Era of Good Feelings Dbq

Era of Good Feelings DBQ

Throughout world history, there have been times of peace, such as the Pax Romana in the Roman Empire, but there have also been times of dismay, like the French Revolution in the late 1700’s. On the subject of labelling time periods, most historians have called the years following the War of 1812 the Era of Good Feelings. This time period was relatively stable, but left most people questioning the future.

As a still young and developing nation, the U.S. had yet to further regulate areas like manufacturing. Most people, like John Randolph, felt as if the manufacturers were becoming very wealthy easily while the farmers were left in poverty (Document A). People began questioning the government’s power as the failure to regulate/tax these certain industries was beginning to lead to sectionalism (between specifically the agricultural South and the industry-based North). It was differences just like these that eventually led to the Civil War in the mid 1800’s. Furthermore, the Supreme Court case of McCulloch v. Maryland was yet again questioning the government’s power, this time about the incorporation of a bank. Although this ruling allowed for unity in the form of a government bank, it divided some people as they questioned their faith and trust for the bank (Document D).

Moreover, differences in population distribution had the potential to create issues. For example, the North was more tight-knit (just like it had been throughout the 1700’s), while the South was more displaced. In the Northern urban centres, the population reached 90 plus inhabitants per square mile, an alarming value (Document E). Later on as more cities developed, these dense urban areas almost couldn’t contain themselves, which eventually led to the creation of run down slums and tenements. As the South was more spread out, massive plantations called for the need of slaves to fulfil the massive work load. This simple difference led to more sectionalism, dividing the country even further during this time period. In addition, government officials like John C. Calhoun remarked about the dangers of rapid expansion in the U.S. He warned that such rapid growth would quickly lead to disunity, and that nationalism was of great importance, which it can be inferred that the U.S. was lacking during this time (Document B). He is also hinting that there needs to be devised a plan for creating unity, like the “American System”. Furthermore, people of great importance like Thomas Jefferson during this era were starting to question the regional differences between the North and South. He questions the moral and political differences between the two like “a firebell in the night” (Document F). Differences like these were somewhat similar to those of the late 1600’s with uprisings like Bacon’s rebellion.

While slavery was still in full swing in the South, slaves during