Dbq#2 Nationalism V. Sectionalism Essay

Words: 1803
Pages: 8

DBQ # 2 Nationalism v. Sectionalism “Era of Good Feelings” The years following the War of 1812 became known as the “era of good feelings”. During this time you see the expansion of nationalism within the United States. It started mainly in the 1816 shortly before Monroe took office, and lasted until the end of his Presidency in the year of 1824. Before the “era of good feelings” there were certain events taking place that will lead up to this era. The first of these is the acquired land of the Louisiana Purchase from the French. Through this the United States was able to double its land. The gained independence from this purchase was able to keep other countries father away from the US’s boundaries and was able to separate the …show more content…
Even though he saw that other states would be upset, that the answer to it all would be succession. This was just the start of Sectionalism in politics. Another important separation represented to the North and South was more economically. The south being mostly focused on agriculture was weary of taxation and tariffs. With the tariffs put into effect under Henry Clay’s American System, its goal was to promote self manufacturing within the country and increase economic growth. (Document E) The South was upset with the tariffs put in place, because they were growing economically with their cotton productions and it would only cause them to have to pay additional taxes to ship it. The South was strongly opposed to the tariff because they believe as a nation that it was more of an attack of their way of life rather than benefiting the entire nation. This is the reasoning for it mostly being supported by the middle and northern states rather than the South. (Document H)
In the American System a new national bank emerged because the charter for the previous one was overdue. One goal of the new nation bank was to eliminate some of the debt caused by the Louisiana Purchase. In decisions made by Marshall’s Court (credited with decisions that would later guide the way for future cases) in the case of Maryland v. McCulloch, the national bank lost a lot of credit and