CHAPTER9
NATION BUILDING AND NATIONALISM
A Revolutionary War Hero Revisits America in 1824 A great surge of westward
expansion and economic development, accompanied by soaring nationalist fervor,
characterized the United States after the War of 1812. Marquis de Lafayettes return
to the United States in 1824 facilitated widespread support for his tour of the
nation, he had helped win independence. His declarations praising the young
nations success further fed nationalist sentiment.
Expansion and Migration Before the abundant potential wealth of the Mississippi
Valley could be realized, a dramatic westward surge of settlers had to be
encouraged.
Extending the Boundaries When John Quincy Adams hammered out the
Transcontinental Treaty of 1819 with Spain, he was confirming the American belief in
a continental destiny. Interest in the West grew as John Jacob Astor carried the fur
trade to the Pacific Northwest, and the legends of mountain men were
popularized.
Settlement to the Mississippi Pushing the Indian tribes before them, settlers surged
westward into the trans-Appalachian West. The federal government supported an
official policy through a series of treaties with the Indians that stripped them of their
land east of the Mississippi River. Most of the land originally passed through the
hands of speculators before it reached the hands of farmers and planters. Local
marketing centers (developed to meet the needs of the farmers) quickly arose.
The People and Culture of the Frontier Most western settlers moved in family units
and carried the elements of their "civilized" eastern existence with them.
Communal cooperation eventually accomplished most of the work that had
previously required self-reliance. Attracted by abundant western land, many settlers
pulled up stakes after only a few years. Novelist James Fenimore Cooper helped this
trend through the popularization of Natty Bumpo or Leatherstocking, whose traits
laid the foundation for the western hero and the western romantic myth. Coopers
characters epitomized American romanticism by demonstrating the superiority of
solitary life in the wilderness.
A Revolution in Transportation Political leaders realized the importance of linking
these distant citizens with the rest of the nation through a viable transportation
network.
129
Roads and Steamboats The National (or Cumberland) Road was the first of the
overland toll roads. Chartered by the states, these turnpikes failed, for the most
part, to meet the need for cheap transportation over great distances. America's
river network proved to be more efficient, and the Ohio-Mississippi system
beckoned first the flatboat trade and, after Robert Fulton's invention in 1807, the
steamboat.
The Canal Boom In addition to rivers and roads, a system of canals was needed to
link the Great Lakes, the Ohio, and the Mississippi with the coastal states. In 1825,
the Erie Canal was finished, signaling the birth of the "canal boom," which lasted
until the late 1830s.
Emergence of a Market Economy Transportation improvements provoked increases
in farm income and instigated commercial agriculture to take hold of the nations
economy, further pulling the country into the web of a global, market economy.
The Beginning of Commercial Agriculture Increasing farm productivity promoted the
transition from subsistent diversification farming to profit-oriented staple farming.
The availability of good farmland, increasing demand for cotton, the invention of the
cotton gin, and slave labor made the South the worlds greatest cotton producer.
Commerce and Banking The extension of credit by local merchants and
manufacturers was crucial--it insured profits, the expansion of capital, and the need
for banking. This demand for money after the War of 1812 created state and private
banks exponentially, but they were often poorly regulated.
Early Industrialism The surge of a market economy encouraged new industrial
development. The nations first factory system emerged in New Englands textile
industry. The U.S.s infant industries before the 1840s, however, developed less
dramatically than in European regions; as late as 1840, only 8.8 percent of the
nations population labored in factories.
The Politics of Nation Building A cohesive nationalist sentiment united the U.S.
following the War of 1812. This spirit quelled the combatant political rhetoric that
dominated the nations early political discussions, provoking many to proclaim the
period an era of good feelings.
The Republicans in Power The nation developed, and even prospered, economically,
oftentimes with assistance from federal programs. Henry Clay called for an
American System of protective tariffs and financed internal improvements. A
second Bank of the United States was chartered in 1816 to promote the nations
financial stability.
Monroe as President James Monroe projected the image of a high-principled,
disinterested statesman. Congress responded weakly to the economic crisis that
began in 1819, and Monroe had no program of his own. He insisted that he was not
responsible for the drastic economic downturn. He prized national harmony over
economic prosperity.
The Missouri Compromise Congress narrowly averted a national calamity with the
Missouri Compromise in 1820, which settled the most serious sectional issue yet to
challenge the federal government. Although Jefferson called the decision a fire bell
in the night, it seemed that for the moment, nationalism triumphed.
Postwar Nationalism and the Supreme Court With strong national leadership by
Federalist John Marshall, the Supreme Court made great contributions to
nationalism and the expansive powers of the federal government. In such decisions
as McCulloch v. Maryland and Gibbons v. Ogden, the Supreme Court supported
economic nationalism at the expense of certain state powers. Under Marshall, the
Court played a powerful role in supporting the growth of a prosperous nationwide,
capitalist economy.
Nationalism in Foreign Policy: The Monroe Doctrine Recognizing the threat of a
European Grand Alliance, and concerned with the collapsing Spanish empire in Latin
America, and with the possibility of European re-colonization in the Western
Hemisphere, President Monroe and Secretary of State John Quincy Adams issued the
Monroe Doctrine, which was delivered as a warning to European powers that the
United States opposed further colonization and political interference in the
Americas.
The Troubled Presidency of John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams was the supreme
spokesman for nonpartisan and scientific achievement, but his leadership could not
survive the growing sectional and economic divisions in the nation.
Conclusion: The End of the Era of Good Feelings A nation founded and weaned on
political debate could not sustain an era of good feeling for too long. John Quincy
Adamss presidency witnessed the end of calmer political discussion. Nonetheless,
the nation maintained its devotion to national greatness and economic
development.
