opting for a policy statement in his annual
message of December 1823.
In this statement written mostly by JQAdams, later known as the Monroe Doctrine, he declared that the US would regard any interference
in the internal affairs of American states as an unfriendly act and worthy of war. At Adams' suggestion, Monroe included a declaration
aimed at Russia that the United States considered the American continents closed to further colonization (b/c they were mvoing into
California).
While greeted with enthusiasm by Americans, Monroe's statement received little notice in Europe or South America, and it had no effect on
European policy. England's declaration of support for the newly independent countries blocked intervention by other nations NOT our
statement.
Domestic Issues
Panic of 1819:
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1st financial panic since Critical Period of 1780s
Causes: 1. Over speculation (selling land for too high a price & on credit) on frontier lands by banks (especially BUS)
2. Inflation from War of 1812 & less trade with Britain during and after war = not enough money
3. BUS needs more $ & makes new requirement that people (nur nurs) must pay loans with specie (gold or silver coins).
4. People don’t have enough specie to pay bank loans and BUS forces the “wildcat” western banks to foreclose on nur nur’s
farms in the west! 
 Result: People (nur nurs) want REFORM and more democracy (a voice). Westerners (nur nurs) HATE the BUS.
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Missouri Compromise (1820):
Background:
 Missouri territory meets the NW Ordinance of 1787 qualifications and asks to join the US as a state. This would be the 1st state created
out of the Louisiana Purchase and west of the Miss. River!!
 The Northern states have a majority in the House of Rep. (b/c they have more pop.) and they pass a bill called the Tallmadge
Amendment. It stated (1) no more slaves could be brought to Missouri and (2) children born to slave parents would be free in Missouri
(gradual emancipation).
 The Senate was balanced between Free and Slave states: 11 Southern & 11 Northern. The Senate refused to pass the Tallmadge
Amendment. South fears this may set a precedent for the rest of the LA territory and that Congress may try to abolish slavery in the
southern states. South says if it passes they will secede (b/c they will have lost all power! The North will have a majority in the House &
Senate). 
Compromise:
 Clay “the Compromiser” comes to the rescue.  This saves the union for 34 years (until Kansas-Neb. Act ruins it in 1854.) Ultimately this
is just a band-aid and will not heal the wound permanently.
 1. To keep balance in the Senate: Missouri will enter the union as a SLAVE state & Maine will enter as a FREE State.
 2. All territory we own in 1820 (basically to Rocky Mtns.) north of the 36-30 will be free territory and later free states. So, Congress is
LEGISLATING and forbidding slavery in territories like it did under the Articles w/ the NW Ordinance of 1787.
 3. All territory below the 36-30 is NOT legislated by Congress at this time, so it can have slavery IF it wants. If the territory below the 3630 doesn’t want slavery it doesn’t have to. Also if it becomes a state it has a CHOICE.
Legacy:
 North gets more free territory than the South gets slave territory. Eventually the South will need more Slave territory to compete when
states start being made out of these territories. The balance in the Senate is TEMPORARY. This compromise is a TEMPORARY fix. End
of national unity; Sectionalism (North v. South) over slavery.
Interesting Fact:
 James Monroe is the only U.S. President to have had a country's capital city named after him— that of Monrovia in Liberia which was
founded by the American Colonization Society, in 1822, as a haven for freed slaves.
Major Supreme Court Cases:
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819):
Facts: Maryland state bank taxes BUS branch in Md. People will shop at state bank b/c no tax & better deals. Goal is to get the BUS to go out of
business. BUS sues Maryland. John Marshall is Chief Justice of Supreme Ct. (old Federalist) & loves “loose” interpretation of Constitution.
Issues: 1. Can a state tax the national government? No
2. Is the BUS constitutional? Yes.
Reasoning: 1. States can not tax the national government (BUS) because the “power to tax is the power to destroy.” States can not destroy the
fed. government (BUS) because the federal government is SUPREME to the states (Art. 6). So, federal law (federal BUS) is supreme to state law
(state banks) and states can’t destroy or tax federal government.
2. The BUS is constitutional. It is implied. Art.1, sec. 8, cl. 18 says Congress can make any law which is necessary and proper to carry out its
other responsibilities & powers. Congress is in charge of commerce ($$) & thus it is implied in the Constitution that they can make a BUS.
Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819):
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Strengthened the federal government.
Strengthens the Contract Clause and limits the power of the States to interfere with private charters, including those of commercial
enterprises.
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824):
Facts:
 NY State had given Ogden a monopoly ferry service from NY to NJ. The federal gov’t gave Gibbons permission to have a ferry service for
the same area.
Issue: Can a state regulate interstate commerce? NO.
 Federal government has exclusive control over interstate commerce (commerce between the states).
 So, states can not interfere or regulate interstate commerce in any form.
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