Era of Good Feeling

Brandt Guldin

Mr. Farrington

American History Honors/ Period A

10 December 2013

A) The text's authors claim that the Era of Good Feelings is "something of a misnomer" for the decade following the War of 1812. Is this correct? Why or why not?

The Era of Good Feelings?

The period of James Monroe's presidency is known as the "Era of Good Feelings". It was given this name because of the sudden rise of nationalism and optimism gained by the people from the War of 1812. However, the perception of unity and a happy nation that this era presents is misleading. Throughout this period, there were problems that contradicted the era's name. Some of the issues were economic depression (Panic of 1819) and the rise of sectionalism.

The first issue in "Era of Good Feelings" was an economic depression that is known as "The Panic of 1819". This issue was caused by the Second Bank of the United States . In their attempt to manage inflation caused by the gruesome War of 1812, the Second Bank of the United States made western banks foreclose on western farms. This bank also stopped allowing payment in paper; this made the people to pay in hard money, such as gold, silver, and other valuable items. Many of the United States banks were affected, which caused conflict for the farmers who had taken out loans. Now in the west everyone got himself into huge debt. Multiple state banks had shut down, the value of money plummeted, and there were many people out of jobs. This depression damaged the West badly, and caused panic amongst the people living there. It lead the citizens to look for a better government which changed the mind of many people. Since these people were greatly affected, they began expressing a strong opposition to the national bank. This increased the want for democracy amongst the people. Nationalistic beliefs had fluttered as a result of this depression, thus destroying the name of the "Era of Good feelings".