Nationalism And Sectionalism During The Era Of Good Feelings

William Novak presents an argument on how the history of American government has been told upside-down for many years now. Novak depicts a mighty American state, capable of a great deal and responsible for some of the most important narratives in American history. However, there were many people, of whom had great interest in the founding fathers, were irritated by Novak’s argument. The main group of people being referred to here were people from the Tea Party political movement.

Around this era of the late 1700’s, the citizens of the newly independent nation of “America” were in the process of ratifying their government from the Articles of Confederation to the current Constitution which allowed for a democratic republic. The people in support of this ratification were the “Federalist” whom often used pamphlet writings known as the “Federalist Papers” to persuade and inform the public of their ideas and Constitution ratification. The most influential paper among the 85, is the Federalist paper #10 that disproves the Antifederalists’ argument that a republic of any kind would fall from the pressure of multiple divisive opinions among its citizens. Given the nature of humans by God, creating factions based on similar

After a fiercely fought revolution, the newly independent American nation struggled to establish a concrete government amidst an influx of opposing ideologies. Loosely tied together by the Articles of Confederation, the thirteen sovereign states were far from united. As growing schisms in American society became apparent, an array of esteemed, prominent American men united in 1787 to form the basis of the United States government: the Constitution. Among the most eminent members of this convention were Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson. These men, held to an almost godly stature, defined the future of the nation; but were their intentions as honest as they seemed?

The premise of American isolationism in the 1930s centered around the country’s political, economic, and social affairs at home, but was weakened in wake of World War II. Sentiments of isolationism have early roots in America’s history,

February 18, 1815, marked the signature of peace and time of no more battels ending the war of 1812. This war would fundamentally shape the history of America bringing us up to par in the eyes of the world as a legitimate country, furthering American expansionism in the form of manifest destiny and labeling the federalist party as traitors fundamentally insuring their doom. This war brought about a lot in the history of America while the war is often forgotten it leads to at least one of Americas biggest ideas of the 19th century. After bloody battles such as the battle of fort Mc'Henry on September 13-14, 1815, or the battle of New Orleans on January 8-26, 1815, American troops had proven that once again they were able to stand up to and defeated the world super power of the time.

1)The Rise of Cultural Nationalism a)Patterns of Education i)Republican vision encased illuminated individuals, wished across the nation arrangement of free open universities to make taught voters required by republic ii)By 1815 no state had a far reaching open foundation, educating essential by non-open foundations open exclusively to individuals who may pay. Most were pedigreed in viewpoint, prepared understudies to wind up tip top. Couple of schools for poor iii)Idea of "republican mother" to mentor new era couldn't be oblivious, late eighteenth century young ladies started to possess confined training to shape them higher wives and moms no gifted instructing iv)Attempts to mentor "honorable savages" in white culture and change

To give the period after the War of 1812 the name of “Era of Good Feelings” would be somewhat-inaccurate. America’s victory in the war surely did unite the states and brought upon some “good feelings” such as unity and growth as a thriving nation, but these good feelings were not all that came out of the war. The states were heavily separated even after the war with conflicts amongst each other and within themselves. Examples of America’s sectionalism come from their social, political, and economic differences, all in which pertain to distrust between the northern and southern parts of the country. Despite all of this, however, there is no denying that there was a sense of pride and togetherness during this time period.

The “Era of Good Feelings,” from 1815-1825, was not an accurate label of the period after the War of 1812 because of various conflicts in economic nationalism , disagreements in politics, and the disunion of the citizens. In addition, several sectional issues emerged, mostly between the North and the South, regarding to the Tariff of 1816 and the conflict over slavery. Both nationalism and sectionalism had a great influence on whether the period from 1815-1825 was actually the “Era of Good Feelings.” Despite the fact that nationalism was emerging, it also caused many economic issues, thus, the “Era of Good Feelings” was not labeled accurately. After the War of 1812, many Americans had a feeling of patriotism in the 1820s when they were still celebrating the Fourth of July after many years, which shows how unified the citizens were.

Thesis Both Nationalism and Sectionalism developed concurrently during the Era of Good Feelings. The two main reasons why nationalism increased was because of Henry Clay’s American System and Monroe’s policy to increase nationalism. Clay’s AS created a better national infrastructure that tightened America together. Monroe’s policy was to promote national unity and America’s power, which strengthens nationalism.

The Era of Good Feelings played an important role in the America history. During the Era of Good Feelings, many people were moving to the cities to work in a factory instead of farming or working at home. There were nationalism and sectionalism happened concurrently during that time. Nationalism had been raised in America during the Era of Good Feelings, because the War of 1812 and also the Monroe Doctrine, but sectionalism occurred concurrently and had a greater effect in the economics and politics of the period due to the geography, slavery and tariff. Nationalism grew during the War of 1812, when America went to war with Britain.

With the difficulty of ratifying a constitution that all states and people could agree upon, the dichotomy between American nationalism and more of a ‘state’ nationalism became more apparent. De Crevecouer in 1782 famously asked the question ‘What then is the American, this new man?’ when trying to figure out what the new identity for Americans was intended to be. He answered his own question in saying “He is an American, who, leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds...” . The importance of ‘leaving behind all his ancient… manners’ shows that, even years after the revolution, there was still a divide in cultures within the United States.

Back to the nineteenth century isolationism was a big deal. Funny enough this is right about the time the bank broke loose and America was really going down hill. In the 1930s J.P Morgan was one of the largest bankers in the country and he said that their was no money left in the bank which led to a huge rally and as well as the stock markets to crash and it was just a really tough time. Part of this did have to do with the isolationism and us trying to be our own country and not rely on other countries. To touch base back with how world war had an impact on the economy and how it had anything to do with isolation was because we were loosing a lot of people and a lot of allies and most of all we were losing a lot of money.

The decrease of imports and exports was one of the greatest causes of economic nationalism in Europe after the Great Depression. Even though imports were already higher than exports before the accident, the difference between the two was even higher afterward. This negative result of net exports caused a rise in economic nationalism with the intervention of European governments. Nationalists actions initiated when governments were put under pressure to impose deflationary policies. The trade deficit caused decreases in confidence and increases in political stability.

In 2011, Ivan Eland wrote an article deploring Americans to pay more attention to the use of the words patriotism and militarism. Eland states, “ The United States was founded on principles of anti-militarism, permanent U.S. military meddling abroad was avoided until after World War II.”

1. What is a nation-state, and how do some governments attempt to form nation- States? A: A nation-state is an area that is organized politically where state and nation occupy and hold the same area or place. Some governments attempt to form nation-states by giving one ethnic group many privileges over other ethnic groups.