Feelin' Alright

By Michael Oliva
March 21st, 2008

AN ERA OF GOOD FEELINGS

The "Era of Good Feelings,” a phrase coined in 1817 by Benjamin Russell in the Boston Newspaper the Columbian Centinel, is the period roughly from 1815 to 1824. Russell, veteran of the revolutionary army, published the Centinel bi-weekly for 40 years. Over that time period it became a great influence on the Federalist Party. Russell later edited the Boston Gazette.

As we said, while the exact time frame varies, what we can be certain of is the era started no earlier than the end of the War of 1812. After several American victories that emboldened the American populace with a renewed sense of pride and patriotism, President Monroe paid little attention to dishing out party patronage. In 1820, he was reelected with all but one electoral vote. A myth surrounding this election that claims that one elector, William Plumer, willfully neglected to vote for Monroe, and instead voted for John Quincy Adams, to preserve George Washington's standing as the only unanimously elected president.  The truth was that the elector simply disliked Monroe's policies.

At the time Slavery and debate around it was becoming a growing problem, but Henry Clay's negotiation of the Missouri Compromise did much to bring calmness to the issue. The solution, according to Wikipedia, was to "balance admission of Missouri Territory as a slave state, with the admission of Maine as a free state.”

The era also tempered bitter feelings over debates on the protective tariff and the Second National Bank. In a move of great popularity, Florida was acquired from Spain. President Monroe promulgated the Monroe Doctrine, warning European powers against potential efforts to reassert their control over former colonies, now States, in the United States. The Monroe Doctrine popularly elevated the status of the United States as a full-fledged nation, gaining Monroe even more popularity during a time of increasing good will and nationalism.

The Monroe Doctrine reads: "…We owe it, therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not interfere. But with the Governments who have declared their independence and maintain it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States…" The Monroe Doctrine, December 2, 1823

THE END OF AN ERA

Several factors contributed to the slow ending of the Era. The Panic of 1819, the first major financial crisis in the United States, came after the depression of the late 1780s (which led to the creation of the dollar, as well as calls for a Constitutional Convention). The panic was defined by widespread foreclosures, unemployment, bank failures, and a downturn in manufacturing and agriculture. Its culmination defined the end of the great economic prosperity that had followed the War of 1812.

In 1816, the Second Bank of the United States was founded to remedy the out of control number of notes issued by private US Banks in response to debt the nation accrued at the ending of the War of 1812. The Missouri Compromise, an agreement passed in 1820 between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery states in the United States Congress, regulated slavery in the western territories. It ended slavery in the former Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36°30' north, except within the boundaries of the proposed state of Missouri.

Before the agreement, the House of Representatives would not accept this compromise, resulting in the appointment of a conference committee. The US Senate refused to agree with the amendment, and the measure failed. During the following session (1819-1820), a similar bill was passed by the house. John W. Taylor of New York introduced an amendment on January 26th, 1820. It allowed what would be Missouri to be an official state and a part of the Union, with the right for their citizens to own slaves. In December Alabama was named a slave state (equaling the number or slave and free states). On January 3rd, 1820, Maine was admitted by the House as a free state. The Senate combined the two measures, passing a modified bill admitting Maine, with an amendment allowing the Missouri to form a state constitution. Before the bill came back to the House, Jesse B. Thomas of Illinois introduced an amendment excluding slavery from the Missouri Territory north of the parallel 36°30' north (the southern boundary of Missouri), but allowing it inside the borders of the proposed state of Missouri.

The Democratic-Republican Party members of the house met in caucus and decided on the party's presidential candidate before 1820. In 1824 the agreement failed. John Quincy Adams, John C. Calhoun, William H. Crawford, Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson all competed for the presidency. Calhoun dropped out and sought the Vice Presidency. The others formed regional coalitions with state politicians to get votes. Turnout ebbed as there weren't any parties powerful enough to mobilize voters. As a result, no candidate received a majority in the Electoral College.

It was then up to the House to decide on who would be president. As speaker, Clay gave the election to Adams, who chose Clay as his Secretary of State. This enraged Jackson and his supporters, calling it a "corrupt bargain". They immediately began a campaign to regain the "stolen" presidency.

Alas, the Era of Good Feelings came to its inevitable end.